Hypno+Raygun's

#5)The First Waltz show (Billy Corgan Jr. and Billy Corgan Sr. played together.) (March 25, 1999) at The Metro in Chicago, IL $35.75. This was the fifth time to see Billy. It was a good show with lots of blues people there. But we mainly wanted to see Billy and his dad. It was only two songs, but it was awesome! Billy was upstairs sitting watching the show before and he was getting more attention than the show. It was funny. So afterwards I met Eric Agnew. He dated this girl that I dated in Boston. It was funny. Nice shirt Eric! Anyways, we waited outside after the show. It was FREEZING and snowing slightly. Really cold. Micah and Noah had came with me and Micah got really sick and was in the car so after we realized Billy wasn't there we started to leave. Oh, we saw Rick Nelson from Cheap Trick (who had played) walk out with his guitar and go directly to the bar next door to The Metro. The Tiny one. So we started walking to the car at the Mc Donald's down the street and we looked in a restaurant and boom! There was Billy! He was talking and there were probably like 15 people outside waiting for him. So we waited and for him and he came right out, He said, "look over there!" and pointed down the street and ran to the car. He said, "I will sign just let me get in the car first." So we did, and like a good Pumpkin fan I had my sharpie and my MCIS book with me. So he signed it and I talked to him quite a bit. I told him his dad kicked his butt playing in there. He laughed and said that was the point. So he asked me if I had heard about the new tour yet. I said no. (That was The Arising Tour, it was announced when I was up there away from the Computer) he told me where they were going ect..Someone else asked if they were going to play in Chicago, he said, "No, Chicago hasn't been too nice to us recently." Also he said when asked about Jimmy that (this is before his return) "well Kenny is not with us anymore and we are playing a show in two weeks, so there you go." So basically that was it. It was a GREAT evening and totally made the trip worth it all. Awesome!

HUM, Frogpond, others..( Spring '99?) at the Day on the Hill in Lawrence, KS. Free. We heard about this through some friends so we went. It was impossible to find any info about this so we almost didn't go to it. But it was a lot of fun. I taped it and videotaped it. (I think Noah might have the video?) It was a fun good show and we talked to them after and got some autographs from them. Really good free show. It was a nice day and a lot of fun. Lawrence really is a cool place.

They Might Be Giants (Apr. 27 1999) Taylor Performing Arts Center in Joplin, MO. $10.00. I used to really like this band. But their music to me went down. I just can't get into it anymore, it is too stupid. I would hate to think that this was the music I played every night. I couldn't live with myself. Well I went because it was very close and I was interested in hearing them. BORING! Didn't care for them that much at all. Especially when they made some negative comment about the Pumpkins in the paper. Ha ha. But honestly, no one was hardly there and it was just boring.. SO that was that. I forgot who opened, but they weren't that bad.

Cake with Babe the Blue Ox (Feb. 7, 1999) at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK. $15.00. This was a good show, the opening band was..hmm..Okay…But Cake was really good. I couldn't hear his guitar very well but it was okay. I taped this show also. They played for a really long time. After the show we met them and got their autographs on my CD. They were really cool. Good show.

Everclear (in '99) at Hammon's Performing Arts Center at SMSU in Springfield, MO. Free. I can't remember who opened but they were really good too. This was a free show put on by the college, but only the students there could get the floor seats. This building is awesome. One of the best places I have ever seen a concert at. Very modern and cool looking. Everclear rocked. The sound was a little bad at first but it got better. I taped this show too. They were really into what was going on. At one point they got tons of girls to come up on stage with them and dance. It was really funny. It totally got the crowd pumped. There was this one really hot girl that Art sent to the back after the dancing. So we all waited around after the show and met them and got some pics with them and autographs. You can see the pictures on my picture page. We saw the girl from the stage some out a little before the band did. She was like in a daze. It was really funny. They were pretty cool. Especially the Drummer. The Bass guy was kind of a jerk. And Art is a little full of himself, (ya I know, people will say, "And like Billy isn't!) But I am just saying. It was a fun free show!

#6) The Smashing Pumpkins (April 12, 1999) at Bogart's in Cincinnati, OH. FREE! (fifth time as band, sixth to see Billy) What an amazing show. I could go on for a long time about this show. But I will just tell the highlights. Well you know I met Billy in Chicago at the First Waltz? Well it pays to be nice I guess. I got a call from his friend and they gave me two free tickets to this show! It was sold out instantly. So I took my cousin that had never been to a Pumpkins show before. It was a crazy long drive. I drove up, it took all day. Then the next day we looked around Cincinnati and then went to the show. Then that night I drove all the way home. That was stupid, but what a story! We got home around 9am I think. So we got there and talked to some of the workers there and they told us when the band was showing up. So we looked around and came back. They showed up and we took some pictures of them going in. Then we messed around, ate some Chili. Then we talked to the person that had called me and got me the tickets and then we talked the guy filming for Billy. He said it was for Billy personally. He filmed us outside and inside. Then we saw Billy and James in the music store buying stuff, so we went to the back and saw them come out. Billy looked at me and said Hey. Like he might have remembered me. That was cool. So we took some pictures of them walking by. Yelena was with him. We also saw Eric Agnew again, um..Nice shirt again Eric. Um..Then the show. It was awesome. I taped it and it came out good. We set on the balcony in the corner by the ledge. It was great to see them as an entire band and in such a small place. UNBELIEVEABLE CONCERT!

Warped Tour (Eminem, Ice T, Less Than Jake, Blink-182, Pennywise, Seven Dust, Spring Heeled Jacks, Drop Kick Murphy's, Black Eyed Peas) (Summer of '99) Fairgrounds in Orlando, FL. $30? This was an okay time. Lots of girls there and it was HOT! Nothing much to mention really. I really wanted to see Lit, but they didn't make this show. But Blink-182 was good. I may comment more later on this one.

Garbage and Lit (Oct. 24, 1999) CMSU Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, MO. $30. This was a good show. I really wanted to see Lit. I had seen Garbage before in Boston. But it was good. Lit rocked really hard. They were really good I thought. I just wish they had played more. Garbage sounded awesome. I mean that sonically it was incredible. But they got a little boring after awhile. Hardly, no one was at this show. By the time Garbage had finished most of the people had left. Over half of the place was empty. But it was good all the same. We met Lit after and got some autographs. They are really cool. Come to find out a girl that is in one of my classes is cousins with one of the guys in Lit. So that was about it! Good show over all…

The Smashing Pumpkins (Dec. 21, 1999)The Metro in Chicago, IL. $25.Well I took awhile to write about this because I get lazy but anyways. This was an awesome show! I mean just...wow.. Unbelievable. I am SOO glad I got to go. Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Brown for helping me get a ticket from the internet. I tired to phone it, but not luck. They got me one from Ticketmaster.com so that is very cool. Well I left her very early in the morn. and got to Chicago around 4 I think. It was cold. I mean C O L D! FREEZING and then some! Did I mention it was cold? Man it was cold. So anyways. I got there and saw a few people I kind of know from the internet so we talked a little and waited in line. And froze, and waited and froze and waited..and froze. SO. I met some really cool people waiting, two guys flew in from CA to see the show. I ended up taking them home after the show. So we got in and I of course recorded it, so I had to get my gear ready. We were some of the first ones in. I was going to go upstairs but it was VIP, so I was very important enough so I went back down and stood. We were now all de-thawing. When the Pumpkins came on finally it rocked hard. Melissa is a great bassist to replace D'arcy. I mean I hated (VERY MUCH HATED) to see her go, but Melissa rocked! I am not going to go real in depth with the show, but they played a lot of new stuff. And it was really cool to see Jimmy play guitar on an acoustic version of 1979. The crowd honestly was not really active. I mean they got moving on Heavy Metal Machine and others..But I really think people were SOO tired. Frozen and now hot. It was almost too much. I mean don't get me wrong, I KNOW everyone loved it, but It was tiring. Oh also we gave our can goods to get an autographed Card from the band.(Still waiting for that one) We mailed in a card for the card. ha.. So after I met up with Eric and the others and we got maps to Eric house. I ended up waiting forever for Billy to come out. James came out and I said, "Hey what about an autograph?" He just grunted and ran off. Don't get me going about James. Grrr. So Melissa came out and waived, she seemed nice but no signings. Then Billy and Jimmy finally came out. (after waiting about another 2 hrs or so in the FREEZING weather.)I got Jimmy's autograph on my Siamese Dream book. VERY COOL. and then Billy said, "I am not going to sign but I will shake your hands." So he did. He shook everyone's hands. It was cool. I took the guys from CA home and then went to Eric's AMSP party. It was almost over by that point (about 2:30 am?) So I talked some and got a few pictures and left. I was feeling out of it. To make this a little shorter, I ended up sleeping in my car at a Motel 8 cause I am so tight,and drove it home after stopping a few times at rest stops to sleep. It was crazy and fun! When is the next one?

The Smashing Pumpkins (Jan. 31, 2000) Granada in Lawrence, KS. $20. Well I thought the December Chicago Metro show was cool, I think this show ranked right up there. But this show has LOTS of pre story to it. Well I heard through the SP grapevine that they were going to be in Lawrence, KS. Which is not far for me to drive, (3 hrs) so I started calling people right away. I finally found out that the tickets went on sale the day before only at the Granada for 20 bucks, limit of two, only 700 tickets on sale at Noon. So I debated when I should go up there. I figured I would leave here at 3am to get there by 6am. Which I did. When I drove up I was in shock because there were a lot of people already waiting. (one guy waited from 11 pm that previous night). So I got in line and met some super cool people (who I am still friends with!). It was snowing a tad and very cold! So at about 11am I went to the restroom. It was crazy CRAZY by this point. People were everywhere.. So I come back and BOOM the line has changed! So I started freaking out! The line was rushed. So I finally found the people I was waiting with and then it got really crazy. People started yelling and screaming and calling names and just going nuts! A lot of people were cutting in line. Which means that is two more tickets taken away from someone that waited a long time for them. So finally we squeeze together and get our tickets.. There were probably around 400-700 people waiting? It was hard to tell. Just nuts. Well I got my tickets, went down the street for about 15 mins and came back.. NOTHING.. GONE.. Ghost town. It was strange. Like everyone just got sucked up. I guess they all blew when they couldn't get a ticket. So drove 3 hrs home.. Went to school the next day, drove 3 hrs back up there, and then went by where they were having an autograph signing. They told us only radio winners would be allowed in, so I figured it would already be over so I didn't bring anything much to be signed. So I waited in the cold again! For a long time again! And finally got it. I got the Machina Poster signed by them all. It was great. I met a guy there, Sean, who I am still friends with today as well! One guy who had waited forever for tickets didn't get one, so I said maybe to ask Billy to see if he could get in. He did and Billy put him on the guest list! Cool! So I went to the show and had a great time. The Granada is very small, and in my opinion a very cool place to see a band. The show looked like it was under sold because there was A LOT of room to move around. It was perfect. They were awesome. I really don't know what to say too much there, It was a great show. James went NUTS towards the end talking about his Shoes and how the Devil had them or something. I had never seen James so lively before or since. It was great.. So after the show I drove the 3 hrs back home and crashed.. ha.. All that for just a tiny review of the show huh?

Primus (Feb. 11, 2000) Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK $20.00. Well I don't have TOO much to say about this show. I think P.O.D opened for them. They were really good and the crowd was really into them. It was very cool to see Primus at the Cain's. I was hoping this would be a better show than then time I had seen them before, and it was. It was great. The crowd was LOVING the entire show. One point Les puts on a Pig mask and starts singing. At the end they came out and did I think one encoure, Too Many Puppies, and then. Boom they were gone. It was like the audience couldn't believe it. Everyone was like, "ahhhh" all at the same time.. But it was still a good show. But both times I have seen them they never seemed to play long enough.

Bush and Moby (April 18, 2000) Hammons Student Center, SMSU at Springfield, MO. $14.14. This was a really good show, it was part of MTV's Campus Invasion Tour. I liked some of Moby's stuff and honestly didn't know TOO much about him. But I was in for a real treat. I had the perfect seat. Straight back, eye level with the stage. It was perfect. Moby blew me away. He was awesome. The lights were THE BEST I had ever seen at a concert. The best. I know that is part of his show, but really. It was great. He was playing all kinds of stuff and running around. He played some heavy metal guitar and just went nuts. It was very cool. Then Bush came out. I like Bush okay but the songs, honestly aren't that great. I mean they are good little rockers, but nothing too over the top. One cool thing was Gavin went into the crowd with his guitar I think and still singing. I mean he went THROUGH the crowd. He didn't walk the isle he climbed up over the chairs and people way up into the stands. It was the nuttiest thing I think I have seen. The crowd loved it. They also played a pretty good verson of "Break on Through" by The Doors. After the show I got the drummers autograph. I had missed getting Gavin's autograph again. Oh well..All in all this was a great show.

The Smashing Pumpkins (April 8, 2000) Memorial Hall in Kansas City, KS. $28.50. This show had some drama behind it, but I will leave all that out. I had got some free Pumpkins stickers and Heavy Metal Machine Promo tapes from www.bestreetwise.com and I threw them out before the show. That was fun, it was like I was a part of the band or something. Very fun. I was outside tossing them. People were going nuts. So I saw Sean, who I had met at the Lawrence, KS show, again there and got his email. Then I traded and paid a little more to a scalper so I could get on the floor. It was worth it. I had a great time. I also met up with the people that I waited in line with at Lawrence. So the show was really good. The sound was a little different because they had to use the venues PA. But it was the Sacred and Profane official tour so they had the full stage set up on there. James played Blew Away and it sounded a lot like the cd. It was great. That is all I am going to say about this show.. The rest is just useless drama.. Great show though!

The Smashing Pumpkins (May 12, 2000) Bronco Bowl Theatre in Dallas, TX $33.00. Well this was my last Smashing Pumpkins show. And I wish it had been better. First of all I didn't have the best ticket in the world, then on the way down my car started acting funny. So I finally got there and met some cool people and saw the band go in the building etc.. Before the show, during sound check we could hear them playing. They were playing Snail which is off of GISH so that was very cool. They played it that night during the show. So when I got in it was kind of a mess. No one knew exactly where my seat was, then when I found out it was over behind the stage.. EWWW, NOT good. So I went up in the back and set down. I could see okay. But it was pretty far away. The Theatre though was very nice. Really plush. The show was a good one, Cherub rock was clearly the crowds favorite, and I would say I of the Mourning was their best performed song of the night. They ended with Drown which was awesome (since they played that at the first show and the last show I had been to). A lot of people didn't get that song but it was great. The fans and the entire "mess" around the band and etc really got me down this show. In a way it was a fitting end because it was like I was always pressing for more, and never got it. After 10 shows and talking to the sound guy at almost everyone he still brushed me off. After the first time meeting him, he let me sit with him in his sound booth. Oh well.. It was a sad and sort of fitting end to my Smashing Pumpkins shows..sniff sniff..

So I went to Australia and then straight to Alaska for the entire summer so I didn't get to see any shows then! Hence the lack of shows in the summer.

Weezer and Dynamite Hack (Sept. 8th 2000) Granada in Lawrence, KS $19.20. I had found out about this show the day before I was leaving Alaska. So I had most of the info for this already when I came home. So I got the tickets and went up with my friend Jill. This show reminded me how much they rock. Man they were great. The first 4 or 5 songs just blew me away. Boom, boom, boom! It just made me tear up, they were that good. It was really hot in there, but well worth the heat. Dynamite Hack opened for them they were pretty good as well. After the show we went to the back to see if they would come out. Well we saw Rivers peak his head out and then he was gone. We thought they were still in there, but I guess they had gone out some other way to the bus. So we thought we had missed them. So we went to the bus and waited. We got two of their autographs right of the bat. Then we got another, ( I can't remember which order). Then we waited for Rivers. The people that worked for them told us that Rivers was gone. They kept saying this and a lot of people left. We waited forever, but FINALLY Rivers came out and boy he is a little guy. He was really cool and I asked him a few questions about playing some songs. They were going to a party on the roof of the Granada. So all his friends took off and he just kind of walked behind them like a lost puppy. It was kind of funny. But it was worth the wait.. Very very good show!

Weezer and Dynamite Hack (Sept. 9th 2000) Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK $15.00. So in a way I wished I had just scalped my tickets and not gone to this show. I almost did. I sold one for 60 I think..hee.. I could have gotten a lot more because people were going NUTS to try get these tickets. I could have probably made about 200 bucks easy. Oh well.. ha. So the show was good, it was harder to see them here and it was HOT as well. But I think they did play better here at this show. It was good..They played the exact same set as they did the night before. During one song, I think undone the sweater song, the crowd was so loud it messed the band up and they kind of goofed up. The crowd was LOUD! It was great though. People love Weezer and they Love to Rock!! And Weezer Provides..

Superdrag (Dec 7 and 9th , 2000) Clunk's Music Hall in Fayetteville, AR and KU Ballroom in Lawrence, KS, $8 and Free. This is from a post I made on the Superdrag web site. Okay so I may paint a darker picture than most posts. Not that the band was bad in anyway whatsoever, but the fans (or lack there of) is what upsets me. So I went to both the Fayetteville, AR show at Clunk's Music Hall and the show in Lawrence, KS at the KU Ballroom. Let's start with the Arkansas show. Well first of all this place was teeny Tiny. It was behind an Oriental Restaurant so it took us several passes until we found it. So once we get there, we see how small it is and kind of wonder what it is going to be like. Well it was a record store in the day, and music club at night. There was No smoking or anything like that inside. Just standing and watching the bands. Which is great by me, but just seems strange. So the first bands played and they were pretty good. I thought Ash Tray Baby Head had several songs that sounded a lot like Weezer. Maybe that is just me..So Superdrag sets up their equipment. I mean this place is like someone's house. The band is right there, in front of us all like your friends band practicing or something. So I would say there were about 40 people there? 60 at the VERY max in my opinion and then it thinned out as the night went on to about 35 or so.. maybe less. One thing that really stands out is that NO ONE was talking. Like everyone would cheer and they seems really happy for the band to be there, but after the songs, SILENCE. NOTHING.. DEAD..It was strange. The band made some jokes about how quiet it was. It was like there wasn't enough energy or something?.. But the band did rock on. I don't have the set list written down, but I did tape it so I can listen back and write it down if anyone is THAT concerned. They did NOT play Sucked out or Ambulance Driver this night though. They did play Going Out at the request of a fan. The show was just hard rocking and straight forward. The silence made it strange but they did rock. I did noticed on a few of the songs where the second guitar was missed, but it was not a big issue. But it would have been nice. I had the guys sign my Rock Soldier CD after. Sam drew on extra things on the picture of the guys. We talked to John a little bit. Mainly just bull, but he did not seem effected by the low turn out at all. He is really positive about it, which is really good. He also said how much he LOVED Ashtray Baby Head and they were good "Southern Boys". So that was about it.. It was a great show, like your own personal Superdrag show. So on Saturday I went to the show they played at the Kansas Union Ballroom in Lawrence, KS. It was a totally different set up. The place was really nice. And they had all of these stupid College types that thought they were important as workers. It was really funny. You know how it was in High School and all the 'cool' kids took charge and thought they were really important, when really they weren't doing anything? Well it was like that. First they didn't let anyone in until about 30 mins after the time they said they were, then they told us to go downstairs that we couldn't be on the balcony, when all these other kids were standing there. It was funny. So the opening band.. Oh my lands.. BAd. I mean BAD .. I mean B A D BAD!!!! I won't even mention their name they were so bad. They OPENED with a Radiohead song for crying out loud! It was horrible, people were leaving right and left.. And they played for a very long time. So after that horrible nightmare was over Superdrag came on. Now they were ready to rock. So people seemed to be really digging the show. There were more people at this show, but not a TON. I would say about one hundred? Or so? It is hard to say, maybe more..?. So they were going along and someone yelled out "FREEBIRD!" Several times.. So John looked at Don and didn't say a word it looked like and just started to play it.. AND YES THEY PLAYED IT ALL! The solo part, the fast part all of it. It was great. John said something like, "Well we are ready to rock and when someone starts yelling stuff like Freebird we are going to play it." "Like you see anyone else playing it!" So that was really cool. They did play Ambulance Driver which made me happy, but no Sucked out. And may I say there were some VERY beautiful girls there.. wow.. Anyways.. They were rocking along and John seemed like he was going to play all night, then at one point he looked back at Don and then turned around and said.. "Well I guess we only have time for one more song." Like something wasn't right with Don. WHo knows? So they ended with Destination UM. Then they came back for an encore and played Motor city? Or something like that. Motor away? Well you guys probably know. But that was about it. I have some picture I will upload soon, and you should be able to get a mp3 copy of Freebird from this show at atomicpope.com.

So Superdrag is coming to Springfield, MO on Feb 2! And I got tickets to see Weezer again in March in Kansas City! I will be at both of those shows!

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