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Submitted to Guster.net by Zubin Desai

10-20-2003
Foellinger Auditorium, Urbana, IL


Let me first start by saying that this was the best concert I have ever been to. And I've been to a lot of concerts. I guess a lot has to do with the fact that we managed to get front row at this one. Guster connected with the crowd really well, I thought. A couple of us wore Boston Red Sox jerseys and started chanting "Yankees Suck" and Brian kept the chant going with a steady beat. Then Ryan asked who was a Cubs fan in the crowd and then asked if they blamed not going to the World Series because of that one fan. It was hilarious. I thought it was cool of them to kind of relate to the crowd in that both our teams got bounced from the playoffs in the worst way. Guster did play a lot of new songs, but this was to be expected. I'm sure Sony had something to do with that. Ryan jammed really well and all of their songs sounded amazing. Some people I was with hadn't been to a Guster concert before and they mentioned that their live act sounds like CD-quality (a good thing). Afterwards they had an afterparty at a local campus bar. They were really cool and accepted drinks from everyone and took pictures and talked about non-music things. They also bought pizza for all of us. In my drunken stupor I started talking to Brian about how much John Mayer sucks and that on the tour last year, Guster was way better. Also that it was a travesty that Counting Crows were forced to open for Mayer. Brian, making sure not to say anything really negative about Mayer, said "Okay next time we come to Cali, we won't bring John Mayer." I thought it was very cool to have a normal conversation with a celebrity. Anyways now I'm rambling. I'll end by saying that it was a great, great show and I cannot wait to see them again! (hopefully this Friday in Chicago)