English couple travel to Maine to see favorite band perform

Plan to attend concert at Meadowbrook as well

It's more than a feeling that compelled a couple from England to fly to Maine to see their favorite band perform live for the second time in a quarter-century.

"It's somehow difficult to put into words exactly how I feel about the band, apart from the simple fact that the moment I first heard them play I knew that they were the only band for me," said David Cooper, 53, who flew with his wife from their home near Manchester, England, to see the rock band Boston perform.

The couple last saw Boston 25 years ago in England and said they were elated to be able to see Boston's concerts Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center and Friday at Meadowbrook Amphitheater in Gilford, N.H.

England may have given America the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, but David Cooper said he would have traded those bands just to have had Boston on his side of the Atlantic.

Boston released their self-titled debut in 1976, taking the name of their own city. Their guitars were loud and thick with a sound influenced heavily by Led Zeppelin. David Cooper said his favorite song is "A Man I'll Never Be," from the band's 1978 release "Don't Look Back."

And while he and Lyn, 51, have been married for 32 years, she doesn't quite share his passion. "She enjoys the music, but I'm the driving force," he said.

Lyn Cooper arranged for the couple to see Boston perform in New York in 1996 as a birthday surprise for her husband, but that concert was canceled because of a baseball injury to band founder Tom Scholz.

After that trip, Cooper sent an e-mail about his devotion to band representatives and his disappointment at not seeing them perform. The band found out about it, and arranged for the Coopers to have tickets and backstage passes this weekend.