July 31, 2001 Review

This review is from Brians_Chic, who can be contacted through the General Discussion Board on the Official Matchbox Twenty site.

Travis (my boyfriend) and I left on Monday morning to go pick up Molly from the airport. I had a little corny sign that said *MOLLY.... show me the matchbox love* We picked her up and on the road we were to St. Cloud to pick up Smashley... I think the whole road trip to Fargo was about six hours... YAY for road construction.. Haha.

So we get to Fargo around six on Monday night, we check into our hotel and within half an hour we had scheduled a little mini GD get together. We all decided to meet at rktkoala's hotel because it was across the street from the venue. We all debated about what we should do and finally decided to go check out the hotel where the guys were staying at. As we turned the corner to where the buses were, we all screamed. (lmao) I had no idea what I was screaming at, at first, but it was like this big chain reaction. We got out and went in the hotel to look around, but chickened out and left. We decided to go get something to eat, shop for last minute concert items, then head back over to the venue.

When we got to the venue, Ashley, Toni, Travis, and I went exploring around the place. As we neared the back of the venue we heard music. Sure enough, it was the matchsticks. :) According to Molly (she was the ultimate lighting expert) they were doing a technical run through of their WHOLE concert. It was so kick ass! They had left a curtain open so we could see all the way inside to the stage. We saw Paulie banging away on the drums and then saw Pookie shuffling back and forth. (lmao) We stayed there until the super nice security guard told us we finally had to go around twelve thirty. We were all just in awe and couldn't believe that we heard all of it.

The next morning we were all up bright and early to start the day off. We ran a couple more errands, ate lunch, and then headed over to the venue around one o'clock to check everything out. We didn't see the matchsticks yet, but we went around to were the buses and semi's were unloading and watched as Train came and unloaded. It was pretty awesome.

We all head inside the venue at around five because it was so hot and humid out, we could barely stand it. I mean, we were dying of heat stroke before the show even started! So they open up the will call around five thirty and I was the first of us GD'ers in line to get our tickets. They hand them over, and I start screaming; SECOND ROW dead center! I mean, we were right in front of Rob... I was so siked! All of us GD'ers got 2nd row except for Toni:( She ended up with 4th row... but it was still awesome!)

The Old 97's kick ass. They put on a really great show.. The lead singer looks like Brett from Fuel. The way he moves his hips just gives anybody goosebumps! They sing rock and roll with a little bit of hillbilly music thrown in there. It was great. Oh yeah, almost forgot to tell you that the only people that stood up for them during their set was us GD'ers. It was awesome. We had to give props to the band!

When Train came out, we were all going crazy. The put on an excellent live show and Pat really knows how to work a crowd! Woohoo!!! He goes dancing around the stage and flirts with girls in the audience like you would not believe! He is big into wearing button done shirts with only two buttons done up; just they way I like it. Let me tell you, Craig (bass player) is hot! Holy cow, I think I just have a thing for bass players. :)

After Train got off stage, Orcawhale and I started freaking out. We got seats next to each other so it was a good time! The music between sets are the same as last tour so you will definitely know when they are coming on! Their stage is set up differently. There are three rectangular screens that are in front of the platforms that Paulie, Ben, and the piano are sitting on. Paulie is up super high on his drums, so everybody can see him! They got rid of the big white curtain.. but that's ok! :) You can still tell when they come on stage by the glow of Paulie's cigarette!

When everybody walked out on stage... I thought I was going to die! It was such a rush! holy cow! Rob had on his tight blue denim pants. Yummy! With a black t-shirt. Woohoo! :) Paulie was wearing the dirty old green baseball cap of his and redish colored flip flops. Oh! Guess what? Pookie had LEATHER on! =)

They started out with the song "Real World" and then it was on to "Crutch." It was all excellent and you could tell the guys were excited to be back out on the road again! It looked like Rob had a lit of built up energy that he needed to get rid of!

The coolest part about the whole night was during "Mad Season." Rob goes and gets a video camera and during the whole song is video taping up close shots of his face while he is singing and off all the other band members too. It was awesome. Whatever he is taping is also being shown on the big screens set up. Very cool. At one point, Rob went and jumped up on top of his piano and filmed the audience. My heart almost skipped a beat. I was thinking, "Get down! You are going to fall!" (hehe) It was so awesome!

The guys did two new cover songs for us that night. They sang a Black Crows’ song (Remedy) and a John Lennon song (Watching the Wheels). Very, very cool! During the song "Remedy" Kyle and Adam sing the chorus. You could just about melt, it was so wonderful!

When the concert was all over, I had my whole little drumstick fiasco (see below) and then we all left to go see if we could see them at their buses. They all were coming out, but they were heading straight to their buses because there were way to many people standing outside. They would have gotten mobbed! There were some drunk people who sneaked down to their buses and tried to get in them. It was kinda freaky. Security let them through the barracks without question. Next thing you know you see Jason running from inside the building to get them away. It was pretty interesting.

After the buses pulled away, we all went our separate ways but we knew that most of us would see each other again the next night in St. Paul.

I had a sign in Fargo asking for Paulie's drumstick and when he threw it to me the drunk couple in front of me leaned back and stole the drumstick from me. In the process, the beer that they were holding spilled down the front of me on my shirt. So, I made a sign for St. Paul that said: "Paulie... The drunk lady in front of me in Fargo stole my drumstick :( Could you PLEASE try again?!?"

Well, before the concert in St. Paul, we found their buses and met all the guys. I showed Paulie my sign and he was sad but he said he would definitely hook me up with one tonight. I was stoked!

So that night, after "Mad Season" and before the encore, I hold up my sign and Paulie points his drumstick at me and throws. Ashley lunges for it and had it in her hand when the girl in front of her stole it. I was so ticked off!!!! After the concert Toni and her friends walk up to me and ask if I got the drumstick, cause they saw Paulie throw it at me. I said, "Nope. The girl over there stole it from Ashley again." Toni then said that she will get the drumstick for me, no problem. I thought, "Whatever. There is no way the girl is gonna volunteer to give the drumstick away." So I start walking towards the exit. When I look back, I see Ashley, Toni, and Casey standing behind the girl talking while the girl is talking to her friend. Next thing you know, I turn back around and they are all taking off in different directions. They took the drumstick off the girls lap! The girl just sat there dumbfounded and didn't move. Now, you know she wasn't a big Matchbox fan. Because if she were, she would have gotten up and pounded all of them! Lol

That is why I have to say THANK YOU to Ashley and Toni!! You guys rock and I love yah!!

I am so siked.. I got Paulie's drumstick now!! :)