From Melisa

August 7^th

The World Theater

Chicago, IL

Hey!!! Yeah, so I went to the Goo Goo Dolls concert last night, and I thought you might want to hear how awesome it was. Well, lucky me got to sit 4^th row center stage. We got there and found our seats and right as we were getting back from buying the awesome new stickers Fastball was on stage about to perform. They did a pretty good set, and included the hits Fire Escape, and The Way. Then Sugar Ray came on and did a little bit of a Hawaiian set thing for us�but enough talk about them.

For a concert that I anticipated all summer long, it seemed like it went by so fast. When all the lights went out we could see Johnny waiting by his guitars, and then they came out onto the stage, playing Dizzy. I don�t remember the actual order that the songs went in, because now when I look back not even 12 hours ago, it�s all a big blur to me. There were a few things however that did stick out to me. Johnny did not tell the infamous Name story; instead he told us a different story about a dream he had recently had. I�d tell you about it but I don�t know if he is going to tell it to other crowds, and I don�t want to ruin it for anyone. I can only tell you this; it has to do with the Backstreet Boys. Another thing that I�ve never seen him do before�.he brought a little cup of tea on stage and was drinking and then he would put it down behind the speaker�sorry, I just thought it was cute. And finally, I know this doesn�t even compare to some of the fan encounter stories and I�m sure everyone has had this happen to them before, but I want to say, in the middle of Iris, my friend and I were leaning on the seats n front of us, waving and smiling at Johnny, and he looked and smiled at us. I know that sounds like an everyday story, but it was kinda cool to be acknowledge by someone that cool.

Finally the show ended, but there is always an encore. So we stuck around a little while. And all of a sudden, a big monitor comes down from the ceiling, and starts up a show called Greed. So we of course weren�t paying attention to the movie, instead we were looking on the sides of the stage waiting for Johnny to run out. He finally did, and he played 2 songs and then he goes, "the next song is about a boy and a girl and the phonecalls.." and then he breaks down into a song that goes kinda slow that I have never heard before. I know that is no help, but I do however remember some lyrics. They go like this�"this is crazy�half way around the world�the only thing I just can�t touch.."

Well, that�s the end of my concert �report�. It was a great show. The pictures that I took need to be developed, but then I�ll send them to you. Byebye!