This review is from Michaele.

September 20th, 2003
Peoria Sports Complex
Peoria, AZ

Edgefest is a huge gathering of bands sponsored by The Edge 103.9 radio station. Rooney has been played a lot on the Edge and they were invited to Edgefest so I went! It was pretty dang awesome.

The gates opened at 11am but there was no way I wanted to go that early since Rooney was on at 12:50pm and this is Arizona… it was 105 degrees that day! I finally got there with my twin and her friend and I got up really close, so I was excited. However, a tall girl stood in front of me… but what else is new! Luckily I didn't have to wait that long for Rooney (about twenty minutes), but it was okay to wait since Yellowcard was on the other stage and I like them, so it was waiting music! And as I waited I saw Taylor and Matt getting ready with their ear plugs on a platform offstage and I think I was the only one in my little area who noticed them and what their names were. Ha.

As soon as Yellowcard was done, Rooney came on. Matt wore a blue shirt and jeans, Robert wore a red shirt with jeans (yet again he has worn a red shirt and that is my favorite color and I again wore a white shirt! I was sad), Taylor wore an off orangeish peach shirt that looked a little too short for him and jeans, Louie wore a black sleeveless shirt and jeans (he is WAY too pale for that. And I thought I was pale), and Ned wore a greenish shirt and jeans. Sound like an exciting wardrobe, don't you think?

The first song was "Sorry Sorry" and Robert was totally rocking the vocals until the verse after the first chorus. We all know it goes "she was so confused, from a point of view I would be confused too. I was so rude, what was I thinking?" Well according to Robert it was "mumble mumble, ohhh ohhh, what was I thinking?" My twin was all "did they change the words?" and I said "no. He forgot the words!" He didn't look flustered or anything. I think he actually smiled a bit. Then "Terrible Person" was the next song and Taylor managed to lose his pick during the little solo that is the pick-up to the words. The sad thing is that he did that last time I saw Rooney. I must be bad luck for Taylor because his guitar went crazy on the same song as last time. He looked really flustered and mad the rest of the show.

A funny part was when Robert introduced them as Bloody Vomit And then he said a weird name for a song and then he was all "here is Blueside!" and then something happened with Taylor's guitar and Ned said "or not."

I don't exactly remember the set list, but they played "Sorry Sorry", "Terrible Person", "Stay Away", "If It Were Up To Me", "Simply Because", "Blueside", "Popstars", "Daisy Duke" and the last one was "Shakin". I was sad they didn’t play any new songs or "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow", but they only had a 30 min set. It was great to see the guys! And somewhere in the show Ned took his shirt off. Oohhhh man. He's not super built, but he does have a nice torso. Hee hee. It was sad as well because people threw ice up on the stage. I think Phoenix has enthusiastic crowds, but also rude crowds. So I want to apologize to Rooney on behalf of the idiots of Phoenix. I doubt they'll ever see this, but I apologize for the stupid people.

After the set my bestest best friend got to go back stage and meet the guys since she came to the show with another friend who had a friend that knew someone working for the show that got them all access passes. I was kind of upset that she got to meet Rooney, but she missed their set and she didn't get to go when they were here in June and I also met them when I saw them in June, so it was her turn. I am happy she got to chill with them for the 5 minutes they stayed up on the platform off the stage but she took my dream of getting a picture of Robert! Ahhh, oh well. Now she has the dream. I did get a picture of Ned jumping into a trailer tracker with my other friend's camera. It's priceless!

Rooney had a signing thing at 1:30 and I went to that and there was a huge line and I was there for about 50 minutes and when we got up to the front, Rooney wasn't there anymore!!!!! I remember about 2:10ish people started screaming and waving and people started asking if Rooney was leaving but I didn't see them. I heard someone say "oh someone else is just coming in." Well, yeah! Another band did come in! So I wasted 50 minutes in the sun when I could had been getting water. Bllaahhh!

Overall it was a great show and it looks like Rooney is making their way around the country again and I hope they're back in December or January! I'd be excited to see my favorite band again!