The Goo Goo Dolls w/ Universal Honey at Club Soda, Montreal 1/20/96

Universal Honey opened and sounded better than last time I had seen them in Harrisburg. As soon as they finished, I took my position right in front of Johnny and left my Dad by himself. After about 45 minutes, the goos took the stage and opened with Naked. Really strong first set. By the end of it, I was pushed back a little. Then, they played a few older songs and I got pushed around a little. Right before the encore, the guy in front of me left, so I was against the stage again.

When the show was over, I started to peel off the set list when a guy tried to yank it out of my hands. My Dad came up and grabbed the guy and then the manager came over and told the guy to give the list to me. He got a guitar pick instead.

Since there was only one way in and out of the club, I waited by the backstage door. Some drunk guy was bothering the huge, 6'6" black bouncer, trying to get backstage. He said that the goos would want to see beautiful women. The bouncer laughed and said that he wasn't a woman and certainly not beautiful, so what did it matter. The then guy stumbled away. I was grinning at the bouncer's retort and he said to me, "you know, you impress me, quietly sitting there with your sharpie and stuff to sign. I'll go see if the band is accepting any visitors."

When he came back, he motioned me over and the drunk guy followed, muttering something about Paul Westerberg. "You know Paul Westerberg? Well, he discovered these guys man. Fucking awesome." The bouncer said that he wasn't Paul Westerberg, so what did it matter? Then he told the guy to get lost and took me backstage. He ushered me into a little room and introduced me to the band. All of goo and universal honey were there.

I saw Robby first, so I walked over to him and asked him to sign the CD cover. He asked if I had seen any other shows and how the sound was. Then I mentioned the rooftops video (really old one in the bar) and he got all excited. He said, "Do you have a copy of that? You're not the first person to tell me about ii, but I've never seen it and would really like a copy." He wrote his address on a plate and handed it to me. Then I asked about the goo/bush show. He said they couldn't give me tickets since they were just tagging along on the tour. Then I asked about guitar picks and he went to his case and got me three. While he was away, I got the universal honey guitarist to sign their set list. I had Johnny sign the album too, but he was absolutely exhausted and obviously in no mood to talk, so I left him alone.

When I got back to the club, I saw Mike and asked him to sign the cover even though he didn't play on the album. He obliged, signing it "Mike (new guy)". While he was signing, my Dad came up behind me and started talking to him. Mike actually remembered us from the March 8,1995 show in Montreal. Then Robby came out and my Dad said a few kind words to him about what a great show.

So there you have it, the tale of my life with Goo. There were some gorgeous black and white posters on the wall, but they were long gone before I got there. I guess meeting the band made up for that :)