• Bush
• Goo Goo Dolls
• No Doubt

1996. What a great year to see some amazing music. This show was no different. Bush was starting to become a giant, as were Goo Goo Dolls. The latter had a couple of hits, and this was just a few short years away from 'Iris'. So they weren't stupid huge when this show came to Knoxville. The opening act was a mystery to us. No Doubt was a Ska band from Orange County, as you do. And Ska wasn't really on a lot of peoples radars in Maryville, TN. Their video for 'Just a Girl' had only been out a short while, if I'm remembering correctly. Meaning, they were still fairly underground.

Then they came out on stage. They came out to the fuckin' Imperial March, which was just delightful. I was sold already. I thought I knew how to pogo when I saw Weezer. Haha, I was way off! Bounced my ass off in the Civic Coliseum that night! The one thing I do remember was hearing 'Total Hate'. What a great song! That's a high energy opening act and we thought we might have a break with the second band.

I don't recall all the people I went with to this show, but I do remember being told by one of them that it'll be nice to not be so rowdy for a short while. See, we were under the impression with songs like, 'Naked' and 'Name', that we'd get a nice acoustic set before Bush came out on stage. Well, we were all so wrong. I don't think that motherfucker picked up an acoustic guitar that whole set. I seriously don't think he did! I remember it being loud and fast. I was surprised at their set. Oh yeah, Twister was about to come out, so 'Long Way Down' was getting played a lot. That was cool. I never really did care for any of their stuff, though. But hey, whatevs.

Bush came out and soaked panties dropped. This is the tour that started the relationship between Gavin and Gwen. None of that shit mattered to us, we were just there to rock out.  I remember their set also being very high energy. I know I was drenched in sweat by the time we walked back to the car. And to be perfectly honest, I don't remember much of their set. Several mosh pits would open and that was another fun show to watch. That never appealed to me, but hey I won't stop you from ramming the shit into someone else. It was just three solid sets, they all sounded great!

Don't believe I bought any merch at that show, but I saw a ton of people on the following Monday at school rocking some Bush tees. A couple No Doubt, too. Man, shit was so cheap back then, shirts were ten, fifteen bucks. Just ridiculous.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/goo-goo-dolls/1996/knoxville-civic-coliseum-knoxville-tn-23dcdcbb.html

Could only find the Goo Goo Dolls set list. I was also able to find a live version of the INXS tune they do at the end. Enjoy!

josh