Tour Journal.
TOUR JOURNAL ’07.
Really long and with a metric fuckton of images.
Tuesday, 23rd January.
I don’t think it really hit me that I was doing this until when I went to turn my phone off in the airport this morning, and saw that the counter on the screen had reached zero. I remember when it was a three-digit count down.
My flight was uneventful - stuck between two boring businessmen. I’ve just arrived at my hostel (Valley Backpackers - seedy, wot.), and I’m dying for a snooze! I guess that’s what getting up at 3am does to you.
Brisbane is obscenely hot and steamy. I don’t know how anyone lives here.
Contemplating going for a walk around, maybe checking out the Tivoli, but I don’t know if I can be bothered. Maybe it’s because I’ve been up for so long even though it’s just past midday, or perhaps it’s the thought of tomorrow, but today seems to be dragging out for an eternity. Still can’t quite believe that I finally get to see my band again, and in only 18 or so hours. I’ve missed them a lot. When the Famous Last Words video came on the screen at the hostel today I kind of stopped breathing, not just because it’s the most ridiculously intense video in the history of anything, but because they’re here. In my country. In the state. Probably within walking distance.
Sometimes I think of how green I was in terms of gig knowledge when I first saw them, and I cringe. I got there 30min before doors, ffs. Hah! To think, that was only just over a year ago.
Wednesday, 24th January.
Last night was the most emotionally draining show I’ve ever been to.
Got to the Tivoli at about 9am, and spent a long, hot and boring ten hours waiting for the doors to open. And I didn’t even consider sunscreen, which I came to regret.
Security at the Tivoli were rather fantastic, regularly bringing us water from early in the morning, making sure we stayed hydrated.
Once doors opened, there was a mad crush to get inside, and to the stage. I ended up about three to four rows back, right in the centre. There was a ridiculous one hour wait from doors until Another Day Down came on stage. They were a fun band, although visibly nervous at opening for MCR. Sadly, I didn’t get to fully pay attention to them due to being more concerned with staying standing and breathing.
It was so mental in the pit that I ended up having to get out about 10min before MCR came on stage. Anyone that’s been to a show with me knows how much I hate having to get out, and won’t unless I’m really having trouble.
However, due to a crazy combination of good luck and timing, instead of being sent around the back like one usually is after being pulled out, I got to stand to the side, in front of the barrier. Due to the Tivoli being fucking small, I was about a metre to the right of where Ray stands, and had an amazing view. I still have no idea why I was allowed to stay there, on the edge of the crowd, because everyone that got pulled after me had to go to the back. Lucky.
The crowd went mental when the massive Black Parade curtain got raised in front of the stage, and the spotlight went up on the words. From then until the boys hit the stage, the chants of “MCR” did not cease.
The playlist between bands was rad, and got the crowd singing along to bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, The Cure, and Green Day. When Toto’s ‘Final Dream’ started, I burst out laughing, remembering the interview where they talked about it (‘You guys were up all night watching nerd movies!’). I also knew that they’d be on after that song. It was only fitting.
As soon as the first notes of ‘The End’ rang out, I was surprised to feel tears in my eyes. When the curtain dropped at the chorus, the sight of them was like a punch in the gut. I stopped breathing for a while. I felt like crying out of happiness and awe. In the pit, mere minutes beforehand, I had been starting to question the rationale in undertaking this venture, wondering if I could really handle so many shows. That was mostly because I was having trouble breathing, though. As soon as I saw them, the wait, the sunburn, the annoyance of bitchy fans, it was all. So. Worth. It.
They are magical to watch. I don’t care if you don’t like them, you can’t deny the prowess of their live show. The only way they could have been better would have been if Frank had been there (sorry Todd, but I miss the little nutter).
Ray was the most energetic I’ve ever seen him. Shredded like a maniac, jumping around the stage, headbanging. He is incredible to watch. I’ve never seen someone so talented on guitar.
Bob was wicked as usual. Well, the parts of him I could see past Ray’s hair, that is!
Mikey was his usual unruffled self. I swear half the time he doesn’t even realise there’s an audience :P.
And Gerard. Bloody hell. He really gives his heart and soul into every note, every word. Campest fucker I’ve ever seen though. Mama really gives him a chance to, er, flaunt it. Glad to see the black hair back though.
It was great seeing the new songs live, they’re such fun. ‘House of Wolves’ really explodes live.
I sang myself almost hoarse on every song, getting some nice eye contact with Toro and Gerard.
At one quiet moment, I noticed Worm standing pretty much in front of me on the stage, so I called out to him and said hi. Poor thing looks mightily confused at the fact that some random Aussie knew his name!
I pretty much broke down in the encore though. I had tears in my eyes when they first came on, but when Gerard came back by himself, and I heard the first piano notes of ‘Cancer’ the tears broke out, and I started crying. That song fucks me up, especially live. I pretty much sobbed through the whole thing whilst trying to sing along. He’s heart wrenching to watch, you can see how deeply he feels it too. After ‘Cancer’, the rest of the boys came out for ‘Famous Last Words’.
Needless to say, I cried through that one too. It’s my song. No band has ever affected me the way they do.
After they left the stage, I kind of stood there in shock for a few minutes, then thanked the security guard for watching out for me, then hung outside the venue to see the guys leave. They didn’t stay to sign because of the crazy amount of people around, so they drove straight out. I noticed Ray waving like a madman though. He’s so gorgeous.
Apparently, some psychos got in their cars and followed the boys back to their hotel and ran up the driveway, screaming, trying to get to them. That kind of shit makes me so mad. Do they really think the guys would come out for that? Come on. It wrecks it for the rest of us who are relatively sane, and just want to say ‘hey, great show’ .
I walked back to the hostel in a pleasant daze, and put my photos on my USB. My camera is more than a little fucked, due to it getting ridiculously soaked in the pit. It still takes photos though, so I’m not too worried.
I’m already gagging to see them again. I know it’s going to be really hard when tour finishes, and I’ve barely started!
Anyway, I’m currently on the plane to Sydney, about to land. Starting to stress about Muse tonight though. If I don’t get close, I’m fucked. Muse fans are pretty mental, and I doubt the Hordern would be as lenient as the Tivoli with fans standing around in front of the barrier.
Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off, so I’m going to sleep in as long as I can.
PHOTOS:
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Post Muse, 24th January
After dumping my bags in the hostel, I walked up to Central Station and caught a bus to the Hordern.
Ended up sitting with a cool group of girls, most of whom, coincidentally enough, were from Melbourne. Go figure. Much better company than in the Tivoli line last night! Spent the day talking Mighty Boosh, LotR, Black Books and laughing at trashy magazines. Can’t do much better than that, haha.
When 7pm finally rolled around, we were among the girst to get through, and scored front row positions, a bit left of centre, but perfect view of Bellamy, as it turned out. I was just far enough to his right that I could take photos of him without his microphone all over his face.
The opening band, whose name I can’t even remember, were shockingly bad. The whole crowd pretty much stood there and waited for them to leave. When Muse finally graced the stage, it was a great rush.
They opened with ‘Assassin’, which was a nice surprise. Some other songs played were - ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, ‘SUBURN’ (I was shocked when they played this, people in line said that they weren’t playing anything from Showbiz, which I was sad about), ‘Feeling Good’, ‘Invincible’, ‘Plug in Baby’, ‘New Born’, ‘Starlight’, ‘Take a Bow’, ‘Starlight’ and ‘Knights of Cydonia’.
Matt is positively fascinating to watch. He really loses himself in the music. He is tremendous on the guitar - used the mirror guitar, broken mirror, clear guitar, FX light guitar and acoustic.
Great eye contact at a few points in time, especially in ‘Feeling Good’, when he looked over from the piano just before he threw confetti at the crowd.
Dom was crazily smiley all night. Every time I looked over at him he was grinning his cheeky little face off! He even bowed to us at the end of the show. Cute.
Didn’t get to see Chris much as he was way over the other side of the stage.
They even had the massive balloons filled with confetti, which I thought they’d stopped having at shows ages ago. It was a wicked surprise seeing them fly over my head, seeing Matt and Chris popping them with their instruments.
I was pretty much destroyed when the show finished, so I limped (yes, limped, I’m not exaggerating) over to the bathroom to clean up, then went and bought a Mars Tour t-shirt.
Went over and hung with the line girls at the gates for a while, but I was too exhausted and cold to hang around all night to see them leave, so I exchanged emails and myspaces, then caught a taxi back to the hostel, showered and am about to crash. I don’t know how I’m going to cope after tomorrow. So many shows without a break, eek! Considering sitting back and watching MCR from the back at BDO, depending how I’m doing.
Miss my kitten.
I think I’m going to miss MCR a lot more.
I kinda with their show was the last I see for tour, so I remember them better.
PHOTOS:
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Thursday, 25th January.
Very, very sore today. Got up about 10 and wandered Sydney, looking for internet cafés so I could get my photos off my camera, whilst also heading in the general direction of the Harbour Bridge.
Found some badass comic/anime stores. Had to use some serious self control to not spend all my money there. I would have bought all the Naruto posters if they’d been Shippuden ones :X
After mucking around at the Bridge I walked to Wynyard station, and trained from there to Central and finally found an internet café to get my photos from my camera to my USB. I ended up spending ages going over my Muse and MCR photos from the past two nights for a long time. I got some really good ones.
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Friday, 26th January.
Another fantastic show. Lots of wank in line due to poor organization on the part of the venue. Met up with the rad Nikki and her friends Mel, Em and Ellie, who were much fun to line with.
Everyone decided to stand up and squash towards the front of the line about two hours before doors, which was awful in the heat. It got so crazy that the venue ended up opening the doors 20mins early.
Got a fantastic spot on the barrier, directly in front of Mikey, just where I wanted to be. He was so funny to us all night, posing for photos and not-smiling at us. Funny bugger.
The banner is seriously huge. I didn’t really notice at the Tivoli, but it would probably cover the entire front of my house.
After ‘Final Dream’ started, the crowd went mental. Then ‘The End’ began, the curtain dropped, and there they were.
Gerard had to stop the show just before the bridge of ‘Dead!’ because a girl had fallen and would have gotten crushed had they continued. I love that they care.
Mikey was absolutely hilarious to watch. If you’re not watching him properly, he looks expressionless or bored, but when you’re in front of him all night you really get to see his personality. We all grinned and waved at him heaps, and sometimes he’d pretend to ignore us, but sometimes he’d randomly poke his tongue out at us.
When he saw me taking photos, he’d even hold a pose while I was taking, and make eye contact after. Dork. He smirked at me when I yelled out that he had nice bitch boots.
Gerard was playing up to the crowd heaps as usual, groping himself a ridiculous amount, living up to the camp reputation. In ‘Teenagers’ he makes a gun with his fingers and draws it up from his crotch to his chest (‘what you’ve got under your shirt..’). Chicken dance in ‘Mama’ is fucking gold. He even asked if anyone needed to ‘come out’, going on like Carson from Queer Eye. Made some ridiculous speech about how he can’t date anyone because he’s too FABULOUS *jazz hands*. FOR REALZ. YOU CAN’T MAKE THAT KINDA SHIT UP, YO.
Todd stayed right over on his side as usual, keeping to himself. Must be hard for him, filling in for a guy like Frank, in a band with such mad followers.
Gerard dedicated ‘Helena’ to Frank, and announced that he’s still really sick, and unable to fly, so he won’t make any dates on the tour. Fuck. Sucks ass, but nothing that can be done. Oh well, I’ll just have to do the next tour too, and blame it on Frank (not like I was planning to do it anyway…).
At one point, Ray and Gee ran into each other and Ray stuck out his tongue and made the funniest face.
When they came out for the encore, I cried again, but not as badly as in Brisbane. Gerard even had to choke back a sob in ‘Cancer’.
When they all came back for FLW, I went crazy. I can’t begin to explain what that song means. Got a few worried looks from Mikeyway when he saw me crying, so now both the Way boys have seen me crying and given me worried looks. Haha. Kinda strange considering how little I cry normally.
After the show I grabbed my bag and went to meet up with Beth and Jess, and we hung out at the carpark entrance/exit to see the guys leave. Hung out for a while, and waved and held up a ‘thank you’ sign as they left.
PHOTOS:
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Saturday, 27th January.
Today was hectic. Hung out with randoms in line until Jess and Beth arrived. Those two are kinda rad. At about 2 I felt like a walk, so Jess and I went up to the gate where the cars enter, to see if we could catch the guys as they arrived for soundcheck. There was only about ten of us around the gate, compared to the 60 - 100 people hanging around the fence inside. Before long, the first Tarago was in sight. We saw Bob and Worm in the back, so we waved at them, and the girls on the other side of the entrance were bowing on the ground, calling out ‘We’re not worthy!’ repeatedly, making Bob laugh and hide his face. Bob waved at all of us. It wasn’t until the car was driving in that we realised Gerard had been in the backseat behind him. I had seen him, but for some odd reason it didn’t register in my brain who he was. I felt really bad that I’d ignored him, but I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of attention he’d been getting anyway.
About 10 - 15 mins later, we noticed the second car comin up the road, with Ray and Mikey in it. We waved to them again, then went over to Ray’s side, because he rolled the window down to chat to us. He was so humble and sweet, making sure to give everyone a high five. I thanked him for coming out, and asked him to look after himself, as he was the only one to not have health issues. He was like “Oh shit, I didn’t even realise!”. Haha.
Mikey just hid behind his magazines in the back. Poor thing.
Once they’d gone inside, we went back to the line and chilled until doors.
When doors opened, there was a mad rush as always, and I ended up half on the barrier, in front of Mikey.
Unfortunately, there were heaps of idiots in the pit. One girl asked me to get a security guard, so I called one over thinking she needed to get out (it was already squishy as hell). Instead, when he came over, she asked him not give her water during the show because she’d STRAIGHTENED HER HAIR AND DIDN’T WANT IT RUINED. Oh the lolz. Unbelievable. I laughed in her face and told her that her hair was going to be ass-raped anyway, so if she wanted to keep it straight, she could GTFO now. ahhhhhhahahahhaha.
Another Day Down were great as usual, very enthusiastic. It’s great watching their show progress as the tour does (and see Eric steal the jazz-hands. Hah!)
For some stupid reason, security weren’t allowed to give us water between ADD and MCR. Stupid, stupid idea. People were getting pulled out in droves.
I always get goosebumps when the huge TBP curtain is raised, and the spotlight turned on it. It’s rather breathtaking.
Mikey was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Nice shirt. I really like how he does his hair now.
Gee had to stop the show during ‘Dead!’ again, because people were fainting all over the place. I love that they can manage to keep an eye on the crowd, even while thrashing around like maniacs.
He dedicated ‘Give Em Hell, Kid’ to Frank this time, and spent the whole song rubbing his crotch. Hardly unusual, but no less amusing.
Toro looks like he’s on a pogo stick half the time now :D.
After the show I went and bought the MCR skull/mask shirt and ADD’s cd and got it signed, and chatted with them for a bit as they were hanging round the merch booth. Phil was awesome to talk to, and very sweet. Eric was rad, and Andrew gushed about how nice MCR are :P. Didn’t get to talk to Matt and Andy much.
Then I want to the gates again to hang. This time it was packed as fuck. Gerard came out to sign after a bit, but it was painly obvious how uncomfortable he was, even with Worm at his side. I wasn’t able to get anything signed because of stupid scene kids standing on the gate so no-one could see past them. That kinda sucked. Bob and Mikey went straight back to the hotel to get their beauty sleep, as they had an early flight. Ray came out eventually for a chat and to sign. Told him the show was amazing again, and that I’d see him tomorrow, which earned another enthusiastic high-five. I kinda accidentally patted his fro when we were chatting. I don’t really know how or why. Haha. It is magnetic! He took the time to sign for everyone, even though he had to get up early too. Amazing man.
After that, Jess, Beth and I headed back to the hostel. I showered quickly and headed out to the net café for a photo dump to USB.
Now to bed to crash, and up at 5:30 to go to the airport for Melbourne BDO.
PHOTOS:
(first two of ADD)
- - -
Sunday 28th January.
TIRED TIRED TIRED.
Landed in Melbourne at about 10ish and bussed to Flinders St Station, where I got picked up by the lovely Harriet, with Brooke and Jig on their way to BDO.
I abandoned the idea of standing up the back for MCR’s set pretty fast. I need them like any junkie now. Can’t believe tomorrow is it.
So when we got in, I quickly said goodbye and jetted over to the Blue Stage, where I worked my way to the front surprisingly quickly during the Spazzy’s set. I pretty much strolled up to third row, and then the two rows in front of me offered for me to go in front of them because I am short. ROCK. After that, getting on the barrier was a cinch.
After suffering through the Spazzys, I chatted to the people next to me and watched the Butterfly Effect on the screen of the other stage.
Evermore played on our stage next. They weren’t great, but fun to pass the time.
Scribe played over at the next stage, but most people where I was opted to chat and watch the stage being set up for MCR than listen.
Had to grin at everyone freaking out when Bob’s drum kit was brought forward, and every time when a glimpse of someone’s head was caught from sidestage.
When they finally came out, it got squishy really fast. Surprisingly, I was really comfortable (apart from the hoards of teenies getting surfed over my head). Didn’t even break a sweat, but lots of kids were whinging and getting pulled out coz they couldn’t hack it. Bah. Again, they had to stop once because someone had fallen down. Worm was the one that spotted it, and ran out on stage to stop the guys. It was kinda funny because everyone around me was like “OMGWTF WHO IS HE” and I’m going yeahh worm. He’s so rad.
Somehow this massive Gerard doll got onstage, and Gee spazzed out about it, going on about how cool it was, then said he was going to surf him to the back of the crowd and back to the front. He threw the doll, but the people that caught it decided to keep it instead of surfing it, so Gee told them off and made them surf the doll up! Wicked. No idea what happened to it though!
After their set I was drained as, so I went to get a hotdog and chill for a bit. All of my friends were caught up in pits of some sort, so I just sat on the grass and people watched for a while. Realised I was more than ready to go crash. Only other band I really wanted to see was Muse.
So chilled, met up with people, watched Muse. Lost people, found people. Met up with Bec and her sister at the end of the night and we went back to their hotel to snooze.
PHOTOS:
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Tuesday, 30th January.
Holy fucking shit.
Yesterday was the most amazing day of my life. However, as stories must be told, I’ll start from the beginning.
Bec and I woke up around 5am to get to Festival Hall around 5.30. We were the first to get there after the one’s that had camped out. It was bloody freezing, so we huddled up for a while, then I went back to the hotel to try and find some blankets. Mission failed, so I settled for hot chocolates.
When I got back, Bec was chatting with Sara, a girl whom I’d met in the Big Top line in Sydney.
After an hour or so Bec and Sara went back to their respective hotels to get things they’d forgotten (our hotels were next to each other) and I attempted to sleep. Somehow I managed a couple of hours sleep despite the loud traffic, and then we sat around and read trash magazines and talked for a while.
Around 2pm I went to hang around the stage door to see if I could say hi to the guys when they came in for sound check. Met up with Kylie and Mich, which was nice. Unfortunately, there was a massive crowd by the time the car came, so I stood back and just waved as they came past.
Decided to hang around and try to catch the ADD boys when they came. I was really surprised that they recognised me, coz they stopped for high fives and a chat. They’re rather lovely.
Not long after, Worm came out of the stage door, so I hailed him and talked to him for a bit, which I’d been wanting to do for a while, coz that dude is such fucking win.
Turns out that Mikey had seen a girl wearing a Pumpkins ‘Zero’ shirt when they drive in and really wanted it, so he’d sent Worm out to look for it, which I found rather funny. I knew I’d seen her around, so I told him I’d keep an eye out for her. He thanked me and asked me to let him know if I found her. About 10min later I was up at the floor door where the equipment goes in with Sara, chatting to Kylie and Mich and he came out again, so I asked him if he’d had any luck, which he hadn’t. I also made sure to thank him for watching out for the crowd yesterday. He got a bit embarrassed and said he was just doing his job. After he went back inside, I decided to go do a lap of the building to look for the Zero shirt, because there was nothing better to do. We went back to see how Bec was doing, coz I was sure that she was around us in the line. Sure enough, I was right, and when Sara and I told her than Mikeyway wanted her shirt her jaw hit the floor. She came with us down to the stage door, where I asked the security guard on the door to grab Worm for me, but he obviously thought that Worm must be a member of the band and shut me down, so we asked the road control guy we’d been talking to to get him.
Once he finally came out, we called him over and introduced him to Beth (Zero shirt). He told her that Mikey wanted to swap shirts with her, and invited her to watch sound check.
Once she came out, we all gathered round to paw at the ancient Anthrax shirt she was now sporting. It was obviously well loved, as it was faded and was spotted with little holes.
After that, we were all about to go back to line up when Worm came back out and told Bethany that the band want her to watch the show from side stage. She nearly cried when Worm told her.
Sara and I went back to the line, which was now hectic as anything. As we were at door 6, which always sells first, the pushing got so bad the door guy refused to let anyone in until people backed up. When I finally got in, my heart sunk because there were about 4 - 5 rows of people already sitting. Luckily, due to the rule that everyone must sit down until just before the show starts, I managed to jump over a few people and get to second row because everyone could stand. When everyone had stood and surged forward, it was enough to squeeze me between two people to get barrier. I was on the right side, just over from Ray, about where Worm usually stands.
ADD were great to watch, especially as I got grins and waves when they were over my way, which was sweet. By now I knew their set well enough to sing along, just from the shows. After they finished, Andrew even came out to bring me a bottle of water, which was surprisingly thoughtful.
I saw Worm talking to security down the front, so when he walked back past I gave him a high five and thanked him for being so rad and taking the time to chat, and that I hoped he wouldn’t have any troubles tonight.
He gave me a confused look, and then told me that I should be watching from side stage. Cue MAJOR zomgwtf moment, then he told me to get out asap, and meet him stage right. He grabbed a security guard to help me out, then hurried off. Once I was out of the pit, I sprinted around the floor to stage right, where I bumped into Bethany and her friend Kathleen, who were also waiting for Worm. We all had a little moment of ‘how is this happening’, and then Worm came over and told us that he just had to get the guys set up and ready, then he’d meet us. We got let into past the First Aid area, then waited at the bottom of the steps to the stage. When security eyeballed us, Worm was all like “They’re with me”. Haha. When everything was ready, we got led across the stage (good thing the banner was there!) to Worm’s side. Waved to the friends I could see in the crowd and got some WTF looks, which was amusing.
Just before they started, Bob came over from the wings to high five a little girl who was also watching sidestage (she’d seen Bob & Mikey and Bob invited her to watch sidestage because she got upset when she saw them. What a doll.)
Then they came out. They were so close. I could have so easily run out on stage and grabbed them. One of the best things about the night was that Worm trusted me not to, which is a big thing. He’s totally rad, but very protective of the boys.
The set was amazing as usual, and a little poignant, seeing as it was my last for a long time. Ray grinned at us when he was swapping guitars between songs, and Gerard even waved to us once. I honestly couldn’t do a coherent recap of the show itself, so I’ll just say a few highlights, including Ray tripping over his guitar lead, Ray and Gee banging into each other and then cracking up, Gerard humping a monitor, Mikey getting his chest stroked by Gee and so forth.
After the show, we went back across the stage and waited on the floor for Worm to bring us out VIP passes for the meet & greet. Somehow, I thought it would be just us three and the little girl and her parents, but there ended up being about forty people there, which was surprising. The group split in half to go in, and we were in the second bunch. Before anyone went it, Worm stayed around to chat with us, and came back up and continued talking to us for a while before it was our turn.
When we got backstage, we walked up a long corridor, then turned into a room. Just before we went in I noticed Andrew from ADD, and thanked him for the water and told him I hoped they’d be back soon.
We went in the room, and the boys were sitting at a long table, facing us. It looked so odd with only four of them there - the order was Ray, Mikey, Bob, and then Gerard.
We were told that we got to have something signed, and then a photo with them. Luckily I’d kept my ticket from the day’s show, so I got that signed. I got a high five from Ray, who remembered me from Sydney, can’t really remember what we talked about. Kinda blanked when I got to Mikey, no idea what I said! Bob and I compared nose sunburn. Haha. I said to G-Way that I’d done the tour, and thankyousomuch. He’s kinda un-nerving to speak to. He looks you directly in the eye, the whole time, with such intensity it’s like baring your soul.
Next time I’ll be more prepared. I meant to ask Ray how the new season of 24 was, but I forgot. Damn!
After everyone had their turn getting something signed, we all got a turn for a photo. When whoever had theirs taken before me was done, and I was going up, Bob was going something odd to Gerard’s face. I couldn’t really see, but it looked really strange, so I said to Gee “I don’t want to know, do I?” and he busted out into giggles and replied “Ahh, probably not!”.
Photo quality was a bit shitty, but the memory of being in the room with four of my favourite people in the world, having them shake my hand, looking in their eyes will last forever. They’re all tall damnit. Judging by my hight against theirs, I don’t think Frank would be much taller than me, maybe an inch or two. Woot!
Gee makes you really comfortable, arm around the waist for a hug. Meant to get a real hug off him, and a high five from Bob, but I didn’t get a chance. Did go over to Worm straight after they left and gave him a massive hug and said thankyou. He could tell how much it meant to me. He was being really funny when we were chatting with him after. I asked for a photo and he was all like, nahh, the guys will get bummed, it’s their night. Haha. What a dork.
Shortly after, we left the building and decided to see the guys off. We didn’t want to join the mob around the stage door, so we went to the other side of the road to give the guys space.
Worm came out about 5min later, and made the point of coming over the road to talk to us. I seriously owe that guy so much. He talked to us as long as he could, then had to leave to take the boys back to their hotel, saying he’d see me next tour :P.
PHOTOS:
Shoutouts to everyone I met on tour that was awesome - Beth, Jess, Sharon, Nikki, Ellie, Emmer, Melon, Kenny, Sara, Quinn, Naomi, Caitlin and mooooore. Sorry if I forgot you!
Next tour, be ready. Not a single show will be missed next time. Better start saving!
And that is that. Best week and a half of my life. Told you it was long! e-cookie if you actually made it through that in one sitting!
Cross-posted to Myspace.
Really long and with a metric fuckton of images.
Tuesday, 23rd January.
I don’t think it really hit me that I was doing this until when I went to turn my phone off in the airport this morning, and saw that the counter on the screen had reached zero. I remember when it was a three-digit count down.
My flight was uneventful - stuck between two boring businessmen. I’ve just arrived at my hostel (Valley Backpackers - seedy, wot.), and I’m dying for a snooze! I guess that’s what getting up at 3am does to you.
Brisbane is obscenely hot and steamy. I don’t know how anyone lives here.
Contemplating going for a walk around, maybe checking out the Tivoli, but I don’t know if I can be bothered. Maybe it’s because I’ve been up for so long even though it’s just past midday, or perhaps it’s the thought of tomorrow, but today seems to be dragging out for an eternity. Still can’t quite believe that I finally get to see my band again, and in only 18 or so hours. I’ve missed them a lot. When the Famous Last Words video came on the screen at the hostel today I kind of stopped breathing, not just because it’s the most ridiculously intense video in the history of anything, but because they’re here. In my country. In the state. Probably within walking distance.
Sometimes I think of how green I was in terms of gig knowledge when I first saw them, and I cringe. I got there 30min before doors, ffs. Hah! To think, that was only just over a year ago.
Wednesday, 24th January.
Last night was the most emotionally draining show I’ve ever been to.
Got to the Tivoli at about 9am, and spent a long, hot and boring ten hours waiting for the doors to open. And I didn’t even consider sunscreen, which I came to regret.
Security at the Tivoli were rather fantastic, regularly bringing us water from early in the morning, making sure we stayed hydrated.
Once doors opened, there was a mad crush to get inside, and to the stage. I ended up about three to four rows back, right in the centre. There was a ridiculous one hour wait from doors until Another Day Down came on stage. They were a fun band, although visibly nervous at opening for MCR. Sadly, I didn’t get to fully pay attention to them due to being more concerned with staying standing and breathing.
It was so mental in the pit that I ended up having to get out about 10min before MCR came on stage. Anyone that’s been to a show with me knows how much I hate having to get out, and won’t unless I’m really having trouble.
However, due to a crazy combination of good luck and timing, instead of being sent around the back like one usually is after being pulled out, I got to stand to the side, in front of the barrier. Due to the Tivoli being fucking small, I was about a metre to the right of where Ray stands, and had an amazing view. I still have no idea why I was allowed to stay there, on the edge of the crowd, because everyone that got pulled after me had to go to the back. Lucky.
The crowd went mental when the massive Black Parade curtain got raised in front of the stage, and the spotlight went up on the words. From then until the boys hit the stage, the chants of “MCR” did not cease.
The playlist between bands was rad, and got the crowd singing along to bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, The Cure, and Green Day. When Toto’s ‘Final Dream’ started, I burst out laughing, remembering the interview where they talked about it (‘You guys were up all night watching nerd movies!’). I also knew that they’d be on after that song. It was only fitting.
As soon as the first notes of ‘The End’ rang out, I was surprised to feel tears in my eyes. When the curtain dropped at the chorus, the sight of them was like a punch in the gut. I stopped breathing for a while. I felt like crying out of happiness and awe. In the pit, mere minutes beforehand, I had been starting to question the rationale in undertaking this venture, wondering if I could really handle so many shows. That was mostly because I was having trouble breathing, though. As soon as I saw them, the wait, the sunburn, the annoyance of bitchy fans, it was all. So. Worth. It.
They are magical to watch. I don’t care if you don’t like them, you can’t deny the prowess of their live show. The only way they could have been better would have been if Frank had been there (sorry Todd, but I miss the little nutter).
Ray was the most energetic I’ve ever seen him. Shredded like a maniac, jumping around the stage, headbanging. He is incredible to watch. I’ve never seen someone so talented on guitar.
Bob was wicked as usual. Well, the parts of him I could see past Ray’s hair, that is!
Mikey was his usual unruffled self. I swear half the time he doesn’t even realise there’s an audience :P.
And Gerard. Bloody hell. He really gives his heart and soul into every note, every word. Campest fucker I’ve ever seen though. Mama really gives him a chance to, er, flaunt it. Glad to see the black hair back though.
It was great seeing the new songs live, they’re such fun. ‘House of Wolves’ really explodes live.
I sang myself almost hoarse on every song, getting some nice eye contact with Toro and Gerard.
At one quiet moment, I noticed Worm standing pretty much in front of me on the stage, so I called out to him and said hi. Poor thing looks mightily confused at the fact that some random Aussie knew his name!
I pretty much broke down in the encore though. I had tears in my eyes when they first came on, but when Gerard came back by himself, and I heard the first piano notes of ‘Cancer’ the tears broke out, and I started crying. That song fucks me up, especially live. I pretty much sobbed through the whole thing whilst trying to sing along. He’s heart wrenching to watch, you can see how deeply he feels it too. After ‘Cancer’, the rest of the boys came out for ‘Famous Last Words’.
Needless to say, I cried through that one too. It’s my song. No band has ever affected me the way they do.
After they left the stage, I kind of stood there in shock for a few minutes, then thanked the security guard for watching out for me, then hung outside the venue to see the guys leave. They didn’t stay to sign because of the crazy amount of people around, so they drove straight out. I noticed Ray waving like a madman though. He’s so gorgeous.
Apparently, some psychos got in their cars and followed the boys back to their hotel and ran up the driveway, screaming, trying to get to them. That kind of shit makes me so mad. Do they really think the guys would come out for that? Come on. It wrecks it for the rest of us who are relatively sane, and just want to say ‘hey, great show’ .
I walked back to the hostel in a pleasant daze, and put my photos on my USB. My camera is more than a little fucked, due to it getting ridiculously soaked in the pit. It still takes photos though, so I’m not too worried.
I’m already gagging to see them again. I know it’s going to be really hard when tour finishes, and I’ve barely started!
Anyway, I’m currently on the plane to Sydney, about to land. Starting to stress about Muse tonight though. If I don’t get close, I’m fucked. Muse fans are pretty mental, and I doubt the Hordern would be as lenient as the Tivoli with fans standing around in front of the barrier.
Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off, so I’m going to sleep in as long as I can.
PHOTOS:
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Post Muse, 24th January
After dumping my bags in the hostel, I walked up to Central Station and caught a bus to the Hordern.
Ended up sitting with a cool group of girls, most of whom, coincidentally enough, were from Melbourne. Go figure. Much better company than in the Tivoli line last night! Spent the day talking Mighty Boosh, LotR, Black Books and laughing at trashy magazines. Can’t do much better than that, haha.
When 7pm finally rolled around, we were among the girst to get through, and scored front row positions, a bit left of centre, but perfect view of Bellamy, as it turned out. I was just far enough to his right that I could take photos of him without his microphone all over his face.
The opening band, whose name I can’t even remember, were shockingly bad. The whole crowd pretty much stood there and waited for them to leave. When Muse finally graced the stage, it was a great rush.
They opened with ‘Assassin’, which was a nice surprise. Some other songs played were - ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, ‘SUBURN’ (I was shocked when they played this, people in line said that they weren’t playing anything from Showbiz, which I was sad about), ‘Feeling Good’, ‘Invincible’, ‘Plug in Baby’, ‘New Born’, ‘Starlight’, ‘Take a Bow’, ‘Starlight’ and ‘Knights of Cydonia’.
Matt is positively fascinating to watch. He really loses himself in the music. He is tremendous on the guitar - used the mirror guitar, broken mirror, clear guitar, FX light guitar and acoustic.
Great eye contact at a few points in time, especially in ‘Feeling Good’, when he looked over from the piano just before he threw confetti at the crowd.
Dom was crazily smiley all night. Every time I looked over at him he was grinning his cheeky little face off! He even bowed to us at the end of the show. Cute.
Didn’t get to see Chris much as he was way over the other side of the stage.
They even had the massive balloons filled with confetti, which I thought they’d stopped having at shows ages ago. It was a wicked surprise seeing them fly over my head, seeing Matt and Chris popping them with their instruments.
I was pretty much destroyed when the show finished, so I limped (yes, limped, I’m not exaggerating) over to the bathroom to clean up, then went and bought a Mars Tour t-shirt.
Went over and hung with the line girls at the gates for a while, but I was too exhausted and cold to hang around all night to see them leave, so I exchanged emails and myspaces, then caught a taxi back to the hostel, showered and am about to crash. I don’t know how I’m going to cope after tomorrow. So many shows without a break, eek! Considering sitting back and watching MCR from the back at BDO, depending how I’m doing.
Miss my kitten.
I think I’m going to miss MCR a lot more.
I kinda with their show was the last I see for tour, so I remember them better.
PHOTOS:
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Thursday, 25th January.
Very, very sore today. Got up about 10 and wandered Sydney, looking for internet cafés so I could get my photos off my camera, whilst also heading in the general direction of the Harbour Bridge.
Found some badass comic/anime stores. Had to use some serious self control to not spend all my money there. I would have bought all the Naruto posters if they’d been Shippuden ones :X
After mucking around at the Bridge I walked to Wynyard station, and trained from there to Central and finally found an internet café to get my photos from my camera to my USB. I ended up spending ages going over my Muse and MCR photos from the past two nights for a long time. I got some really good ones.
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Friday, 26th January.
Another fantastic show. Lots of wank in line due to poor organization on the part of the venue. Met up with the rad Nikki and her friends Mel, Em and Ellie, who were much fun to line with.
Everyone decided to stand up and squash towards the front of the line about two hours before doors, which was awful in the heat. It got so crazy that the venue ended up opening the doors 20mins early.
Got a fantastic spot on the barrier, directly in front of Mikey, just where I wanted to be. He was so funny to us all night, posing for photos and not-smiling at us. Funny bugger.
The banner is seriously huge. I didn’t really notice at the Tivoli, but it would probably cover the entire front of my house.
After ‘Final Dream’ started, the crowd went mental. Then ‘The End’ began, the curtain dropped, and there they were.
Gerard had to stop the show just before the bridge of ‘Dead!’ because a girl had fallen and would have gotten crushed had they continued. I love that they care.
Mikey was absolutely hilarious to watch. If you’re not watching him properly, he looks expressionless or bored, but when you’re in front of him all night you really get to see his personality. We all grinned and waved at him heaps, and sometimes he’d pretend to ignore us, but sometimes he’d randomly poke his tongue out at us.
When he saw me taking photos, he’d even hold a pose while I was taking, and make eye contact after. Dork. He smirked at me when I yelled out that he had nice bitch boots.
Gerard was playing up to the crowd heaps as usual, groping himself a ridiculous amount, living up to the camp reputation. In ‘Teenagers’ he makes a gun with his fingers and draws it up from his crotch to his chest (‘what you’ve got under your shirt..’). Chicken dance in ‘Mama’ is fucking gold. He even asked if anyone needed to ‘come out’, going on like Carson from Queer Eye. Made some ridiculous speech about how he can’t date anyone because he’s too FABULOUS *jazz hands*. FOR REALZ. YOU CAN’T MAKE THAT KINDA SHIT UP, YO.
Todd stayed right over on his side as usual, keeping to himself. Must be hard for him, filling in for a guy like Frank, in a band with such mad followers.
Gerard dedicated ‘Helena’ to Frank, and announced that he’s still really sick, and unable to fly, so he won’t make any dates on the tour. Fuck. Sucks ass, but nothing that can be done. Oh well, I’ll just have to do the next tour too, and blame it on Frank (not like I was planning to do it anyway…).
At one point, Ray and Gee ran into each other and Ray stuck out his tongue and made the funniest face.
When they came out for the encore, I cried again, but not as badly as in Brisbane. Gerard even had to choke back a sob in ‘Cancer’.
When they all came back for FLW, I went crazy. I can’t begin to explain what that song means. Got a few worried looks from Mikeyway when he saw me crying, so now both the Way boys have seen me crying and given me worried looks. Haha. Kinda strange considering how little I cry normally.
After the show I grabbed my bag and went to meet up with Beth and Jess, and we hung out at the carpark entrance/exit to see the guys leave. Hung out for a while, and waved and held up a ‘thank you’ sign as they left.
PHOTOS:
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Saturday, 27th January.
Today was hectic. Hung out with randoms in line until Jess and Beth arrived. Those two are kinda rad. At about 2 I felt like a walk, so Jess and I went up to the gate where the cars enter, to see if we could catch the guys as they arrived for soundcheck. There was only about ten of us around the gate, compared to the 60 - 100 people hanging around the fence inside. Before long, the first Tarago was in sight. We saw Bob and Worm in the back, so we waved at them, and the girls on the other side of the entrance were bowing on the ground, calling out ‘We’re not worthy!’ repeatedly, making Bob laugh and hide his face. Bob waved at all of us. It wasn’t until the car was driving in that we realised Gerard had been in the backseat behind him. I had seen him, but for some odd reason it didn’t register in my brain who he was. I felt really bad that I’d ignored him, but I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of attention he’d been getting anyway.
About 10 - 15 mins later, we noticed the second car comin up the road, with Ray and Mikey in it. We waved to them again, then went over to Ray’s side, because he rolled the window down to chat to us. He was so humble and sweet, making sure to give everyone a high five. I thanked him for coming out, and asked him to look after himself, as he was the only one to not have health issues. He was like “Oh shit, I didn’t even realise!”. Haha.
Mikey just hid behind his magazines in the back. Poor thing.
Once they’d gone inside, we went back to the line and chilled until doors.
When doors opened, there was a mad rush as always, and I ended up half on the barrier, in front of Mikey.
Unfortunately, there were heaps of idiots in the pit. One girl asked me to get a security guard, so I called one over thinking she needed to get out (it was already squishy as hell). Instead, when he came over, she asked him not give her water during the show because she’d STRAIGHTENED HER HAIR AND DIDN’T WANT IT RUINED. Oh the lolz. Unbelievable. I laughed in her face and told her that her hair was going to be ass-raped anyway, so if she wanted to keep it straight, she could GTFO now. ahhhhhhahahahhaha.
Another Day Down were great as usual, very enthusiastic. It’s great watching their show progress as the tour does (and see Eric steal the jazz-hands. Hah!)
For some stupid reason, security weren’t allowed to give us water between ADD and MCR. Stupid, stupid idea. People were getting pulled out in droves.
I always get goosebumps when the huge TBP curtain is raised, and the spotlight turned on it. It’s rather breathtaking.
Mikey was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Nice shirt. I really like how he does his hair now.
Gee had to stop the show during ‘Dead!’ again, because people were fainting all over the place. I love that they can manage to keep an eye on the crowd, even while thrashing around like maniacs.
He dedicated ‘Give Em Hell, Kid’ to Frank this time, and spent the whole song rubbing his crotch. Hardly unusual, but no less amusing.
Toro looks like he’s on a pogo stick half the time now :D.
After the show I went and bought the MCR skull/mask shirt and ADD’s cd and got it signed, and chatted with them for a bit as they were hanging round the merch booth. Phil was awesome to talk to, and very sweet. Eric was rad, and Andrew gushed about how nice MCR are :P. Didn’t get to talk to Matt and Andy much.
Then I want to the gates again to hang. This time it was packed as fuck. Gerard came out to sign after a bit, but it was painly obvious how uncomfortable he was, even with Worm at his side. I wasn’t able to get anything signed because of stupid scene kids standing on the gate so no-one could see past them. That kinda sucked. Bob and Mikey went straight back to the hotel to get their beauty sleep, as they had an early flight. Ray came out eventually for a chat and to sign. Told him the show was amazing again, and that I’d see him tomorrow, which earned another enthusiastic high-five. I kinda accidentally patted his fro when we were chatting. I don’t really know how or why. Haha. It is magnetic! He took the time to sign for everyone, even though he had to get up early too. Amazing man.
After that, Jess, Beth and I headed back to the hostel. I showered quickly and headed out to the net café for a photo dump to USB.
Now to bed to crash, and up at 5:30 to go to the airport for Melbourne BDO.
PHOTOS:
(first two of ADD)
- - -
Sunday 28th January.
TIRED TIRED TIRED.
Landed in Melbourne at about 10ish and bussed to Flinders St Station, where I got picked up by the lovely Harriet, with Brooke and Jig on their way to BDO.
I abandoned the idea of standing up the back for MCR’s set pretty fast. I need them like any junkie now. Can’t believe tomorrow is it.
So when we got in, I quickly said goodbye and jetted over to the Blue Stage, where I worked my way to the front surprisingly quickly during the Spazzy’s set. I pretty much strolled up to third row, and then the two rows in front of me offered for me to go in front of them because I am short. ROCK. After that, getting on the barrier was a cinch.
After suffering through the Spazzys, I chatted to the people next to me and watched the Butterfly Effect on the screen of the other stage.
Evermore played on our stage next. They weren’t great, but fun to pass the time.
Scribe played over at the next stage, but most people where I was opted to chat and watch the stage being set up for MCR than listen.
Had to grin at everyone freaking out when Bob’s drum kit was brought forward, and every time when a glimpse of someone’s head was caught from sidestage.
When they finally came out, it got squishy really fast. Surprisingly, I was really comfortable (apart from the hoards of teenies getting surfed over my head). Didn’t even break a sweat, but lots of kids were whinging and getting pulled out coz they couldn’t hack it. Bah. Again, they had to stop once because someone had fallen down. Worm was the one that spotted it, and ran out on stage to stop the guys. It was kinda funny because everyone around me was like “OMGWTF WHO IS HE” and I’m going yeahh worm. He’s so rad.
Somehow this massive Gerard doll got onstage, and Gee spazzed out about it, going on about how cool it was, then said he was going to surf him to the back of the crowd and back to the front. He threw the doll, but the people that caught it decided to keep it instead of surfing it, so Gee told them off and made them surf the doll up! Wicked. No idea what happened to it though!
After their set I was drained as, so I went to get a hotdog and chill for a bit. All of my friends were caught up in pits of some sort, so I just sat on the grass and people watched for a while. Realised I was more than ready to go crash. Only other band I really wanted to see was Muse.
So chilled, met up with people, watched Muse. Lost people, found people. Met up with Bec and her sister at the end of the night and we went back to their hotel to snooze.
PHOTOS:
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Tuesday, 30th January.
Holy fucking shit.
Yesterday was the most amazing day of my life. However, as stories must be told, I’ll start from the beginning.
Bec and I woke up around 5am to get to Festival Hall around 5.30. We were the first to get there after the one’s that had camped out. It was bloody freezing, so we huddled up for a while, then I went back to the hotel to try and find some blankets. Mission failed, so I settled for hot chocolates.
When I got back, Bec was chatting with Sara, a girl whom I’d met in the Big Top line in Sydney.
After an hour or so Bec and Sara went back to their respective hotels to get things they’d forgotten (our hotels were next to each other) and I attempted to sleep. Somehow I managed a couple of hours sleep despite the loud traffic, and then we sat around and read trash magazines and talked for a while.
Around 2pm I went to hang around the stage door to see if I could say hi to the guys when they came in for sound check. Met up with Kylie and Mich, which was nice. Unfortunately, there was a massive crowd by the time the car came, so I stood back and just waved as they came past.
Decided to hang around and try to catch the ADD boys when they came. I was really surprised that they recognised me, coz they stopped for high fives and a chat. They’re rather lovely.
Not long after, Worm came out of the stage door, so I hailed him and talked to him for a bit, which I’d been wanting to do for a while, coz that dude is such fucking win.
Turns out that Mikey had seen a girl wearing a Pumpkins ‘Zero’ shirt when they drive in and really wanted it, so he’d sent Worm out to look for it, which I found rather funny. I knew I’d seen her around, so I told him I’d keep an eye out for her. He thanked me and asked me to let him know if I found her. About 10min later I was up at the floor door where the equipment goes in with Sara, chatting to Kylie and Mich and he came out again, so I asked him if he’d had any luck, which he hadn’t. I also made sure to thank him for watching out for the crowd yesterday. He got a bit embarrassed and said he was just doing his job. After he went back inside, I decided to go do a lap of the building to look for the Zero shirt, because there was nothing better to do. We went back to see how Bec was doing, coz I was sure that she was around us in the line. Sure enough, I was right, and when Sara and I told her than Mikeyway wanted her shirt her jaw hit the floor. She came with us down to the stage door, where I asked the security guard on the door to grab Worm for me, but he obviously thought that Worm must be a member of the band and shut me down, so we asked the road control guy we’d been talking to to get him.
Once he finally came out, we called him over and introduced him to Beth (Zero shirt). He told her that Mikey wanted to swap shirts with her, and invited her to watch sound check.
Once she came out, we all gathered round to paw at the ancient Anthrax shirt she was now sporting. It was obviously well loved, as it was faded and was spotted with little holes.
After that, we were all about to go back to line up when Worm came back out and told Bethany that the band want her to watch the show from side stage. She nearly cried when Worm told her.
Sara and I went back to the line, which was now hectic as anything. As we were at door 6, which always sells first, the pushing got so bad the door guy refused to let anyone in until people backed up. When I finally got in, my heart sunk because there were about 4 - 5 rows of people already sitting. Luckily, due to the rule that everyone must sit down until just before the show starts, I managed to jump over a few people and get to second row because everyone could stand. When everyone had stood and surged forward, it was enough to squeeze me between two people to get barrier. I was on the right side, just over from Ray, about where Worm usually stands.
ADD were great to watch, especially as I got grins and waves when they were over my way, which was sweet. By now I knew their set well enough to sing along, just from the shows. After they finished, Andrew even came out to bring me a bottle of water, which was surprisingly thoughtful.
I saw Worm talking to security down the front, so when he walked back past I gave him a high five and thanked him for being so rad and taking the time to chat, and that I hoped he wouldn’t have any troubles tonight.
He gave me a confused look, and then told me that I should be watching from side stage. Cue MAJOR zomgwtf moment, then he told me to get out asap, and meet him stage right. He grabbed a security guard to help me out, then hurried off. Once I was out of the pit, I sprinted around the floor to stage right, where I bumped into Bethany and her friend Kathleen, who were also waiting for Worm. We all had a little moment of ‘how is this happening’, and then Worm came over and told us that he just had to get the guys set up and ready, then he’d meet us. We got let into past the First Aid area, then waited at the bottom of the steps to the stage. When security eyeballed us, Worm was all like “They’re with me”. Haha. When everything was ready, we got led across the stage (good thing the banner was there!) to Worm’s side. Waved to the friends I could see in the crowd and got some WTF looks, which was amusing.
Just before they started, Bob came over from the wings to high five a little girl who was also watching sidestage (she’d seen Bob & Mikey and Bob invited her to watch sidestage because she got upset when she saw them. What a doll.)
Then they came out. They were so close. I could have so easily run out on stage and grabbed them. One of the best things about the night was that Worm trusted me not to, which is a big thing. He’s totally rad, but very protective of the boys.
The set was amazing as usual, and a little poignant, seeing as it was my last for a long time. Ray grinned at us when he was swapping guitars between songs, and Gerard even waved to us once. I honestly couldn’t do a coherent recap of the show itself, so I’ll just say a few highlights, including Ray tripping over his guitar lead, Ray and Gee banging into each other and then cracking up, Gerard humping a monitor, Mikey getting his chest stroked by Gee and so forth.
After the show, we went back across the stage and waited on the floor for Worm to bring us out VIP passes for the meet & greet. Somehow, I thought it would be just us three and the little girl and her parents, but there ended up being about forty people there, which was surprising. The group split in half to go in, and we were in the second bunch. Before anyone went it, Worm stayed around to chat with us, and came back up and continued talking to us for a while before it was our turn.
When we got backstage, we walked up a long corridor, then turned into a room. Just before we went in I noticed Andrew from ADD, and thanked him for the water and told him I hoped they’d be back soon.
We went in the room, and the boys were sitting at a long table, facing us. It looked so odd with only four of them there - the order was Ray, Mikey, Bob, and then Gerard.
We were told that we got to have something signed, and then a photo with them. Luckily I’d kept my ticket from the day’s show, so I got that signed. I got a high five from Ray, who remembered me from Sydney, can’t really remember what we talked about. Kinda blanked when I got to Mikey, no idea what I said! Bob and I compared nose sunburn. Haha. I said to G-Way that I’d done the tour, and thankyousomuch. He’s kinda un-nerving to speak to. He looks you directly in the eye, the whole time, with such intensity it’s like baring your soul.
Next time I’ll be more prepared. I meant to ask Ray how the new season of 24 was, but I forgot. Damn!
After everyone had their turn getting something signed, we all got a turn for a photo. When whoever had theirs taken before me was done, and I was going up, Bob was going something odd to Gerard’s face. I couldn’t really see, but it looked really strange, so I said to Gee “I don’t want to know, do I?” and he busted out into giggles and replied “Ahh, probably not!”.
Photo quality was a bit shitty, but the memory of being in the room with four of my favourite people in the world, having them shake my hand, looking in their eyes will last forever. They’re all tall damnit. Judging by my hight against theirs, I don’t think Frank would be much taller than me, maybe an inch or two. Woot!
Gee makes you really comfortable, arm around the waist for a hug. Meant to get a real hug off him, and a high five from Bob, but I didn’t get a chance. Did go over to Worm straight after they left and gave him a massive hug and said thankyou. He could tell how much it meant to me. He was being really funny when we were chatting with him after. I asked for a photo and he was all like, nahh, the guys will get bummed, it’s their night. Haha. What a dork.
Shortly after, we left the building and decided to see the guys off. We didn’t want to join the mob around the stage door, so we went to the other side of the road to give the guys space.
Worm came out about 5min later, and made the point of coming over the road to talk to us. I seriously owe that guy so much. He talked to us as long as he could, then had to leave to take the boys back to their hotel, saying he’d see me next tour :P.
PHOTOS:
Shoutouts to everyone I met on tour that was awesome - Beth, Jess, Sharon, Nikki, Ellie, Emmer, Melon, Kenny, Sara, Quinn, Naomi, Caitlin and mooooore. Sorry if I forgot you!
Next tour, be ready. Not a single show will be missed next time. Better start saving!
And that is that. Best week and a half of my life. Told you it was long! e-cookie if you actually made it through that in one sitting!
Cross-posted to Myspace.