Monica, Fiona, Mike, Amber, Nathan, KyliePictures at bottom...
Friday night: 19th February, 1999 It all started on Friday, February 19th at 12.30pm when I went to the Palais in St Kilda to meet up with Kylie, Amber, Fiona and Fiona's mum Maria who is the best. I arrived at the Palais and I saw the girls who were already there and I ran to them and Fiona said the John and Robby's guitar techs come out and they each got one of Robby's guitar picks. They told me that they were so nice. I had missed out by about 5 minutes. So there we were the five of us waiting down the side street where they were going to be!!! We were just sitting there in the sun getting absolutely sunburnt (but it was worth it) and trying to entertain one another. We were waiting for what seemed like forever when at about 2.30pm someone came over to us and told us that the guys had a long plane delay and would not be here until at least 5.00pm. But we just did not want to move so we stayed there and it payed off. All of a sudden (at 5.00pm) we see the Taragos pull up with the guys in them. They get out and Kylie just yells out "Johnny can we get a photo" and he turns around and just said "Sure". So we were taking photos with Johnny and we were so stunned after waiting that long that we missed Mike and Robby who walked right in. After Kylie was done it was my turn. I asked John for a photograph and he said sure and put his arm around me but then we turned it into a group shot with all four of us girls. And then they disappeared. The waiting for 5 hours was worth it. We were so happy to have had the opportunity but we were sad cause we missed out on Mike and Robby. Then one of Johns guitar technicians comes out with the neck of a guitar and he says "This is the guitar that Johnny smashed last night. I'm going to ask a trivia question and who ever gets it right wins the guitar." So he asked "It's the birthday of someone in the band today who is it". Now we knew it wasn't John or Rob so we said Mike and he said no, then we tried Nathan, no again and then I just said Dave and he just pointed the guitar to me and said yep. Oh my god......i got Johnny's guitar neck. I got the guitar he broke on stage. I was so exicted. (I did get it signed by all three of the guys after but read on!!!!!!!) How priceless is that!!!! I absolutely love it!!! We stayed out there and listened to the sound check which sounded fantastic. We decided to hung around cause we knew that they would come back out and we were so right. First Mike came out and we just called his name. Then John came out and then Amber said "Where's Robby he is just the most sexiest man in the world" and Mike just said "You have got to be kidding" and John was just laughing. We quickly snapped more photographs but no poses this time. Then we asked for Robby again and they told us that he wasn't coming out. We were so disappointed!!! We got Mike this time but no Robby!!! After getting something to eat we got our merchandise and went into the concert hall. The four of us were so restless. Then they finally came on. YEAH!!!!! It was fantastic. The four of us just ran to the front of the stage and we were right in the middle. It was so amazing. They rocked!!!!!!! During the third song which was Lazy Eye I was just singing so loudly and John looked at me and pointed and laughed. He had this expression on his face that said "I can't believe she knows this song!!!" We were the only four who knew all the words to every song!!!! John looked at me another 2 times during Lazy Eye it was fantastic. It was so amazing cause John just kept looking all the time and smiling. And so did Robby!!!! I was able to get my camera into the theatre and I was taking a photo of Robby and he spotted me out and I just covered my mouth and he just imitated me and laughed. Robby is amazing. I was waving at him and he just kept smiling. And can Robby stare you down. But the coolest thing was that both Johnny and Robby kept looking at the four of us and they just had the best look on their faces like "These girls know all our old songs....they are rocking to everything". During Full Forever Robby was looking at us and we were singing the backing vocals. We were so into all the songs and the guys could tell. Since we knew that it was Dave's birthday we yelled out Happy Birthday Dave about five times but John couldn't hear us and he said "I can't hear you_you can talk to me after the show". We had heard that in Sydney John did not tell the Name story so we were determined to request it but we didn't know when he would play. There were these three girls in the front row who would not stand up. And John asked them why they weren't standing up. He said "Don't you like our band. Did you win tickets. Did your parents force you to come to the show or should would kick your butt." Then he and Robby asked eachother "Man do you have any money" He imitated that parents and said "You're going to that concert". He and Rob asked them if they wanted to go up on stage and sit there. They were almost ready to organise seats but the girls didn't go. Then he just started playing Name and I just freaked. But we got our opportunity. Right at the end of the song it was so quiet cause John thanked the girls for standing up and I just took the opportunity and screamed out "Tell us the Name story" and John replied "What...tell us a scary story" then all four of us yelled "No the name story" and he was like ohhh. So he stopped the song and told the story!!!! It was fantastic. It went for so long!!!!!! I don't remember all of it by heart but this was basically it. He described how they were a small indie-punk band and how they were trying to maintain their coolness. He said "I was driving in my van one day (and he is doing the driving actions) and I had the radio on and I heard this" and the played the first chords of name and he continued "and I was like what they aren't supposed to play that song. But I just blew it off. Then one day about a week later I was in the supermarked shopping at 2 in the morning..i love doing that....I don't know if you can do that here. But I was going along (he was doing the actions of pushing a supermarket trolley) getting some cat food, some peanut butter, toilet cleaner when I hear this" and he plays the intro and he goes "and I just went ahhhhhhhhhhhhh what the F&*K" and then Robby comes up and says "And he calls me at 3 in the morning" It was so wonderful. Then he told us about the letter. "I got home and I was looking threw the mail. I had bills and shit and then I see this letter and I open it up". The he goes into what the letter said. It was so cool. Then he said "so I wrote back saying please understand the message of the song about disillusionment of people today blah blah blah". And then he went on how it wrote another letter and then he said "alright i'm going to be honest now so I wrote Dear Dickhead no, dear F$#kface, go eat a bag of shit, love John" and I can't remember what the said he wrote. And then he said " The lesson of the story is when you get your head a bit above the sand someone is always there to chop it off. Make sure you surround yourself with people who love and support you". And then he finished the last verse of name. It was so great. The whole concert just rocked. They were fantastic. They were all just so into it. Robby and Johnny were going all over the stage. Robby had no shoes on just socks and he shock his leg at us!!! Mike was so great and he was so into it. And Nathan is so cool. They tried to involve the entire crowd. We did not need encouragement and they noticed it. Then during 2 Days in February someone threw a sheep on stage and he was singing the song on his knees and Robby was playing on his knees. It was so cure cause John said "I'm going to name this sheep ewe_get it ewe. And she's a blonde!!!" They were playing and singing to the sheep. It was so unreal. I could go on but we have another 2 days lef t in this story!!! After the concert Kylie managed to get the set list that Johnny was using. The concert was fantastic and we were the only ones who know all the songs and John and Robby and even Nathan noticed it!!!! THEY WERE GREAT. I can't remember the exact order of the set list (cause as yet I don't have a copy of it) but the songs were Dizzy, Long Way Down, Lazy Eye, Black Balloon, Broadway, January Friend, Naked, Flat Top, Falling Down, Bullet Proof, Full Forever, Name, Iris, encore Burning Up, Hate This Place, 2 days in February. I think I'm missing one or two songs. Okay so after the concert we thought that we would wait for them at the side street but there were too many people. So Kylie had the first idea to follow them to the hotel. And well we did. We lost them for a moment and so we drove into the city and all of a sudden Kylie yells out "oh my god there's Johnny". He was outside the hotel. So Kylie parked illegally and we just ran to him. Kylie got a great kiss from John. Then I went to John and asked if he would sign my guitar and he said jokingly "You know that's not your guitar" and I just said "I know its yours". And he signed it and then I asked him for a hug. And there I was hugging John for 20 seconds at least. I told him how great the concert was and I thanked him for the Name story. He said "thank you so much it was so problem". He was just hugging me and comforting me. His hands were rubbing my back. I didn't want to let go. Then I got my photo with him. It was amazing....he was so nice. We just kept snapping away!!! Then he had to leave. We were so overwhelmed that we just sat on the ground and just started talking. A little later on Mike came out and so I got my guitar signed by him too. Mike is such a lovely person. He was so handsome!!! And we took the opportunity to take photos again. We asked where Robby was and he said "I don't know where he is I think he went out". Then he left and we were sitting on the ground again just chatting away when all of a sudden I see this guy walking towards us and we were starring at each other and he was smiling and then it hit me and I said "Oh my God it's Robby". Robby came over and said hi girls and we all got our photographs with him. We mentioned that we knew Fay and he said "Oh you know Fay she is so cool". I got Robby to sign my guitar also and he said "wow how did you get this" and I quickly told him and I said to him that I needed to give him and hug from Fay (I kept my promise Fay) and then Robby just hugged me so slightly and I thanked him over and over again for such a great concert. He is such a great hugger. We hugged for so long. When we let go (which I reluctantly did) I then asked him if he saw us singing all the songs and he said "yes I did....did you have fun" and I just said of course we did and he grabbed me again and hugged me again so tightly!!! I asked him if they would be coming back to Australia and he said definitely. It was a magical moment!!! The funniest part was when he signed Amber's poster which said "Vote 1 for Robby" he took the marker and removed the cap with his teeth and Amber just said "oh my god he sucked my pen". It was so funny. Robby got such a kick!!!! He was so adorable. He made us feel like we were so special and that he had all the time for us. It was the best Friday night of our lives!!!! By this time it was about 2 in the morning. So we were already into Saturday. Saturday, February 20th 1999 Today was the day that the guys would be playing in someones backyard. Unfortunately not one of ours. After getting only 3 hours of sleep the girls and I all meet in front of the hotel again at about 10.00am. We knew that the guys would have to leave for the BBQ. So we sat outside the hotel again and all four of us were wearing the same goo t-shirt. There were two on sale and we all choose the same one to wear. We looked so cool. So we are waiting outside the hotel and we can see them sitting on the lounges. We saw them get up and they started walking out. There was our group on one side and another group of about 10 girls on the other side and when John walked out he came straight to our side. So we took the opportunity to take photographs again. Unfortunately the tour manager was saying that they were running late again and that they had no time. But John was so cool and kept signing autographs. When he got into the car someone took a photo and he opened the door and said "Did you just take a photograph of my ass?". It was so hilarous. The tour manager than shut the door but John opened it again and signed some more autographs. I had even more respect for him when he did that. It was so nice. And John just turned to us and said "Don't worry we'll be back later". So after having lunch we went to Kylie's work place and listened to the live cross of them playing at the BBQ and we were all just singing along. When it was over we decided to go back to the hotel and wait as John said that he would be back. Unfortunately it was about 4.00pm and they weren't back and we had to get going to the TV show we had tickets for. Apart from the goos the TV show was so boring. The goos did Slide and Dizzy which was fantastic. At the end of Slide we cheered so loudly for them and John acknowledged us by pointing to us and at the end of Dizzy Fiona yelled out Robby's name and he pointed to us also. But we weren't sure if they knew it was us. There only true fans in the whole of Australia. We were so despondant cause we didn't know if they saw us. We went to get some dinner and then we went back to the hotel...yes again. The guys were in the bar and we could see them. We waited about 40 minutes when Mike, Nathan and the cool guitar tech who gave me the guitar (I wish I knew his name) came out. We had written the guys a letter telling them how much this all meant to us and Kylie went to the guys when I told her they were leaving the bar and gave it to Mike and we asked him to read it. We then asked for some photographs with Mike and Nathan and they obliged. Mike was so nice. Amber (I think it was you Amber) had a cigarette in her hand and she put her hand around Mike and after the photo was taken (by the cool guitar tech) he said jokingly "I hope you didn't burn my cool shirt" and he just started joking about how cool his light green and white shirt was. He then said that our t-shirt were so cool and that he didn't even have one of those. Mike seems shy in front of the cameras but he openly talks to his fans. Amber than said that she never thought the goos would come out here cause Buffolo Tom didn't and that she was a fan of theirs and Mike said that they were so great and that had toured with them. I then said I was a Guns n' Roses fan and Nathan just pointed at me with his cigarette and said "Yep I'm with you". So there I was asking Nathan questions about the Gunners and we were having a conversation about them when Nathan stepped down to where the cabs park and one was heading for Nathan and I just grabbed his arm and said watch out and pulled him back. He was like "thanks..it wouldn't have hit me hard". It was so amazing. Mike and Nathan are both just wonderful. The whole band is wonderful!!!! It was then midnight and Kylie said that we should make this a whole nighter and go to the airport. So off we headed. We wanted to see them off at the airport just to say goodbye. So earlier that day I had checked what flights were going out to New Zealand. Sunday, 21st February 1999 - The home stretch So the four of us headed over to the airport and arrived there at 1 in the morning. We then found out by our family members who watched the TV show that the guys were fully aware that we were there!!!! We were so elated cause now we were sure they know it was us!!! There was a 9.05am and a 1.15pm plane leaving. We thought that they would be on the 9.05pm plane cause the cool guitar tech said that they would be leaving early but after waiting 8 hours they didn't arrive so we decided to stay and see if they came for the 1.15pm flight. We were so tired. Having waited at the airport from 1.00am in the morning and not having slept for over 30 hours our reward finally came. First we saw Dave but he didn't stop for us but I got a photograph with the cool guitar tech cause I wanted to thank him for the guitar. Then we saw Johnny and I went to him and he was like wow you girls are here. I told him that we had been waiting since one in the morning without sleep for 30 hours and he said "Oh wow". I then asked him if he saw us at the show and his exact words to me were "Yeah we did...you girls were in the front row. I felt so bad that we couldn't get to you. Thank you guys for coming to the show. And this morning we were wondering where you were and here you are". He was so happy to see us. I think the guys got such a buzz out of the fact that we were there to say goodbye. I just said thank you to John and asked if I could get a photograph with him and he said "sure come here" (I swear practically everything the guys said is embedded in my head!!!) So I took a photo with him and then I asked if I could get one kissing him and he said sure and then we kissed for about 10 seconds but no one took the photo so he said we would do it again and we did and I got the photo. I was in awe and I asked him to sign my Hold Me Up cd - the first goo cd I got. So he did!!! I thanked him again and he was like no problem. Kylie asked John if we were pissing him off and he said "no of course you're not pissing us off". It was so funny because the tour manager just said "here are your girls again". So we were all getting our photos with Johnny when all of a sudden Mike and Robby appear. I asked Robby for a photo and if he could sign the cd and he obliged. The guys were so friendly to us and they made us feel so comfortable. We never felt nervous with them. We joked with them openly. The next part is the coolest. We wanted to have a group shot with John, Mike and Robby and the four of us and a shot with the three guys and Fiona's cool mum. We thought it wouldn't happen but thanks to Fiona's mum John came back and the four of them took a picture and then John said group shot and we all went in and Fiona's mum just snapped away. It was awesome. John had one arm each around Kylie and I. It was the one shot that we really wanted!!!! The guys were amazing to us. They then left and we said our goodbyes until Nathan walked up to us and I asked him for a photo and I got it. He is the coolest guy!!! We waited for them to go through the terminal and as Nathan and Mike walked in Kylie yelled out for one more wave and Nathan waved and Mike posed for us in the foor. It was the best. So after 30 hours of no sleep they were gone!!! :-( The weekend was the best time I ever had. The goos are great guys and I have so much respect for them and for the way they treat their fans. We asked John at the airport if they were coming back to do more concerts and John said in six months. I can't wait for it. It was the most memorable time. John, Robby and Mike (and Nathan) are the nicest guys. And all their support crew were so friendly to us. I want to thank them for the best weekend ever!!!!!
Monica, Fiona, Mike, Amber, Nathan, Kylie
Monica, Kylie, Fiona, Amber
The autographed guitar neck
Monica, Nathan, Fiona
Monica, John, Amber, Fiona