ok now everything else... we left my house at about 9:45 in the morning and drove for 3 hours (including stops... one at safeway for food, one at a rest stop, and I think that was it, but those took like at least 20 minutes combined) and we got to the campground at about 12:45, and we drove around to find our campsite, and there were people in it... we were like ok, check out's at 1 so they still have 15 minutes... but they weren't packing up or anything! they had stuff all over the place and their tent was still up, and they were just sitting there! So, we drove around again and again and again and kept staring at them, and they weren't moving, and then I noticed they didn't even have a car there!! so we went to the ranger station or whatever it was, and registered and told the guy that there were people in our site, and he was like they have til 1, but it was like 12:58, so as we were walking out, I said to leslie "yeah they have 2 minutes" so we drove around AGAIN and they were still there, so at this point we were getting mad, so we parked back up at the entrance, and walked over to the campsite and stared at them and then walked back to the car, and then we drove around AGAIN and they still weren't moving, so we were getting really mad, so we went to this picnic area to park and go walk over and talk to them, but it was too far, so then we went to the boat dock to park and we walked up this big sandy hill and were gonna walk over to their site but then the ranger drove by and asked them if they were leaving and they were like yeah in a few minutes, but their car still wasn't there and they weren't moving!!! So we walked back down to the car and drove around AGAIN, but by then they actually had the car there... it had a boat on it... obviously, some of them were out in the boat, and they didn't bother to pack up before they went, so we drove around the picnic area again and saw some cute guys being yelled at by the ranger for something and drove around by our site AGAIN and they still weren't moving even tho the car was there now, so we drove to the store and bought some water, and that took a long time, and by the time we got back, they were FINALLY gone... by then it was 2:00, and I was kinda mad, cuz they delayed our plans. So, we set up the tent really quick, we did a good job, I was proud of us, we were done and ready to go in 15 minutes. So, we FINALLY took off for the gorge. It was about 20 minutes away. it really is in the middle of nowhere. After we got off the freeway (the speed limit was 70, but there was no one around so we could go like 90), we had to drive for 6 miles on this little road thru fields. I have no idea what bands think when they're on their way to the gorge for the first time... I would be like where the hell am I playing??? I don't wanna play for a bunch of farmers!!!... hehe... So, we finally got there at about 2:45 and got in line. We sat and sat and sat in the sun, and they opened the gates at about 4. So, we walked and walked (it's a long way from the gates to the stage and until u get in site of the stage, which is like right before you get there, it still looks like there's NOTHING there) So, we went down to the floor... well I guess u'd call it the floor, it's the cement area in front of the stage... the rest of it is grass, there are grassy terraces right behind the cement, and a grassy hill behind that. So, we set our blanket down and sat on it. We were pretty close to the stage... not REALLY close, but close enough. Anyway, we sat there for like 10 minutes, when Brad and TJ walk up. Now, it's not surprising that someone else from federal way was there... it's not even surprising that people from my school was there... I'm sure there were probably others... what was surprising, is that out of like 8000 people, I actually SAW someone I knew, and one of the two I saw was a guy I liked. So, we hung out with Brad and TJ for like the whole concert, except for when the goo goo dolls came on... we kinda ditched them to move closer.
OK now if you don't want to know about EVERYTHING that happened at the concert, u probably shouldn't read this part, cuz you're gonna go see it yourself, so I'm gonna write it anyway, and u can read it if u want to.
OK, so fastball finally came on. The only 3 songs of theirs I knew were The Way, Outta My Head (I love that song and I didn't know they sang it), and Fire Escape. They were really good, and I liked them a lot. They only played for like half an hour... I wish they had played longer. But they played Fire Escape last... they were like "we have time for one more song" and I was like damn it's only been half an hour, but oh well. We were about 15 people back I think, and kinda in the middle, but we could see really well, cuz there weren't a lot of tall people in front of us, and there was some space between us and the people in front of us. The guys seemed really nice, like normal guys you would meet wherever. The lead singer (I dunno their names) was like "hi we're Fastball... we don't have a banner or anything... we're working on one... breaking out the watercolors... it's gonna have horses running thru waves... in about ankle deep water." or something like that. Ok, I think that's it for Fastball. I can't remember anything else...
OK, so after Fastball, we went back to the blankets and waited for sugar ray. Their set was really cool. There was a basketball hoop in one corner. There was a Hawaiian looking drink stand. There were two clock lookin things that said 14:59. Where DJ Homicide sat, there was a cool looking arty thing that said DJ Homicide in white against a black background that Mark said the DJ did himself. I think that was it for the set... Anyway, Sugar Ray finally came out. They came out on little bikes... it was really cute!! They were on for about 45 minutes. I got to see Mark really well :) We got pretty close... not REALLY close, but like 11 people back I think... and in the middle... so I could see him pretty much all the time... except when these guys who were like 6'2" came and stood in front of us... that pissed me off... the crowd kept shifting, and sometimes it was good and sometimes it was really bad OK, I gotta try to remember all this. The only songs I knew were Fly, Someday, Falls Apart, and Every Morning. Before he sang Fly, he said something like "You can't help but feel the spiritual vibe at the gorge. I love it here. We lost a upstanding citizen last week, and I can't help but feel the loss personally, so I would like to dedicate this song to John F Kennedy Jr." It was the coolest thing he said the whole concert. Before he sang Someday, he was like "This song is dedicated to the green leaf. This song was written while stoned, played while stoned, and to be enjoyed while stoned." Before he sang Falls Apart, he was like "how many losers from highschool are here? I was a geek while in high school.. I was picked on... I had big zits... We were losers in high school but look where I am now!!This song is about all of us, but we were wimps and put it in third person." Every Morning was the last song he sang, and he was like "Is it ok if we play one more song for you? This is a song about thinking of cheating, but not cheating, because if there's something good at home, u don't need to look elsewhere" And then in the middle of the song instead of sayin "I wanna do it again" he was like "check it... I wanna fuck you again" OK, now random things... that I can't remember when they happened... Mark kept sticking the mike down his pants, to either take a drink or just make the crowd cheer. He did heavy metal kareoke... I dunno what song it was, well I mean I do, I just can't remember what it was called but it was by Twisted Sister (tiffy just told me that lol) and it went "we're not gonna take it, no we ain't gonna take it, we're not gonna take it anymooooooore" It was cool. He kept taking drinks at the drink stand... he was like "I want a fruity drink" and then he was like "you guys didn't pay to see me drink." He brought 2 people, Joe and Lil, onstage to do freestyle rapping. Joe went first, and he sucked... and while he was trying, Mark was shooting baskets, and he made all of them... well at least that I saw... I was like wow... but then Lil went, and compared to her, Joe was awesome... she like did this screaming thing, and said about 5 words... Mark stopped her after like 30 seconds lol. And then he was like "Didn't they SUCK???" and everyone laughed and then he was like "I wouldn't have done any better... there are no winners in this game, only losers." and then he was like "I'm kinda disappointed cuz we haven't gotten anyone good on this tour... usually we get at least one guy up here who is really good" Hmmmm what else did he do? Someone hit him with a beach ball... and he was like "You can't do that!!! I'M MARK MCGRATH!!!!" Mark kept talkin to the people up on the hill... "Hi to all the cheapskates up on the hill... we love the cheapskates" Even tho it all cost the same hehe... anyway he was like "Hi to the girls up on the hill... Dave Matthews Band was LAST weekend... but I like them too..." A bunch of chicks thru their bras at him... He went out on the scaffolding at the side of the stage and started flirting with chicks. I couldn't hear him very well, but I think he asked one to sleep with him, and then he was like "I've got $50" And then to another one he was like "Do you have a boyfriend?? (she nodded) KILL HIM!!!" He said that he almost couldn't get into Canada because of his criminal record... hehe... He was like "I gotta take a seat... I'm gettin old and I was sick... that's why I canceled at woodstock... u don't believe me? ok it was a really bad hangover" And then he said something like "Woodstock was at a military base this year... that's just wrong... this is so much more peaceful... fuck woodstock, I'm at the gorge!!!" He did this weird freestyle thing himself, and I couldn't hear half of it, so I was like ooooook... And that's all I remember...
OK finally done with Sugar Ray!!! ok ok stop cheering now... the Goos are gonna probably take up as much as all that did... So anyway, we went back to the blanket again to wait for the Goo Goo Dolls, and that got boring, so we went to look for a good place to stand... and we didn't realize how long it was gonna be before the Goos came out... it was like 45 minutes... but it was cool, cuz we got in a good spot... by the time they were done, we had managed to move up so we were like 6 or 7 people from the stage... Anyway, something really scary happened before the Goos came on... I didn't see the whole thing but some guy shouted "OH SHIT" and a bunch of people started pointing at this other guy, and like 4 security guards came running over, and he started fighting them, and they finally got him under control and cuffed him, and this other guy picked up a gun and handed it to one of the security guards. I guess that this guy somehow got a gun in... it's not very hard, they don't search you, and they barely look in backpacks. But no guns went off, so that was good. It was still scary tho.
So anyway, the Goos finally came out... there was the weird organ thing and the strobe lights that generally start their concerts, but it wasn't as effective as last time, because it was still light, cuz the sun had just gone down. So they went right into Dizzy when they came out. From that they went into Long Way Down, and Johnny forgot a couple lines and started laughing and was like "You guys all know this the words, spot me on this one." But he got the rest of the song right. It was cute. After Long Way Down they uhmmmm... did Lazy Eye I think... Johnny sounded really good... Then they played Slide, and I think he said something before it, but I don't remember. After that they did part of Full Forever, but in the middle of it Johnny was like "Shut the fuck up!!" and they all stopped playing and everyone was like huh? and then he started talkin to a couple of guys near the front of the crowd. "what?? are you fighting??? do u think this is woodstock??? do you think I'm in a band called limp bizzzzzzzzzzzkit? I know how to deal with guys like that... fighters are faggots!" and then he was like "the only reason I'm so brave is because I'm on stage and I have all these strong guys in front of me" It was really funny... and then he looked confused for a second and was like "fuck it, we'll do the next song.... what is the next song? oh yeah" and they started Eyes Wide Open. Then they did Black Balloon, Bulletproof (during bulletproof johnny sang "do u like the way I feel" instead of "do u like the way u feel" and got this weird grin on his face), and Naked. Then Robby said "We've been making albums for less than half our lives, but not by much, and maybe some of you have some of our older ones, and if u do, maybe you'll know which one this is from, because right now I can't remember, it's called lucky star" And they played Lucky Star, and A Million Miles Away. And before they played Name, Johnny said "if you know the words, sing along, and if u don't, just fake it" So, everyone sang along. And then they played January Friend. Then Johnny told "the Ricky Martin Joke" He said "I didn't make this up, but I'm gonna tell it anyway... the other day I was with my girlfriend and we were kissing and makin out and she was like 'johnny make love to me like ricky martin would' and so I was like 'ok where's your brother?'" and then he was like "I'm gonna get a la vida ass whoop now... if I get beat up it's gonna be by a celebrity..." and then he said something about Mike Tyson, but I forget what, and Robby said "u don't wanna get beat up by mike tyson, u wanna get beat up by the backstreet boys" and johnny was like "yeah and they'd look good doing it too" and robby was like "synchronized kicking" and johnny was like "they'd do spin kicks and shit" and then he started doing spin kicks across the stage lol and he was like "I'd be going like (pretends like he's getting hit) faggots" Then they did Broadway, Another Second Time Around (Robby said "believe it or not, this is a true story), Flat Top, Acoustic #3, and Iris. Then they went offstage, and then came back on for the encore. Johnny was like "stop it, u knew we were gonna come back" Then they played Just the Way You Are and dropped confetti on everyone, but the wind blew it back at the band, so none of it landed on the audience. Then they played Burnin' Up, Hate This Place, and Two Days in February (Johnny was like "This is about a boy, a girl, and a phone bill) OK, random stuff that I don't remember when it happened. Robby was cool, he was smiling the WHOLE TIME, even when johnny cut him off in the middle of his song, he was like "now that we got the linebacker out of the way, let's have some FUN!!!" There was this one girl who stayed on someone's shoulders the WHOLE TIME and she kept getting in my way (grrrrrrrrrrr), and johnny kept flirting with her. It was so cute tho, she was like blowing kisses at johnny, and he pointed at himself and got this look on his face like me????? and then this other girl was on someone's shoulders in the front row for awhile, and johnny was like "you're very pretty, and your boyfriend's very strong." and then he was like "did u know u have a head growing out of your crotch? it's very well groomed." Near then end he was like "thank you for driving all the way out here to see us, and thanks to fastball and sugar ray for treating u right..." and then he paused for a sec and was like "I dunno what the fuck I'm trying to say, so I'll just play" When johnny was introducing the band he was like "since this is the last concert I'll be playing before I go to court on slander and defamation of character charges (because of the ricky martin joke) I should introduce the guys who will be carrying on without me... mark will take my place, he'll make twice as much." and I forget what all he said about nathan december, but then he was like "I've fallen in love only once in my life... tonight... with her (points offstage) and then HE showed up (points at dave)... he stole my love... something something... on keyboards dave shultz" and then he was like "now we're down to the three assholes.. three tenors... three stooges... three assholes..." and then he said something about mike but I can't remember what and then he said something about robby, but I don't remember that either. and then robby was like "wow the northwest... there are three great things about the northwest... good pot (and I couldn't hear the other 2) and everytime I've been to the northwest, I've been here with my best friend, the guy who sleeps across the hall from me every night... on lead guitar and vocals... johnny rzeznik!!" This kid stood up on people's hands or shoulders or something, so he was standing above the crowd, and the people he was standing on spun him around in a complete circle (they did it slowly, but they did it, it was really cool) Someone had a sign, that said "have u seen us?" and it was pictures of robby, johnny, and mike when they were little, and johnny took it from them was like "is this really necessary? there's the dork, in the middle.. have u seen us? like we were kidnapped." it was funny. Johnny was all over the stage.. he kept carrying the mike stand around... he was hard to keep track of. So, that's all I can think of about the Goos... I'm sure there was more, but I'm forgetful.
Wow I'm done... amazing huh? Anyway, after the concert we went back to the tent, ate our lunchables (I had nachos... they were good... or maybe I was just really hungry...Leslie had pizza things that looked good...), and went to sleep... woke up this morning and drove 3 hours home and here I am :) So this only took about 4 hours to write... just about as long as the concert hehe.