August 7^th

The World Theater

Chicago, IL

From Rebecca and Ginger

��������� (aka Googirl)

 

We waited 3 long months to see our second Goo Goo Dolls concert, and on August 7^th, the day had finally arrived.

On our way to the New World Music Theater, we got lost, but luckily we left early enough that we didn�t miss anything, and we had plenty of time to walk around. When we got to the theater, there was a small band on the second stage. They were very good, but unfortunately, we have no idea who they were. We were quite disappointed at the number of heavily made up, scantily clad females, and we felt noble because we were wearing our Goo shirts form the Peoria concerts (see fan encounters for GooGirl and Rebecca), and jeans. We quickly found our seats (they were in the BB row, and were a lot better than we had expected), and waited for Fastball to start. They were quite good, but when you are waiting for the Goos, anything can seem too long and boring. Fastball got everyone standing during "The Way", and then played "Fire Escape." During the intermission between Fastball and Sugar Ray, we went to get our tee shirts, and there were so many to choose from!! Unfortunately, they were expensive.

Sugar Ray bombed, (in our humble opinion). We went to the bathroom when they were on. We sat in silence while everyone around us was screaming and dancing. We were sitting right behind these two very drunk couples, and they were very obnoxious. Mark McGrath kept on sticking the mic down his pants, and his pants were falling down due to his lack of ass. It was very amusing, the "Sexiest Man in Rock", has no ass!! He is now known to us, as Mark McAss-less. He kept on slurring his words when he was trying to talk to the audience, and even had numerous bottles of beer up on the stage. Sooner than we had expected (but still not soon enough), Sugar Ray left the stage and handed the stage over to the real starts of the tour.

Now, to talk about the Goos!! As soon as the lights were off, everyone was on their feet, screaming. They opened with Dizzy, and everyone in the whole venue started to scream. After Dizzy, they played, Long Way Down, and after the guitar solo, the mic failed, but luckily, they got it running relatively quickly. Then there was Lazy Eye, and after that, almost everything was a blur. John told a hilarious story right before Name. He had to start over about 3 or 4 times because all the girls started to scream when he opened the story with the line "I was lying in bed." The story was all about John�s dream about the Backstreet Boys, and how they come to him in his nightmares, and either want to do him or kill him. He is a very good comedian. He said that in his dream, when they are beating him up, all he could say was "Fag! Fag!" Everybody in the audience could not stop laughing. During Name, many people broke out their lighters and sang along. Through the whole night, Ginger�s lighter kept on being blown out by the wind and drizzle.

Of course, the Goos played Slide, Black Balloon, Iris, and Name, and most of the audience sang along. The audience cheered a lot more for the Goos than for Sugar Ray (yes!), and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Ginger and I sang along to every single song and screamed until our throats were sore. Many people cheered for Robby even though he only sang 3 songs, much to our disappointment. The three songs that he sang were January Friend, Full Forever, and Burnin� Up. We both agree that Robby should have sang much more, cuz he rules!!! They only played one song from SSCW, which was Fallin� Down. After the guys left the stage for the first time, there was still heavy cheering and screaming. Then the scream came down for the little movie, and people started to leave. Their loss. After that was done, the Goos came exploding back onto the stage with silver confetti flying everywhere. They sang Just the Way You Are, Burnin� Up, Hate This Place, and an awesome version of Two Days in February. During that song, the screen came down again, and showed a silent clip of a woman talking on a phone. John said that the song was about a boy, a girl, and a really hefty telephone bill. After that, John and Robby threw the mic stand into the screen, along with their guitars. Then the show was over. L

When we tried to stand by the fence where the buses were, we got told to leave twice, but kept coming back. Finally, this old, cranky security guy emerged from the building and told us to leave through an exit we did not come in through. The problem was our rides were at the opposite side of the exit. The guy did not seem to understand this, and asked us if we understood English. When he was walking away, we flicked him off.

We still have 5^th row tickets for the Milwaukee show on Tuesday!!