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Hey Baby, Hey Baby Yeah

Who: No Doubt
When: April 12, 2002
Where: Alumni Arena, University at Buffalo; Amherst, NY
With: the entire UB undergraduate population
Of Note: the concert genie

From Remembering the Encores


Kiss98.5 has been a staple of my Buffalo life. Though we spent a fair amount of time in the dorms downloading music (legally at the time) and creating the perfect playlists in Napster, then WinAmp, then Windows Media Player (yes kids, there was a time before iTunes), when we dormed together sophomore year, Beth and I spent a fair amount of time listening to "your number one concert connection", Kiss98.5.

(Later, we would go on to name our goldfish [who ended up dying of fish cancer, we're pretty sure] after some of the famed Kiss98.5 DJs. I would also spend a fair amount of time, energy, and social capital into getting an autographed picture of Janet Snyder and Nicholas Picholas for Beth. You could say we were maybe just a wee bit psychotic?)

UB announced that they were bringing No Doubt to play at Alumni. The ticket helpfully tells me this was part of some sort of MTV TRL (yes kids, MTV used to play music) tie in. The tickets were going to be $5. Because this was before Gwen Stefani ruining the world with 'Hollaback Girl', everyone was pretty excited.

That spring, Kiss98.5 ran a contest called around 'the Concert Genie'. Essentially, when the genie sound came on the radio, if you were caller 98, then you 'rubbed the lamp' and the genie would tell you what concert you won tickets to. There were several concerts going on during that time period - a sold out Dave Matthews Band show that I was too poor to buy tickets for, chief among them. I was determined that I was going to win tickets from the concert genie.

Beth & I kept the radio on constantly, ready at a moment's notice with at least two cell phones and one room phone (two room phones if our hallmates were around). I was delirious that semester, from taking 21 credits plus working full time, and was always in need of more sleep. At 7am, I would hear the concert genie sounder and jump out of bed to call. It didn't matter what time it was or what was going on, I was a slave to the genie.

I had this dream that I got through, was caller 98 and the genie granted me....Dave tickets! I was elated! The radio played 'The Space Between' behind the friendly genie telling me, "You've won tickets to....the Dave Matthews Band!" I was disappointed every time I woke up and realized it was a dream.

I had another dream that I got through, was caller 98 and the genie granted me....crappy No Doubt tickets, that I already bought and were only $5. Those dreams always made me really angry.

Looking back, I think it's hilarious that we had such single-minded determination around something so arbitrary. Distract yourself with fake problems to avoid your real problems maybe? I also think it's hilarious that just thinking about winning the right or wrong tickets significantly impacted my mood.

Anyway, I don't remember much about the actual No Doubt concert. I think Beth ended up working security so I'm not even sure who I went with. I do remember Gwen Stefani working hard for the money, climbing scaffolding and doing push-ups while singing (which is pretty amazing). I remember thinking it was cool that they were there because they were so popular at that moment, because of the Rock Steady album.

What I remember most about No Doubt though, is getting legitimately angry at the prospect of getting through a radio contest only to be given something I already had. What can I say? Girls are crazy.

Comments

  1. I remember this one. Almost got crushed on the floor. I went with this chick "Rachel" I had just started dating.

    Haha cell phones. Remember when people asked what your screen name was and if you had a cell phone?

    -Jimbo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! When I was "running" the other day (trotting? prancing?), I was trying to see how many screen names I remembered. It was, sadly, a lot.

    ReplyDelete

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