March 28, 2000
Bryce Jordan Center - University Park, PA
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Alternative band Bush to perform at
Bryce Jordan
Bush will invade State College again at 7:30 p.m. March 28 at The Bryce Jordan
Center as part of MTV's Invasion Tour. Moby will accompany Bush on the tour.
The group's first album Sixteen Stone gained popularity with the hit songs
"Glycerine," "Comedown," and "Little Things." Lead by singer Gavin Rossdale,
the British band has made it big on modern rock and Top 40 charts in the United States.
The group's latest, The Science of Things, is an album that reflects upon
contrasting themes made popular by the song "The Chemicals Between Us."
Special guest Moby will bring his techno magic to the center as he mixes music
with strong political and social messages.
Tickets are $22 for reserved seating and general floor admission. They will go
on sale at 2 p.m. Saturday at the center. Wristbands will be available 9 a.m. until
2 p.m. Saturday at the center.
How much does happiness cost? Twenty-two dollars. That’s how much I handed to Katie
on a cold and dreary Saturday afternoon when we went to buy our Bush tickets.
It had all started about a week before when we were sitting eating dinner in the
commons. A song by Bush came on the radio and Katie mentioned how cool it would be if
Bush came the Bryce Jordan Center. Right after the song, the deejay noted that the radio
station was giving away tickets to see Bush… at the BJC. We had a mission to win those
tickets, but since neither of us listen to the radio much, it was hopeless. So like everyone
else, we waited until they went on sale.
Earlier that brr-cold Saturday, we had gone up to the Bryce Jordan Center to get a
wristband for Katie. A few hours later I went to get one. Our thought process was that if
our numbers were apart, then we’d have a better chance of being at the front of the line.
She was 296 and I was 314. They called 267. We figured our odds were still pretty good
for decent reserved seats since many ahead of us were going for floor tickets. I watched
the ticket purchasing mayhem from the outside. Katie finally got up to the desk, saw two
prime seats on the computer screen, and snatched them. They were front row seats in the
second-closest section to the stage. We were going to see Bush and Moby, and they were
great seats.
March 28, 2000
The day of the concert finally arrived after weeks of anticipation. At the last minute,
I grabbed my camera just in case we’d get a chance for some good pictures. It was 7:20pm
and we were off to the BJC, just 5 minutes away from the dorm.
As we entered Portal 6, we noticed that they had moved the stage to the middle of the
floor – directly in front of our seats. We literally had the best tickets in the arena.
(Of course, there was the general admission standing/mosh pit in front of the stage.)
Also, the sound and light boards were directly below us. As a song by 311 faded off of the
speakers, Moby and his band went on stage. The most amazing – yet sometimes blinding –
thing about his show was the light "display." He played a lot of good songs, including
"Bodyrock," "Porcelain," and "Go." After every song, he’d say, "Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you very much," in a strange tone. We got a kick out of that. During
Moby’s set, we were also amused to watch Bush’s lighting guy dance down below. Moby
introduced his deejay to us, who followed up with a little record scratching. We sang
Happy Birthday to his drummer, Scott. The bassist supposedly grew up in State College
and told us to "get out while you still can."
They finally finished their set and most of the crowd went to take a breather. Katie
and I looked at buying t-shirts, but they were $27, so we passed on that. After an inside
loop of the BJC, we returned to our seats. The lights began to dim and everyone screamed
with excitement. Bush was coming.
The band came out and took their places – Nigel on lead guitar, Robin on drums, Dave on
bass, and Gavin on guitar and vocals. They immediately began playing "Machinehead." Gavin
said hello to the crowd after finishing up the song and they continued on by playing "Back
on the Street," which I had never heard before. Next they played "Greedy Fly." During the
chorus, there were cool green lights. Next was "Jesus Online" and then "Insect Kin,"
neither of which I had heard before. I was also not familiar with the next song, "Prizefighter," but it turned out to be really good.
Somewhere near the beginning of the concert, we asked the girls behind us if they
minded if we stood up. They said that they also wanted to stand, but the people behind
them didn’t like it. We stood up anyway. The people in the third row did indeed get angry and one man physically pulled one of the girls back down into her seat. The employees of the BJC came to take care of the problem, and eventually the girls behind us got to go down on the floor – just a few minutes before the song "Comedown," but I’ll explain that part of the concert later.
Following "Prizefighter," they played "Mouth" with a lot of energy (well, they had a
lot of energy the whole concert, but you know...). "Everything Zen" was next. Gavin would
occasionally go out and crowd surf, even with his guitar. I can’t remember during which
songs though. After Zen, they played "The Chemicals Between Us." Everyone got into it
because it was their current single. Next was the calm "40 Miles From the Sun." Little
did we know that the next song would be so memorable...
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They were playing the song "Comedown" when we noticed that Gavin was walking to the side
and came out through the gate to the crowd. I was taking pictures periodically, trying to
capture it all. Then he started walking towards the soundboard, which was right down below
us. He walked through the soundboard gate and started climbing towards us! Katie even
helped him over the fence right in front of us. I think he wanted to go further, but the
crowd swamped him, so he was trapped right next to us. Only thing between us was one of
his bodyguards. I used up my last few pictures right then. I remember looking down at the
crowd on the floor – shock and/or jealously was on their faces. After finally getting his
microphone to work, Gavin began to sing. I knew the lyrics of the song "Comedown," so I
was screaming with everyone else. Katie and I were jumping around, occasionally being able
to touch Gavin on the shoulder or arm. He started climbing back down, and Katie and I
tried to touch him one last time, but the bodyguard held us back. Gavin then stopped right
below us. We were jamming and singing with him. He turned back to us and grabbed one
girl’s hand and the rest of us joined in, Katie getting his hand and me grabbing his arm.
He serenaded us before he had to return to the stage.
He said goodbye to the crowd and they left for the few minutes between the main concert
and the encore. Katie and I were still screaming a little after that, but we eventually
sat down because we were exhausted from the events of the previous 10 minutes. We were in
total shock. Gavin returned to the stage and played "Glycerine" by himself. The band then rejoined him. Gavin explained the meaning of "Letting the Cables Sleep" – it’s about how "we need to communicate in relationships." Then they played the song. "Swallowed" was played next, and I could barely keep my body from standing up. I love that song. Katie and I agreed to stand up during the last song, "Little Things." The people behind us didn’t put up any fuss. Gavin crowd-surfed for the final time. He once again said goodbye and the band threw their guitar picks into the crowd, and Robin threw his gloves and sticks as well.
We left the BJC in total shock. We took our time getting back to the dorm so that we
could "reflect upon the evening." When we returned to Bigler, I yelled up to Danielle,
"Whaaassssuuuppp!" but alas, she wasn’t there. We did take a picture to mark the end of
the evening though.
Setlist