HELLA GOOD, No Doubt

JULY 9, 2009
It's still a little weird to me that I once hated Gwen Stefani when I've had a bit of an obsession with her for the last 5 years. It's probably more about fashion, or the fact that she has a cool rocker husband who was the reason I first saw her perform with No Doubt 15 years ago. Her kid's name is Kingston, which what name can be cooler than that? L.A.M.B. is a kick ass fashion brand, which I wish I could afford more than just a long sleeve white tee left over from a sample sale at work. Harajuku lovers is a quirky adorable line with figurine fragrances that are probably too juvenile for my taste, but if it's Gwen's I want it. I once dressed up as her for Halloween in her Alice in Wonderland inspired costume. I also designed a tee for my own apparel collection inspired by that costume, and contributed a handful of items to a celebrity gift basket for her. I saw her Harajuku Lover's tour a few years ago, and then paid a pricey ticket to see No Doubt last summer in Indianapolis.

Instead of seats like my Live Nation ticket revealed, the pit area was general admission. Totally cool with me, however I thought I would get to sit for a majority of the evening, so I wore 4 inch platform heels. At least I stashed a pair of flip flops in my bag, which was also a mistake not to bring a small cross body bag. Instead it ended up on the beer soaked pavement being tripped on by dozens of people jumping around. My friend's young daughter was with us, and thankfully the security guard let her stand on a small ledge so she could see over the sea of people.

I had a new camera with me which captured these amazing shots. We were probably about 15 or 20 feet from the stage which is not bad for a stadium sized show. I'm still not understanding how Gwen was that in shape after having two children. She rocked her classic ND twisted knotted hair and midrif tops, a much different look than her ultra feminine solo style. Either way, she's still a cool chick, and someone I can actually respect and admire compared to any other female pop star out there.

The set was a trip down memory lane with so much energy and excitement. I was only disappointed by the lack of songs from her solo career, but hey, there were only 2 hours for her to cover an 84 song catalog by No Doubt. Tony and Adrian also rocked, and the LED video screen had a lot of great imagery and videos. Originally the band requested fans to upload videos of themselves singing "I'm Just A Girl" so they could play them during the song. Apparently it didn't work out the way they expected, so it was cut. I was very tempted to send in video of myself, but decided I'd rather not look like a fool to a crowd of thousands.

Paramore was the opening band which we caught a few songs, however most of our time was spent searching for the will call booth which was on the complete opposite side of the entrance.

Here are a few pics for the few hundred I took that night.