This review is from Bre. Click here to see the pictures that go along with this review.

September 8th, 2003
Cotton Club
Atlanta, GA

first off, i want to say that this was worth it. rooney was worth it. the atlanta rooney show was worth it.

secondly, i want to state bckgrd info:
*i went w/ my best friend, dannielle. it was on monday, sept. 8th at The Cotton Club. it was to start at 8 pm with The Paloaltos and The Sounds opening for Rooney. The doors were to open at 6pm. dannielle and i left our college in rock hill, sc at midnight monday to get there. it's a four and a half hour drive from our college but we stopped a couple times and got lost. we had planned to get there early and sleep on the street/sidewalk by the venue.
*this is what my parents thought: they thought the concert was on sunday night, sept. 7th. they thought that b/c i told them so they wouldn't know that we were skipping classes on monday. they knew that we were driving back right after the concert too.
*this is what dannielle's parents thought: same as my parents...except they told dannielle that she was to get a hotel room and drive back on monday. they told her that was ok. (dannielle didn't want to get a hotel room monday night b/c she wanted to be back to school for her math class at 9:30 am)

ok that is the bckgrd. it'll help w/ the story.

 5 am: we got to atlanta, found the venue, drove around to find a diner that was open 24 hrs so we could 'rest' a bit. we stayed in the diner for an hr and then went back to the car and slept there for another hr and 15 min.

7:30 am: we drove to the cotton club, sat in the parking lot til about 8 am and then drove down like two blocks to another parking lot and parked there. then we went to the cenntinial park and walked around a bit and then we walked to the CNN Center.

9 am: we went back to our car and slept for about two hrs. then we got dressed for the concert and went to the venue to see if anyone was lining up *the other concert/s dannielle and i have been to, people have started lining up that early*. no one was there so we just walked around that park again and the CNN Center.

noon: we were expecting our 'friends', japan (that band), to call us and get there at like lunchtime. so we had headed back to the venue. no calls, no japan, no other fans. so we just sat on the steps of the normal entrance to the cotton club and went over dannielle's lines for her play. then we went back to the car to get our rooney shit.

1 pm-ish: we went back to the cotton club b/c we had nothing better to do and when we got there we saw that a block over at the holiday inn, rooney's tour bus was in the parking lot. we decided to walk over there to see it and kill time. as we were walking over there, matt and a roadie came in our direction. it looked like matt was trying to hide behind the roadie but that didn't work too well b/c he was taller than the roadie! haha. we said hey to him. and he said hey back and said "wassup" and i said "nothing, just chillin'" and we passed by each other and everyone just kept on walking towards the same destination they had a min. ago. haha. so dannielle and i went towards the bus...we didn't see anyone else so we just kinda walked around the block and back to the cotton club. once we got back, we sat down on the normal entrance stairs again and started to rehearse the lines again. but like 5 min. taylor walked across the street towards the cotton club parking lot/sidewalk by himself. then he crossed the main road to the park. after 3 min. of discussion, dannielle and i decided to 'non-shalantly' *pretend like i can spell* follow him. we were too fucking scared to say anything to him if we like came near him b/c he was rather harsh when we met him at fall out. so anyways, we went to the park, and couldn't find him. so i figured he went to the CNN Center and we went there. no, he wasn't there...BUT matt and the roadie were!! *i think throughout the day, matt must've thought we were stalking him*

--ok i don't remember times much anymore so i won't head the paragraph w/ a time if i don't really know it! sorry!--

so we went back to the cotton club and rehearsed the lines again *she had to have them memorized by today and she wasn't even close to it!* and taylor walked by the parking lot again and back to the holiday inn w/ a drink and a white paper bag in his hand *he had obviously gotten food*. we were too chicken to say anything to him. then we walked around the park again, and down the holiday inn street. then we saw taylor and some roadies by the bus. but they didn't see us. then we headed back to the cotton club.

i'm not sure how much time went by, but after a while. the tour bus moved from the holiday inn to the side of the cotton club parking lot. roadies began to unload the bus and take all the /r/ stuff to the band entrance which was RIGHT below the normal entrance. then matt came out *haha...he definitely thought we were stalkers* and we said hey. and he said hey back and then he walked to band entrance. then louie came out and he came towards us and said hey and asked how we were doing *he acted like he recognized us from fall out*. and we said hey and that we were fine and asked how he was doing. and he said fine. and then he headed down to the band entrance.

some time went by before we saw any other of the /r/ guys. matt came out a cpl. of times to get stuff. then robert came out and he said hey and ...well basically we had the same conversation w/ robert that we did w/ louie. then taylor came out. we didn't say anything to him b/c we were scared he'd get mad...BUT he waved and smiled and had that usual convo w/ us that we had just had w/ louie and robert. *see? he totally redeemed himself right there* finally, ned came out. we said hey to him and he said hey back and he was kinda like rushed it so we didn't talk to him much.

sound check: they did a sound check and it was really cool to listen to them!!! they played some songs off the cd and their new one "paralyzed". then matt or louie would randomly come out and get something from the bus. then robert came out. and we decided that on his way back from the bus, we'd ask him for a pic. and we did! he said "of course!" and was really happy about it. he posed w/ dannielle first. then me. he had his arm around my back. and when we were done w/ the pics he stood there w/ his arm around my back still and like rubbed my back w/ his hand. *ORGASM!!* and we talked about fall out a teeny bit. we told him that we missed them perform but that we met them and he remembered but he shook his head and said "girls, girls". haha that's all i really remember from the rob convo... i was too enthralled w/ his hand rubbing my back to pay much attention! haha.

then matt came back out and dannielle worked up enough courage to ask him for a pic and he said, "well i have to do the soundcheck right now. we do that kinda stuff after the show." and he walked off. *i think he was a lil scared and peeved w/ us.*

well then the other bands started to show up. and some fans too *like four other fans*. and louie came out w/ some girl who was interviewing him for school and they walked around the park. the sounds went outside and started cutting each others hair. ned and taylor came out to talk to them for a bit, then ned, matt, and taylor went for a long ass walk or whatever. that was the last i saw of them until like 6:30 ish.

the doors didnt open on time. but they did at like 7pm. dannielle and i got in and got front row RIGHT in front of taylor's general spot. i got some merch. and a h2o bottle before the show. the show started a lil bit before 8pm w/ the paloaltos. they are ok. i mean i didn't mind them, but i won't buy their cd. then the sounds went on at like 9 pm...they fucking rocked!! i loved them!

THEN AT 10 PM-ISH ROONEY CAME ON!!!! omg they rocked so fucking hard! i was right in front of taylor. we had eye sex a cpl of times. someone threw a condom near taylor, and i thought it was funny...so i pointed at it and taylor searched the whole floor to find what i was pointing at and then he saw the condom and like freaked out. haha. it was funny. i think he thought that i threw it though. i got taylor's set list too!

after the show, they had a vip thing backstage that you HAD to have passes for and we didn't have any. we were soooooooooooo upset! like we were dead-on getting pics w/ rooney though so we decided to wait until they came out.

louie came out and took pics w/ us. he signed a hot wheels car for my sister *they randomly handed those out after the concert and louie thought i was fucking insane for getting him to sign that for my sister...but i think he was amused*. he stared at my boobs a lot. he read my t-shirt and then said "miss b-havin', huh?" haha. and i was like "oh hell yeah!". and then matt came out and took one pic w/ just me and dannielle b/c he was rushed and i think slightly annoyed w/ us. but he did remember that he promised us before the show.

we did get VIP passes from our 'friends', japan. so we went in and got a pic w/ all of them and i got them to sign my sister's hot wheels *ned was like "OH COOL! it's a saturn!" haha!*. taylor was really nice and smiley ...until the picture. and he put on his "i'm gonna pretend like i don't have emotions" face! haha. when i got matt to sign my sister's hot wheels saturn, i said:"matt, im' sorry to bug you but will you sign this 4 my sister? i promise i won't harrass you ever again!" and he laughed and smiled a lot and warmed up to us and said, "NO no! you're not bothering me!" haha.

after all that, we went back to the car satisfied. then we saw the tshirts that we made for /r/...so we went back in and gave them all their shirts *well we gave robert's to matt to give to him b/c robert had left by then*. they were all very thankful ...EVEN TAYLOR LOCKE! haha. it was great. matt asked us if we were gonna be coming to any more shows this tour and we said we couldn't b/c of school. and he said he was really sorry to hear that b/c he'd look forward to seeing us again if we could go. and we said that we couldnt' miss more school...we'd already missed 3 classes that day and he said sorry but was it worth it. and we said HELL YEAH! haha. and he said he's looking forward to seeing us next tour then. he also told us that "why try" is gonna be on their next album! *SO GIVE ALL THAT CREDIT TO ME!! I FOUND OUT BEFORE ANYONE ELSE!* ;)

then we left. we only had like 4 hrs of sleep in our sys. and we had to drive for another 4 hrs and 30 min. we got tired, and pulled into a rest area to sleep for 2 hrs. we were still really tired and stuff when we forced ourselves to drive on. it was like between 5:30 am and 6 am when dannielle started to doze off, and we swerved into the median and totalled the car. i'm ok. dannielle's ok. thank god. i have a bruised, fat lip. i have 3 teeny cuts on my eyeball. i have a bruise on my right hip. i have another bruise on my right chest area *the WHOLE area*. but i'm ok. i just ache a lot. so needless to say, we had to call our parents and they found out. my mom and dannielle's dad are convinced that we're groupies b/c we got rooney to sign things for us and take pictures w/ us, but whatever. i don't care. rooney was worth the lie. they aren't worth what could've happened, but i had the best time of my life at that concert and i wouldn't ever want to give it up.