The gig was so much fun. Gary gave it all he had, and he fitted perfectly with the show. His hair was newly coloured (auburn/darkish red), and he was wearing tight black flared pants, a fitted shirt, and a black jacket; he would look great in a 90’s Godfather movie - he should keep it in mind to audition!

The new songs were awesome (‘Without You’ and ‘Josephina’ were my favourites), and he shed a whole new light on the older VH tunes. The Sammy-era songs were great, and he has the energy to lift the Dave songs to an even greater level. They closed the show with ‘Jump’, and it was one of the best songs of the night. ‘One I Want’, ‘Fire In The Hole’, ‘A Year To The Day’, were all amazing too. I sung along with every word, and enjoyed myself more than I have at any gig. I was in the front row, by the amps, and he came over , smiled and made eye contact with me twice. For the last part, he changed clothes to a white singlet top. His antics were great, and I loved his expressions when Mike took over the singing. The intro to ‘Dirty Water Dog’ was hilarious, maybe somebody should give the band some flea powder... The theatrical nature of Gary's performance leaves me stunned; his stage persona is vastly different to his quiet nature offstage. Eddie is a lot of fun to watch; he thoroughly enjoys playing, he smiles that unmistakable grin throughout the gig, and while he needs to look after that hip, he moves with a lot of fun and energy.

I left the gig feeling uplifted, and happy to have finally seen Gary onstage.

Caroline and I met Gary when he arrived at the hotel. We were waiting in the lobby, when suddenly Eddie walked through the door; we were too scared to go speak to him, so we just sat waiting... we saw the others, including Valerie and Wolfie, but didn't try to meet them. But when Gary came through the door with some other guys, we went up to introduce ourselves. I introduced myself by first name, Gary shook my hand, and this guy goes "Alison Cummings!" - it was Scotty! (Scotty is the VH tour manager, and we've been talking a lot over the past few months, so it was cool to finally meet him).

I told Gary I was the editor of Rise N Shine, and he put his other hand on top of mine, and said "I've read it!" - that blew me away. He was very kind, and I appreciated that. He asked if I had copies of Rise N Shine with me (they were in my room), and asked if I could give them to him at the gig; he also checked that Scotty had fixed me up with passes, etc. He was even nicer than I expected. We talked about Li'l Fanzine and the interview I did with Markie. He was very attentive, and this shows the fans that he really does care; the stories you hear about Gary, can’t even begin prepare you for how nice he is.

Later in the day, Caroline and I were sitting in the lobby, and we were so busy looking at a man whose hair looked like a soft serve cone (true story!), that we didn't notice Gary walking up the driveway and through the hotel door. I happened to look at the door, and suddenly there he was - and he smiled, waved, and said Hi.

The next meeting was before the gig, at the meet n' greet. Before the meeting, we were lucky enough to see the band presented with a gold disc, which Richard mentioned in his article.  VH meet n' greets are tightly run, with just enough time to say hi to each band member, turn around and get a photo taken. I went to the gig with a great bunch of people, but I'll tell more about them later. When it got to our group's turn, we went up and I met Mike. He seemed very nice. Next person in the line was Gary, and he shook my hand again, and gave me a hug. I was next to him in the photo, and as the group was getting organised he put his arm around me and said "Are you ready?"; the photo was taken, and as I said goodbye, he smiled and asked, "I'll see you later?". I said yes, and we parted ways...

After the gig, our group went back to the hotel. Scotty had asked our group to come and have a drink after the show (they hung out with the band in Wellington), so we went to the bar and sat around talking. After a while, Rex (aka Rob) spotted Gary sitting in the lobby with Scotty and some other people; Caroline and I had things to get signed, and Rob went with us to go and see Gary. We congratulated him on the show, and I gave him the fanzines he asked for - and said that he reads them from top to bottom every time (he joked that he checks that they're correct, and that I probably know more about Extreme than he does!).

He said that the fanzines are beautiful, and he pointed out the page where I show all of the Li'l Fanzine covers, and said again that it was beautifully done. He told Scotty that Rise N Shine is one of the official Extreme fanzines, and he showed it to him and the others, who thought the "Don't panic - it's only VAN HALEN!" caption was funny. He thanked me for them, and Caroline and I gave him our special gift.

The gift was a traditional koru necklace from New Zealand. The koru is a traditional Maori design, a swirly round shape based on the baby fern frond; it symbolises new life, rebirth and growth. Carved jewellery is often blessed before it's given, so, I did the blessing myself with a personal prayer, which I wrote for Gary, and I included the prayer in the gift box. When Gary saw the necklace, he thanked me and said it was beautiful. He asked me about it, and what it was made out of, and he showed it to the guys he was with. He had green pants on, so he joked that it matched his pants! Then I told him I had written a prayer for him, and he looked appreciative. Then I asked him to sign some things for me, including the 1994 JC Superstar photo - he said "this is the old days!", and wrote on it "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - THANKS ALISON" and signed it. (Get it? The Extreme Empire)... He said that he can't wait to do Superstar again, and we also talked about Pat - and he asked me how Pat was (this man is seriously funny, in my opinion he doesn’t get enough credit for his humour)! He asked how come we hadn’t met before, and said he would keep in touch. And as Caroline and I were about to leave, he gave me another big hug and a kiss.

We went back to the bar and sat with the other fans. Soon after, Gary and Scotty joined us; Scotty said he was "gonna sit by Alison", and Gary took the other spare seat at the opposite end of the group. He talked with some fans and answered their questions; I noticed how friendly and kind he was to everyone, and it was nice to see. I was talking to the fans near me, and to Scotty; it was a shame I didn’t get to talk more with Gary, but I did notice he looked over and smiled at least once or twice. He had the fanzines with him, and the gift box, and he was turning pages in the fanzines and showing them to somebody.

He and Scotty left at about 1am. I thanked Scotty for all he had done, and he said it was no problem. We said goodbye, and Gary was standing up ready to leave; he was looking my way, and when I looked at him, he sweetly thanked me again, and made a point of saying a personal goodbye; afterwards, other fans said "Gary seems to know you well!", and I replied it was because he must know me through the fanzine. If that’s so, and if you’re reading this Gary, thank you. I'm glad all my work hasn't gone unnoticed.

Gary is a beautiful person - even though I'd heard good stories about him, I didn't realise til now just how kind and friendly he really is. I'm honoured to have finally met him. "The point I'm trying to make, Gary gives more than he takes".

That was the last I saw of Gary, as the band left early that morning for Australia. Ray (Van Halen's manager) picked up the tab for all of us, and Caroline and I hung out with the other fans til about 3am. Most of them were leaving for Australia in a few hours, so there wasn't much point in them trying to get some sleep!

What a nice bunch of people. After talking to some of them via email for a while, it was so cool to finally put faces to names. Chris O' Neill, my VH consultant for Rise N Shine, is a real sweety, and it was so nice to hang out with him. Pat Kenny from Australia was also nice, and I was pleased to finally thank him personally for a video I'd got a copy of. They were the only two guys I'd been in contact with, but I'd heard the names of some others from Chris, and I'd definitely heard of Rob; Caroline and I have been penpals for about four years, and this was our first meeting too - so that was really cool. I loved meeting everybody. It was like a family where everyone had a major interest in common, and most of us got along well and looked out for each other. Thanks especially to Chris for bringing this all together - it’s awesome having you on the Rise N Shine team. Caroline and I had a great time with Rob at Victoria Park Market and trading music recommendations, after a small mishap caused him to miss the flight to Australia on Sunday. After big hugs goodbye, I was on my way to the airport - and who did I see there but Richard, still sitting on top of the world (yes Richard, that’s an Amanda Marshall reference just for you) after the VH experience.

Even though it was all so fast, it was an Easter to remember. I can’t wait for Van Halen to come back to New Zealand, when maybe next time I can report back on more than one gig... Here’s hoping.

Rob, Chuck, Eddie, Beastie (aka Andrew), Paul K, Euan, Alex, Melissa, Paul S (back), Pat (back), Gary, Alison, Chris (back), Richard (back), Caroline, Mikey, Janice, Catherine.