Goo Goo Dolls a the Marine Midland Arena
From cgallagher@mail.utexas.eduTue Oct 1 23:16:19 1996
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 01:08:24 -0500
From: Catherine Gallagher
To: penberth@Oswego.EDU
Subject: Buffalo
I made it to (and from) Buffalo! I need to thank several people for their
assistance and kindness: Bryan, thanks for sending me the hotel
information. Connie, thanks for getting me the phone number for tickets and
keeping me updated on everything. Joe, thanks for inviting me to join your
group. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do so...an explanation can be found
below. Jenny and Sarah, thank you for telling the guys that I was coming,
trying to get us some passes, and giving us all of that great Goo stuff.
Thanks!
I'm not much of a review writer, so I've decided to discuss the events of my
48 hours instead. Natalie (my friend) and I arrived in Buffalo around 2 on
Saturday. We checked into our hotel (the HIlton) and decided to go to TGI
Fridays to eat and make phone calls. The hotel charged for local calls.
After we ate, we decided to go to the Arena to look around and get a feel
for the place. We didn't have our tickets or anything else with us; we were
planning to get it later. I'm not sure when we arrived, but it was before 5
and people were already waiting outside. Since we couldn't go inside, we
decided to walk around the building. Natalie noticed (good Natalie!) that
one of the back doors was open slightly. We walked inside and found
ourselves in one of the restricted areas of the Arena. We pretended we
belonged there and walked around. This was my fourth Goo Goo Dolls show.
I've met the band and had (key word) contacts with the bus driver and tour
manager. I knew the bus driver was driving for someone else, so we decided
to look for the manager. We wandered into the lobby and talked to some
people who also did not belong there. We saw Johnny and Robby presenting
some check. We didn't want to leave, but we didn't' want to get kicked out,
so we returned to the back area of the arena. We entered the seated area
and asked some guy sitting by the stage if he knew where we could find the
tour manager. He suggested asking a security person to radio him. We
talked to security buy no one knew who he was. We were sent all over the
place and ended up by the most restricted area. We entered the room marked
"Goo Goo Dolls Productions" and asked where we could find David. They
laughed and said that he was no longer with the band. We decided to hang
around the area. During this time, we were passed by a handful of Maniacs,
some Barenaked Ladies, and Johnny. We should have been kicked out, but we
weren't until we moved forward when 10,000 Maniacs started to play. I
talked to the new tour manager about something and he told me to give him
our seat assignments and he'd give them to Mike. We went back to our hotel
to get the tickets. We got on the elevator and Mike was there. We spoke
with him for a while. Jenny had told him that I was coming, so I was happy.
We went back to the arena and saw an awesome concert. We missed 10,000
Maniacs, but we were there for Barenaked Ladies and the Goo Goo Dolls. I
must say, I was very dissappointed by Buffalonians. An incredibly huge
number of people left the show early. The worst part was the number of
people who left after "Name." I was shocked. I think it's safe to say that
none of the list members left early, but in my opinion, no one should. We
attempted to get in to the private party, but the power of Jenny and Sarah
wasn't enough. However, I was able to explain something to Mike and Jenny
and Sarah gave us some cool Goo stuff. We were happy. Our weekend
continued to be eventful, but in a non-Goo way. During our layover at the
Houston airport, I passed Jerry Springer in baggage claim. As if that
wasn't weird enough, Lyle Lovett (spelling?) was on the plane before us and
he signed my petition (another long story). All in all, it was a great
weekend. I hope next weekend will be as cool. (We're going to see them in
San Antonio).
Thanks again! It was my first trip to Buffalo and Natalie's first trip to
New York. We both loved it!
Cattherine