Palace of Auburn Hills - Michigan
February 18, 2003
Mari and I decided we were going to "share" the 4th row ticket. She would get to use it for the first half of Goo and Bon Jovi, and I would get the second half. Once we were in the Palace, I walked her to the entrance of section 102. Each section has their own entrance, and security is supposed to check tickets before letting people in. I was hoping security would let me stand at the entrance to make sure Mari would make it to her seat ok. Even better though, they didn't ask to see both of our tickets! Instead, they let us BOTH in! Talk about good luck!
The Goo Goo Dolls opened with Dizzy, I believe. It was great! The crowd started out pretty energetic. After about the 3rd song, I felt really guilty about accidentally "scamming" security, so I went down to my floor seat. Let me tell you, I STILL regret that! There was a nearby seat in our 4th row that remained vacant for the ENTIRE show! Wish I'd known that before!
About midway through the Goo's act, Mari and I switched seats. By this time, everybody in section 102 was sitting down... lazy little bums! But they were all super-nice bums! Anyway, I was the only one standing- heck, I was dancing! It was at that point, that John came onto the catwalk, 20 or so feet from me. He pointed in my direction and began waving and smiling. All the people around me perked up, and were like, "WOW! That was totally all about you!" I just laughed and said, "hey, y'never know!"
During uh... Name, I think, John started talking to somebody in the crowd, and then "forgot" the words. He was like, "um... great, I was so busy talking to you, I forgot the words!" or something of the sort. Oh, and he told the story about the little "monster" girl. You know- the "Gutterflower Girl Story" -about how she wreaked havoc on everybody around her. He was like, "And I wanted to say to her mother, 'oh, I'm guessing she learned this from you??? What is YOUR homelife situation?!'"
The Goo's ended their set with Iris, I believe. Overall did a great job!
During Bon Jovi's set, I was waiting for Mari at our "meeting spot," and guess who was there, just chillin'? No, not the Goo's, but their guitar techs- Damage and two other guys. Being the dork that I am, I walked up and said hello! I was SUCH a dork, but they seemed cool with it!
Damage was joking around with me. He was like, "my roadie friend here wants to try on your jacket!" and stuff like that. He said something about people thinking his friend was "Uncle Lurch from the Addams Family." Never saw the movie, so I couldn't really comment! I REALLY wanted to ask what it was like touring with Bon Jovi, but I didn't want to talk for too long! Ehhhh....
The "pirates" have such interesting jobs! They put so much "behind the scenes" work into the shows, and probably don't get enough recognition for it!
