Tickets were reportedly sold out for the two-night Salt Lake engagement in about six minutes. Gary Boslough said that's the message he received after trying several times to buy four tickets. He ultimately managed just two at $50 each.

"This is actually better because I don't have to go in," Boslough said. "We'll just go get dinner."

Several hundred kids who had no chance of going in came downtown "just to be here," as Sarah Demes said. She had come with her dad and brother in hopes of scoring free tickets being given away for the show.

But Friday's show was already in the bag. In their father's pocket, actually. He lives in Glenwood Springs, Colo., and was in town for a visit.

Enraptured is probably the most accurate way of describing the reaction of his 11- and 7-year-old. As all three submerged into the stream of fans, the kids were thanking dad with promises of model child behavior: "For a year at least, at least a year."

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com