It was January 21, 2000. Earlier that day, both of my bikes had been stolen from the patio attached to my apartment. The day had not started out well, and little did I know that it was going to end well. I had known for a while that VH was going to be playing in Sacramento (my roomies had found out about this when they went to the KWOD Really Big Show during finals week for Fall Quarter).

Anyway, I wasn't really sure that I wanted to go, I was tired from the beginning of the quarter, and I didn't really know Guster or Stroke 9 (the two bands that VH opened for). However, Sky went out and got tix before checking me to see if I wanted to go. So, I ended up going. I drove three friends the 20 minutes or so into Sac, where we promptly got lost. Downtown Sac is confusing for the first time, I swear! We could see the bridge that we needed to cross, but for some reason we couldn't figure out how to get to it. All of the streets that looked like they would lead to it either deadended too soon, or were one way going away from the bridge. We drove a few routes at least 2-3 times before we somehow got across (I couldn't tell you how, I don't remember now, and I don't think that I understood it then). So we finally got to the other side of the river, but then we had to manuver our way to K street, where the Crest Theater is. We found K street, but none of us realized that it was a pedestrian mall with trolley tracks on it until I had turned down the street. It's part of the Downtown Mall, I guess, which means that no cars are supposed to be on it (although my friends and I *still* debate this point). So, I got off of there as fast as I could, and went down a few more streets before turning across to pass K again.

This time we saw the sign for the Crest, but there was no parking anywhere, so we went up a few blocks and parked, and walked down to where the theater was. There was a HUGE line outside of it, but we looked more closely and discovered that it was not for the concert, and walked up to the front of the line, were frisked for cameras and our tix were taken. Once inside, we went to the theater immediately to wait for the first band to come in. We got there kinda late, but it was still before anything happened, so we were up in the front, maybe 2-3 people from the stage, standing. Then one of the DJs from the station that was hosting the concert came out and talked for a few minutes, and then she introduced VH. It was awesome!

The guys came out and set up for a minute, and I was just in awe . . . this was my first concert ever. They played Finding Me as the opener (which I didn't know at the time), and chatted with the audience in between. Well, as best they could :) What was kinda cool is that VERY few of the people knew the songs, so Michele and I got a lot of eye-contact from Matt (we were a bit to the right of him, sorta towards Sean). Sure, it's nothing much, but we were thrilled :) I think when they were playing Send It Up (designated teach the crowd song) they played the chorus again, but Michele and I knew the cd version, so we went on singing the rest of the song. With that one, Matt looked at both of us and almost chuckled (he couldn't quite, since he was doing his best to get everyone to sing the chorus). Another funny thing that happened was right before Keith started to sing and play Shackled. There was a girl in the front, right up at the stage who screamed "WE LOVE YOU!" at the top of her lungs (it's even on the cd of the show that I have). The catch is that she had not known ANY of their songs so far (this was before they played EYW), so Sean, Matt, and Ed just rolled their eyes. For some reason that stuck with me, and it makes me laugh, to this day :)

After they 41 minute long set, VH left the stage, and the announcing DJ said that they would be available in the foyer to sign autographs and talk with fans. Michele and I practically dragged eachother out there as fast as we could (like taking a dog for a walk . . . who's taking who for the walk?). We each got a cd, I got ROI, and she got TABA for them to sign. She also got a tour shirt, and Sky got one too. I hadn't brought any money with me so I had to borrow just to get the cd, so I didn't get any more than that (now I wish that I had gotten one of their tour shirts as well). Then we sat and waited. Probably 15-20 minutes later, three guys just walked by non-chalantaly. I looked up and realized that Ed, Matt, and Sean had just passed us, so I tugged up my friends, and we followed them to their "signing area." While in line, I got to talk to Ed about where they were the night before (Oregon, I think), and their means of transportation (the bus). Sean talked to us a lot too. I don't recall what we talked about first, but I remember what he said later. Matt was really awesome as well. I had them sign the cd case, and then remembered that I had my ticket stub so I took it back to have them sign it. Sean remembered me from before, and I got a hug. Then I went over to have Matt sign the stub and the girl in front of me asked him to sign her shoe, and then proceeded to dictate to him what she wanted him to write. I joked and said that if he was going to write all of that on her shoe that I wanted a novel on my ticket, and he looked at me and started laughing. He ended up just signing his name on her shoe, and when I handed him my tic he asked my name and wrote that on there and drew a heart (aww, how cute! :). After that my friends and I went back into the theater where Guster had already started playing when Michele remembered that there were 4 guys in the band, and we only had three signatures, so we went back out and got Keith to sign the tix and cds. I can't remember if I talked with him at all. Matt and Ed were already gone, but Sean was still hanging around, so we all chatted with him for a bit. After a few minutes he decided that he would go and see Being John Malcovich (in the Crest also), and when we expressed concern that people would recognize him, he commented that he had a hood on his sweatshirt, and that he wasn't worried about it. So then he gave all of us a big bear hug and went on his way. We went back into the concert, sat in the back for Guster (I wasn't really impressed by them at all), and went up to the front for Stroke 9. They were all right, but Luke (the lead singer) was REALLY sick, and it hurt my throat to hear him sing and talk. When they played Little Black Backpack was the best, since that is the one that everyone knew, but the rest of the time they were all right too. So, that was the night of the concert. And now everytime I see them on tv I am amazed that I got to sit and chat with them for a few minutes . . . what neat guys!