This story is from an internet friend of mine who went to see Dogstar in Tempe, Arizona. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did! We should all be this lucky don't you think? :-)
Hello to all my internet friends! Here is another story for all of you. I am afraid it is not nearly as explicit as the last two. In all actuality it is extremely clean. The important part of this disclaimer is that all of what you are about to read is 100%, undeniably true! I don't have to tell you all but, this was probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. Well, on with the story...... :) Today is the 30th of May, 1997. Yesterday was the 29th of May, the night of the Dogstar concert in Tempe Arizona. And what a night it was. First a little background information. Wednesday night my girlfriend and I went shopping for just the perfect outfit to wear to the concert. We continued the search on Thursday afternoon. Finally I decided to wear a new pair of black jeans, a black short sleeved mock turtle neck shirt and a tan vest. This decision was arrived at 4:00pm Thursday the 29th. We were leaving for the concert at 5:15. We ran to my house and showered, did make up and hair, and left my house at 5:24pm. We had one more person to pick up on the way, my baby-sitter Laura. We arrived at Laura's at exactly 5:30 pm and then we were on our way. Flying down the highways and the roads we reached The Electric Ballroom at 6:24. We dropped Michelle off at the Ballroom to save our places in line. Then Laura and I took off for Dairy Queen to get us all something to eat. Back at the ballroom, we ate dinner in line and waited until about 7:30 for them to open the door. (They were supposed to open the doors at 7:00) There were two bands opening for D*, Vitamin and Silver Jet. I liked them both but Vitamin was better. Vitamin took the stage at 8:15 and played until 8:45. After a half hour intermission Silver Jet came on at 9:15 to 10:00. Then at 10:15, the main attraction came out on stage. DOGSTAR! During the intermission I had gone to the restroom, all those rum & cokes were hitting me, and there was a set of stairs that led to the restroom, after I went, I stood on the last step of the stairs. I could see Rob's drum set perfectly, and it was only about 20 yards away! I was on the right side of the stage, as you are looking at the stage. I thought to my self that this will be the side that Keanu will be standing on. So.....I stood there and waited for the band to come on. The security guard told me and the other girls that were standing on the stairs that we would have to move once the concert began. I said ok, I just want to see "him" first then I will go to my seat. Well as it turned out I watched the entire concert from those steps. With a full unobstructed view of Keanu! The security guard never said a thing. Then one of my friends brought this girl we had met at the concert, her name is June, over to where I was standing. She flipped when she saw the view I had. We spent the rest of the concert standing there drooling over him. :) Eventually the crowd had moved away from the guardrail and June and I saw a chance to get even closer to him. We walked up to the guardrail, we were only about 10 yards away from him, if even that far. June said look, no guards here let's hop over the rail and up the stairs and onto the stage. I said no way, they will throw us out of here and I don't want to miss any of this. So we just stood there until it was over. The band went off the stage on the left, but came back out for 3 more songs. Then it was over. Everyone started to leave, so we went back to our table and sat there for a few minutes talking about the concert. Then suddenly out of nowhere, this guy drops three wrist bracelets on our table and says to us. "Quick, put these on and they will let you stay and meet the band." We slapped those bands on so fast it was unreal! The only problem was there were only three bands and 4 of us in our little group. Unfortunately June got left out. I told her that I would get her shirt signed for her. So the three of us moved to the area where the band would come out and talk to us. We were sitting around in a booth waiting. After what seemed like forever we see Bret come walking out of the dressing room area. It was so cool, everyone that was waiting were really cool. No one rushed up to him, we all just let him come to us in his own time. Eventually he stopped by where we were standing. We talked to him for a few and I asked him to sign everyone's shirts and CD's. He was very accommodating and really nice. I asked him when they were going to be in Tucson and he said tomorrow night. I mentioned to him I had tried to get tickets from Ticketmaster on the internet and I couldn't find the date on the billboard. He said that he would have to check into that. He excused himself then and went to mingle some more. Then wouldn't you know it June came walking in. The guy that was with her paid someone to let her in and it worked. So she got to sit with us while we were waiting. After what seemed like another forever. Rob came walking out. Man is he tall! He made his way through the crowd and stopped like Bret did whenever someone wanted an autograph or just to say hi and shake his hand. Finally he made it to us. I squeezed his elbow and he turned to face us. He shook all of our hands and I asked him to sign everyone's t-shirts and CD's which of course he did. He stayed and talked with us about the show and how we liked it and little things like that. He and Bret had been out mingling for quite a while and as Rob passed by us again I stopped him and asked him if Ke would be coming out. He said yes, and that he should have been out already. He went back into the dressing room to see what was keeping Ke. Soon we were looking at the door and out he came. In the total flesh. Keanu Reeves! I felt my stomach starting to get butterflies, and me legs were feeling so weak. There were several people down on the lower level and he stopped to talk with them all. I could read his lips a few times and he would look up to where we were standing and say I really need to go up the stairs and say hello to those people. Talking about all of us that were standing there. As we watched him come closer and closer to the stairs I was holding my breath. I couldn't believe it! I was going to meet Keanu! He walked up the stairs and our little group was the first one he stopped at. We were all so stunned we didn't say a thing. He laughed a little and said "I guess I will start by just saying hello." So he shook all of our hands in turn and said hello to each one of us. Then he was interrupted by one of his roadies for a few minutes. When he turned back to us he noticed that I was holding my pen and my CD case and asked me, with a smile on his face, "Would you like me to sign those?" His was like smooth butter, and so soft-spoken. I was doing all I could to hold myself together and said "Yes, please." :) So he took my pen, which was a felt permanent marker. Our hands brushed each others. And I held the CD for him as he signed it. I asked him if he would also sign my ticket stub. He said "Of course." Then I asked him to sign Michelle's CD and Laura's t-shirt and June's t-shirt. Once he was done with them, he turned to me and said "This is your pen I believe." He smiled and handed it back to me. I asked him then, "Would it be too forward of me if I asked you for a hug?" He just got the biggest grin on his face and said "Of course not." So he took me in his arms and hugged me. Then of course all my friends wanted hugs too. So he hugged us all and when he was done I said " You know kisses are acceptable too." With a very big smile. He chuckled and took me in his arms again and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I could have died! I said thank you so very much. He told all of us to take care and moved on to the next group of people. I watched him walk to the next group and I could hardly stand or breathe. I started to cry just from the sheer joy of what had happened. My friends kept asking me if I was all right. I said, "I just can't f****** believe this just happened to me!" I took some deep breaths and tried to calm down. We all figured it was time for us to leave after that. So we gathered our things together and started to walk out. I noticed that he was right in front of me with his back to me. I reached out my hand and touched his back and said "Thank you again, and take care." He looked up and smiled and said " Your welcome, you too, and thanks." We walked outside and I just had to scream. Really loud. And all these people were looking at me and I was just on Cloud 9. This girl realized that we had just been talking to Ke and she came over and told me she was so happy for me and gave me a hug. It was one hell of a night. The rest of this story went as you can imagine. We went to the car and there were a ton of people standing around the band's bus. I looked at all of them and said to my friends that the guys were in for a long night if they come out here and greet all of these people. I hoped that everyone would be as nice to them as the people inside were. I won't go into the details of going home 'cause I know you all could care less. :) I am still in a state of shock this morning and can't hardly believe I wasn't dreaming it all. But, all I have to do is look at the signatures on my CD and I know it all really did happen. :) I will be in the chat room tonight around 2:00pm my time. Which is Pacific time I believe and there is a three hour difference for most of you. I will be in and out of the room all day too. See you all there tonight! :)
Love, Susan aka Smiles :)