Just the other night for the first time, i got to see bush!! (and a couple less-known bands like Loudmouth, Riff Raff Kings and a few others...) and i was in the front row the whole time!! i was like 10 feet away from GAVIN ROSSDALE!!!! he is so gorgeous, my god. he had reddish pink hair (he looked exactly like he was in the new chemicals between us video) and no shirt on!!!! he had the cutest smile. they opened up with "machine head", and he looked at me a couple times and i did the I Love You sign and he did it back! it kinda sucked being in the front row b/c i got hurt. when he was on stage, everyone tried to get up front so i was pushed into the barricade (the little 4 foot wall in front of me) i called my sister when he sang "swallowed" and "little things", thats as nice as i will be! so she was happy she got to hear it, she heard it all right b/c i was right in front of him and 10 foot speakers!!

during "greedy fly" he jumped off stage and jumped onto the barricade, ready to dive into the crowd to crowdsurf, and all these people were pulling him in, and grabbing at his guitar that the whole wall fell over and about 20 people (and Gavin!!) with it!! he didnt get hurt, but a bunch of people did. his guitar was all busted up. he was so mad.... he got back onstage and said "alright everybody, take 5 steps back, or else we won't play anymore." then when he sang "glycerine" it was just him, playing *guitar, and his band members disappeared, like a minute later there were these guys handing out bottled water to people in the front row, his drummer handed one to me!! (i also shook the singer for loudmouth's hand) we (my friend and I) talked to Gavin's bodygaurd, asking if he would run by to shake our hands and he said he would, he does at every concert. but he couldnt b/c security guards were holding up the wall, it was too dangerous. grrr...

so anyways, after the show me and my friend went outside and sat on a table waiting for our ride. this guy was sitting next to us playing a *guitar. he started talking to us,he was really nice; turns out he is a roadie for bush, and then he said "can you hold this for a minute? i have to get something real quick" so he handed me the *guitar and saw it had a bunch of gold scribble on the black surface. i asked what it was, he said "oh bush autographed it, see there's gavin's, and nigel's...the guy who won it hasnt shown up to get it so i dont know what to do. gavin used this during Glycerine." I though OH MY GOD. I AM HOLDING GAVIN'S GUITAR. with him, and all of bush's autograph on it and Glycerine was my favorite song!! i asked him if i could have the guitar, and he said he would give it to me if he could, but his boss might get mad at him if the real winner finally came to get it and there was no guitar. he came back with a piece of paper; he said" this is a guest lists for all the v.i.p.'s (very important persons) invited to the party at the marriot...bush rented a dance room we are all going to celebrate and Gavin wanted us to invite 20 'lucky' people.. all the members of bush will be there.... wanna come?"

i almost fainted. I WAS JUST INVITED TO PARTY WITH BUSH. i told him i was only 16, but he said it didnt matter. i wish so bad i could go, but i knew i couldnt. so i passed up the freakin' offer!! grrr...Gavin writes like a girl,hehe; he wrote on the guitar "smokin' gun - Gavin" whatever that means. but i played his guitar and rubbed my finger on his signature!!i know it was gay to brag about but oh well =) What a totally unforgettable night. I hope to see them again soon!

Tiffany, Augusta, GA

Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta

Only 150 kids were let in, standing room only. Somehow I got to stand right in the front. It got absolutely crazy, kids were jumping around like they were on pounds of coke, it was intense. I just stood there, looking respectful and the bodyguards protected me from getting smushed by all the moshers. Since I was the only one not thrashing about I got several looks from Gavin, he seemed to appreciate that I was really digging his music. That was all that happened that night. Oh, but right when it ended i merely said "Great Job guys!" and made my way out. He winked and said thanks.

About 2 years later they played at The Music Midtown festival" in Atlanta and during the opening band I went backstage and kind of stood around. Robin actually recognized me and asked if my friend and I wanted to wait backstage. Unfortunately I had to watch the back of Gavin for the whole show but it was worth it. During a small break the guys came back (it was in a park downtown so it was a beautiful summer night) I just kind of stood there and tried not to be too excited or pushy. Sure, enough Robin brought Gavin over to my friend and me. GAVIN RECOGNIZED ME TOO!! I could have died. For one second in my life I felt almost like a rock star myself. We talked for a second while they smoked a j. Gavin looked and said for us to stick around after the show. We did and talked to them for a second but there were too many adoring fans for them to ignore so we gave them a hug and headed out.

-Student

The Music Midtown festival" in Atlanta

So we talked all the way to the bar. I was dying. We got to the bar and it was their end of the tour party. They had rented out this whole bar. There were just 12 of us total. Some people had found out and were waiting outside. We got escorted in by guards. another rockstar moment for me. Inside I was given free drinks and played pool with the guys (I was only 17 at the time) I couldn't drink too much at that time though. I called my mom to tell her I wouldn't be home and she didn't believe me when i told her what I was doing. she told me to come home but I told her I had to just ignore her wishes this time. I think deep down she understood. During the night I got a little tipsy and at one point they told me to put down the darts because I was about to accidentally aim one of them in the wrong direction. No more dart board for the tipsy girl. It was quite funny. The thing that struck me as great was that at the time, I was a young silly girl in braces, obviously not the kind of groupie that would give them a blow job or anything. Yet they still had an innocent interest in my company.

At the end of the night (4 am) this weird roadie tried to molest me in the tour van. Mainly because I had been naive and said "SURE, I'd love to see the tour bus!" not thinking what that meant. When I halled ass out of the bus I found Gavin outside getting into a limosine. He noticed I was upset and asked if I was alright. I said I was fine and that I'd never trust another old pedophile of a roadie again. he chuckled, walked up to me and gave me a hug. He said he'd see me around and to look for them if they ever come around on tour again. That was the icing on the cake. So all in all it was a strange and beautiful night, poisinous and sweet. I'll never forget what you can get by keeping your cool around those that are used to screaming fans.

-Student

Tampa, FL 3-21-97

There had to of been 60 people out there...but as the night rolled on parents started making their children leave. Thank goodness I was out of town with no parents. I found a nice spot on the grass against the brick wall....we had been waiting for 2 hours when my older sister pulled me from the ground and said 'oh my god! look its Gavin!' I ran to the curb and sure enough Gavin escorted by 2 guards came over to the fans....about 15 of us. I was dead in front of him and looked up at him and said 'holy $#@!' he laughed at me.

The rest of the crowd must have been to much in shock becuase everyone stood there still...not making a sound. So me and my friends took advantage of the situation and asked him all sorts of questions. I asked him to sign my concert braclet and my arm was shaking so bad he had to stop and look at me telling me to calm down! He also signed my ticket stub. Earlier that night I had unawarely bought a bootleg Bush t-shirt and my best friend asked him to sign it. He opened it and said 'no I don't do bootlegs' and handed it back to her. I took it and held it against my chest purely embarrassed. He must have seen my face becuase he took the shirt from me and said 'if you promise to never buy another bootleg again then I'll sign it for you' I told him i was sorry and he said 'no its ok its just so easy for them to get a hold of our concert dates and throw them on a t-shirt' and he also went on about them making money for his hard work.

He signed my t-shirt 'F@!# bootleggers-Gavin Rossdale' I was pretty much wanting to hide in a corner. But one of the guards told me to move and let other people in front of me. So I let a girl up and she had a gift for Gavn...she handed him a sucrets box. he thanked her and looked at me and raised his shoulders. she told him to open it and inside was a charm and one side said 'i love winnie' and the reverse said 'i love winston' his face lit up. Then she had him sign her Bush book and thinking i was talking in m mind i said 'damn I wish I had brought my book' and he stopped and looked up and said 'yeah and it would have been yet another thing for me to sign for you' and laughed.

Then I stood there in shock....everyone pushed passed me so I went around to the back side of the crowd with my friends and 2 minutes later Gavin walked over and we started looking at his lament and he said 'dont look at that..thats the most awful picture of me' then the guards told him they had to go in so we all got a quick hug and he left and waved the entire way in. This was one of the best nights of my life. It gave me a new refound respect for Gavin.

- Meegie

Australia

I am from Melbourne, Australia, but was on vacation in the Philippines when the manager of a radio station I knew told me that Bush were touring and that they were doing an interview at her radio station. I was personally invited to sit in on the interview.

On October 3rd 1997 I went to the radio station. I was so excited I could hardly breathe. I was waiting in the radio booth when all of a sudden Gavin, Nige, Dave and Rob walked in. I thought I was going to die! I was introduced to them and we had a quick chat before going on air. The boys answered all different types of questions and all the while Gavin just knew I was thrilled to be there. So during the interview (which lasted about 20mins) he kept looking over at me and raising his eyebrows, doing that gorgeous smile and winking at me.

I was the only foreigner there and felt really special because all of their other fans that had swarmed the radio station weren't allowed anywhere near them. I was so lucky!!

After the interview I had more time to talk to the guys and I had one very important question to ask Gavin. Were he and Gwen Stefanie really a couple? The reply I got was, "yes, and we love each other very very much. It is her birthday today and she's spending it on tour with No Doubt in Barcelona and I miss her dearly." I really didn't want to hear that because I had hoped that the rumors about him and Gwen weren't true coz I love Gavin and wanted him all for myself.

I spent one hour and five minutes altogether with Bush and it was the best day of my life. They gave me a free tour t-shirt, which they all signed, free tickets to their concert that night, but the best part of the day was getting a kiss from Gavin. I was in heaven!

I walked down to the car to see them off and Gavin opened the window, shook my hand and said, "It was nice to meet you Leah", and all I could do was smile and say "You have absolutely no idea what this has meant to me, thankyou."

I will remember that day for the rest of my life. It was and will always be the best day ever!

- Leah Taylor