Friday Night: I stayed up all night. I can do that, I really don't mind, and I was watching my latest video-tape and writing down the stuff on it (I've a habit of keeping a blank/ready-to-record tape in the VCR at all times, never know when you gonna comce across something you wanna copy! mostly music vids & performances).

So it was like 5 hours long already (first thing on it, making of 'N Sync's vid, "It's Gonna Be Me"; been recording stuff on it since then; my whole collection is more than 15 tapes since summer '98) That kept me up. Silly me, I kept sitting, then was like, well, it's a really long concert and I'm gonna be sitting most of the time anyway! (turn out to be almost opposite) Then I'd stand up for awhile... lay on my bed... doze a bit while the tape was playing...

When the whole vid was over, (I mean it was a little bit longer, 'cuz I'd been pausing, slow-motion, fast-forwarding, & rewinding the whole time) I took a shower, got ready and all, dressed really nice. It was at 6:30am I was planning to leave for the train near my house, so I could catch the 7:20am train to Boston. I continued fixing all my stuff to go there (yup, they don't allow cameras & u have to buy their food, haha) i'd in the nick of time got 110 film my mom was letting me use her camera, no zoom, aww! But it's still a cool cam. It's a Kodak Cameo, and I was also taking candy & coke (gonna buy real food when there) My mom had forgotten to put the cans in the fridge to get cold first (she keeps them in her room so I couldn't get them) but she did put them in the freezer at 5am so they'll get colder faster.

I知 at the concert. There are people everywhere. It痴 like beach day on an extremely popular beach, and the almost hottest day in a while. People are dressed for the beach too. I venture around, looking at some booths here and w/souvenirs, food, & drinks. There痴 even a strawberries booth nearby. I hear if you buy a WestLife CD, their signing autographs there. But there's so many girls in crowding in front of it, no one else can get through.

I can't believe I知 here. You can already hear the music blaring from the giant speakers that resound throughout the place. As I知 walking toward the stadium, I decide to check out the lawn first. The walkway I go up is the one that leads to the back of the lawn. So, basically, I知 as far as you can get from the stage. Yowie. The people on stage are so small I can hardly see them. Less than an inch high. Nobody up here even bothered bringing cameras. You couldn't bring lawn chairs, either (if you wanted, you could've rented them for $8 at one of the booths, and binoculars cost $6).

So it's like 11:50am, on Sat. June 3rd, and right now, it's LoneStar on stage. I missed Innosense & Vertical Horizon, because of the taxi from the station. Realizing the heat is getting too much for me, and WestLife is next on stage, I head down to find my seat. I show a staff-lady my ticket and she points out where to go. When I find my seat, I walk in front of two girls, then sit. I look at my surroundings. Like, now what? In front of me, my mind registers the fact you can't go into the lower sections 'cuz there are staff at every corner of every aisle who check your tix to see if u belong there. I知 like, ratz for that! Then I glance behind me and I really acknowledge there's way many people here! I'm guessing, more than 25,000. Lots of them are walking around, just chillin', because this is an 11-hour concert, with many different performers coming on today & night.

Then I notice, Dale Dorman, the host of the show, has already introduced the next band, WestLife. A five-guy boy-band, they're kinda cute. Their songs are nice. They池e okay. Funny though, the one that looks like Nick Carter is named Brian, and another member is named Nicky.

I reach into my bookbag and started feeding on my M&Ms. and I pull out one of my coke cans from my little soft cooler at the bottom. The coke's Demoulas (Market Basket) brand, but it's still good.

When I look around again I知 noticing these beach balls flying around. Like a big volleyball party, somebody would end up catching the ball; whether it fell on their head, came from in front of them or behind, or hit the person next to them, they would toss it right back up in the air; then the ball followed its air course to either 10 rows from the front of the person, or 15 behind, sometimes slanted to the side, totally unpredictable, yet really funny for the observers, who hoped like crazy a ball wasn't gonna end up on their head! Also, some girls and guys were writing on them as they went around, leaving a permanent message for all to see. I did, too. I think I wrote, "Simbiani luvs Savage Garden & BSB!! 2G" or something like that, I did it a few times.

Next is Hanson. The rock music they do is good. I知 cool w/it. As a lot of fans are jamming to the music, I知 checking out other people's reactions. It does get kind of boring when you're far from the stage; it kinda loses your attention. So I知 scanning the crowds, and I see some women, like in their late twenties, early thirties, dancing and singing every word of the songs. haha. I can't stop smiling and shaking my head. They actually like Hanson? Ah well. After them comes Don Henley to talk about the Genesis Fund, which this concert is sponsoring.

Meanwhile, I find out the next acts will be Vitamin C & Macy Gray. Felt like it, so I go walking like others, checking out the booths again, to see if there's anything I would ever want/buy (there isn't). The shirts range from $25-$40 each. I lean toward the food booth to see their menu, hmm, a grilled chicken sandwich sounds good, even if it does cost $5 with no drink or side or anything else. I get in line, and when I知 called, I order the sandwich. It takes a few minutes to receive it, then I知 on my way back to my seat.

I settle in again, and consult my bookbag for some more M&Ms before I try the chicken. Then a few sips from my coke, and I dig in. Oops. Looks like the chicken sandwich is alone within itself. There is nothing on it, just the meat and bread. (shape of burger buns) Still, it is tasty.

I知 now sitting through the end of Macy Gray's performance. Blah. & Sinead O'Connor is on. No likee her, either. Walk around some more.

When I return to my seat, I find out when Savage Garden will be out, at 2:45pm. So I go down and ask the people coming out of their sections if I could please borrow their tickets to see just one performance! Finally a nice girl says sure, and she uses her friend's ticket w/hers so her and me go down the close up aisles and she says just sit anywhere (there were a lot of empty seats) but she has to keep her tickets so they can get back into the section. I thank her again, and sit down as close as I can get, acting natural, like it is my seat.

Only prob is it's only 2:20 still, and the bass from Sonique's songs is killing me! I知 growing a bit impatient. Then I realize, I can't leave here w/o getting back in, and I really want my bookbag w/me now, so I tell my story (people can't stop asking when you don't show it, "what happ to ur ticket?" me: my friend had it I never looked at exactly what seats it was and she just left w/it, dunno where she went or if she's coming back) to the lady at the top of this aisle. At a little bit a begging she lets me run to get my bookbag. It was only a short run so I said thank you! When I ran back and she nodded. At least I got to keep my seat.

I went right to where I壇 been. Was drinking another soda, and talking to some younger girls (really smart, cute ones, too) when some people came & said we were in their seats. Ratz for that! But instead we just sat in the empty seats in front of us. Haha. Counter-wise, it was third or fourth row, but was just like two feet from the stage cuz of the circular wave of seats. Yay. by now Sonique was off and we were waiting for Savage Garden to come out. I was growing really anxious.

All of a sudden, Dale announced them, and there they were!! The two coolest, cutest, most talented guys of all, Daniel & Darren. Wowie! That was when they starting singing "The Animal Song"! I luv that one! But I was so distracted by Darren (he is so cute!!), and I was taking mad pics w/my Cameo and all! Once, he came so close to the stage end, where I was! He is tall and really sexy! And whenever a ball came on stage, they'd kick it off! (Daniel was funny, he had a great smile, too!) Flying back into the crowd, who screamed more! You know how they make eye-contact with so many people, and sometimes shake hands? Well, it never works for me, darnit. I知 like, look my way! But he still is awesome. Then someone came again, and I had to move a bit way back, like 10th row (6 feet from the side of the stage) for the rest of their performance. I took like almost 3 rolls of film of just them! I only had six w/me. Lotta people have big heads in front of me, I hate that!! Being short does not help; think I値l wear my platform shoes next time. Anyway, every song they sang I knew by heart and so I sang along with them to match the noise of the crowd, man, my whole was in it like those two cuties that made the song (Darren sings & writes; Daniel composes & plays). They performed like 4 of their hit songs; between songs once Darren started conversing with the crowd; he even tried out his "Boston accent"! Later when they left off-stage, I知 like, aww, man! It had to end (like everything) I知 always gonna remember that act.

Well, 礎out here my memory starts fading out the order of things. So I知 just going with the flow, I値l tell you about each performer. I know while I was in those seats BBMak came out. There痴 3 guys in this group. I知 blanking on their names. The cute one (he was on my right) when a ball came right toward him he without moving off the stool he was singing on, bumped the ball with his head, big smile, back into the audience. And their songs are so sweet! I致e got to find out who writes for them. They sing good too.

When Blessid Union Of Souls played, I thought they were cool, too, and a lot of their songs have good lyrics, but then I was getting kinda tired. And hoping that this seat could somehow last all night! Jenn Lopez made an appearance around then.

MEMORY... hope soon failed me as me and a few other people around me had to move (again) for the seats were taken... Only thing was now, so were the others nearest our aisle! So we had to move all back to the right of the stadium, not so far back, but still! And people's heads do get annoying! Anyway, I managed to get an okay good seat for the rest of the night, in Sec. 1, about 15-20 rows from the stage to the right of it when you're watching, and to the performer's left. A lot of performers, though, were more favorable to their right!

After Mandy Moore's singing (she was the youngest act, too, at 16), Sugar Ray came out. Man! They ROCK! Remind me, I luv rock concerts with artists like them! Everyone knew the words to their hit songs, and was singing along. When Jessica Simpson came out girls screamed too. And she talked to the audience, chit-chat, about stuff, then started hinting about her beau; Nick Lachey, who *surprise!* came out and they sang "Where You Are" together, then when the song was over they talked a minute more and he was going to leave, she's like, "wait, don't I get a little kiss?" he looked back with a smile, came back and did so. All cheered and them two were smiling! So cute!

When Jessica was done her set of songs, it was Third Eye Blind's turn. Before they came out Dale asked the crowd, "now how many of you knew that he was gonna be here?" he was talking about Nick of course and then the crowd was screaming in reply. somethings something when TEB started performing I was tired again so sat down in my seat. They were okay. Didn稚 like Amber, either. But when Goo Goo Dolls came out they were the best! They ROCK too!! They played and sang all their hits in true rock&roll style (to me) shaking their heads up & down and all, dancing around on stage, and just enjoying rocking like crazy! Johnny Reznik is cool, one time he let the audience have the mike to sing along for a few words on the end of its stand. And he chatted too. Goo Goo Dolls Eiffel 65 Train Bon Jovi Matty & Billy Christina Aguilera