We purchased our tickets way ahead of time for the Sugar Ray Smashmouth Gin Blossoms concert. The event was said to start at 7pm but was delayed for an hour and we were so anxious to see the bands! Granted I’m not a big Smashmouth fan, but Sugar Ray and Gin Blossoms were staples during my college years. 90s music, baby!
The venue wasn’t jampacked as expected as it was a Monday night. We got the reserved seats at Upper Box B and the view was not so bad. These were almost the same seats as ours last year when Jason Mraz was here.
Cookie Chua and her band came out at 8pm and played some of their hits of the 90s, as well as a very good rendition of Sampaguita’s “Tao”. Our local act did not disappoint
Smashmouth came out next. I wasn’t sure what their songs were at first but they got the crowd on their feet when when they played their instantly recognizable hits “Walkin’ on the Sun” and “Can’t Get Enough of You, Baby”. And who can resist singing along to their cover of the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” that was featured in the movie Shrek?
UPDATE: I had my very first starstruck experience with a celebrity the next day when my family and I were shopping at Greenhills. What were the odds? My husband nudged me and pointed at the Smashmouth drummer, Jason Sutter, who was just a few meters away from where we were standing. I went over and excused myself, told him that they were awesome at the concert and if he would mind having our photo taken with him. He was very gracious and even said that we missed their frontman, Steve Harwell, by a few minutes. Here’s our photo. The husband didn’t mind carrying my shopping bag. 
Mark McGrath then came out for Sugar Ray and he can hardly be heard at first from all the screaming that went on in the stadium. He really was quite a showman! The screaming eventually died down and we were able to enjoy their hits “Someday”, “Every Morning”, “Falls Apart”, “When It’s Over”. I was instantly transported to 13 years ago.
Gin Blossoms came on past midnight and with a solemn introduction. Frontman Robin Wilson explained that they had just come straight from the airport and had been traveling for the past 36 hours just to get to the country for the concert. Talk about dedication! So that explains the one-hour delay. All was forgiven and they gave us an awesome performance by playing their hits “Hey Jealousy”, “Found Out About You”, “Til I Hear It From You”, “As Long As It Matters”, among others.
The husband and I enjoyed the concert immensely even if took 5 hours. That was the longest concert we’ve been to yet but wouldn’t have missed it for the world! We did notice that the vocals were a little off, pitchy even, chipmunk-like. Perhaps due to auto-tune? Still, we couldn’t resist dancing and singing along to the all-too-familiar sounds and would do it all again if we could.
