From: Olga
April 3, 1999
Ft. Gordon
Augusta, GA
Niki and I got to the Army field in Augusta very early next day hoping to meet the Goos before the show. We found the place easily. It was 2 p.m. and it was burning hot this time, I got suntanned from standing under the sun for so many hours. The Goos' tour bus arrived around 3 p.m. and we saw them come out of the bus, Johnny was last as usual, walking his sluggish walk, lol! They went straight to the tents in the back, where some preshow party sponsored by a Georgia radio station was going on. I could see them give autographs and take pictures with the radio show winners from behind the fence, I was so jealous! Niki and I tried to go backstage but they didn't allow us. So after like 15 minutes, they came back to the stage set and got ready to do sound check. We could see their behinds real well, hehehe. Watching sound check was probably one of the higlights of the night. Johnny's voice sounded very different, I guess he didn't want to strain it too much before the show. They sounded great to me, but Johnny seemed to want more from everyone. We stood behind the fence for a long time waiting for them to have some free time so that we could then interrupt them. Robby, Mike, Dave and Nathan took a break and Johnny stayed on stage going over the sound thing. So I met Robby with the fence in between us, but that was just fine! I mean, it was a god damn military base, lol! So Robby greeted me and was just as sweet as when I last met him. I really liked his new haircut, it's layered now, and he made fun of it saying it was like in the old days. He signed my ticket stubs from past concerts and recognized I was from Florida because of the Pleasure Island and Pompano tickets. He remembered Pleasure Island real well, I was surprised. He then said they were gonna be in Florida like forever, I think he meant this coming fall with Sugar Ray! Robby is so wonderful, he makes you feel special for no reason at all. Oh, and his toes are a sight, he was barefoot walking on the grass! He must have iron feet. After meeting Robby, I saw Mike coming out of a trailer and I called him over once. I gotta say Mike is one hell of a good looking guy. This is the first time I got to see him real close, and he is in no flaunting way very handsome. I was nervous looking at him, though he never looked at me straight in the eyes, I can tell he is very shy like everyone says. He was picky in signing my DUTG CD, lol. He was really nice to us. Too bad I couldn't get any pictures with them. I don't think they wanted to get heat exhausted like I was so I didn't insist. The gates opened at 5:30 pm and Niki and I were able to get middle front row this time. As the crowd grew larger with teenagers, I worried about later when the Goos came on. I was there until local band Impulse Ride finished playing because of certain mishaps, plus it was a wild jungle in there with the young crowd surfers. There must have been about 3 crowd surfers over my head at once. The heat in there was a serious issue. Right in front of us there was a full row of soldiers watching us, so I don't think I could have taken any pics :( I got out of the pit right before The New Radicals came on. I was kinda upset, but it was probably the best thing I could have done. I watched the concert from Johnny's side by the speakers. It was a far view. You could see the crowd upfront sardined from where I was, and it only got worst. It was a massacre, people were being pulled out all the time by security, lol. The crowd surfers outnumbered any concert I have been to so far. There must have been about 15,000 people on that field. Anyway, I saw Johnny from the side go up the stairs to launch Dizzy. They were magnificent, the light show was just as beautiful as last night's HOB except the stage was bigger, but the sound was simply AWEsome! I'm still in AWE remembering! A lot of crap was being thrown at Johnny, it pissed him off at one point. He stopped the concert and said how they've been playing for more than ten years and that after so many years he would deeply appreciate it if they didn't throw so much shit at him. When he said "Take it away Mike," I thought he walked off the stage, but he didn't! Phew! He came back with Naked. Still some idiots kept throwing shit on stage. I got beer on me thrown from behind again, I had had it with the beer! Robby introduced Johnny as 'Mr. John Rzeznik.' Finally, I loved it when Johnny kept smahing his guitar over and over and it wouldn't break. It was hilarious to see him throw it all over the stage because the guitar would just spring off the floor intact. Finally he broke it in two and got that heroic satisfied smile on his face. The bus literally fled from there as soon as the concert finished. I think the huge mob of people scared them. I was very happy to see them two nights in a row, hopefully I can see them again later this month when they come to Florida, I can't wait for my next concert!