Garbage live @ Rimac Arena UCSD 11-23-99Mtv College Invasion Tour with LitMe and my 3 friend, Dylan, Jessi, and Stacey, departed around 11:30am for the Rimac Arena, where the extraordinary Garbage would play 8.5 hours later. Our mission was simple: to somehow meet the band and get a front row spot for this general admission show. As we drove to the Rimac in the car Dylan was ranting and raving about Garbage...like he always does. Let's just say he's a little beyond obsessed. :). I, being the more organized one reflected the plan to the other three. First we would scope out the area to find the best spot to wait for the band to arrive. I had already met the band in the past but desparatly wanted to meet them again and see Dylan meet them so he would realize that they are actually real people :). We arrived at the Rimac around noon and walked around the area. We were all getting a little excited. We made our way to the back of the building and saw two gray tour buses. Our mouths dropped open in disappointment when we assumed that we had already missed the band's arrival. However, we were relieved a few moments later when we found out it was only the crew's tour bus. We sat on a bench and ate the sandwichs and chips I had brought along for the long day. Suddenly, I saw a very nice bus coming towards us witha tralier on the back of it. We practically pissed our pants when it came towards us. Dylan and I frantically searched our bags for the garbage items we wanted signed and followed the tour bus. It stopped and the door opened. Me and Dylan held our breath in excitment but let it out in a whoosh when one of the guys of Lit (the opening band for Garbage) stepped out. The four of us made our way over to the other side of Lit's tour bus and met some other die hard garbage fans including Jose and Gloria. We instantly bonded and began to talk about our fav subject: Garbage. As the guys from Lit came out of the bus I said I thought it'd be funny if we got them to sign one of our ziplock bags that I packed the sandwichs in (they have a song that mentions a ziplock bag). Dylan thought it was a funny idea since we all aren't too fond of Lit so we got all of them to sign the bag and got a picture of each member. Dylan plans to sell the authentic memento on Ebay. Later on I saw a familiar face...I walked closer and realized it was Melissa and Heather (the two garbagers I met at the 4-3-99 show). Me and Melissa quickly rebonded and sat down to chit chat. She told me that she and Heather attended the show the night before and plan to follow garbage's bus to irvine to catch the last show of their v2.0 tour. As the hours flew by more and more people joined our group. Many of them weren't even die hard garbage fans. I was starting to get worried. If there were too many people the band wouldn't stop. Me and Jessi were trying to figure a way to sneak our camera's into the show. I remember that the first garbage show I went to at this particular venue the security guards were pretty strict and wouldn't allow cameras inside. We decided that we would put our cameras in our underwear before we got in line (I did this trick in April and it worked like a charm). Stacy cut a hole at the bottom of her purse to hide her and Dylan's camera. The security guards had us move from where we were sitting to the opposite side of the driveway. It was obvious that the band would arrive shortly. There were about 20 people waiting along the side walk. Three teenage girls walked up to the end of the line. One was dressed in a shiny, backless shirt that looked like the one Shirley wore at the April04 show. Melissa went up to them and asked who they were hear to see. They said Lit and Garbage. Melissa said that Lit was in their tour bus and that they should go and try to meet them. They stood their ground. Melissa explained that if there were too many people in the Garbage area the band wouldn't stop. They still stood their ground. I walked over to see what was going on and then pointed towards Lit's tour bus and said, "Hey look, there's Lit!" The three girls let out a teeny bopper scream and ran to the tour bus. Just as it started to get dark 2 cars and a white van drove through the back enterance. I could see Steve, Duke, and Butch in the cars and Shirley in the white van. All the garbage fans got excited and got our stuff to be signed ready. Hopefully they would take time to sign a few autographs. Butch, Duke, and Steve got out of the cars, threw their stuff in the two tour buses and walked over to their fans and signed endless amounts of Garbage stuff. I got my ITIP single and a poster signed. I couldn't believe they took the time to sign everyone's things. There had to be at least 20 people there. They were all really nice like they were before. Butch even said he liked my orange hair. Shirley didn't appear though. Being the smart vixen she is she took advantage of the fans crawling over the guys to sneak into the venue. Jessi peiced the puzzle together when she saw the empty white van parked a few yards from where we were. After the guys went in we went up to the line. It wasn't that big yet but we were glad Melissa had found someone to save our spot close the to front. Me and Jessi went to the bathroom to secure our cameras and woddled uncomforatably back outside. We stood in line for awhile, watching it grow and grow. I talked with Gloria and Jose about movies as we waited. Shortly our other two friends, Monica and Glory, showed up. A camera guy caused choas as he filmed the front and side of the lines saying he was filming a video for the band . Me and Dylan got on camera for about 30 seconds. I went on about how they are an awesome band musically as well as down to earth and consierate of their fans. The line twitched and then stampeded into the Rimac when the doors opened around 7pm. The security guards didn't even check for cameras or anything. Dylan ran as fast as his skinny legs could carry him to the very first row in front of the stage. I wasn't far behind. Eventually all the people in my group were squished up against the bar of the first row. During Lit I got hit in the head many times by crowd surfers as I hung onto the rail for dear life. Finally, their set was over and Garbage came on. They were truley amazing like always. They opened up with #1 Crush, the crowd singing in unision with them. They even played two brand new songs (Silence is Golden/The World is Not Enough). Me and Dylan and Jessi were dead center...right in front of Shirley. She appeared to be singing to us. The security guards were super cool and let me take a few pictures during their performance. They even gave Dylan Duke's set list and gave me Shirley's chord chart to You Look So Fine after the show. This was definitly my fav garbage performance even though I got pretty banged up during the show. I had many brusies on my hip bones that were slammed against the bar. People had their elbows in my sides and backs. It was all worth the front row seat though. After the show me, Dylan, and Jessi ran out as fast as we could back to the tour buses...I forgot my fav sweater :(. Glory and Monica found a fake boob on the floor and brought it back outside where we played catch with it as we waited. It was really cold without my sweater. As Dylan and Jessi ran around trying to find Shirley and Monica and Glory fondled the fake boob, me and Stacy met up with my friends Erin and Andrea (who i met garbage with the 1st time). They didn't get there as early as we did so they didnt get a very good spot. They were more in the middle of the whole floor area. About an hour later Duke came out and signed some fans stuff. I had already gotten my stuff signed so i got a picture with him instead. I heard screams from the other side of the parking lot when Shirley bolted out of the building and into her tour bus. Me and my friends ran over there but it was too late. Shirley was already locked inside the van. Most of the people who were waiting left but we stayed saying "C'mon Shirl!". I suppose she heard us because as the bus pulled away she opened the blinds a bit and waved at us. I watched as the bus drove out of the area. Heather and Melissa quickly pulled out with them in their mini van to follow them to Irvine like they planned. I wished them luck and walked with my friends to meet my parents EXTREMLY satisfied. Live pics taken by Dylan:
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Me, Dylan, and Jessi with the band:   
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