| *cracks knuckles and fires up memory to write "Cincinnati 3/8/01: THE REVIEW!"* It was my first concert, Cincinnati. Not exactly my first, per say, but my first REAL, LIVE, MATCHBOX TWENTY concert! I had only been a "registered" fan for a couple of weeks, and still new to the world of fandom and the GD, but I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to learn and love all that was Matchbox. Since I didn't know anyone on the GD yet, and none of my friends were fans, I was making the trip alone, but my mother was driving and buying the hotel room for after the concert. We had to leave right after she got off work, and the 2 hour drive was uneventful. I had purged myself of all MBT songs prior to the concert to make it more fullfilling, and by this point, my system was REALLY craving a dose of them! So we got to the venue, the Firstar Center, right at 6:30. Mom dropped me off at the street level parking garage, and I had to take an elevator up to the entrance level of the venue. I was terrified! I had never been in downtown Cincy before, and there was a scalper standing RIGHT there when I got out of our van! I quickly brushed passed him, said "no thank you" when he asked if I wanted to buy a $200 ticket, and got to the elevator. I really had no clue as to where to go, so I followed the others that got in with me, and from listening to their conversation, I gathered that they were going where I was. In fact, I follwed them from the elevator straight to the door! And I saw my first real homeless man, as well, sitting near the door. I felt bad for him. Here I was spending all this money on entertainment, and he had nothing. Anyway, once getting through the door, I made a beeline through all the vendors to find my seat. I was so fricking nervous, I felt really alone, and I was so excited at the same time, too!!! This was my first mistake, though. I should have stopped by the merchandise booths first, because once I got to them at the end, all the good stuff was gone. :-/ *Note to Self: Drag Smashley to the booths before the concert in Indy.* So I finally made it to my seat, Section 6, Row D, Seat 8, on the floor. Meh, it was decent for $36. There weren't many people around me, and I wondered where everyone was. I thought, "These are floor seats. Shouldn't they be all sold out???" Behind me, though, were a bunch of girls slightly younger than me. To this day, I believe they were GDers, but I'm not sure. I never got up the courage to ask!!! But before the show started, I evesdropped, and I thought I heard mention of a thread that had been floating around...I dunno. Plus, they had on some kind of passes. Only after Cincy did I learn about the GD pass!!! My second mistake, not having one, not being able to identify myself!!! And I even saw Jason before the show, too...damn, I made a big boo-boo there! I even bought a sort of pass-like thing before the show, and one of them asked me how much it was. It was my perfect chance to ask! D'OH! But enough of that...time to get to the good part, the SHOW! I don't really have much to say about Lifehouse and Everclear, simply because I don't remember much, and that I didn't really pay much attention. I did like Lifehouse, but I sat through their performance. I sang along with "Hanging By A Moment," and I was impressed enough to buy their CD later that week. As for Everclear, more people had showed up between them and Lifehouse, so when they performed, I had to stand to see them. I didn't like them much at all, but I did sing along with "Wonderful" and "AM Radio." Both groups did pretty much what everyone else was reporting, including getting fans on stage. One girl got kicked off, though, she wasn't dancing like Art wanted her to! Then, after Everclear left, TONS of people started filling in the venue! A whole group of snotty girls around my age arrived and sat to the left of me, and throughout the rest of the concert, I wondered why they kept looking over my way. What, did they think I was famous or something??? I almost made a comment during "Last Beautiful Girl," but I held my tounge. Anyhoo, from reading the GD threads, I knew how MBT's set started, so my eyes were glued to the discoball above my head, waiting for it to start spinning!!! *briefly recalls that feeling of anticipation* Sigh... :) And then...it did...I heard a squeal throughout the crowd, and the lights went out, followed by 5 lovely silhouettes on the white screen...OMG! The time had arrived, MATCHBOX TWENTY WAS ABOUT TO PERFORM! *silence, please* *insert opening guitar riffs of "Crutch" here for audio sound effects* Kyle, oh lovely Kyle, began the night of a lifetime by playing that opening riff like a god!!! I screamed like a nut (Maybe that's why those girls were looking at me. Damn, they really were sluts.), and sang every word by heart. Virtually, every part of the concert was the same as the others up to this point, so there's not much to elaborate there. There were only a few key neat-o things to point out: 1) During "3 AM," which I totally loved live, Rob allowed us to sing the last chorus. Up to that point in the tour, no other group got to sing anything, and they were quite miffed about it. I felt special bragging about that later on the GD. hehehe 2) Before "Last Beautiful Girl," Rob said that sometimes he would get this song in his head, and he would start dancing to it. Rob said that he was afraid of someone walking in on him while he was doing this, and saying to themself, "It's the drugs!" He also mentioned that it was one of the better "shake your ass" songs that they perform. Oh Robbie...every song is a good one when you shake your ass to it!!! *drool* Oh, wait, I was writing a review, wasn't I??? Sorry... 3) My second favorite thing, I suppose...I'm not sure at which point he talked about this, but Rob mentioned "WKRP In Cincinnati," since we WERE in Cincinnati. (Duh.) Rob said he didn't know how we could stand people coming up to us and singing the theme song. He said, and I quote, "I wouldn't walk up to anyone singing no fucking theme song." I even used this as my sig for awhile! LOL He also mentioned how he loved the little bars here in Ohio, and how they performed a little karaoke the night before. Note: In LFA, Rob says how much he likes Ozzieland, and how he just doesn't say it about everywhere. Something to the effect of, "I don't say, 'Oh, Ohio, I love it here,' just because I'm there. I really love it HERE. *points to crowd or something*" (Close, meh.) Rob, darling, have you finally learned to love Ohio, less than a year later? LMAO 4) My favorite part, was of course, the performance of "Push." I don't remember if Rob talked about anything beforehand, but my god...everytime I hear this song, it's a whole new experience. He performs it a way live that just can't be duplicated on the album, or by just hearing it. Seeing him sing it...that's what really ices my cupcake! I believe that's about it. Like I said, most of it was similar to the other concerts. A lot of people left during "Lonely Weekends," though, and that ticked me off! Like, the concert wasn't over, where the hell were they going??? And then, alas, the last drum was beaten, the last string played, the last vocal sung, and the boys left the stage. I truely felt fullfilled, and glad I had gone. Nothing had gone wrong, and I had a wonderful time. So I wandered my way back up to the entrance level, and stopped by a merchandise booth. Everything was pretty much GONE, but I managed to score the ball cap and keychain. One yah-yah got the last set of stickers before me, and I was pissed! LOL They really need to offer those on the site... After the concert was over, I was supposed to call Mom's cell phone on mine to tell her to come and pick me up. Stupid me freaked out when my provider wouldn't let me call. I had NO change, and I didn't know what to do!!! But finally I realized that I was roaming, and had to dial 1 + the area code before the number. I blame it all on the post-concert-excitement, and not my general idiocy. *hopes they believe that, and inserts cheeze smile here* Shortly thereafter, I was whisked away from the Firstar Center, and off to Denny's for a midnight snack. Lo and behold, there was a huge-ass SUV limo in the parking lot with people getting into it as we arrived. I wondered who was in it, and figured it wasn't MBT, since they wouldn't have enough time to get there yet. If it was someone famous, it was probably Everclear, since I heard later that someone mentioned them going around in SUV limos. But I didn't go over and look, my mind just didn't click at the time. (Gee, mistake #3!!!) After drinks and sundaes, it was back to a luxury room at the hotel, and a night of dream-filled sleep. I won't ever forget the highlights of my first MBT concert. It was worth every dollar, and all my expectations were met. hehehe Why, I enjoyed it so much, I plan on going to many, many more! My final mistake, though, was not getting there early or staying after to see if I could catch a glimpse of the band and the busses. Oh well, I really didn't think of that at the time, and I was too nervous to have done it by myself anyway. (MWAHAHAHA...there's always next time!!!) And so, like my first concert, this was my first review. Beware, err... *prepare* for the next one to come soon! =) Hopefully I won't be making any more little "mistakes" this time, and HOPEFULLY *crosses fingers, toes, eyes, and tounge* I'll get an even BETTER seat! And pictures! Dammit, my 5th mistake! I didn't take a camera...the ticket said they weren't allowed, and my seat wasn't good enough to get decent ones anyway. I'm sorry I don't have any of Cincy! :( *goes and buys a case of disposables for the next concert* ;) Viva la matchsticks! :) |
| ©2001 by Rebecca J. Burke & Hashbrown Casserole for the Matchbox Twenty Soul, Inc. |
| Cincinnati, OH 3/08/01 |