November 28, 1998: Webster Theatre, Hartford, CT


Hartford was the second show on this tour that I initially was going to skip, but I decided that perhaps the photo opportunities plus that it was less than two hours from Boston would make up for the fact that GBS was just the opening act.  Also, it was one of just two shows that my husband Bob could go to, due to his busy work schedule.  That morning, on the Great Big Chat, Caitlin posted that she no longer had a ride to Hartford.  After the fun that we'd had at Providence on the 19th, and with Alice going to Hartford too, there was NO WAY I was going to let her miss this show.  I phoned her (we had exchanged numbers at Providence) and told her that she did indeed have a ride, we'd be picking her up that evening.  It wasn't a problem for us, stopping to get her was only 60 km out of our way, which was nothing in the grand scheme of the Great Big Roadtrip.  It was also a good way to make sure that she and I would get along GREAT on the much longer roadtrip to Philly the next day, and for Bob to meet her and know who I was traveling with.

We arrived within a half hour of the doors opening, and we met Bev from Ottawa (seeing her first GBS show) in the lobby.  There were already hundreds of teenagers there to see Guster, and there were separate lines for 21 and over, and under 21.  Fortunately the over 21 line was MUCH shorter, so we got in fairly quickly and moved right to the front.  Bob waited with us temporarily, until Alice found Caitlin and I and joined us up front.  We negotiated with the Guster fans up front to let us stand at the edge of the stage, and promised that we'd be gone as soon as GBS finished.

The guys played an "opening act" set, eleven songs with only one non-Rant & Roar song, Process Man, which they opened with. It was followed by Ordinary Day, Goin' Up, Fast As I Can, The Night Paddy Murphy Died, Consequence Free, General Taylor, Lukey, EOTW, Mari Mac, and When I'm Up.

The stage was the tallest I'd ever seen the guys play on, about chest height, and it had plenty of stage lights above it.  It was difficult shooting pictures into those bright lights, plus I was having some minor battery problems with my camera, but I managed to get over two dozen good shots of them.  When Caitlin saw the pictures, she dubbed them the "Rock God" pics because of the angle that they were shot at, and the presence of colored stage lights in almost ever shot.  Although Guster's equipment was already on the stage, the guys still had plenty of room to move around, which allowed me to catch them in many GREAT poses.

It was amusing to hear some of the Guster fans' reactions to GBS.  The girls that were standing to my left were quite impressed by the guys, but especially with Seán.  I recall one of them looking at him, and saying to her friend, "I want THAT one!"  Caitlin and Alice were standing immediately to my right, in front of Seán, and there was no question that the band remembered us from Providence.  At one point, Caitlin was thirsty, so she gestured to Seán to let her drink from his water bottle.  Alice wanted to do the same, so Seán handed Caitlin the bottle and gestured for the two of them to share it.  That was so funny, and cute at the same time.  Later in the show, Alan walked towards the front of the stage to announce a song, and my hand was resting on the edge of the stage in front of his right foot. He was so close that I could have reached out and touched his shoe, then he stepped forward as if he wanted to step on my hand, which made us all laugh hysterically.  The show was over all too soon, and we gave up our prime spots immediately when GBS left the stage, as we had promised.

Afterwards, Caitlin, Bob, and I really couldn't stay to see Guster.  Caitlin and I would be getting up early the next morning to drive to Philly, so we knew that we shouldn't stay out too late.  Tomorrow would be a new adventure....


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