These reviews are from Teresa. The pictures of her, her friends, and No Doubt were taken by Teresa and are her property. Please send mail to SimpleKndOfLife@aol.com for inquiries about this story or its pictures. The following is not the property of, nor has been edited by, Sunpist Groves.

April 5, 2000
The 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.

NO DOUBT
The Suicide Machines

NEW
SUNDAY MORNING
BATHWATER
DIFFERENT PEOPLE
MAGIC’S IN THE MAKEUP
JUST A GIRL
MARRY ME
HAPPY NOW
TOTAL HATE
STARING PROBLEM
DON’T SPEAK
EX-GIRLFRIEND
EXCUSE ME MR.
SIMPLE KIND OF LIFE
SPIDERWEBS

I'm finally sitting down to write this extraordinary tale of 2 No Doubt fans who wouldn't let anyone stop them from meeting "The Best Band This Side of Saturn!" I'll try to remember every single detail because I want to remember every moment of it, the good and the bad, and so many wonderful No Doubters have asked to read my review. I'm writing this at 4:47 am on Friday April 7, 2000 (exactly 3 years since I met Bush!!). I just got home from the 3rd concert in 3 days. Wednesday April 5th I saw No Doubt in Washington D.C. Thursday April 6th I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers (btw April 6th is the 4 year anniversary of the very first time I saw No Doubt in concert, with Bush! and the day I became a certified No Doubt fanatic) and Friday April 7 I saw Britney Spears. Yes I love all types of music which you can tell by those concerts I've mentioned. Though I've been to a ton of shows since that first one back in '96 when I was "only sixteen!", none will compare to my 3rd No Doubt concert experience. Sit back, relax, and enjoy vicariously living through this amazing experience.

Note of importance: When reading this, you need to know that I had my framed picture of Gwen that I drew and another picture I made that is like a 3D tribute to the band. The background is a picture of stars (realistic looking sky) with one of my favourite group pictures where they’re all hugging, it’s pretty new, Gwen has pink hair in it. Above them I had the new No Doubt Return of Saturn logo and beside that I had a 3D Saturn that is the exact same as the Saturn from a plug in light that I gave them. The Saturn is blue and glittery with a green ring around it. It’s made of plastic and it looked really cool. Under the band I had printed out “The Best Band This Side of Saturn”. The picture had glitter and tiny star stickers around it and was in a thick black frame.

My sister and I left here at about 11am and arrived in Washington D.C. at about 3:30-4pm. We found the club very easily but were a little less than thrilled with the atmosphere. You don’t see much graffiti in southwest Virginia. We got to the club and sat down outside with about 10 other fans. Across the street from the club was a purple tour bus and in the alley beside the club was another bus, I think black and silver. After we sat there for a little while and made a few new friends, we went to the alley where there was a 9:30 club “guard” who really got on my nerves. They think they rule the world or something, they don’t even have the power to meet the band themselves, much less get me backstage, and I wasn’t about to kiss up to some jerk who was being really rude to me and all of the other ND fans! So anyway, the good part about standing over there, not only seeing the bus, but we got to listen to some of No Doubt’s soundcheck!!! The door was open halfway and we heard them warming up. I heard some of Excuse Me Mr., Happy Now, Doormat, and a few of the new ones which I wasn’t that familiar with at the time to recognize them because it wasn’t that loud, one of the doors inside was shut but the outside door was open. We waited and talked to some ND fan friends we met who also had a pretty long drive like we did. While listening to soundcheck, the sublime sound (no pun intended) of No Doubt was briefly interrupted by a local who began harrassing our little group. As he walked by we heard him yelling loudly “Go home where you belong you **BLEEP** Virginians!!!” We felt so welcome! Shortly after that crazy incident we saw Stephen come out to the bus and get something. He looked over and waved to us but had to go back in and didn’t come over or sign autographs. After that, Gabe came out to the bus too and he was really cool and said hi and stuff and waved and one of my new friends showed him her sign that she made. It was a 2 part poster that said “Will sing for .. Backstage Passes!” and he laughed and liked it. We stood around for a while longer until right before 7:00pm. The line was getting pretty long behind us and the friends we were standing with headed up front where one of their dads had been saving their spot. Where we were standing, we were in the alleyway a bit and the line continued behind us and the people behind us assumed, as we did, that we were also in line. A fan came up to us and asked why we were standing there and wanted to know if the band had come out and I told him that we were just waiting in case and that we were in line. The “guard” said “not necessarily!” and suddenly decided that we weren’t in line and was telling us that we had to go to the very back even though we had been there for 2 1/2 hours. (It meant nothing to us where we would be standing inside the club, we just wanted to see and hear our favourite band and we weren’t about to let that loser ruin our night.)

There was a nicer “guard” that came up and took the place of loser #1 while he went on break and we talked to him and asked if there was any way that we could get all of our gifts to the band so they wouldn’t be destroyed in the crowd. He told us to go to the front of the club and “talk to the guy will all the stuff on his face.” Since we knew we no longer had a good spot in line, we decided to just hang around back some more until it was about time for the doors to open and 2 of the fans we had met earlier came up to us and said that we could stand there with them because they were at the front of the line. :) We THANKED them!! and then walked up front with them and saw “the guy with all the stuff on his face” and decided to give it a shot. He was putting up signs and posters saying “ID required”, “NO illegal drugs”, “No video/audio equipment” (even though the club normally allows cameras) so about 5 of us went up to him. He was about 6’5” 350 pounds, a shaved head, several tattoos on his face and arms and a spike through his nose, not to mention the ‘10 pound earrings’, and no personality (very unapproachable). I went up to him and he turned and looked at me like I was supposed to be afraid and be too intimidated to ask him anything. Instead, I was pretty amused. I explained the situation and that I had been referred to speak with him. He kind of snorted and said “We don’t do backstage passes..... I can get it to the manager for you” but all the while I was thinking “You’ve got to be kidding, I wouldn’t trust you with a used tissue. lol” He gave another annoyed glare and I thought, “Yeah and thank you too!.. Moron!” We turned around and went back to the line and laughed then started a conversation about how crazy it was to get tickets when they sold out for that show in 6 minutes. Knowing that scalpers who were lurking in the alleys were disappointed that e-bay had already come through for us. By the way, while we were standing in line, there was a local cop on the scene arresting them. We felt like we were on “cops”. (ND fans ::sings theme song:: bad boys bad boys.. whatcha gonna do... *fades out*).

Just before the doors opened, there was an announcement that if you came in with a camera that it would be taken, smashed, and the film destroyed. If you did hand over the goods, it would be returned to you after the show. When you entered you either show your ID or both of your hands were stamped with 9:30 Club logos and your camera was thrown into a big box after they wrote all over them with a black marker. We then walked to the front of the club with our new friends who let us stand with them in the 2nd row center. Looking down at our two large sharp frames and our “Gwen goody bag” we knew it would be a problem. My sister spotted the nice “guard” to the right of the stage and I stayed and saved our spot while she went and asked him once again if there was ANY possible way to get the gifts to the band before the show. He said to try one more time talking to “the guy with all the stuff on his face” who was up on the balcony on a stool. We didn’t really care where we’d be standing during the show so we took another try. We found our way upstairs through a thick cloud of smoke. We spotted “’Goliath’ the menacing brute” .. he saw us out of the corner of his eye but refused to look straight at us. Without saying a word, he pointed towards “coat check” and we became very frustrated with this whole scene. What a contrast, a great band and a heartless non No Doubt friendly staff. After I was BEYOND the point of frustration, I slammed my gifts down and sat on the steps and started crying. (when I’m mad, I cry.. REAL mad) We were still in shock that everyone was so clueless and unwilling to help us out. My sister, who would not give up, peaked behind the curtain backstage and just then, Stephen came by and she grabbed his arm and was on the verge of hyperventalating. He mouthed “just a minute” and pointed behind him. As he continued walking by my sister saw Tony and freaked out! She yelled “TONY!!” and I ran over. Right after that, a man came out who was wearing glasses, a baseball cap, and a mustache. He asked “What’s going on out here?!?” In all of our excitement, we both started talking at once trying to explain all that had happened earlier and that if we could just get our gifts to the band, it would only take a second and we’d be out of the way. We explained to him how much time we had put into the presents and just wanted to make sure that they received them undamaged. As we pleaded our case, he interrupted saying “Tell me, do you want your **** smashed or do you want to get it to them?!?” We explained that YES we DID want to get it to them. He kept talking over us and seemed to not be listening. We were already so frustrated with everything that had happened before that we thought he was just another rude staff member who couldn’t help us in any way. I really wasn’t up to hearing the whole speach about how they “don’t do backstage passes” and they could “only get it to the manager but you can’t meet them”. I told my sister to come on and to give up and began pulling on her arm but she wasn’t budging and was yelling “No!!..wait” and the guy grabbed my arm and was saying “Wait you’re not listening” (remember I was very mad and upset at this point/not my usual self) I told him that “No, You’re not listening.. I’m not taking any more of this” and began to walk away He said “Alright, go on then... No! go on!” and stuck his hand in my face so I left with my Gwen drawing. I went to the other side of the club and could not believe that I came all this way and waited so long and it didn’t seem like anything was going my way. I stood there for about 10 minutes and saw my sister who continued to plead with the man and then she came back over and found me. At first I thought he had said something really rude to her because she was in tears but she took me aside and whispered “He gave me.. a ... backstage pass!!!!” I had so many different feelings, and was in shock so I wasn’t able to rejoice like I had always dreamed I would if that moment ever came. She told me that she explained to him that I had just been excited and frustrated with the 9:30 Club staff and that I didn’t really mean what I had said and the way I had acted before. He seemed to understand and said that he’d give me a pass too if I came back and apologized. We went back over and there were a few other people standing by the curtain. He looked at us and said “It’s going to have to wait just a minute” and went backstage. We waited and he came back out. I told him what all had happened with the other staff members and he said “Don’t assume we’re all like that.. It doesn’t matter what they said, I’m the keeper of the backstage pass.” If you don’t know by now.. we had just met No Doubt’s manager!!! We were SOOO HAPPY!!! and we thanked him again and again! He explained us that when the concert was over that the staff would tell everyone to leave the club but we were to put our passes which were stickers on our shirts and meet with the others. He told us to keep them in our pockets, out of sight until then. We thanked him again and he said he’d keep our gifts backstage and bring them out for the meet and greet. We were extremely grateful and relieved at the same time. Feeling so much better, we went back downstairs and looked at the tour merchandise. There we found another really pleasant employee (sarcasm). We chose the “NEW” shirt, a new navy blue Return of Saturn shirt with tourdates on the back, and an X-Girl ‘girlee tee’. When we added to that, 2 sticker packs, the employee became confused and angry because he had to retotal the price. It was extremely loud and we couldn’t really hear the price he said it was. When we asked him to repeat it he became hostile and lashed out at my sister as he screamed “$64.00!!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of his smoke filled lungs. I was a little offended and chimed in... “Well this isn’t the shirt we wanted anyway... we wanted the X-Girl T-shirt.. SMALL” He tried to cover his mistake and got the correct shirt. On our way back we had to go around a corner through a little hallway and after I got out of the crowded area I noticed that the X-Girl shirt was no longer on my arm. (If the person who stole it is reading this, remember.. “what goes around comes around”) I had a jacket on that was made out of slick material and someone must have pulled it off of my arm when I was in the crowd. I was very angry and sad but still looking forward to the show and it didn’t phase me. We planted ourselves on the balcony in a spot which ended up being on Gwen’s left, an obstructed view of Tony thanks to a non No Doubter in his middle 40’s who refused to let fans in front of him because he had a staring problem when it came to Gwen.

At 8:45 the Suicide Machines took the stage. As they played, we noticed that there were a few people on the private balcony to (Tom’s right) above the stage. The band played a few songs and encouraged the crowd to boo them if they liked what they heard. During their set, we saw Adrian on the private balcony watching the show. He was bent down looking through the bars so that not many fans would notice him and interrupt the Suicide Machine’s performance. By the end of their set there was a roar of booing and everyone seemed to have enjoyed ND’s opening act.

As the stage was being prepared for No Doubt’s performance, the crowd grew anxious and it seemed like forever before they came on. The lights went back out and the crowd flipped out!! I won’t go into great detail about their individual outfits because most of the other reviews already covered that in detail... Two of the more noticeable differences in their attire; Gwen took the stage wearing a tiara and Adrian was sporting red plaid boxers. As Gwen started into “NEW” you could hardly hear the verse over the screaming fans. This was both a crowd favourite and the lyrics were truly appropriate for the whole experience. “Don’t let it go away.. this feeling has got to stay. And I can’t believe I’ve had this chance now.. Don’t let it go away”

After Gwen greeted the fans you could hear the familiar bass and drums that kick off Sunday Morning. To hear New followed by Sunday Morning which happen to be my very favourite two No Doubt songs, it was an indescribable feeling. Gwen then inroduced a friend and had the crowd join her and the band in “Happy Birthday” to Matt and congratulating him in the birth of his new baby. She then mentioned that No Doubt’s “baby” would be having a birthday next Tuesday, April 11th. That the next song was called “Bathwater” and would be on the “Return of Saturn” cd. Myself and the crowd really enjoyed that song, which was very catchy. It’s definitely going to be a hit! After that, the band began playing a revised version of a Tragic Kingdom favourite, Different People. Gwen had everyone in the club jumping around and really into the song. I was thrilled that they played this one.. it’s one of their best live. Early in the performance, one of No Doubt’s stage crew, a large man, wearing only a thong and carrying a pink thong which he placed around Gwen’s neck, received much response from the audience. Magic’s in the Makeup was another that we had never heard before and a little more mellow than the others but 100% No Doubt material. The quiet crowd went absolutely wild when Gwen turned her back to the audience and put her hot pink locks up in a ponytail as she looked over her shoulder and Tom began the famous chords that define “Just a Girl”. During this number, Gwen made reference to the area as she sang “I’m just a girl in Washington” as the crowd echoed her. Even more than ever before, we were so into this No Doubt anthem because it gave us a release. As we were jumping around singing/screaming along with Gwen, it was sort of our way of saying “in your face” to the “guards” who had been so rude to us before and treating us like were were stupid helpless little girls who need their permission in all that we do. It was one of the many highlights of the night. On a sad note, Gwen entered into the next song, Marry Me, which verses reflect her longing to be married and start a family. It was a very beautiful song and we’re thankful and appreciative that she’s that open and honest with her fans. Gwen then noticed the friends we had made earlier who were in the front row holding up their sign. She picked it up and showed the audience and read “Will sing for backstage passes”. She smiled and the audience cheered as she began singing “Happy Now.” After that song was over she asked “Are there any No Doubter’s here?” She then mentioned that the next song was from their 1987 debut.. and began “Total Hate.” Several guys in the audience seemed to suffer what the next song described as a “Staring Problem.” Unappreciative of Gwen’s talent, vocals, and writing skills, they leaned over the balcony gawking just as she described. She said that the band had written that one together late one night. The words were easy to catch onto and everyone there was singing by the end of the song. “Don’t Speak” was the next song in the performance. Many fans held up their lighters and a few had green glow sticks that they held up as we had our own pink ones in honor of Gwen’s new fashion theme. Gwen seemed really into the song and enjoyed singing it again live after the long break from touring. The crowd sang along loudly and it was one of those moments where it’s captured in time and something you’ll never forget, that one moment and the feeling of happiness and excitement. One of my new favourites was next. A lot of the fans seemed to be able to relate to this song, “Ex-Girlfriend.” If you can believe it, the song sounded better live than the radio/cd version. On the private balcony stood a woman, 2 teenagers, and a little girl. At the end of the song, Gwen walked over and climbed up on the speakers saying that one of her friends from high school was there that night and introduced her. She recalled how they both used to dream of marrying members of Madness and The Vandals when they were in high school but that’s not the way it turned out. She introduced the girl as her friend’s daughter Chase who was celebrating a birthday. Gwen asked her how old she was and she said “five”. Everyone awwed and Gwen smiled and asked us to help her sing Happy Birthday. After that Gwen started into Excuse Me Mr. She leaned to her right and touched the hands of a few fans leaning over the balcony rail. When she got to the chorus she asked us to help her sing the lyrics. Not as loud as she had expected us to be, she said “Very Interesting” as she looked around at all of us. She said something about taking a break that I couldn’t hear well because of the screaming. She gave us another try and the second time around everyone was much louder. She repeated the lyrics “Excuuuuuse Me.. Excuse Me Mr.” After the end of the song and a huge round of applause and screams, they thanked us for coming and left the stage. Shorlty after their exit, as the club remained dark, we all began chanting “No Doubt! No Doubt!.” After about 5 minutes they returned to the stage with the newest single to be released “Simple Kind of Life”. Gwen mentioned how it had begun airplay on some radio stations and that it would soon be on MTV and TRL and for us to request it. This is also a new favourite and one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time. The honesty in this one is unbelievable. There was a sad tone in her voice as she sang. For the finale, the band delivered one of their best known hits, “Spiderwebs.” Earlier in the show, as the crowd went crazy, the band tried to figure out which person in the crowd had sent up a card and a plaque that noted what a positive influence that No Doubt had on their life. The band was truly appreciative and very touched. They seemed to want to thank this person face to face but couldn’t find them right then. At the conclusion of “Spiderwebs” the band all came to the front of the stage and joined arms as they took a bow. What a totally incredible moment! I was screaming so loud I couldn’t hear! This was one of the best moments of my entire life. Time seemed to stand still. I continued to cheer as the lights came up and people began filing out. I checked for my pass again to make sure it was still there. I had checked my pocket many times during the show between songs to make sure this was real and no one had decided to take it from me.

The crowd slowly made its way to the entrance and on the steps we met two more ecstatic fans. They each had their passes out as we put ours on our shirts being careful to keep a hand close to them. The two girls asked us how we had gotten our passes and explained that they had met Stephen and had their shirts they had worn under their concert shirts signed by the band and showed us the signatures. We were in awe! “That is SOOO awesome.” ND fans are so friendly and happy for each other. It just seemed to be the vibe of the band in the air. As we four went to retrieve our cameras from the what seemed like a bottomless box, we saw another fan with blue braids waiting also for a chance to meet ND. Thankfully our two disposable Kodaks emerged covered with the black markings of our names (Big sigh of relief). Yet our two friends’ camera had been lost, which didn’t seem to phase the female 9:30, as always WAY friendly, staff person. It ended up being a polaroid instant which would have allowed the fans to have a picture of the best life experience ever signed right then! Clueless camera-keeper continued to pass out the remaining cameras with all the life of a rock. Having two disposables we let the girls have one of them to use thinking if this were happening to me a camera would be the ABSOLUTE must and some jerk had lost it! They were psyched and we decided to E-mail each other the photos and hugged in a big circle squealing and jumping. We headed upstairs to wait in line where we had seen a few of the other fans gather. The same spot where Goliath once lingered. At the top of the stairs, we were told in no uncertain terms that if the pass “WAS NOT ON YOUR PERSON”, you were pretty much outta luck, so PUT IT ON YOUR SHIRT,NOW!” The staff member with the mongo tonsils pointed to me saying, “LIKE THAT”. Then since I had the pass on correctly he decided to tick me off in another way, CREEP. “What’s that?!”, “You can’t have a camera!” Before I could say much but, “The manager said we could...”, he was saying, “Are you arguing with me?! YOU’RE GOING TO HAFTA LEAVE NOW! GET DOWNSTAIRS!” I said, “YEAH I’M GOING TO ARGUE WITH YOU!” “We have BACKSTAGE PASSES,and he said we could have the cameras”. He then proceeded to continue yelling and PUSHING on me trying to turn us around to head downstairs, all the time thinking the black T-shirt he wore gave him permission for assault and battery! “DON’T TOUCH ME!” I yelled and jerked away. What a harrassing loser! Where do they get these pions? The other fans immediately started to take up for me also yelling (we all had cameras). Another frustrating moment!!! I started trying to get help from a staffmember that was standing beside the idiotic one. He looked a little more sympathetic as I started to cry and begged him to explain to the other guy what it meant to us and that we HAD to take pictures of this moment. He looked like he was unable to help tho he wanted to. Just then,YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS, I looked up to see none other than THE MANAGER OF NO DOUBT walking over with his hands full of our gifts to the band! HE ROCKS!!!!! “What’s the problem here?!” he asked, and I explained that the staff was trying to get us to leave saying we couldn’t have cameras! He looked at the staffmember and said, “Yes they can I said they could!” (IN YOUR FACE I was thinking) “That’s all we needed to hear” the staff guy mumbled. And I said, “That’s what I just told you!” In the background we could see a guy that we had seen earlier in the alley around the buses who was wearing a kilt was getting the fans excited that they were about to meet ND and causing commotion. The STUPID staff member was trying to make up with the manager and asked if he wanted him to “take care of them”, referring to the guy in the kilt. (because he was making the crowd not as calm and emotionless as the staff wanted us) The manager replied happily “Yes!! Take care of them”. The stupid staff guy turned around and started walking towards the guy in the kilt and the manager said “NO! Not him, I don’t care about that. Take care of these guys.. the fans”. We were in shock of how nice he was and how he made sure the staff knew that the fans meant a lot to the band. We then assumed our space in line and were behind our two friends from downstairs. The sympathetic staff member came over and patted me on the back and said “It’s okay! Take a few deep breaths, it’ll be okay” referring to how I was crying earlier. He said “Sometimes we have to be the bad guys” I rolled my eyes and realized he was only trying to be nice because the manager told them to be. I had already seen his true colours. We started talking to the fans once again and then traded E-mail addressess and talked a while more about the show. We agreed that we had been SOOO into the show that we were a mess, and the band would look awesome and fresh as always. Oh well, I’m sure they understand. They are always way into the music. A few minutes later, GWEN STEFANI, emerged from backstage like a pink haired angel! I believe I actually stopped breathing then! Someone let out a scream and we all noticed that it made her a little uncomfortable and we tried to chill. She took several pics with her high school friend and her family. It was so cool to see her hanging out with her buds. While Gwen met some fans we noticed ADRIAN standing in the crowd and he was casually talking and holding a fruity looking beverage. We overheard a fan behind us asking the person she was with if she could go downstairs and get a shirt because she had nothing but a torn piece of paper for the band to sign. Again, putting myself in her situation, I was glad to help out.. because I would want someone to do the same for me if the situation was reversed. I told her that I had several pictures of the band (8x10’s) in case I had gotten to meet them and began leafing through my folder. She said “Oh Wow! You’re so prepared! Thank you so much!” I chose the best band photo I had which was from a recent photo shoot and gave it to her. Soon after that, we were separated into two lines and “sympathetic man” pointed 2 fingers and motioned for myself and my sister to come up front closer to where Adrian was standing. After he was finished with a few autographs with the fans in front of us, I said “ADRIAN..” and he smiled and came a little closer to see what we were holding. “I saw this!!!” he said as he took a drink, pointing to my picture. I suddenly thought that he must have seen it backstage before coming to the private balcony to watch the Suicide Machine’s set. I told him “We had to go through soooo much to get to meet you guys!” He smiled knowingly and said “Oh reeally?” We scrambled to get the poster unrolled for him to sign it and he laughed and suggested that maybe if “you hold this side.. and you hold this side..” We all laughed and tried it again with success. He took my sharpie marker that I had decorated with homemade No Doubt stickers and signed it by his photo. “A Young” I could have died. I had always imagined meeting the band but never thought it would actually happen. And just to think, earlier that night in the height of frustration and stress, I had said “We’re NOT going to meet No Doubt” with tears flowing. We were so excited and a little worried we’d hold him up. We didn’t want to take up too much time because we wanted all of the other fans to get the same opportunity we had, that we forgot we had three more pics with us that we had to get signed. After he signed the poster I asked him for a hug and he gladly agreed. As I gave him a huge hug, I kissed him on the cheek and congratulated him on his recent marriage. His faced beamed with a huge smile as he said “Thanks!!” We then asked for a picture and a fan graciously snapped a shot of the three of us. Adrian then moved on talking to other fans and we saw Tony to our right. He was talking with a fan and her family. He was signing the “milk” poster and noted how he loved that poster. After the signing he bent down for a photo, as the girl was in a wheelchair. It seemed like the whole family was fans and were all very excited. We then edged over with our bundle of gifts and began talking to him. I unrolled my poster once again (this time with a little less trouble) and he immediately said “WHERE’D YOU GET THIS?!?” and seemed really excited. I told him that it was part of the HUGE Just a Girl promotional poster that I had. The original one from its first release with the portrait type of photo where Gwen had her Don’t Speak dress on, all the guys had close cut hair, and Tom had a mohawk. It’s my favourite picture and I had to make sure I had it signed. I think it represents the band the best. He said how much he liked that picture and signed it “To Teresa! Tony K..” as he made sure to get the correct spelling. He was VERY polite and friendly!! After I thanked him he said “It’s my pleasure!” and then he signed my sister’s photo of the band. While we were standing there with him, I remembered the very first time we saw No Doubt live. Gwen had been having some trouble with a guy in the front row. He had been spitting at her and saying rude things throughout the show and she decided she’d had enough. She told him that if he spit on her one more time that she was leaving. He continued to heckle her and she left the stage. Immediately, without thinking, Tony jumped off the stage with bass still in hand to defend her honor. We didn’t have close seats for that show so we don’t know exactly what happened next but ever since that moment we’ve had a high amount of respect for Tony. Again, we were fortunate enough to get a hug and a photo!! We were now next in line to meet Gwen! We watched as she met a few younger fans. They were very hyper explaining how they wrote about her in all of their music reports in school and Gwen smiled and said how cool that was. They continued to talk over each other and gave her a pink fuzzy armband/slapbracelet that I also had one, which I had planned on giving her but it fell apart during the show because of my constant jumping. She put it on and thanked them as they posed for a picture. Gwen looked over one of their shoulders and noticed our presents and smiled saying “Oh! Gifts!!” One of the girls said how much she liked the bright green bra that Gwen had on under her black shirt and Gwen laughed and put her hands up to her head saying “You guys are craazy! How old are you?” and they went on to say their ages which ranged 10-12. As they walked toward Adrian, we picked up our bundle of Gwen gifts and pointed towards them and said “These are for you!” Before handing her the bag of ‘Gwen goodies’ we showed her the picture for the whole band. She really liked that .. then I showed her the picture I had drawn of her from Live in the Tragic Kingdom, during Don’t Speak when she’s looking out at the audience as they’re singing along. She went to sign it but then I explained that all of it was for her and the band and she said “This is for me?? to keep?” and I was going “YES!! of course, I made them for you!” she looked at the drawing and asked if I drew it and I said “Yes, two years ago” and she said.. “Wow, Good for YOU!!” and smiled brightly. I began explaining why I chose that picture to draw and how much it meant to me. That pose seemed to capture a moment between her and the fans as she was taking it all in and was so happy that everyone was singing the song that meant so much to her. She then signed my sister’s photo, my friend Suzann’s photo that I was getting autographed for her by the band. We showed her the bag of gifts that we had which included a hotpink tank top with a light pink piece underneath. On the front I had applied a picture of Gwen with her doggie, Megan. She held it up and smiled widely yelling, “MEGS!”, and showed it to a nearby fan. I was so pumped because I know how much my doggie means to me. She continued to look through the bag saying, “I’m so spoiled”, smiling, and laughing. The other gifts included a bouquet of hot pink flowers wrapped in bright shiny paper. Also, there was a stuffed purple soft bear with a satin purple bow, on which I had applied some small colorful flowers. I had also wrapped 2 gifts, a flowered journal with stickers of Gwen and Gavin, and a Saturn plug-in light of sparkling blue with a sparkling green ring. I had written above it, “THE BEST BAND THIS SIDE OF SATURN”. Also, there were 2 letters I had written, explaining how No Doubt had made such an impact on my life. The letters were filled with THANKS confetti of shiny purple, pink, and blue. In one card I placed a picture of my doggie wearing a No Doubt beanie. :) Gwen asked if she should open the gifts now and my sister said, “Oh, would you?” and she said I guess I’ll wait til I’m on the bus, “I’d be so embarassed.”, looking at the crowd behind us. Knowing she had a lot of fans still to meet we thanked her again. She really seem to like the photos we brought for signing saying she remembered the photo shoots and pointed at one laughing, and saying “look at Tony” and smiled really big. When she looked in the bag of gifts earlier she really liked the pink sparkle gel bracelets saying, “Oh, these are cute” and PUT THEM ON!!! She was so nice and you could tell all of the band really enjoys talking to the fans and are hoping they will like the next album they’ve worked so hard on. As we turned to go we spotted Tom beside some fans. We had not noticed him til them and couldn’t believe we were meeting them all. We approached him and he was so relaxed drinking that same red drink. He was wearing a baseball cap and when we showed him our pictures, he said, “My that’s a big forephoto” laughing as if to refer to his forehead. He signed our pictures and when he signed the poster he said, laughing, “I think I’ll sign here.” He wrote his name over Adrian’s face. “Whoops, I’ve ruined it” he laughed. They must be like brothers. He was very down to earth and when he let us hug him and we thanked him, he seemed to have a tone in his voice when saying, “thank you”, that seemed he didn’t realize why we would be soooo excited to be meeting him. As we went to leave we saw Adrian again talking casually with some fans that seemed to be like old friends. They were all so great and easy to talk to. You can tell they are very close and unlike some bands in the business who do not get along even half that well. We stood by the railing a bit longer unable to believe we were that close to these great performers then headed down the stairs for the exit. The table that had been set up to sign for protecting the landscapes and trees was gone. Tom had seemed especially supportive of this environmental effort. The crew continued to load the trucks and we were told not to walk on the ramp (to the equip. truck). Down the side of the steps we walked, as the whole thing seemed like a dream. We saw a group of fans waiting by the bus on our way to the car. We already started thinking back on the whole experience and wishing it would never end. We headed for home with No Doubt playing loudly in the car, having fulfilled a lifelong dream. :)