I met Leigh on the Bugs mailing list where he posted his brad story .... here it is:

---

"I had the most amazing Brad experience in Australia..  ...... I was on the
Bands
guest list for 2 shows and met the whole band.....Here is my posts that I
posted
after each night to a news group ....it`s kinda long ....and as you will
tell I was pretty darn excited at the time :-) !!!! Its not very well
written
..but oh well :-)

Written after BRAD/Ben Harper at the Melbourne Concert Hall 13th January 98
....

I`ve just had the most AMAZING NIGHT !!!!
This is such a long story but its 3am and I gotta work in 3 hours so
I`ll make it the condensed version :-)
Basically... I along with a freind of mine (I`m male shes female) went
and saw Brad and Ben Harper tonight !! Had the best seats in the house
!! (literally) and had back stage passes and got to meet the whole band
!!All for free !!!   it was so excellent.
Firstly ,,how this all came about ....the joys of the internet !!
About 10 months ago I met a girl on line who claimed she was pretty
close to Pearl Jam ..in particular Stone and Eddie ... at first I
thought she was just another wanna be imposter but all the info she was
giving me was just too accurate and unbelievable not to be true
...although some of my freinds thought I was being led along ... anyway
...the other day I was talking too her on the net (she lives in Seattle)
and told her how disapointed I was that I only had tix to the second
Melbourne BRAD concert ..because I thought I was going to be overseas at
this point in time I didnt get tix when they went on sale and the first
show sold out !!!
So she said she would make a phone call for me and see what she could
do  ... well to cut a long story short ...  she come through with the
BEST TIX in the house of a sold out concert for me and Back Stage Passes
....and to top it all off ....when I mentioned her name to Stone tonight
he couldnt stop raving about how great this girl is and how she is one
of his best freinds !! ..... so all my freinds that thought she was an
imposter will be eating their words when I tell them this story *lol*
Anyway ////.so the BRAD show was truly amazing ... I had high
expectations and they were definatly exceeded...they function sooo well
as a BAND. .... I really expected myself to be staring at Stone all
night ..but instead I found myself viewing them as just an awesome group
of people playing some awesome music together. ...Brad played for about
50 minutes and Ben for about 1.45mins ...
Ben Harper was really good ..but in my opinion Brad were heaps better
..Ben had quite a few technical problems and had to stop playing some
songs a few times to re tune his guitar but generally he was still
pretty darn good !!!
I managed to meet REGAN HAGAR and MIKE BERG outside about an hour before
the show and we had a chat for about 10 mins or so ... Regan was just
sooo nice to talk to and really down to earth and Mike was pretty shy
and quiet at the time ..
After the show though we went backstage and it was sooo cool ... I
chatted with Regan for over an hour and Mike Berg for probably 45
minutes and they are just 2 of the freindlyest people I`ve met .. we
talked about heaps of things from music to Casinos !! (they LOVE
Casinos) ...Regan said that he though that Crown Casino in Melbourne was
the Best Casino in the world and he has been to alot of Casinos !! He
said prob not as big as some in Vegas but definatly the best he has ever
been to ! (probably the fact he had won the night before made him like
it more too ) .. It was during a part of our Casino conversation when
Shawn Smith appeared so I was then chatting to him for about 10 minutes
..he was a really sincere and gentle sort of person ..a little quiet but
once he was talking he was great :-) .. Didnt say alot really just
talked about some of the crowd reactions to them In OZ and some other
trivial stuff ... oh and when I asked him if Regan and Mike had dragged
him off to the Casino with them and corrupted him he said ,,"no way I`m
not a betting man" and we all had a good laugh :-)
OK so then Shawn went into the Band room ( we were just standing outside
the band room) and I continued talking to Regan ... then walking down
the corridore I saw Stone Gossard ...heading straigh for me !!! ...and
mid sentence with Regan ...I just froze .... Stone was looking at me
expecting me to say something and I was literally lost for words !!!
*lol* ..I felt like such a dickhead *lol* ...I had kept telling myself
...to relax when I meet him and remember he is just another human being
*lol* ...but that was good in theory *lol*  ..I think he decided to toy
with me a little at this point and just gave me a stare ....but then
smiled and said "hi" ...and I managed a "hi" back ... Then he went into
the band room too ..Regan laughed and just said ... "a bit overcome
there hey" ... then he told me to just go into the band room and say hi
to Stone ...but I couldnt do it ...I knew I could have went in there if
I wanted but I kinda felt that in there was their space so I didnt
really wanna intrude. ...anyway Stone had to come out sometime !!! :-)
..... So I continued to chat to Regan and Mike ..then Mike decided to
join their little gathering in the band room so I was left with Regan
again ...it was really great ..I actually felt really comfortable with
him and knew that he wasnt talking to me coz he felt he had to ..it was
coz he wanted too ...so that was cool ... then in the band room there
was a bit of a highlight for me ... Mike had by this time had a couple
of drinks and was pretty happy ... and there was a piano in the band
room so he started playing that :-),. ...he was really good ...dont know
what the songs were ,,he was mainly just playing around having a laugh
:-) ...then he played Benny and the JETS ...and STONE started singing
!!!!!!! ... it was only for a few minutes ...but it was definatly a
highlight !!
Anyway I forgot this is meant to be the short version of the story !!!
Well eventually Stone did come out because everyone was going to a club
to party on!!!
This time I actually managed to speak to Stone!! although briefly
because he had the others dragging him off to go to this club :-)
I didnt get to say half of what I wanted to say to him though !! (there
is still tommorow night though :-) ...we chatted a little about Brad and
then about me freind who organised the tix for us ..so it wasnt too bad
:-) ...then he autographed my t-shirt and that was about it :-)
Mike and Regan asked me if I wanted to go to the Club they were going
too but UNFORTUNATLY I have to work this morning and live an hour and a
halfs drive from Melbourne ..so I couldnt go !!! I am so disapointed
about that ..they were definatly out for a good time !!!! ... Oh I
chatted to them a bit about the net ...they both seemed pretty amazed at
things ..Regan said he had chatted once on the net but had a freind type
for him ..and Mike said he had never really used it at all ...but when
my freind said she had a homepage he was really interested and asked her
for the addy and said he might get MATT (the guy who does the live on
the road Brad page ) to show him some stuff one day maybe :-) ..He also
asked me if I knew MIGUAL who does the Brad page :-) ..so Mike at least
knows that exists:-)
Anyway thats about it ....Oh I have a t-shirt that a really special
freind of mine gave me as a gift ...and it Simply reads "PEARL
JAM=JOURNEY" .. I think that statement is just so simple yet says so
much !!! My love of Pearl Jam has had such a huge influence on my life
and those 3 words really say it all ... anyway I got all the guys to
sign it for me ...
At first Mike and Regan were hesitant to sign it coz they didnt think
I`d want them spoiling me Pearl Jam shirt .. but then I said to them
..and it might have sounded corny but I just said that "it says Pearl
Jam=Journey and you guys and tonight is all a part of that journey"
..they thought that was cool then signed it no problem *lol* ... I cant
believe I said something so corny but I guess its true !! ...
Mike and Regan both said they hope to see me tommorow night and we can
chat some more :-). .

Anyway I`m still on a huge high from tonight ...and considering it was
all free it was darn good value for money !!! *lol*

Sorry this ended up so long ..I was going to make it short !! *lol*

Regards ...
Leigh ,.,,

Written after BRAD/Ben Harper at the METRO in Melbourne 14th January 98
(It has since been said on the Brad live from the road web page ..that
this was their best show of the tour)
 

Well my 2 days of bliss are now over.
Seeing Brad 2 nights in a row was really great! The only thing I can see

being better will be when I see Pearl Jam 5 times in March :-).
Last night at the Metro in Melbourne was really mind blowing ...Brad
were just amazing.
I didnt think it would be possible but they were heaps better than the
previous night.It was a different kind of venue though and therefore a
different type of atmosphere which made it even better for me seeing
them in different situations.The first night was all seating with no
standing at all wheras last night was in a night club and all standing
!!
I had a great position right up the front amongst what seemed to be
mainly people trying to get a good spot for Ben Harper later on. I think

99% of those people though are now converted BRAD fans !!! The amount of

people around me after Brad commenting about how amazed they were by
them was staggering.I had so many people ask me afterwards what CD`s
they had out coz they were going to have to buy them now !! ( I had a
Brad T-Shirt so they asked me :-)
The whole band seemed in a good mood ... Stone was fully getting into
the music ... gotta love his facial expressions :-) ! .. Regans drumming

was excellent ... I dont know much about drumming really but there is
something about watching Regan drum that is awesome ... even though most

of his kit is all borrowed gear on this tour he is ...ahh I dunno there
is just something amazing about watching him .... The only other time
I`ve been amazed by just watching a drummer was seeing Pearl Jam in
Melbourne in 95 ... Jack of course was drumming ..and to me he seemed
really great ..but then for the last song DAVE GROHL came on and played
... I dont know what it was but again there was something about watching

him that really stood out.I always thought that a drummer was just a
drummer and anyone could do it much the same ..but now I know thats not
true.
Mike Berg seemed alot more relaxed and was putting alot of effort into
his backing vocals.He really does seems like a very very worthy
replacement for Jeremy and is a really nice guy to go with it ;-)
Shawn was alot more relaxed last night too ... he was really great .. he

really is another singer who you can tell "feels" what he is singing.He
sings with alot of emotion and has a great voice ...rarely opens his
eyes ...although I swear that during 20th Century he looked straight at
me and nodded as if to say hi :-).Probably my imagination but you never
know...we did chat for a bit the night before   :-P..... He seemed to be

having a good time and at one stage was urging the crowd to clap for one

song ..(cant remember which) ...There was certainly no shortage of
clapping at the end of the songs !
The sound once again was really excellent !!! ... The night before I
commented to Regan and Mike about how good their sound was and they said

they are blown away by the work of their new sound guy DAVE The Rat.
(Mike didnt even know his real name ..just that he was the best sound
guy he`d ever seen) . Mike especially couldnt stop raving about him and
said in his opinion he is way too good for the band !! :-) ..aparently
DAVE The Rat has alot to do with Pearl Jams sound too ??? and has worked

with alot  of other famous  people.
Standing in line before the show I was talking to some people around me
..one person in particular was a lady maybe in her early 30`s who was
there to see Ben Harper. ...she was telling me that she had never even
heard of Brad until a freind of hers talked about them that day after
going to the concert the previous night....She was telling me that her
freind had called her telling her to make sure she gets there early so
as not to miss Brad because they were heaps better than Ben Harper ...
the thing was that her friend was also a die hard Ben Harper fan and had

never heard of Brad before seeing him ..she told me that her freind said

that she was so blown away by Brad that she found it hard to get into
Ben Harper after seeing them .I must admit I think Ben Harper was great
the night before but Brad really stood out as being better (just my
opinion).I think Ben seemed to have a little bit of an off night that
night ....but he most definatly made up for it last night !!!!
Ben was truly awesome he played for over 2 hours (brad played 50 mins
again)
I think that last night it was really hard to say which band was the
best in my opinion ... I`m a bigger Brad fan than a Ben Harper fan so
I`ll be a little biased and say it was Brad ...but both were just
excellent ... I think Brad won over a heck of a lot of new fans last
night ...as I`m sure that they have wherever thay have played this tour.

I once again had back stage passes for last night but was a little slow
getting there !! :-) ...Because the place was a night club it just
opened up as normal afterwards ...anyway ..so I was trying to find where

I actually had to go to get backstage was was a little lost in the venue

!!! ..Then I noticed I had to go to the side of the stage ....so to get
there I had to walk accross the dance floor. .. half way accross the
floor I accidently bumped somone so I turned to apologise ....and who
should it be !!! STONE !!!! ..I couldnt believe the co-incidence !!!
.... he obviously remembered me from the night before coz he gave me a
"oh no not you again" kinda of smirk then smiled and said hi.:-) I just
said hi back (and went a pretty deep shade of red i imagine :-) and then

just kept on moving and let him keep bopping away on the dance floor .I
really think that he thought I deliberatly did it ..but it was purely
co-incidence ;-)   !!About 10 minutes later I saw him leave ..so I didnt

get to chat to him which was a little disapointing but it was still good

:-). ..  Then I finally made it back stage and was heading up some
stairs ..then I heard someone call out my name from below a little going

down the next flight of stairs ...and it was REGAN .. so he came back up

and shook my hand and asked me what I thoguht of the show that night
..he was pretty excited ..and I told him I thought it was awesome
..heaps better than the night before ..and he said he was glad I said
that coz they were all really happy with how it all went said they all
had fun !! ...But then he had to leave as well ...he was on his way out
and had a lift organised so had to leave ..but he told me they would
probably be going to the Casino later on , but I didnt go ... I had only

had 45 mins sleep from the previous night ..so my hotel bed was looking
good !!
I thought Mike and Shawn might still be up stairs but when I got there
they were no where to be seen but it was still cool ... I went into Ben
Harpers room and drank some free beers ..at least he was still there
...:-) ..I think the Brad guys were in full party mode that night and
left alot earlier than the previous night.I chatted to the girl who was
the support before Brad came on ... she was just a solo acoustic
guitarist ...but once again she raved about how good Brads sound guys
were ... she said  "They were amazing ..all I had to do was play and
sing and they were like Midwifes and delivered it for me perfectly"
...she was pretty cool.
Well now this is all over I can come back down to earth !!! This sort of

thing never happens to me ..I`ve never been backstage at a gig let alone

on the GUEST LIST OF BRAD !!! So I`m pretty happy and excited by it all
...
After all this I can honestly say that Regan was probably the best
person I met ...him and Mike were both so nice to me and really genuine
guys and definatly left a lasting impression on me ... They both really
seemed interested in what people thought of them and the band .. I guess

Stone must get told how good he is by everyone he meets and doesnt need
to be told it ... I was disapointed I didnt get to speak to him more
than I did but I did chat a little so that still has made me a verry
happy chappy !!!
Shawn Smith also came across as a really genuine nice person.
If anyone ever hasn`t seen Brad before and they are thinking of going I
thoroughly recomend you go ..
I just cant wait for Pearl Jam in March now !@!0
 

Well that was my BRAD EXPERIENCE !!!!
to see my PIX go here...
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Studio/3000/leighbradpix.html
They arent great but OK considering it was a disposable camera :-)

Leigh :-)