[Melissa06@aol.com]

I don't post very often to the list but I wanted to send a message about the 
Cleveland, Detroit & Toronto shows that I went to.  It was great meeting 
everyone at the shows - Mike West (who happened to be standing behind me in 
line) and Matt Messina and his friends at the Cleveland show; Jim Sorensen 
and his wife and Mike again and his wife at the Detroit show; and Garrett and 
his wife (who's extremely nice and I had a great time talking to at the 
restaurant), James Smith and I thought it was his friend but it could have 
been his brother like Garrett said (I really can't remember - sorry!) and yes 
James, you're right - I'm from Buffalo, Jonathan Hart and his friend and 
Chris who I met in the venue before the show started.  I really want to thank 
Garrett for organizing a meeting before the show.  Sorry about not being able 
to let you know sooner but I didn't have access to messages from Thursday on 
and Jim Sorenson had mentioned to me at the Detroit show that he read 
something about a get together for Toronto that you were planning and when I 
called my friend back home Saturday morning who was checking messages, they 
gave me the info so I called the restaurant and asked them if it would be ok 
to add another person to your reservation.

Since I'm not very good with writing reviews of the shows and Mike's, Jim's, 
James'  and Garrett's reviews were really good, I won't repeat what they said 
(sorry Matt - I know you said you were looking for a female's perspective on 
the Cleveland show but I don't think you'd want to read my pitiful attempt of 
writing a review although the show definitely was amazing).

Also, I found out that the opening band in Toronto was called Staggered 
Crossing.  I bought a shirt they were selling outside the venue after the 
show and it had their name on it.  The quality of the pictures on the shirt 
aren't that great (the front has the cow's head and the back has a picture of 
the group and also said "Live In Concert October 27, 2001 Midnight Oil with 
special guests Staggered Crossing Kool Haus" on a black shirt).  I do have to 
say that it was great not having an opening band for Detroit and when we got 
inside the venue, the stage was all set up with their gear.  I even got a 
used drumstick at the end of the last song (I think it was Sometimes) before 
the encores at the Detroit show.  I was secretly hoping for no opening band 
for the Toronto show too since I had heard that Will Hoge wasn't going to be 
opening but I thought that Staggered Crossing was ok and I actually 
recognized a song they played but didn't know the name of it.  Speaking of 
Will Hoge, everytime I looked at the drummer at the Cleveland show I couldn't 
stop laughing because it's true that he looks like he's in pain when he's 
playing the drums.  I looked over at Mike a few times and we'd both start to 
laugh at his facial expressions.  Their songs were ok too and they hung 
around by the merchandise table after the show to meet fans and sign things 
and pose for pictures.

I also wanted to mention that I met 2 really nice fans at all 3 shows.  We'd 
end up waiting around after each show to meet the band and start talking and 
they even saved a spot for me up front for the Toronto show.  :)  One of them 
who went to a Mercury Lounge show even remembered me from then - I was really 
impressed because she remembered I was showing Ben and I think Craig some 
pictures I had brought with me and she had looked at them too.  I'm not sure 
if they're on the list but if they are - thanks for being so nice and 
friendly and I'll hopefully see you at some more shows in the future!  :)  
Btw, it was Bones that told Indi he could stay at their hotel and to give 
them an hour and they would probably be out of the hotel by then.  I was also 
standing there with the 2 fans I mentioned before but I hadn't met Indi so I 
didn't know that was him or I would have definitely said hello.

Again, I want to say it was great meeting so many other Powderworkers and 
everyone was really nice and I had a great time!  :)


Melissa