Without You Here

We had all heard that John and Robby had been under the weather the last couple of nights, so it was great to see them so energetic, and seemingly “all better.” John talked to us (although we couldn’t hear much in the first row) and laughed and smiled abundantly. He tossed a pick to one girl, but she missed, and someone else scrambled to pick it up. Seeing her disappointed face, John pointed at her, and told her to come up to the rail. She did, and he tossed another pick about two feet right into her hand. How sweet! I got quite a few smiles from both boys throughout the show, since us Goobers up front knew all the words to every song. Between songs, my mom and I would shout Robby’s name, you know, to let him know he was loved, lol.

Brad went into his solo during Tucked Away, and when he was finished, he threw his pick that he was playing into the audience. What do you know, it landed right on my arm. My mom and I freaked, she swiped it, and stuffed it into her pocket. It's all smudged, so you can tell he used it!

When John came out with the towel on his head, Robby pointed at him and mouthed to the crowd, “he looks like a homo queer.” Then he proceeded to put his hand on his hip, bend his knee, and wave his other wrist (you know what I’m talking about, doing a “gay” posture), poking fun at the way John looked. So hilarious!

John played his guitar for every song except Without You Here. He didn’t play much in Become, Brad did most of the playing on that one, but John lost the guitar for the last one and gave us some highly emotional moves; getting down on his knees, throwing his head back, holding the microphone with both hands, etc. It was great to see him with his guitar for the majority of the show, but to also play one song without it.

John actually introduced everyone (except himself, of course), which was really nice. I always love for each member to get some recognition. He also had some mighty awesome guitars that I wouldn’t mind being the owner of (whether they were John’s or not!). He had a snazzy red Gibson (a hollow body broadcaster, my favorite style of guitar), as well as a nice acoustic with a red tint.

The Counting Crows

I can’t say much about them as we left right after the Goos went off. We walked around for a bit, tried to get back to their buses (to no avail), and talked to a friend we made at the show. (She won a meet and greet, and said it wasn’t all that great, but she enjoyed it just the same). This is when we met Jared and Jesse from Augustana.

While we were waiting for the Crows to come on, we happened to see Damage. We got to chat with him for a minute or two, and he offered to give us each a pick. They were both blue, but my mom got a John pick (smaller), and I got a Robby pick. Both say, “like nothing else” on the back. He was very nice!

Since we had such great seats, we thought we’d give the Counting Crows a chance. In my honest opinion, seeing them live has not changed what I thought about them before. To me, they are a boring band. I watched them play three or four songs, each sounding about the same, and Adam droning on while shaking his “hair.” We were hot, hungry, thirsty, and tired, so we decided to go back to the hotel after about the fifth or sixth song.





Overall, it was a great concert. Of course they didn’t play quite as long as we would have liked (about an hour and fifteen minutes), but I was thoroughly satisfied. They did their best, they put on a great show, and we had amazing seats. I can’t really complain. This is just a taste of how amazing they are going to be when they get to tour solo! Woo hoo for Goo Goo!! (Almost as stupid as “Ga Ga for the Goo Goos,” lol).