From Lauren

July 25^th

The Gorge Amphitheater

George, Washington

My friends Erin and David and I left Bothell at 8am; we wanted to go ASAP to get the best seats possible! We got to the Gorge at about 11:30, stopping once at a rest stop (David and I were asleep though). J Anyways, we got there and broke out the cards, baby. We played Asshole, Poker, Hearts, Go Fish, Egyptian War, and BS. We had brought a portable radio and we had taped all of the Goos� albums so we could listen to them all while we waited. We listened to SSCW,then Jed, then A Boy Named Goo, and then DUTG. All the while bitching about the heat and stuff. We saw some people from our school and we talked to them for awhile, it killed some time. Finally they opened the gates and we rushed in. We ran all the way down to the amphitheater (if you�ve been to the Gorge, you know it�s a REALLY long way from the gates to the theater). We spread our blanket out about 10 feet form the stage and Erin and I went to buy T-shirts while David slept. On our way back from getting shirts, we saw a small group of girls that had congregated near a fence so we joined them. It turned out that you could see the bands' buses from there, and the bands could hear you if you yelled. One of the evil security guards made us go away, but as soon as he left, we went right back over there, only there was just about 5 of us left. We saw Johnny, so we yelled at him to come up and sign, but he didn�t. He smiled and waved, though. Then Nathan came out and we yelled for him too, and he came up and signed stuff. Erin and I got our shirts signed, it�s so mint. By then it was about 5:30, so we went back to where David was sleeping. We inched our way closer to the fence, and when Fastball came on, we were right up front. I only knew a couple songs that they did; The Way, Fire Escape, Out of My Head, Damaged Goods, and Sweetwater Texas. They were really nice though. They didn�t seem like they�d have big heads, or anything. Their last song was Fire Escape, and when I heard the lead singer announce that, I screamed really loud because that�s my favorite Fastball song. J Then we waited for about 45 minutes for Sugar Ray. Their set was really awesome, they had a mini-bar, two clocks that said 14:59 (I think that�s the cutest name!), and a little DJ platform that said �DJ Homicide�. They came in on bikes, it was awesome. I only knew a few of their songs, but it was ok, because their set was cool. I couldn�t understand much of what they said, though. Mark had some people come up on stage and so a rap type thing, it was a volunteer thing. Their names were Joe and Lit, and Joe went first. He really sucked, but next to Lil he was great. Lil just kinda screamed. Mark made fun of them for awhile and then congratulated them for having the guts to do what they did in front of a million people. Mark kinda bothered me, though, because he was being really egotistical. Ick! Then their set was over, and we waited about 45 minutes for the Goos to come on.

They ran on and opened with Dizzy, and from that they went right into Long Way Down. I don�t quite remember the order of their set, but they were really cool. They did Iris, Black Balloon, Broadway, Slide, 2 Days in February, Million Miles Away, Lucky Star, Name, Naked, and so many more. Johnny told this awesome Ricky Martin joke�he was like, "I didn�t make this up, but whatever�I was at home with my girlfriend, and we were making out, foolin� around" (the crowd starts booing here)"�and she said to me, �Johnny, make love like Ricky Martin would�, and I said, �ok, where�s your brother?��oh crap, I�m gonna be getting some la vida ass whoopin". Then he said something about Mike Tyson beating him up, and Robby said, "Nah, if you want a celebrity beating you up, you want the Backstreet Boys, not Mike Tyson�they�d be all synchronized and shit", and Johnny said, "All these pretty spin kicks and shit. I�d be like (pretends to do a spin kick)faggot". There were some people fighting during Full Forever, and so Johnny stopped the song and yelled at �em. He was like, "I know a way to stop this�all fighters are faggots!: Robby was like, "Ok, now that we�ve got rid of the linebacker.." Johnny goes, "Fuck that, let�s just play the next song�wait�what is the next song? Oh, yeah", and they played Black Balloon. He introduced the rest of the band, too. He was like� "And when I get indited for slander and character defamation, theses are the guys who�ll be carrying on without me." He said something about Nathan, and something about Dave, and then he said, "And now here are the three assholes, the three assholes who actually make the records�first, there�s Mike Malinin. Yeah, I know, I wanna fuck him too, but he won�t let me." He said something about Robby, and then Robby introduced him. They did some more songs, and then it was over. I slept until we got to a Taco Bell in Ellensburg, and I ate some Mexifries, then I slept the rest of the way home. I found out the next day that I got terribly sunburned, and I had to go around with aloe on all the time. I had to put it on every half-hour or else I�d be in hella pain. It was a great show though, well worth the sunburn!!