Dazee says "AWESOME!!!! The best time of my life!"

Do I need to add more?

Okay. We arrived at the fairgrounds at around 8:00 am. Surprisingly, we were able to pay our admission at that time and then enter the fairgrounds. The exhibits and rides weren't open, but we were allowed in anyway. Naturally we went straight to the stage.

As we approached the stage (surrounded on three sides by service roads and facing a large grassy area with a small concrete area immediately in front of the stage), a lone security guy was sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage. He was there to presumably to watch the very expensive equipment. He asked if there was something he could help us with as we got closer. We replied that we were there waiting for Dogstar. I'm sure you can imagine his reaction to that! He remarks "But the concert is at 6:00." We reply, "Yes, we know that." He then calls his supervisor and a fellow security guy to come over because they would not believe that fans for a concert would be waiting so long before a show. Well, we did!

Hollis, the security guy, was a bit of fun and we enjoyed our conversation with him. At around 9:30 or 10:00 am Hollis reported to us that we were going to have to leave the area because it was going to be cleaned and the boys wanted to do a sound check in private. Unfortunately, there was no place to go! And a maintenance or security guy in charge of this didn't know what to do with us. We were told to go to the fair! At this time there were about 15 of us gathered up front. There was no way we were going to be sent away only to lose our rightful place. But whoever was in charge didn't seem to have a grasp of the situation. They didn't know what to do with the fans that would be lining up as the day progressed! They claimed they did not know there would be fans this early and also that there would be fans wanting to wait in a line. This fiasco blossomed out of control with each passing hour and the addition of fans. Police tape was used to secure the stage and grassy areas.

We started getting really upset as the afternoon wore on as we created our own line for people to fall into. We were told repeatedly that there would be no line and that once security tape was removed, it would be a free for all and we were advised to run to the front of the stage. An additional suggestion was to run through the adjacent exhibit hall in order to get up front. With each passing word from security, we became increasingly anxious and quite peeved at the utter lack of common sense on the part of fair personnel.

Getting no help from the event security on how to orderly re-enter the field (threats from fans were starting to head our way and a mob mentality was beginning to take over for newly arriving fans), we approached anyone with a uniform, including fair personnel and Corrections Officers roaming the grounds. All we asked was for someone to explain to event security how a line works to prevent a rush to the stage in which people would no doubt be injured by such action. In the meantime, Dogstar was checking their equipment "privately". We waved to them and they waved back. That was private. Uh-huh. Bret even joked about "this is what we look like when we are practicing."

Eventually, the fan line situation grew worse and worse for those of us who had arrived earlier. We finally contacted Petaluma Police who were able to assess the situation and explain crowd control methods to the fair security. They went along with our line and made the fair security abandon the notion of a stampede to the stage. We were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and yours truly was number one in line, followed by Dazee, eBabe, Pamela, Drom, the girls in black and the rest of our newly found friends. Further down the line was Ah Nutts and her mother, sister and cousin. Luna made an appearance, but she had her young daughter with her so she could not wait in line. 2Cents showed up close to 4:00 so she could meet everyone and she joined the line later.

At around 4:00 we were allowed to enter the stage area in groups of 10. I was front center and to my right was Dazee, then eBabe, then Drom, then Pamsey. To my left were Lisa and Julie (the girls in black). There was no warm-up band. The boys started late, at 6:15 instead of 6:00, but they played for a full hour. They all looked happy and healthy. They all smiled a lot and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Bret worked the stage to an unbelievable extent - going to the ends of both sides more than once, joining Rob behind the drums and moving over to Keanu's side. He moved around a lot - perhaps the most I'd ever seen him. Good job, Bret! He cut his hair a little bit so his bangs weren't as long. He was dressed in his usual rock star clothes (black shirt and jeans), as were Rob (shorts & t-shirt) and Keanu (blue jeans and t-shirt).

Keanu smiled a lot and looked up at the audience frequently. He jumped up and down in anticipation of something and was somewhat animated in his gestures. He spoke out a few times and waved. He hardly worked the stage at all; only going to Bret's side once or twice, but he did meet in the middle as well. Overall, though, he was a delight to watch. He was "Neo skinny" and he had the longer style porcupine hair and about a day or two of facial growth.

You'll have to see the pictures. Did I say pictures? Oh, yes, we were allowed to take pictures! I took a roll of 40, Dazee thinks she took five rolls and Pamela lost count....!!! Unfortunately, with the show running from 6:15-7:15, we had the setting sun in our eyes, not to mention the effect it will have on our pictures. We'll see what we ended up with tomorrow. Besides the sun interfering with our photography, the stage height was a bit too high at around 5 feet. Most of us could not see the floor of the stage. But being allowed to take pictures is a wonderful gift for us. Thank you Dogstar!

Also, more good news is that they seem to have gotten some new equipment on stage and it appears the Dogstar logo is changed! It looks like a dot-to-dot of the constellation of Canis Major. Sleek, in my opinion. They also had merchandise - t-shirts with the new design and stickers (we got one free with each purchase) and get this: thong underwear!!! I kid you not! I think Drom bought a pair! They also had OLV and Happy Ending CD's available. Kewl! Way to go, boys! You are listening to your fans!

Something to note: the two Tony's weren't at the show. We don't know what to make of that. Bret did have to, again, get the attention of the engineer regarding some equipment problems during the show. He does it graciously, but it is obvious he is signaling someone about problems.

There was a lot of stuff thrown on the stage - several bras, a hat, a CD and letters and such. More stuff was thrown at this performance than I had seen before. I wonder what they do with some of it?

About the music. They sounded great and appeared to have been practicing together since there were no signs of confusion or being out of sync with each other as I had seen in the past. It was all so wonderful. Dazee got a copy of the play list:

1. Alarming
2. Slipping Down
3. Halo
4. Enemies
5. Cornerstore
6. Superstar
7. I Confess
8. Your World
9. Stagger
10. A Dreamtime
11. Swim
12. Goodbye
13. Blessed
14. Blown Away
15. Acoustic (Bret's solo)
16. America
17. Denial

They hadn't played Superstar in a while and Bret mentioned that. He also introduced Your World by mentioning that Steve Perry (Journey - native of San Francisco) sang back up on the Hollywood Goes Wild Version of their song! I didn't know that. Bret also introduced Blessed as a new song.

For a first concert for Dazee, Pamsey, eBabe and Drom (as well as many others) they couldn't get much better than this performance. Congratulations to Dogstar and thank you for a wonderful performance.

Souvenirs:

Dazee - Keanu's play list!
Pamsey - Bret's pick
Spuddie - Rob's drumstick

How kewl is all that?

Spuddie autographs at bat: 9
Spuddie autographs: 0