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the gob tales of mine already appear on my concert page, so just skip them if you've already seen them. if you have had a fun time with gob that you would like to share, please email it to me! make sure to include your name and where you are from.


erin...cleveland, ohio

1) this was my first encounter with gob, at the 98 warped tour. my cousin beth and i had discovered gob a few summers before on much music. at the time, we could not find ANYONE in the area who knew them, let alone liked them. when we went to the side stage to watch them at warped, there was only a handful of people watching (which was also because they were going on at the same time as rancid). as they played "youre too cool" tom would point at people in the crowd when he said "i dont want to be your friend." i thought it was the coolest thing when he pointed at me, which at the time, it was. after the show we saw them standing around to the side of the stage. beth and i were way to nervous to talk to them. silly kids. my boyfriend kevin asked theo if he would take a pic with me and him, which he willingly did. then kevin asked tom to take a pic for beth and me who were too shy to do it ourselves. when beth and i thanked tom, he said "thanks for enjoying us!" all shy-like. we got the whole band to sign a piece of paper, which at the time included wolfman pat instead of gabe. my first impressions were this: theo seemed super-friendly, tom seemed very shy, craig seemed snotty and wolfman pat scared us so we didnt talk to him. lol. we went home very content. beth and i hoped but never expected to see the bois of gob again...but as it turned out this was just the beginning.

2) by this time i had somehow met gobs manager on here. i cant even remember how. but as the time for the next cleveland gob show drew closer, jc asked if he could send a box of bass string to my house since it was safer than sending it to the club. therefore, i felt important and knew the guys would HAVE to talk to me, lol. at the time, i didnt realize just how easygoing and friendly they were. but anyway, beth was cleaning her room before the show and she found some silly things in her room to give to the guys as presents like a little stuffed bear in a dress for theo. we met gabe for the first time, and taught him to say "euclid" (the street we were on) because he couldnt with his accent. theo kept calling beth "bev" because he didnt remember her name, lol. on stage he said "whos ready to rock?? erins ready to rock! bevs ready to rock!" we felt special =) we took some group pictures outside and talked to them for a little. theo gave us presents back, gob hockey pucks. i think it was because i was being a pain and i didnt want to go even after the show was over, because i had no idea when id seen them again =( we finally said our goodbyes and i left rather sad...

3) this next time definitely made up for it tho! i was taking strings for jay like last time. i thanked him for being so nice to me, and i asked what i could do for him in return. he suggested that i make vegan cookies for gob because it would make them happy. so beth and i did. we also wrote a story for them in our biology class the day before the show. it was about what we thought they were doing at the very same time we were writing. it ended up being about craig having an ant farm and tom spilling it in their van and some other crazy stuff. so we went to the show and gave their stuff to various gob helpers like their merch kid and some other man who asked for a cookie and beth told him no. haha. we didnt get to talk to them before their set because they were still at their hotel, but afterwards we found tom by the merch table. the last two times that we met him, he seemed very shy and almost mean. but this time it was the total opposite and we talked to him for like an hour about disaster prom dates, the different music scenes, going to the dentist, bein vegan and straightedge, and devo. it was nuts. we talked a little to theo, who gave us the title "the original cleveland fans" of gob, and said hi to gabe and craig, who we werent sure remembered us at all. tom surprised the hell out of us by asking if we wanted to go with him to get something to eat. i was not expecting that at all. but hey, that rules! so kevin, beth, tom and i went to this restaurant called "my friends" to eat. my skirt kept making farting noises on the seat, and then when tom kept farting for real he would say "it was my skirt!" he told us funny stories like how he used to get yelled at in skool for lying and saying there was a mouse in the garbage can when there really wasnt. i got sad knowing we had to take tom back to the hotel and the fun would have to end, but i was wrong. when we got there we saw gabe walking around in the lobby. earlier at the show beth and i took pics with everyone except him because we couldnt find him. tom told us to come on inside, so we did. we got our pic and were gonna leave when tom picked up this brochure for an amish restaurant and started readig the menu in a funny accent. he was pretending to strip and he took kevins money and stuck it down his pants. when kevin grabbed it back tom said "oooh baby!" but i could have sworn he said "happy me!" and we laughed about that a lot. tom went over to the elevator and motioned for us to follow. we rode to a few floors while he pushed buttons, then we finally got off. we went down the halls listening to what ppl were watching on tv. tom knocked on a door and ran, and we barely made it aound a corner before the door opened. later we found out it was the rest of the band, not just some random people. we finally left the hotel around 2am..it was one of the most fun nites of my life!

4) this show ruled the most. gobs merch kid had my phone number and i told him if they got in town early to call and they could all come over for dinner or somethin. no one called so i started gettin dressed for the show. as i sat in my underwear drying my hair around 5:30, my brother told me to get the phone. it was tom! lol again he caught me off guard. he asked if we wanted to hang out and so i told him sure, yes, of course! i said id come get him and theo at the club where they were. i ran downstairs to tell my mom they were coming over, forgetting i was still clad only in underwear. as soon as beth got to my house we went to pick them up. craig and gabe wanted to stick around there, so just tom and theo came. theo watched a video for his new remote control car so that he could learn to work it better. i played mario kart with tom and beth (i won heehee). we went outside for a while so theo could play with his car in the street and one of my neighbors yelled at him because it was too noisy and it was getting late. haha. since it was a tradition by now, beth and i of course had presents for the band. we gave tom a new diary since his got stolen on the road, and we gave them a video tape we made for the band of some funny stuff since we figured it must get boring on the road sometimes. i guess they liked em both. we headed back to the club after like an hour so they wouldnt miss their own set. tom dedicated the last song, "paint it black," to beth and me. it was so nice of him! after the show we hung out and talked outside and took more pics (another tradition). i talked to gabe and craig this time more than any other, and they were both very nice. gabe was not drunk like last time ; ) and my opinion of craig from the first meeting has changed drastically. hes super nice as well. finally the boys had to get going, so we said our goodbyes and got hugs from everyone and promised we'd see em next time. every time they are here it just gets better and better. i cant wait to find out what the next time will hold.....

5) wow the next time is here already! only a month later, but not in cleveland for once. i traveled 3 1/2 hours with beth and kevin to buffalo, ny to see the bois. this is straight outta my concerts section, so it may look familiar! we got there early and found the guys almost right away. we said hello to everyone and then walked up to burger king with tom and theo. theo asked how mom and dad were, lol. the show was super crowded because sum 41 sold it out. the lady at the club gave beth and i a hard time when we told her we were on the guestlist because apparently she didnt get one. we had to pay and when theo heard about that, he told dinger (tour manager) what was up and dinger fixed everything. he rules! we bonded with him this time. it was super nice of everyone to even get us on the list in the first place, they really didnt have to do that, and i appreciate it ever so much!! i didnt like the club ("the showplace"), it reminded me of the agora theater but worse. i couldnt get up front like i normally am, so kevin and i were like 4 rows back. beth had to stand in the very back of the place so she didnt pass out. gob played nicely and tom even danced for us again like he did in november. after gob played we sat outside. tom came over and helped answer the questions for my gob page (HERE). we took some silly pictures with the bois. i thought i saw greig nori from treble charger, but beth didnt believe me and we couldnt figure out why he would have been there. until i saw him come out of the sum 41 bus and then i remembered that he manages them! i went over and asked if he would mind taking a picture with us. he politely told me "im not in sum 41!" i laughed and told him "i know that...i know who you are! i was just keeping it a secret!" i didnt want him to get mobbed. he seemed very surprised that i really did know who he was. he took the picture with us and was very nice. he asked how we knew them and beth explained that we get much music here. he told me that they probably wont tour in cleveland, so its cool that we ran into him here! a lot of funny stuff happened but i forgot most of it. craig kept teasing me for what i wrote about thinking he was snotty the first time i met him. he kept pretending to be mean to me, once even going so far as to put me in a headlock. then i guess tom felt left out, so he pretended to fight us and he headbutted me and wrestled with kevin. lol. so after all the pics and visiting with gob, we got ready to leave. a round of hugs followed, in which gabe told me and beth that our hugs "gave him the strength to go home." lol! everyone kept telling us we should go to the toronto show on july 1. dinger gave me all his contact info (haha) and said if we came to toronto, he would get us backstage passes "just because i can do that!" then he tried making plans for us to hang out with him and the band the day after the show. LOL. as much fun as that could be, i dont think they would like him making plans for them like that. dinger was most likely telling tales. but who knows, maybe we'll head up there for at least a day. its a sunday, after all. as a whole, the trip was very good. join me next time as the saga continues...!

6) what fun. i sure am getting lazy though, so the next two will also be pretty much copied and pasted from my diary. sorrrry. me, kevin and beth thought we were doing good by going to the show 45 minutes early. when we got to the agora, it was already packed! eek. no trouble getting in on the guestlist, thanks to jc and (my love) dinger. shortly after we got there, the rest of my family (mom, dad, mike and chris) showed up. they were all excited to see gob, no matter if they [dad] will admit it or not. i went down in the "pit" by myself. i have said before that i cant have a proper concert experience if i am not right up front. i figured it wouldnt be so bad since it was all little girls there to see sum 41...but the people up there were AWFUL. i thought i was gonna die on several occasions. i was getting *so* smashed and i couldnt breathe. gob played first. i was afraid they wouldnt see me down there because i couldnt get to the front row. i started like 7 rows back but eventually made it to the 2nd. i jumped up and down until tom saw me and waved, and the girl in front of me thought it was to her. haha. he asked me later if i saw him do it and i told him that i knew it was for me, lol. i sang along as best i could and tried to remain standing. it was a good set but because of the shitty atmosphere, i could not really enjoy myself. after their (too short!) set, i hung around with beth and kevin and my family while we waited for the boys to return to their merch table. i talked to dingermylove and saw myben who informs me when he has to go to the bathroom now. haha. finally the guys returned. we gave gabe the birthday card we made him since his birthday is soon. i guess he liked it. tom and theo said hi to the fam again and it was funny to watch peoples reactions when they saw tom hug my mom or theo say "hey buddy hows it going?" to my dad. mom wanted a poster signed by the band that she can hang in the living room. tom wrote "to my second favorite mom" and she was like awwwwww! haha. we gave them a present like we usually do...this time it was a BOP IT! hahahahaha! although they all seemed excited, craig was the most anxious to get it opened, even though he wasnt the one over here playing with it at my house. we hung out by gobs table and talked to them or dinger or entertained ourselves. we waited for the show to be over and the mobs of people to leave so that we could catch them when they werent busy. when it was just about time to leave, theo was standing and talking to a group of girls. i think they were the ones he gave the trick gum to, haha. he grabbed me and pulled me over and started telling them how me, beth and kevin have "loved them for years" and are such good friends and travel to all kinds of crazy places to see them. it was pretty unnecessairy, lol, but we laughed later because it was obvious that the girls didnt care one bit about what he apparently felt was so important to tell them. gabe and craig backed out on us as they usually do, but we told them they would have to hang out with us the next day when we saw them. dinger told us he would set us up with some backstage passes so we could "sit on the side of the stage and hang out with us backstage and eat our food and drink our beer!" i told him that we didnt want to be annoying and bother the guys and he said "who cares? its up to me!" haha. he said they dont care though. we decided our next stop would be food. tom was feeling sick but he agreed to come along anyhow. that was nice. theo decided he wanted to go as well, but first he insisted that we meet sum 41. lol i dont know WHY, because none of us really listen to them or even like them particularly, but he said before we could leave we had to go on their bus and meet them. me, beth and kevin went outside where a small group of girls were waiting. theo led us into the bus and the girls were yelling "take me in there!" we found it very ironic that we were going inside when it wasnt a big deal to us and they were standing outside going nuts. so we went on and theo introduced us with his usual "these guys have been gob fans for a LONG time!" thing. i fought one of the guys from sum 41 because we were in a gob quiz battle and he punched me in the chest before i was ready. i have no idea who he is. come to think of it, maybe he WASNT in the band. but i think he was. [note to self: i found out he is the drummer. thank you.] me, beth, kevin, tom and theo set out for lunas. theo borrowed dingers fart machine and he was making up good situations to use them. i personally like the cough, combined with "the sneak." lol. there was also "the wet one" and "the ripper" and one more that i forgot. theo should NOT have brought that fart machine. he kept doing it while we ordered and i felt so bad for the poor waitress...we were all trying to hold in our laughter but it was way too hard. he would make it fart and then giggle a little and say "sorry!" to the waitress, lol. i dont think she had any clue what was going on. kevin was laughing so hard he had to hide behind his menu. i forget what we talked about the whole time. i know that theo told us a story about being attacked by a clown with his pants down on a ride called "the zipper." i almost believed him ("and i turned around...and the clown had his pants down...and he had one of those squeaky noses on his weiner!") it was a good time. oh how i love those boys. <3 we drove them back to their hotel. theo asked us how we felt about the band and music as we were growing up...whether we felt like we were growing apart and moving on or how it made us feel. i was caught off guard and didnt know what to say. i had a lot i WANTED to tell him, but it wouldnt come out right. i explained it by saying that i used to have one favorite band for years and years, but now i have two. and they are one of them. he just said "awww!" real quiet. ha. i should have told him what beth said to me as she left my house: "i think i like them more and more each time we see them!" thats the double truth, ruth. what a great bunch of fellows!

7) we never tried backtoback gob before! i wasnt sure i could handle all the excitement...but i managed pretty well id say. kevin picked me and beth up and we headed the 2 1/2 hours to columbus to see them. found them almost as soon as we got there. dinger informed me that he was able to get us vip passes, so we followed him inside to get em. i guess that meant we were allowed to go wherever we wanted. we waited outside trying to sell beths extra ticket and theo and tom came walking over. we went for a walk up the street with tom but then i think we realized it was pointless so we went back. we sat inside during the soundcheck and we were the only ones allowed. it was special. the guy from sum 41 who was fighting me yesterday walked by and remembered us and said hi. we sat around in gobs "dressing room" or whatever you wanna call it. i gave theo a little letter i wrote in response to his question last nite about how we felt about their music and them as we are growing up. he said it was really sweet. when tom attempted to read it, he just inserted the word "testicles" into random places. it was sorta funny. sorta. theo kept playing with this voice changing megaphone thing and he was pretending to be a dinosaur and break down the door. tom kept scolding him like he was his mom. lol. me and theo talked about the infamous "george zorin" and he said to me "everyone thinks that its me...you dont think that, do you?" i just smiled and humored him and said "i dont know, theo!" then it was about time for them to play. seeing as how this was the 7th time we saw them and we didnt mind a change of pace (besides the fact that we had those passes so we might as well use them...), we stood on the right side of the stage while gob played. after one song, tom came over and asked us if we were ok and our spot was good. =) after a few more, theo looked over and gave us a thumbs up sign, and i gave him one back. hehe. i kinda missed being able to watch them from the front, but we could still see what was going on and it was closer than we would have been if we were in front of the stage. it was a neat experience overall. we went to jimmy johns sandwich place with tom, lol. they claimed to have the best subs. they did not. tom made fun of collective soul, kevin got old and new metallica mixed up, and beth and i made complete messes of ourselves. we went back and caught the end of sum 41s set. that was the first time i saw them play in all 3 times we have been at their show. we waited for the show to be over and the place to clear out. when security was kicking everyone out, dinger told them it was cool for us to stay because we were with the band. why are they all so nice to us?!? beth and i were trying to come up with an explaination to that this morning. we found nothing. we got some quick pictures with everyone and im a little sad that we didnt do it last nite, too. we have some from every other time we saw them. =( but this time sorta feels like 1 instead of 2. when i got one taken with theo, he insisted on picking me up. i was scared. we went with theo to a greek place to grab some food before they had to take off. he apparently had "a few drinks." when anyone walked in the place, he would go over to them and lean over their menu and ask "so...whatcha gettin?" he was dancing to the music on the radio. he was doing pushups off the counter. he was trying to buy something with a sign on it that said "not for sale." he was trying to pay the man with the letter i wrote him. although theo is usually goofy, i dont think i have ever seen him quite like this ; ) we went back to the van and began the sad process of saying goodbye. so we drove home and here i am. very sad that its all over, as i always am after seeing them. tom seems to think it wont be *too* long until we see them again, and we can only hope. these last two days have been wonderful. they are some really fun friends and they take such good care of us ; ) MANY THANKS go out to everyone who was involved in making the past 2 days so great, especially dinger (!!), jc (!!), and the boys themselves. i cant wait until we can do it again, whenever that may be.

8) im so lazy. these next two are from my other diary as well.

today was a long-awaited gob show. beth and i always give them presents. this time we tried to find them cheesy sweetest day gifts and we were going to explain what the "holiday" was all about. in the end we couldnt find anything, so we just made them some vegan and vegetarian lasagna and hoped that we would have time to hang out and give it to them. me, amy and beth left for the agora. we tried to get in, thinking the guestlist would be all set like it usually is because jay clark is tha masta. apparently though the new guy didnt have one and we sat outside a long time before one of the door people finally let me go in and search for dinger cuz he always knows whats up. if we had known there was a problem we would have gladly paid to get in, but we werent prepared and we didnt have enough money. dinger handled it wonderfully and i thank him a million times for it. we talked with him for a while ("hey, haircut!") and also saw gabe beforehand. we waited through the two opening bands, and then it was time for gobs set. as they went onstage, craig, tom and theo each noticed us standing up front there and gave a wave or a smile. it made my heart happy. this was amys first time up front at a real show and i guess she really hated it. the people, not the actual show. she said it was wonderful seeing gob. it was kinda funny, i had amys arm linked on my left side so she wouldnt get separated from me and my arm around beth on my right to protect her from getting smashed. as amy later declared, "i guess i wasnt cut out to be a rocker!" i was the only one that didnt mind getting smashed and crushed as i tried to sing and dance along. i actually think its rather necessary in order to have a proper concert experience. but anyway. the gob set was too short. i sang along and had fun anyway. they did one new song on the "f.u." ep that i finally picked up at the show. tom did his dance moves. i still get embarassed when he points at me during different parts of songs. after they played the three of us sat around in the agora. tom came and sat with us and he was in a really goofy mood. he told beth "no offense, but your condiments were pretty white trash!" they were talking about tofu. tom was showing us his one "good" arm hair and making us all touch it. then he told me "i stick my arm hairs up my nose - i sure do!" and he kept putting his nose on his arm to put the hairs up there i guess. it looked so funny. later on he kept putting his arm hairs up MY nose. it tickled. he was making me laugh a lot. in the meantime we saw craig and didnt get to talk long because he was going to do some radio show. we got a picture with him dressed as an eskimo doing gang signs. i think. we hung out with dinger some more. i guess he slapped beths butt. i did not get a chance to say hi to theo! reportedly he is mad at me anyway, he told beth. so i was sad that he "had a bone to pick with me" and then i didnt even get to see him to let him pick it! we told tom and dinger about the lasagna we had. dinger told us it was too late to eat pasta and tom was too tired to hang out. the security guys kept yelling at me and beth to get out and we were getting all flustered. i was sad because it was still early and nothin was goin down, especially not the present we made. ugh i dont know. i just didnt like tonite. tom kept saying he felt bad that we looked so sad but i dont know. i guess maybe him or dinger will call me tomorrow since they are staying in town overnite, but they will probably be too busy. at least the drummer from one of the opening bands was being really funny. he was looking at my tattoos and holding my arm and then he held my hand and was like "im just gonna hold this for a while!" and he held it as i stood there talking to tom. he was saying "you're cute, whats your name?" to me and beth and he was making up funny things for gob to be saying in the poster gabe gave me. that reminds me, i got to show dinger, gabe, craig and tom my gob tattoo finally. not theo since i never got to see him. they all really liked it i guess. especially gabe, who was mouthing to me from across the room "i love it!" and pointing to his wrist like an hour after i showed him. so i dont know. i went home really fucking sad. beth was being mean and she kept yelling at me to get over it. i guess i just had too high of hopes for a gob show on a saturday nite when they are staying in town overnite and we havent seen them in a year. im stupid.

9) as it ended up, tom DID call the next day. he came to my house to eat lasagna and watch "wet hot american summer" with me and beth. rad. then to monday...

beth and i stopped back at my house for a little before heading to pittsburgh for another gob show. listen to this, ladies and gentlemen: i drove all the way to pa! i have never driven that far or that long before. be proud of me. we listened to the mixtape we made especially for our trip. we got lost in downtown pa for a little while, which if you know me you know is a big problem but it turned out ok in the end. then we went in a parking garage and some asshole came zooming around a corner into our lane and he hit us! i was smart enough to stop when i saw him coming, but for some reason he just kept right on driving into us. it wasnt hard and i guess it didnt leave a mark but it was still stupid. finally, we made it to club laga in one piece. when we tried to get in on the guestlist THIS time, the guy at the door was like "so whyd you get kicked out of the last show, erin?" i was like "what the hell are you talking about?" he said that at first we werent on the list and then we got added again and it must have been because we got kicked out of the last one. i told him he must be mistaken, we almost didnt even get IN the last one with the list. then he said that explained it and let us in. i have NO idea who is trying to sabotage me and beth but its lousy! sooooo much happened that it is all one big blur. which sucks, because i honestly think it was like the best time ever with any of the guys in the band. it was the most comfortable and natural any of us had ever been i think, and it was the most wonderful thing ever. beth and i stayed out of the way because we didnt want to be annoying. we were glad when the guys would come stand with us and talk to us because then it didnt seem like we were following them around. gabe was selling merch most of the time, but he would give us a wink or a hi-five when he would walk past us each time. dinger hung out with us a bunch, and he even surprised me and beth when he proudly presented each of us with a bottle of water. ha it was funny he thought of us. tom was in another goofy mood. he kept pretending to be gene from whas and he would walk away giving me the finger behind his back. he tried to tell me that since i wasnt good at observing how much he liked the movie, i wasnt good at biology. or chemistry. or whatever he meant to say but didnt say right. usually craig is off doing other things, but he stood watching the other bands with me and beth several times. he likes to give me dirty looks like he wants to fight me all the time and then tell me "just kidding!" like i think he is serious or something. or else he squeeze his buttcheeks at me as he walks away. im glad he doesnt hate us like we thought last year, when all we got was a handshake to say goodbye. what a goof. i finally got a chance to talk to theo and apologize for causing problems. i explained things and he told me how it was misinterpreted. i said to him "i dont want to stop being friends!" and he said no, never, we have been friends for so long, he wasnt even thinking of it like that! he gave me a big hug and assured me he wasnt mad and i assured him i really was sorry and would never do anything to intentionally hurt any of them. i felt a thousand times better. the crowd for the show wasnt that big. there was however a large group of preteen asshole boys standing in between beth and i when we were up front and i was seriously considering punching them all in their noses. i still rocked out because gob makes sure that i do. i wish the set wasnt so short. i cant fucking wait until they headline their own show. as guttermouth played, we hung out with the guys, and also the drummer from 1208 that was talking to beth and i the other nite here in cleveland. the one who held my hand and such. he was all about beth, and all about molesting the two of us so he looked like a pimp. when he would remember that i was standing there, he would feel sorry for me and remind me that although he loved beth, i was cute too, and then he would grab me by the back of my pants and pull the three of us into a big group hug. later on he decided i needed to be spanked for some reason. and tom, the punkass that he is, encouraged it and even helped to hold me down so that the drummer could. it was insane. i do not like having my butt spanked. especially in public. especially by strangers that are molesting my cousin. anyhow, after hanging out with him for most of the nite, i finally asked that drummer what his name was and he replied "its fucking STEVE!" like i should have known since he told me all of 0 times. so we tried to hide from fuckingsteve while getting our pictures and goodbyes from gob. theo was even quoted as saying "i gotta go take pictures with our oldest fans!" when he left a group of people to take pictures with us, haha. this time there were no handshakes, just genuine hugs from all of them, and we didnt even have to go after them for it! ha they do it on their own and its so cute. other highlights: me and beth having a vision of dinger having a wife and talking to her on the phone about how he never picks up his dirty socks, and just then dinger walked up behind us!, fuckingsteve trying to hug on me but actually just tickling me ("and you're tickling my armpit!"), deciding that their new tour manager anthony is actually a personal trainer with a pet wallaby named ginger, and beths glass menagerie with the elfmattpauley ("alfred pauley?!") i wish i could describe what tonite was like. but its really impossible. they are the greatest guys ever and they make my heart hurt because i love them so! even saying goodbye wasnt as hard as it usually is because we just hugged and said "see you next time!" because we know what to expect now. god i dont know what to say! i cant make you understand how i feel right now. i just dont know what i would do without having those boys in my life. there arent many things that can make me this happy. i hope next time isnt a long time away.

10)finally, time #10. it was gob opening on the avril lavigne tour. personally, this lineup combined with the large venues they were playing really grossed me out. and for once, i have an awful gob experience to report. it started when beth and i got stuck in traffic downtown, then couldnt find a place to park. by the time we got to the convocation center, we could hear that gob had already started. we ran down to the floor just as tom said "ok cleveland, this is our last song!" WHAT?! we missed the whole damn set! i couldnt believe it! there was no way we were getting up front because it was already packed, so beth suggested that we dance like idiots in the back where no one was. we danced like complete fools in front of thousands of people in their seats to "i hear you calling" and it was the most fun i had all nite. after gobs set they were signing things in one of the hallways. there was a long line of people and beth and i waited off to the side, figuring we wouldnt hold up the line with our hellos and figuring we always have time to see them later on. but after like an hour of waiting, where craig and theo noticed us and waved but tom and gabe did not, the security guards at the place stopped the line and sent everyone away and began ushering the guys away to an elevator. they had to walk right past us and they all saw us and we said quick hellos and got a few hugs, but the guards were pushing them ahead and wouldnt even let them stop to talk to us! i managed to ask tom "do you guys have to go right away?" in the middle of all the confusion and he answered "i think..." as a guard pushed him along. he called over his shoulder and asked if we got passes and i said no, only tickets, and he said something about having someone try to get some passes to us so that we could actually hang out with them...but by then they got pushed onto the elevator and we didnt have time to find out what he was talking about and they were gone. we didnt see them again for the rest of the nite. beth and i were so sad. i wanted to hear them play new songs, and i wanted to talk to them about the new album! ugh! we didnt have seat tickets and we didnt come to see any of the other bands, so we had no where else to go. we just sat in the hallway for a little while. beth remarked "it feels like we're breaking up!" haha and it did, i know what she meant...after an hour or two of just sitting there being sad, we left the show early and went home to cry. well, sorta. it was awful. =(

11)beth and i went to toledo to see gob for the 11th time. it was only 2 hours away and i drove. we were very scared because we thought they didnt like us anymore. we didnt tell anyone we were going. gabe saw us outside the club and rather than say something to him first we pretended not to notice him and he said "heyyy! i know you!" and proceeded to thank us and tell us how glad he was that we came out. we saw dinger as soon as we went inside so we gave him a hug. he said he would go get tom and craig in their dressing room to tell them we were there and we figured that was fine. they came out and gave us hugs and stood around talking with us and we didnt feel like they hated us so it was a relief. we stood there for the first three opening bands. gob was actually headlining for once! this was only the second time we saw them do that, and the last time was in '99 at the euclid tavern. shit! i went up front and got my elbows scraped on the stage but it was great fun. they did some songs from the new album like "oh ellin," "give up the grudge," "this evil world," lemon-aid," and (my second favorite) "i cut myself, too." too bad they dont do "cold feet" live. =( tom went in my face to do a guitar solo and dropped a pick on my boob when he was done, which he proudly told everyone later on. after the show beth and i met this wonderful girl named eileen! she is gobs detroit friend. normally we dont like girls and all, but she was great! she saw my gob tattoo and exclaimed "YOU'RE the one! i saw it online!" tom made fun of her for saying that in a constipated voice. the three of us stood around for a while talking with tom who showed us his good arm hairs again and even presented his "one albino hair that hurt" if he pulled on it. he told us about a place called "spuzzum" and i decided it was a disgusting word. i dont know if thats how you spell it but thats ok. tom said it sounded like a cross between "spunk and jizzum" and proceeded to use the word in various sentences throughout the nite. we met gobs new merch guy josh, who was very nice. beth decided he looks like a nervous scientist. after the show a bunch of us were going to go get something to eat and we formed a caravan driving around to various restaurants to see what was open. it was the gob crew in the van, followed by eileen, me and beth, and these two other girls from detroit who kept giving us dirty looks all nite. we all ended up at their hotel to drop off whoever didnt want to continue on the quest, where tom gave me, beth and eileen a group hug and we all started walking and stumbling around and fell out the revolving door in a huddle. it must have looked so funny to everyone watching in the lobby. me, beth, eileen, the two girls, theo and josh walked around toledo finding somewhere to eat and finally ended up in the taco bell parking lot having a picnic at 1am. it was one of those moments i dont want to forget. we made fun of each others accents since josh has a really thick canadian one. theo insisted that we say "sorry" with an 'a' so it sounds like "sawrry!" he said "that means you guys should be like 'oh, i was hanging out with saw and saw'" instead of "so and so." it was much funnier if you were there, i promise. some people were getting in a ice fight and when josh asked me "can i have a sip?" he took my drink from my hand and dumped it on the ground so he could get to my ice. HA. good thing i was done with it. we finally left for home and it was sad to say goodbye. especially to our new friend eileen, who i hope will come visit us soon!

lindsay...troy, michigan

1)my first ever gob show was at the warped tour last year. i was really excited since i had never seen them live. anyway, my ticket said that doors opened at noon, and since we were there at 11:30,i thought everything was well...but it wasn't. as soon as i got in, i spotted the wee gob tent. they told me that gob was already playing. i began to stress because it was 11:45, and doors weren't supposed to open for fifteen minutes! they had already started when i reached the stage. luckily not too many people were watching, so my friend and I proceeded to the front. i thought theo's faces were hilarious. as they played, i noticed a few members of the suicide machines watching. it was pretty cool that they were because they didn't play until 5:00. anyway, gob's set was really short...maybe because i missed part of it. they didn't play all of the songs on their setlist because they ran out of time. I ended up with a pick because i knew the words to their songs! tehe. another group of boys got picks too because they all knew the words. i was suprised that a grand total of 6 people knew who gob was. score one for us! when they left the stage, i automatically turned into "girl that needs to meet band". i jetted back to their tent to see that they were indeed having an autograph session. gabe was there, so i got his autograph and a picture. then, after a brief stop at the main stage to see save ferris, ashley (my friend) and i ran back to the meet & greet tent. i had to fight off the huge crowd of 5 people! only tom and craig were there...my hero, theo, was MIA. tom and craig were very nice and were a bit suprised that i wanted a picture with them. that was it. my experience ended there. theo never showed up back at the gob tent, so my day seemed incomplete. oh well. it was a great day anyhoo.

2)everybody loves free concerts, so when i heard gob and treble charger were having a free show, i got a bit excited. i rounded up a crew of two other people who had heard of gob, but didn't really know their songs. then i thought "what the hey, im a dj, i have media power! i think i will use it to my advantage". since i am involved with the school radio station, i decided to get an interview with gob. that afternoon, about 4:30, my little black car headed onto I-75 down to detroit. when we arrived, a few people were waiting in line already, but my crew was "the media". we entered the theater (with permission of course) and watched part of treble charger's sound check. gob had not arrived. border trouble. in about 30 minutes, two people from Real Detroit Weekly arrived to do a story on gob. finally, the band arrived. after their basic "get your own shiznit out of the van and put it on stage" they introduced themselves to "the media". boy did i feel special. we then went to dinner at the cafe attached to the theater to do the interviews. my friends and i sat at a separate table since there wasn't enough room at the "over 21" table. after dinner, and the RDW iterview, it was my turn! i interviewed them for about 45 minutes, talking about napster, fans, music, canadian accents, and everything else. they even made drops and promos for the station. how nice! pretty soon they realized that they needed to go set up, since they were opening. after pictures and hugs (tehe), we went our separate ways. the show was awesome. their set was much longer than warped. a few people knew words, but only to a few songs. they played a lot from the new album, and a few from "how far..." and "too late...". a few times during their set i felt like i would fall over. it was so hot, and when you are really short, you can't get air. i made it though. before i left i said good bye to them...actually, just theo and tom. they are such nice people. they should get medals.

Rachel.....Long Island, NY

I saw GOB may 13, 2003. My friend Amanda called me back in November asking me if I wanted to go and I said yeah because I love gob and simple plan but avril is =( , so seeing that im only 16 and I dont have my drivers license yet, Amanda's mom drove us from Brooklyn,NY. it took a long time because there was alot of traffic, but we finally got there and there was this huge line to get in so we waited out in the cold for like 30 minutes then we finally got in. Amanda and I were dancing and skanking and all that fun stuff and we were getting stared at by everybody else just because they dont know gob rocks doesnt mean we have to control ourselves. :nods: there set was good I had fun, then we waited on this big ass line and then we finally got to the front and I got them all to sign my arm and we talk and all that other cool stuff. So yes that was my GOB experince its not very good and I didnt really get to hang out with them or nothin but they signed me yay!!!

betina.....

Well I was actually going to an Avril Lavigne concert, and sSimple Plan and Gob were oepning. Well anyways gob come up first and they have a wicked opening. Britney spears talking I believe they played Paint it back and Give up The Grudge all i can remember. It was awesome those mofos were like crazy man, and some chick and I were trying to mosh heh but so many little children around well anyway Gabe threw his drumstick in the middle crowd which was us and we were struggling to get that drumstick and this chicks dad who we had conflict in the beginning of the show like just pulled it away from me like I was a piece of shit. But oh well Gob ended up with first time fans with me being one of them.



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