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My Concert Experience

MY CONCERT REVIEW FROM THE TWEETER CENTER IN MANSFIELD, MA (8/11/02)

Let me start off by saying it was a hazy, hot, and humid day in the Northeast but by the time 5:00 PM rolled around the air was slowly starting to cool down. My friend joined me for the concert (she drove all the way from RI and I hadn't seen her in about 3 years). After a brief visit at my house we headed off to our destination, The Tweeter Center in Mansfield, MA. We arrived in the parking lot around 5:45 PM and we were totally psyched! Around 6:00 PM we left my car and walked to the gates where we were greeted by a plethora of security guards. They checked for any kind of weapons, etc (they even checked my pocket book but luckily they didn't see my camera...muahaha!). Finally, we were allowed inside the stadium's grounds. There we were given a little concert booklet, a bandana advertising for Tweeter Center employment, and, if we wanted, Trojan condoms (this comes into my review later...). My friend and I bought some concert merchandise (she got black t-shirt with the tour dates on it and I bought a tank top with the Gutterflower logo on it).

We stood around waiting about 10 minutes for the security guards to actually let us into the stadium itself so we could be seated. Then finally, the moment had arrived and we walked to our seats. My friend and I sat down, in awe of our seats...23rd row from the front. Really nice! After about 45 minutes went by Vanessa Carlton came on stage, everyone cheered...the concert was starting! Vanessa sang very well, she even played wonderfully too (I had seen her at a concert a few months before and she just had her piano, this time she was accompanied by a backup band). She told the photographer/cameraman not to take pictures of her pits, she told us she hadn't shaved so the crowd had a good laugh over that. After she finished playing the Tweeter Center crew came out and started moving things around for Third Eye Blind to come in next.

About 20 minutes went by and then Third Eye Blind came out and people started cheering and I started screaming...lol! Third Eye Blind did a superb job singing and entertaining the crowd. They first sang Graduate and followed with Anything, Wounded, Jumper, some new material from their upcoming CD "Crystal Baller," How's It Going To Be, Semi-Charmed Life and some material off their last record. The best part was when Stephan Jenkins (lead singer) ran off the stage and down the aisle right by us (he was about 10 feet away from my friend and me). I freaked...started screaming and tried to take a picture it didn't come out (just a bunch of people taking pics...lol!). Then Stephan ran all the way up into the middle of the audience and just sang there for a few minutes...very cool! The crowd went nuts of course and then at the last song he pulled a lucky girl up onstage and sang to her. He even got down on his knees and started singing and then picked her up and carried her around. I am pretty sure he was singing Never Let You Go. After Third Eye Blind left the crowd was totally reved for the Goo Goo Dolls and we had to sit and patiently wait for about a half an hour or so...it was hard to contain all the excitement...lol!

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for for 3+ years had arrived. The pink curtains were hanging down and out came John (we could see a bit of him since we were sitting off to the side but mostly we saw his shadow). Then up went the curtains and they started off singing Big Machine...what a great intro! The crowd went nuts everyone was standing up, bopping their heads to the beat of the guitar and drums, singing, and screaming all at once! The guys sang so many songs it was hard to keep track. After Big Machine they sang Long Way Down, Slide, Naked, Ya Never Know, Truth Is A Whisper, Dizzy, Here Is Gone, January Friend, Smash, Black Balloon, Think About Me, What Do You Need, Name, Lucky Star, Tucked Away, Broadway, Sympathy, Iris, What A Scene, then an encore, followed by All Eyes On Me and American Girl. During Name everyone was waving around lighters or their hands...very cool! When the guys played Iris a huge disco ball lit up the audience and made it feel like you were looking at stars...that was really neat! But the highlight of that whole night was when John took out a condom and said something like, "I noticed they were handing these out tonight." Everyone just laughed but Johnny proceeded to say, "Now girls, if your guy says he's too big to fit into one of these..." and he started blowing the condom up like it was a huge balloon. The whole crowd went absolutely nuts and started laughing and screaming...very funny! Johnny told everyone he wanted them (the condoms) to be blown up and tossed around. Then he and the band started singing Sympathy and about halfway through the song the condoms started to be tossed around and all of a sudden John totally lost it and broke into laughter. The whole band stopped playing and the audience went nuts and so did I...it was freaking hilarious!! John said, "This is a perfect example of be careful what you wish for." He then popped one of the condoms and asked everyone if they should start playing where they left off, everyone screamed...and they started playing Sympathy again...it was soooooooooo funny!

I've been to seven concerts in my lifetime (well 8 if you count Neil Diamond when I was about 9 years old...don't laugh...lol) and I have never ever seen both the crowd and the artists (the Goo's/ 3EB, and Vanessa) so hyped and energized and excited. The energy of the whole show was overwhelming...it was the best concert I have been to and I definately will be seeing the Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind in concert again!! :)

Now for the pics (it may look like you can't see them but when you click on the picture you will be able to see them better)...

view_of_how_close_we_were John_and_condom

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MY CONCERT REVIEW FROM THE PROVIDENCE CIVIC CENTER IN PROVIDENCE, RI (6/4/00)

K so I was listening to my radio station one morning and I heard them advertising the 92 PRO FM (that's my radio station) b-day bash...and they named some of the performers they were Mandy Moore, Hanson, BBMack, Train, Bon Jovi and all of a sudden I heard the Goo Goo Dolls on the list...I was like "wahooooo!"

That day I e-mailed my best friend and asked her if we should go and she said sure. So anyway about 2 days after the tickets went onsale I bought the tix (I was up @ my new house helping my parents w/ stuff so I couldn't buy 'em right when they went onsale). Well I bought the tix and the seats looked pretty bad.

Finally the night came...June 4th...I met my friend and we went to the concert. We arrived there about 5 min before the concert started so we had to find our seats fast...we asked a woman working there and she said they didn't have those seats but we could get closer. We followed her and she gave us awesome seats...about 10 rows from the front...my friend and I wished we had brought our cameras.

Anyway, it was about 9:30 and Bon Jovi came on...he was one row behind us cause he surprised the audience by coming out and singing by the sound stage. We were about 6 ft away from him. He sang for about an hour and my friend and I were getting nervous cause we told my parents to pick us up around 11 cause it was a school night.

Then I got a call on my friend's cell phone and it was my mom and she demanded that if the Goo Goo Dolls didn't start playing that we had to come out at 11. I coulda sworn I saw John w/ a NY Yankees baseball hat talking to one of the soundstage managers but I wasn't real sure if it was him or not. Anyway my friend and I left around 11...we walked out into one of the main halls and then we heard Dizzy playing so my friend quickly grabbed me and pulled me into one of the entrances so we could see them...I saw John up on stage but after about 4 secs I pulled her back out...I couldn't bare to watch them...it was tearing my heart apart...we had the best seats man!! Ooo and I was soooo pissed at my parents...oh well hopefully I can see them again soon...

Here's what is left of my ticket: