Panic! at the radio show
So remember last week when I was sadfacing all over this journal about how I wasn't going to get to see Panic! at the Disco when they had their little live show? Well, I got to go after all, on account of Northern Downpour being awesome! My joy was epic. We didn't get definite info about the show until the night before, so I showed up to work on Wednesday practically bouncing and said I was taking off early. The Customer Service manager was like *serious face* "But I'm leaving early for my kids' parent-teacher conferences. I don't know if [Boss] will let you." Since I knew I wasn't actually leaving them in the lurch, though, I decided to not even ask if I could leave early; I just did it. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission and all that.
The show was at Uranus Recording in Tempe, a studio owned by Gin Blossom Robin Wilson. And may I say, I have never stopped being gleeful about the fact that the Gin Blossoms are local here. New Miserable Experience remains one of my favorite albums to this day. When I got there, the radio station had a little table set up out front, and maple_mahogany was right in front of it. Yay for getting to share fannish experiences with likeminded people! There was another girl from ND there who stuck near us, but everyone else seemed to be radio station winners and employees.
Brendon and Spencer were apparently next door at Four Peaks Brewery, preparing for their performance through the time honored tradition of beer. But Zack was there, and was really nice and normal and LARGE. In person, he reminds me of my brother even more than in pictures. Maple started up a casual conversation with him (because that's her super power). After a bit of waiting, they lined us up to go in, and thanks to Maple's cleverness, we were right at the front of the line.
The studio was tiny. Like, the size of my living room, and I don't have a big apartment. We were in the second row, which added up to mere feet away from the front of the room. Because I'm me, have a shot of these license plates they had on the studio wall:
They're Hey Jealousy and Gin Blossoms plates. :D
And then Spencer and Brendon came in, and I stopped noticing pretty much anything else. ♥_♥ They started playing pretty much right away, beginning with Mona Lisa. Dude, they sound amazing live! I'm a little starry-eyed over it, because so many musicians really need production values to sound decent. These guys were a little under the weather and a lot tired, and they still sounded phenomenal with just a guitar and a tambourine. After Mona Lisa, they took requests. The rest of the set was Nine in the Afternoon, Lying, New Perspective, and I Write Sins. I was deeply entertained when Spencer hesitated to do Lying because there was a little girl there. He told her she would have to cover her ears, and Brendon hushed out every "fuck" in the song. Also, Spencer lost one of the little zils off his tambourine and threw it to her.
After the music, there was a Q&A session, mostly with extremely unoriginal questions. But despite the fact that they've answered these things over and over again, Brendon and Spencer were both completely charming all the way through. And Spencer talked! After watching so many media interviews in which he doesn't, it was kind of a surprise to see him really engaging. They brought up Brendon's smoothie-making past, and joked about how much reality TV they have to catch up on after they get done touring.
Pics from this time!
Spencer's eyes are really fucking blue. Do you know how intense someone's eyes have to be for the color to be noticeable from across a room?
After the Q&A, they let everyone come up and have pictures taken. I'm not posting mine here since this is unlocked, but I looked dreadful, while Brendon looked gorgeous and Spencer looked like the travel was starting to get to him. But! I got my picture taken with Brendon and Spencer!!!! And I need to use exclamation points here, because people I know IRL do not understand how excited I am about this!
We got shuffled out after our pictures, and Maple and I went and hung out in front of the studio. The girl from ND did as well. While we were standing there, Zack started loading stuff into the car right next to us. Turned out, we were conveniently chilling right next to Panic's car. On one of his trips back and forth, Zack came out with another zil off of Spencer's tambourine and slid it in front of us, with a "Here you go. For your scrapbook," look on his face. The girl from ND took it as a souvenir. There were some fangirly moments that made me a little uncomfortable (I kept hearing, "Don't be creepy!" in my head), but he was still really nice.
And then Brendon and Spencer came out to get in the car. Spencer got right in, but Brendon interacted with several people (including Maple and the girl from ND), and he generally blew me away with how sincere and positive he seemed. Even when Zack was rolling his eyes and making gestures toward the car in the background, Brendon was being delightful toward everyone. If this rock star thing ever falls through, he would make a stellar elementary school teacher; he has so much patience and expression of good will.
After they left, Maple and I went to the brewery/restaurant next door and had a snack. Seeing Panic and then having an awesome person to flail about it with = fantastic evening!
The show was at Uranus Recording in Tempe, a studio owned by Gin Blossom Robin Wilson. And may I say, I have never stopped being gleeful about the fact that the Gin Blossoms are local here. New Miserable Experience remains one of my favorite albums to this day. When I got there, the radio station had a little table set up out front, and maple_mahogany was right in front of it. Yay for getting to share fannish experiences with likeminded people! There was another girl from ND there who stuck near us, but everyone else seemed to be radio station winners and employees.
Brendon and Spencer were apparently next door at Four Peaks Brewery, preparing for their performance through the time honored tradition of beer. But Zack was there, and was really nice and normal and LARGE. In person, he reminds me of my brother even more than in pictures. Maple started up a casual conversation with him (because that's her super power). After a bit of waiting, they lined us up to go in, and thanks to Maple's cleverness, we were right at the front of the line.
The studio was tiny. Like, the size of my living room, and I don't have a big apartment. We were in the second row, which added up to mere feet away from the front of the room. Because I'm me, have a shot of these license plates they had on the studio wall:
They're Hey Jealousy and Gin Blossoms plates. :D
And then Spencer and Brendon came in, and I stopped noticing pretty much anything else. ♥_♥ They started playing pretty much right away, beginning with Mona Lisa. Dude, they sound amazing live! I'm a little starry-eyed over it, because so many musicians really need production values to sound decent. These guys were a little under the weather and a lot tired, and they still sounded phenomenal with just a guitar and a tambourine. After Mona Lisa, they took requests. The rest of the set was Nine in the Afternoon, Lying, New Perspective, and I Write Sins. I was deeply entertained when Spencer hesitated to do Lying because there was a little girl there. He told her she would have to cover her ears, and Brendon hushed out every "fuck" in the song. Also, Spencer lost one of the little zils off his tambourine and threw it to her.
After the music, there was a Q&A session, mostly with extremely unoriginal questions. But despite the fact that they've answered these things over and over again, Brendon and Spencer were both completely charming all the way through. And Spencer talked! After watching so many media interviews in which he doesn't, it was kind of a surprise to see him really engaging. They brought up Brendon's smoothie-making past, and joked about how much reality TV they have to catch up on after they get done touring.
Pics from this time!
Spencer's eyes are really fucking blue. Do you know how intense someone's eyes have to be for the color to be noticeable from across a room?
After the Q&A, they let everyone come up and have pictures taken. I'm not posting mine here since this is unlocked, but I looked dreadful, while Brendon looked gorgeous and Spencer looked like the travel was starting to get to him. But! I got my picture taken with Brendon and Spencer!!!! And I need to use exclamation points here, because people I know IRL do not understand how excited I am about this!
We got shuffled out after our pictures, and Maple and I went and hung out in front of the studio. The girl from ND did as well. While we were standing there, Zack started loading stuff into the car right next to us. Turned out, we were conveniently chilling right next to Panic's car. On one of his trips back and forth, Zack came out with another zil off of Spencer's tambourine and slid it in front of us, with a "Here you go. For your scrapbook," look on his face. The girl from ND took it as a souvenir. There were some fangirly moments that made me a little uncomfortable (I kept hearing, "Don't be creepy!" in my head), but he was still really nice.
And then Brendon and Spencer came out to get in the car. Spencer got right in, but Brendon interacted with several people (including Maple and the girl from ND), and he generally blew me away with how sincere and positive he seemed. Even when Zack was rolling his eyes and making gestures toward the car in the background, Brendon was being delightful toward everyone. If this rock star thing ever falls through, he would make a stellar elementary school teacher; he has so much patience and expression of good will.
After they left, Maple and I went to the brewery/restaurant next door and had a snack. Seeing Panic and then having an awesome person to flail about it with = fantastic evening!