Concert girl is at it again I don’t know about you but I think this little experience is the best one yet So I’m going to see The Wallflowers with The Counting Crows I’m still not sure if it really was such a good idea to go cuz the tickets were so expensive, but what the hell you only live once right? I’d talked a couple of my friends from the Bell (Taco Bell) to go with me I’d already bought my tickets, 17th row center, so we couldn’t sit together but at least we got to go to the concert together. Traffic was hell though we must have sat in it for 2 hrs! The concert was supposed to have started at 7pm and we didn’t even make it to Polaris Amphitheater till 8! We entertained everyone in traffic though' I cranked up the music, held a lighter out the window during the ballads waved to people like I usually do and hung a foot out the window it was very entertaining, for us anyway. ;) So we finally get there and park and I hear the last lines of ‘Angel on my Bike’ from the parking lot then they start up ‘One Head Light’ this is a good sign though because they usually start shows with OHL, so I figured they couldn’t be that far into it. Fortunatly for me when I passed one of the radio stations vans and asked one of the DJ’s he said that they had just started. I got my ticket and wandered into the place with Christy and Heather. They had lawn seats so I told them where to meet me after the show and I went to my seat. I had a great view and I had only missed the first 3 songs (I found this out later when I snagged the set list). They were playing ‘Bleeder’ which is one of my faves and they did so well. They were really into the music and Jakob was wearing his shades. I was right smack in the middle of the stage and I was about the only person standing up I took a ton of pictures too and I think I was about the only one oh well maybe they noticed me? I forgot to ask. After their set they scampered off and I started moving toward the front of the stage however they came out and played an encore song and Jakob was wearing his cool hat! I just kinda ducked into one of the rows of seats and watched from even closer. It was so cool. I love the way even though they don’t move much on stage it’s like their so into the music that they dissapear into their own little world. Their not real flashy because they want you to form your own rythem to the music you know? Well when they finished I walked up to the edge of the stage and one of the guards looked at me. I just smiled and told him I was getting the set list I told him I collect them like other people collect postcards. He smiled and I snagged the keyboardist, Rami’s set list. The place I had told Heather and Christy to meet me at was right by the gate to get back stage. Unfortunatly though they had never been to Polaris on either side of the stage is a pavillion with food and stuff and a brown fence exact opposties of eachother, and they were waiting on the wrong side! Let me tell you I couldn’t have been luckier though! I stood over by the gate minding my own buisness I barely even looked at the gate and didn’t try to approach the security guards however there were four scantilly clad teeny boppers clammering around begging to get back there it was pathetic. I was talking to this guy and girl who had met the Wallflowers many times before. They were really cool. A group of kids and their parents came from backstage and the girl asked them if they were done with their passes but no luck. Then another group came out and I on a whim asked this girl if she was done with her pass. She said actualy yeah, but that the Crows were going on soon so they might not let me go back but I could try if I wanted too. I said hell yeah, slapped the pass on my trusty overalls and turned to the security guard. I knew he could have stopped me if he had wanted too but he didn’t, he just let me go back. Two scantilly clad girls had gone right before me so I just kinda followed them. It turned out that the lucky stiffs knew Mario, the drummer. I was talking to a couple of the guys that worked back there a cook and some of the guards. They were all really cool, and impressed that I’d gotten there. We were standing in this room and at the end of it was a hallway that the dressing rooms were on and there was an entrance to the stage. Mario came out of one of the rooms and the girls went into the hallway I stepped toward them and asked if I should just follow and one of the guys that worked there told me to go for it, so I did. Then Rami the Keyboardist came out too Mario introduced him to the girls he knew and then I introduced myself to Rami and Mario. Mario asked how I’d gotten back there and smiled and told him luck and a how the girl gave me her pass and he gave me a high five! J I was just glad that he thought it was cool that I’d gotten back there. J So I was talking to Rami telling him that I’d seen them in Atlanta at the midtown music festival and how Liz wouldn’t let me throw my bra on stage and he just laughed and said that you gotta hate friends like that. I’ll bet. The cook that I had been talking too asked if I wanted a picture since he saw my camera and we both said sure. I told Rami I always feel kinda dorky asking them for their autographs you know it’s almost like asking a your cashier at Kroger for theirs sure the Wallflowers autographs are worth something, but their just people. Anyway I got his autograph and got his for my buddy Liz too. Liz saw the Wallflowers before they were big she was standing right next to Jakob and Mario and didn’t even realize it and when she did she was too shy to go back and say hi so I got autographs for her. Then I talked to Mario he joked and asked why I was here if I had seen them in Atlanta I told him I go to school there and then we started talking about the weather of all things cuz he said I had the best of both cuz I was here when it was hot in Atlanta and there when it was cold here I still baffles me that out of everything one can talk about I was talking about the weather! Mario asked me if I wanted a picture and we got Rami to take it. He wondered what the sticker weas on the back of my camera I tried to tell him it was Sailor Moon but he was content thinking it was someone else. Of course Mario was puzzled by the tape' what can I say, I broke it on the acropolis! Not many can claim that though! J Rami said something that made me laugh and so I’ve got this huge smile in the picture, he joked that he got me giggling. J So I waited around and one of the guards spotted Jakob in the back. He kept peeking out and then ducking back in. Finally he peeked out and Rami got him to come out though it could have been cuz I motioned for him to come out and say hi. There was a guy backstage in a wheel chair who works for a childrens fund he got the band members to sign a guitar and then they auction it off and with the proceeds they send a dissabled child and their family to disney world. His wife was so excited and nervous though she’d never done anything like this before and It was her birthday too. She got a picture with Jakob and got a b-day kiss from him. When I talked to him I told him the story about Liz not saying hi to him and so he wrote her a note that said "Liz!! Next time don’t fuck up and say hi! Jakob Dylan." I’d given him the set list (Rami was impressed that I’d snagged it) and he asked which one was for Liz I then introduced myself, shook his hand and asked his name. He looked up at me and said "Jakob". It was really cute. He didn’t have a pen either but there was one in the bib of my overalls. I told him Rami had one and I had one so he took mine and then appologized and said he wasn’t grabbing. I feel like a dork though cuz he was going to sign on the back of the set list and I told him he could sign on the front where the other guys did pushy aren’t I? Well anyway the guy in the wheelchair took a picture of us and then said that I should get a birthday kiss too. Jakob asked when my b-day was and I said october 30th the guy though that that was too far off but Jakob said that it wasn’t so I got a kiss and a picture of it. ;) After that the fairy tale ended I got to watch the beginning of the Counting Crows set on the tv monitor in the room and then I left to go watch it from the pavillion. I was talking to a guy that worked there and he said that he always thought autographs were okay because you know you can only look at them and say wow but pictures, they were awsome. The Counting Crows played well and they had a great light show but I was lost after meeting the Wallflowers. I just sat there waiting for the concert to be over so that I could call Lizzie and tell her what happened!!! I still almost don’t believe my luck! J I even got the Counting Crows set list which I sent to Liz cuz she likes them a lot. Not much can top this till I finally meet Trent Reznor I think it’s time for concert girl to sign off and wait for the next show Lollapalooza ’97. No one I’m really excited to see and meet but it should be fun haning with all my friends and who knows, if they want to meet someone I might end up saying hi to Devo. Luv, *Concert Girl, AKA Jen :F