(Article
is from the San Diego Union Tribune, July 19, 1999, page E1.)
**NEW** TO SEE SOME LARGER, CLOSER PHOTOS FROM THE CONCERT, CLICK HERE. THESE ARE SCANS OF SOME ENLARGEMENTS I GOT.
One word to describe this concert...WOW!
This was the Goo Goo Dolls concert on July 17, 1999 in San Diego at the
32nd Street Naval Station Athletic Field. It was awesome! The
Goos had an amazing stage presence and connected great with the audience.
I had been out of the giant mosh pit right before they went on after Sugar
Ray because I had to reload another roll of film into my camera and needed
some light. I squeezed my way back up to the front center of the
crowd...it was easier than I thought it would be because the crowd was
moving a lot and when a gap appeared I would slip through fast! I
got up front again by the end of the Goos' first song. I noticed
that a couple girls were on top of some guys' shoulders, and I decided
to give it a try. I moved so I was next to a buff guy and shouted
to him, "Hey, you want to put me on your shoulders?!" He agreed and
some other guys near him helped me up and pretty soon I was on top of the
crowd with a perfect view! Johnny was singing right smack in front
of me too. The guy could only hold me up for so long though, so throughout
the Goos' performance I must have been on top of like 5 different guys'
shoulders! During the whole performance there were never more than
3 or 4 other girls atop shoulders also. Being light (only 110 lbs.)
paid off at that concert! All the pictures above exept the one with
red and blue lights were taken from above the crowd. During one song
Johnny looked up and saw me waving my arms above my head and screaming,
and he lifted one hand off his guitar and waved to me! Then a second
later he looked up again and saw me still waving and screaming and
gave me a thumbs up! The Goos had a short intermission during which
they showed a video entitled Greed and Action. It was something about
consumerism...didn't make much sense though. I was on someone's shoulders
still during it, and near the ending I happened to glance to the side of
the stage and saw Johnny just about to run out. I started screaming
and noticed that I had been the first person to notice John was
coming back on stage! Then during my favorite song, Hate This
Place, I was on someone's shoulders again and John looked out at the crowd
and saw me (it was kinda hard for him not to...seeing as I was right
in front of him and on top of the crowd...). I pointed at
him and he pointed right back at me and smiled. I thought I was going
to melt. Robby also sang some great songs...some of them barefooted
I realized. The tattoo on John's right arm looked like it sparkled!
I noticed a sticker on one of John's guitars that said "Lawyers Suck."
At the end of the concert, John threw all the guitars into the movie screen
and broke the screen, but they fell into a net behind it...which was good
or else they would have fallen on Mike (the drummer)'s head! I couldn't
help but cringe though when one guitar missed the screen and fell back
to the ground with a crash. Over all, an AWESOME concert.