Megan's Sugar Ray Concert Review
8/14/99
Illinois State Fair, Springfield, IL
After driving about 3 hours and got to the hotel, we got to the bandstand about an hour early so we sat and waited. I bought a shirt and a necklace. After what felt like forever, Frog Pond came out. Fastball couldn't make it. They were OK. Then the intermission. We sat there for another 20 mins. Then Craig came out on a bike. I just sat there in shock until I seen Murphy come out and on the bigscreen. I started crying. My friends were like, "Are you OK?" and crap like that. All I could do was shake my head yes. Then they played Glory. I cried all the way through that. After that was over a guy handed Mark a guitar while he was talking. I looked at my friend and yelled, "Falls Apart!" (that's one of my faves) and then cried some more. I tried to scream but I couldn't, I was crying too much. I had a voice recorder and got the whole thing. You can even hear me crying on there. Then they played Falls Apart. Cried all the way through that. Then they played Even Though. I finally calmed down. They played Fly. The crowd went crazy. Totally deafening. I stood up and sang. I wasn't crying again until Mark was when he dedicated it to his grandmother). I was like, "Don't cry Mark, please don't cry." He cried and I cried with him. It was crazy. I had a huge headache from crying, screaming, and the loud music. That's what I call a music hangover. Best night of my life man. The screams were like so loud it wasn't funny. It really pumped the crowd up. Then they played Someday. Cried halfway through that cause it's another one of my faves. I was so shocked it was them right there. I had been waiting for that day for 1 1/2 years and it was finally here. Mark was like, "Say yeah, (yeah), Say yeah, (yeah), Say yeah, (yeah), Say HELL YEAH, (HELL YEAH!)" Every time Murphy was on the bigscreen I took a picture and screamed like, "I love Murphy" or "Go Murphy" or something like that. My head hurt but I didn't give a rip. A headache wouldn't ever bring me down from that night. Then we sang kereoke. Twisted Sisters, I think. Then they played Iron Mic. Everybody sat down besides me. I was the only one standing up besides the people on the track and the people leaving. I was singing cause that song kicks. Murphy was on the bigscreen a lot during that song and everytime I took a picture and freaked out. The people in front of us were really mad because we were screaming.There was these kids like 9 and 11 and everytime we screamed they would cover their ears and give us dirty looks. Of course that didn't stop us so they left once Sugar Ray got done. I was gonna write Sugar Ray's names on my face but I forgot all about it. I wish I would've done that. And in the middle of Iron Mic Mark sang the Almond Joy song and The Offspring song (I forgot what it was called). There was drunk people everywhere. Beer on the walls. Mean Machine came on. I freaked out cause Murphy sang on that one. I was looking at them through my binoculars because I had to check out Murphy's shoes and guess what! He had black Airwalks on and I had blue Airwalks on! That was cool. He has the greatest taste in shoes. The crowd went pretty crazy over Mean Machine too. Mark started talking about getting arrested or something. Then Mark sang the Backstreet Boys song. I didn't like that. It was weird. They sang Every Morning. Everybody stood up. I made my friend stand up. My mom stood up, everybody man! Everybody sang and went crazy. Then they left. I went over to sit by my mom. I took my shirt I had bought and put it over my head and guess what, my mom didn't have Tylenol or anything. Goo Goo Dolls came on. Not being a Goo Goo Dolls fan myself, they were OK. Good light show. We left right after the Goo Goo Dolls. That was the greatest night of my life. If you haven't seen Sugar Ray live GO because it's amazing. Best night of my life (even though my mom wouldn't let me go meet them), thanks Sugar Ray.
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