From: Elaine

April 5, 1999
Rockfeller Gym
Buckhannon, WV

We arrived at Rockefeller Gym about 7:15 and found a line about a mile long winding around the Gym. The doors were scheduled to open at 8:30 for the 9:00 show, but by the time everyone got inside, it was about 9:10. We were able to make our way down close to the front near center stage, about 6 rows back. The crowd consisted of mostly students from West Virginia Wesleyan College (as they were given free tickets to the show), and when the lights dimmed about 9:20, and the New Radicals came out, the crowd immediately started pushing and shoving to the front, with lots of crowd surfing, moshing, moshing, and more moshing! It got totally ridiculous with glasses of pop being thrown into the air, so we moved to the far end of the gym, on the right-hand side, and stood next to the railing up about 3 rows in the bleachers. Wow! What a big difference. We had a great view of the stage, even though we were near the back of the gym. The New Radicals weren't bad. The college crowd definitely knew them and their music and gave the band a great response. They played for about a half-hour (a half-hour too long for me). Then the stage was prepared for the Goos.

The Goos came on about 10:20. The stage was set up with a cool backdrop of a window, and all during the show, a "Dizzy" light show appeared in the windowpanes. Dave ran onto the dark stage first and started playing some really cool church-type music on the keyboard. Then the lights started flashing and spinning around. Mike ran out next, then Nathan, then the spotlights turned on and out ran Robby and then John. The crowd went WILD! John had on a black muscle tank top with khaki green, cargo-type, parachute pants. Robby was all dressed in black; long black shorts and a black concert-type T-shirt, and of course, "No shoes!" Mike had on long, tan, cargo shorts and a lime green T-shirt. Nathan and Dave were all dressed in black---black T-shirts and black pants.

The guys began with "Dizzy," and then played the following songs (in no particular order): Long Way Down, Slide, Broadway, January Friend, Black Balloon, Bullet Proof, Full Forever, Iris, Naked, Flat Top, Name, Lucky Star, Lazy Eye, Another Second Time Around, Hate This Place, There You Are, Burnin' Up, and Stop The World (my favorite!).

Right at the beginning of Black Balloon, just as John started to sing, some jerk in the crowd threw something (it looked like a T-shirt rolled up into a ball) and hit John right in the hands/guitar! John immediately stopped singing and stopped the band! He was really pi*sed! He said, "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't throw things at me. I'd like to get through the show with all my teeth. O.K., a*shole??!! The crowd started cheering for John, and he started back into Black Balloon, right where he left off, never missing a beat! However, you could tell through the song, just by his attitude, that he was really upset by the incident!

John wasn't very happy at another point when his mike wasn't working right, and he let someone on the side of the stage know about it with wonderful hand gestures!

At one point between songs, John commented on how hot (and was it ever!) it was inside the gym. He picked up his water bottle, took a drink, and then doused the crowd with some of the water, took another drink, and then got ready to play again.

For the intro to "Name," John began with, "I'd like to tell you a little story now, and if you've already heard it, just shut the F*CK up, and let me tell my story!" It was so funny! He's really quite a character on stage. He then told the "Name Story!"

Several times during the show, a girl (or girls) up front near the stage, was flashing her bare chest at John. The first time, John said to her sarcastically, "Those are really nice, and I'm sure your boyfriend is really proud of you." Another time he said, "Why do you keep doing that? Are you totally bored?" A bra was thrown up on stage at Robby, and he picked it up and threw it right back into the crowd!

"Iris" was done just beautifully. The spotlights on John were an "iris (purple)" color, and even without the orchestra, the Goos sounded fantastic! However, at the end of the song, John turned to Robby, made his right hand into a gun and pretended to shoot himself in the head, as if he really messed up. If he did, I couldn't tell.

After the initial "last song," the crowd started to leave; some of them actually did, but since I knew they did an encore, we stayed and told the people around us to stay too. The encore consisted of 4 songs (sorry, but I can't remember which ones from the list above). The show ended at 11:45.

The evening flew by so fast. I wish it had never ended! This was my very first Goo show, and they totally rocked! They looked great and sounded great, and the crowd really loved them and showed it constantly. The Goos definitely gave us our money's worth in Buckhannon! I'm now counting down the days until they play Pittsburgh on May 25th (only 47 more days 'till I GOO again!!!)!