no work got done last week. at all. but this did!
I have to write this out or I'll forget it. And half the time everyone involved remembers little bits that others didn't so if we put all the recaps together, we get a fuller picture.
Tuesday midmorning, I picked up shutyourface (but no eckerlilas D:) and we drove to San Antonio. It was wicked windy. More than one semi made me a bit nervous because of its inability to stay in the appropriate lane, but the drive ended up being uneventful. As usual, we stopped at Buccee's (cleanest bathrooms for a gas station/rest stop EVER; don't laugh until you see some of the utterly disgusting ones available elsewhere along I-10 or I-45). We saw some of the locally bottled cane-sugar Dr. Pepper but didn't buy it, b/c I figured someone else had already gotten some for Dallon. (It turned out that no-one had. My bad. But that was rectified later.) After a trip through the warehouse district of SATX and the longest wait EVER at a fast food joint, we arrived at the venue. There was no box-office, so we just got in line with everyone else. There was a girl with a t-shirt that read, "Make me Mrs. Urie" which gives me so many motts. SO MANY. Zack came out and checked on the line (and talked to the t-shirt girl; dear Zack - DON'T FEED THE CREEPERS), and we checked with him about will-call. We ate our fast food and listened to soundcheck, which included Wayward Son. Eventually we separated ourselves into the M&G line vs. the regular entry line, with me & Lesa at the front. *cough* As we do. fiddleyoumust and E arrived just in time to get their wristbands, and we went in for the M&G.
Zack's giving a modified "don't be creepy" speech again, with a specific warning to not grope their asses when you're getting your picture taken. The fact that he needs to tell people that makes me >:/
Um. I have no idea what I talked to them about. Mostly I was sort of Bzuh? when Brendon was like, "Hey, hi, good to see you again," as he signed my set-list from the June Houston show. I think I asked if they were feeling better, b/c they had the tour crud that caused Brendon to miss the SLC show. And there was some random babble about the drive from north Texas and the crazy wind storms.
After the pictures were taken we sort of started to drift toward the barrier, and Zack was like, "Hang on! I'm not new here, I know you four want the barrier. Give me a minute!" When he had escorted the Discos back to the green room, he returned for his "the barrier isn't the place for everyone" speech, and then, voila, we took our spots at the barrier. IDK how it happened, but the t-shirt girl ended up to my right. SO MANY MOTTS. I was even less impressed later: during Foxy's set, Zack came out and sat on the barrier-step in front of me, and she said, "Rub his head for good luck!" I was like, "No touching without permission." (WHY DO PEOPLE NEED TO BE TOLD THAT? ISN'T IT COMMON COURTESY?)
But whatever, at that spot I had a perfect view of Brendon, Dallon, and Spencer (and of Patrick and Matt).
Foxy - IDEK what to say about them. I like the music, I love the show, but when I stop to listen to the lyrics, I'm sort of appalled. Mostly I just don't know where to look - Eric, the lead singer, is probably doing something ridiculous, like somersaults or headstands, the trumpeter is busy demonstrating remarkable flexibility, and keyboardist is standing on his keys or lifting them into the crowd, so he can stand on the barrier while he plays.
Patrick Stump - THAT RED SUIT, OMG. *takes a deep breath* Um. Musically? I like the medley of Let's Dance & Spotlight. Something about the intro to Everybody sounds like When Doves Cry live; I absolutely LOVE his cover of In The Air Tonight. For This City, he's been leaving the stage and greeting people; when he got to me & Lesa he recognized us from the TX shows on his solo headlining tour. Since we stayed after and got him to sign set-lists after all three shows. *cough* As you do.
All in all, I still cannot believe that this is the same guy who sang Pete Wentz's lyrics for so long. He moves all over the place, dancing and playing, and he is clearly SO VERY EXCITED about his new album and playing with these guys.
PATD :D :D :D I had a hard time deciding where to look. Brendon's voice was still a bit rough, although not as bad as it was for the Madison show earlier that week. Um. What? They covered Florence + the Machine. Eric from Foxy came out and sat on the barrier in front of me during Always. And when Spencer tossed his sticks after Nearly Witches, I got one of them. :D And a set list.
I am not fond of the smoke effects with their lighting. They are unnecessary in a small venue, and it makes viewing and picture-taking difficult without flash.
The Darkness's I Believe In A Thing Called Love is a GREAT cover song for them. Ian gets to shred, Brendon's crazy all-over-the-place range gets use, and Spencer can pound the hell out of his drums.
Yes, Brendon, we all know that That Green Gentleman is about weed. Thanks for explaining. Also, LOL @ Ian, leaning back lazily against the pillar that goes through the stage and strumming his guitar, nodding in agreement. IDK if if was this show or the Austin where he chimed in, "Legalize marijuana!" after Brendon's intro.
I cannot say enough how good I think the four of them are together. Ian's so talented and seems so easy going, clearly enjoying what he's doing; Dallon's humor and ability to troll fits with them; Brendon seems happy and genuinely excited to be performing every night, and Spencer's steady as always behind the kit.
After saying goodnight to E and fiddleyoumust, shutyourface and I drove to Austin and crashed at katieupsidedown's place.
We slept in (or tried to; my body has decided that I should be awake at 5:30am every day no matter when I go to bed, so I mostly just laid in my sleeping bag and tried not to move, so Rufus didn't get excited), and then got up and went foraging for tacos. Which really means that Lesa finally got to try Torchy's. After a disco nap, we headed to the venue (awesome parking karma was in effect). There were maybe 30 ppl in line? Again there were no tickets for willcall/m&g - once Zack had us checked off his list, he sent it to the box-office, and we never got hard tickets. Eventually we were joined by fiddleyoumust, playfullips, ericaplease, and sunn_doyouknow. At one point when I went to put stuff in my car, Patrick and a lady walked by, each leading a teeny tiny little dog. I tried not to make eye-contact. TINY DOGS FOR A TINY FRONT-MAN.
This time at the M&G I asked the Discos about the inspiration for the spoken-word part in Mercenary. Apparently Brendon did it originally, and they switched it to the game-like voice later. (He said he thought it sounded better the way it is on the album, but I'd like to hear the original version, for comparison.) Pictures again, then to the barrier.
Foxy - Similar to the previous night, but with the added distraction of watching Bden & Spencer rock out as they watched from the side of the stage. Spencer did a little air-drumming and head-nodding, but Brendon rocked the fuck out. Clearly he loves some Foxy.
Patrick - I spent a moment being sad that he wasn't wearing the red suit again, but he's clearly got a tailor on the job, b/c his suit was just as slick. Actually, all of them dress well in his band. Still excited about the album. Once again during This City, he jumped down from the stage and greeted people, and he came over to me & Lesa and hopped up on the barrier right in front of me, so we held him up while he finished the song. (Security there and in San Antonio were pretty useless, actually.) This is possibly more exposure to Patrick Stump's person than I have ever needed or wanted, to be honest.
Panic - NGL, I stared at Spencer for 90% of the show. I might as well have made chin-hands at him; I was not subtle. But I couldn't get to my camera or phone b/c of the crush, so what else was I to have done? Um... what else? They covered Flo + the Machine again. The crowd went crazy when, after Always, Spencer came back on stage and squeezed Brendon's shoulder, and Brendon said I love you. To the crowd, but that's obviously not how most of the crowd interpreted it, given the screaming and whistling. Brendon's introduction of Sins was marginally less squick-inducing, since he only implied that his mom is so hot that he'd bang her if she weren't related to him, rather than out-and-out saying it as he did in San Antonio.
After the show we went to Kerby Lane with katieupsidedown, thespatz, and C, and then it was home for 3 hours of sleep before getting up and driving to NoLa. (I have no idea how I would make that drive if not for Rise Against. That is my driving music.)
I needed allllll the coffee the next morning. Lesa got to my house at 8am, we poured coffee into travel mugs, and got on our way.
The drive was pleasant, not quite as boring as the Houston-San Antonio stretch of I-10. Other than a random encounter with an old biker in the parking lot of McDonald's, that is. He was weird, and I just wanted him to get out of my way so I could go pee!
Once again, good parking karma - we found a spot on the street less than a block away from the venue, Tipitina's Uptown. There were a handful of people there, including two girls who the venue staff told us had been there when they arrived at 9am. Zack confirmed that they'd been there when the buses rolled in. (We had a couple of extra M&G spots, since some of the crew couldn't make it, so we gave them to those girls. Such dedication deserves not to be stuck behind a dozen people.)
We sat on the benches farthest from the buses at first, in the sunlight, b/c we were cold. At one point, the same lady I'd seen Wednesday with Patrick in Austin walked by with the dogs, and when she came back she stopped and chatted with us, asking if we hadn't been at the show the night before, and wondering how we'd made it to NoLa that morning. She seemed impressed with our fervor. I'm wondering if she continues to see us, if she'll think it's okay or that it's creepy.
Most of Foxy went back and forth between their van and the venue. Eventually Matt Rubano came by and stopped to talk for a sec. He went into to the venue, then came back out with his bass and went back to the bus, telling us he had to "learn some new notes". [Note: Panic's bus was right by the venue; Patrick's was down the street, across an intersection, but they had unloaded all their gear, and it was sitting behind a couple of metal barriers on the sidewalk; these metal barriers are what was later hauled into the venue to create the stage barrier.]
When the sun got higher and it was warmer we moved to the bench in the shade of the bus. MORE band dudes were walking by, and we made some efforts to not make eye-contact, because we weren't sitting by the bus to talk to them - we were sitting there to SIT, b/c we knew we'd have to stand for hours later. Skooter, Patrick's drummer, stopped and chatted with us, remembering that we were from Houston. And then Patrick and his GF (same lady as before, but holding hands now) and Matt came back. Matt nodded and told us that he'd learned all the notes, and we just nodded back, but then Patrick paused and started talking to us. He was really excited to be playing Tipitina's because of its history, and because he loves Treme, and it's been on that show. Lesa and I were basically like ♥__♥. Zack did some hovering, to make sure that we weren't bothering Patrick and that no one else did, and eventually Patrick retreated into the venue. Finally we were joined by fiddleyoumust, playfullips, & ericaplease, and we did the M&G. Again.
So, here's the thing. On the drive there, I was looking through the lyrics for V&V. And I sing along on Let's Kill Tonight, but I never really thought about what I was singing. You know that line: you're the galantine, cold and alone it suits you well? Galantine is a dish of cold, deboned meat. O_o [The peals of laughter this generated when I found it on google were loud. And extended.] So I asked Brendon & Spencer if there was some special urban dictionary meaning for that word, or what, and they said no, they meant cold meat, but we should come up with another definition and start it on urban dictionary.
This was the only show we did not try to stake out spots on the barrier. The barrier was frail and unsecured, and having been at shows with serious crowd surges two previous nights, we elected to get drinks, buy merch, and scope out a good spot on the balcony. Even though the crowd ended up being the most sedate GA crowd I've ever seen (IDK if it's because it was 18+ or b/c it just was not a TX crowd) I was just as glad not to stand for five more hours, because I was already feeling kind of funk, overwarm and congested, with a sore throat, but I was hoping it was b/c of singing/smoke effects.
It was an awesome show, even Spencer agrees. We had a bird's eye view of pretty much everything. But when it was over we had to drive home. :( :( :( I was tired (six hours of sleep over three days: not good) and feverish, and poor Lesa had to switch out driving when I know she was just as tired. We eventually stopped at Lake Charles to sleep for an hour, and then we were back on the road to make it home early in the morning. Houston is huge, and I forget how huge until I hit Harris County and get excited that I'm home but then it takes FORTY-FIVE MORE MINUTES.
I slept a few hours. Woke up coughing & feverish, so I had to bail on Jack's Mannequin, because there was no way I was in any shape to stand for another GA show. My fever broke Saturday morning, and I feel like I might hack up a lung soon, but still. Three days of Patrick & Panic, and more coming up soon! (NGL, last night I was at CWMP for BuzzFest27, and at 8:30, when Chevelle were on stage, I still wished I were in Tampa, where it was 9:30 and time for Discos to take the stage.)
Anyway, here's a handful of pictures that I took from the SA and NoLa shows. They are in the reverse order that they were taken, so NoLa bows first. (All of my pictures from SATX & NoLa are in a folder at my photobucket account here, if you want to see them.)
(Yes, I am a creeper and took a photo of Spencer as he watched Patrick's set. I am not ashamed.)
ETA
Other random things I recall, in no particular order:
- Dallon introducing Brendon as the master of the house, following with other lines from the Les Mis song, earworms me every time.
- I will never not be charmed by Brendon calling Dallon a "tall drink of water".
- Ditto for Brendon introducing Spencer as his best friend (who will "bang anything he can get his hands on").
- Run Dry (x Heart x Fingers) might possibly be my favorite song from Soul Punk, and I'm glad PStump & his band are performing it on this tour.
- I am still not that fond of Allie, but I like the freeze-frame thing they all do in the middle of it.
- There were a few moments when the lighting was so dim that through the smoke Spencer was just a silhouette, but his wide, bright smile was always visible.
- Zack is awesome. There could've been some ugliness w/ the line at La Zona Rosa b/c some people are apparently incapable of reading and following directions (what part of FORM A SEPARATE LINE BY THE BOX OFFICE is unclear?) but he straightened things out before we had to riot.
Also, the set-list, which only varied by the cover (they did Rolling In The Deep in NoLa, and Dog Days at the two TX shows) as abbreviated on the copy I received at SATX:
1. Ready To Go
2. But It's Better
3. Mona Lisa
4. Lying
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Camisado (I think this is where they segue into Personal Jesus at the end.)
7. Hurricane (THIS is the song that ended with Personal Jesus.)
8. Only Difference
9. Kill Tonight
10. Always
11. Nine
12. Things Have Changed
13. Memories
14. New Perspective
15. Dog Days
16. Sins
*
17. Time To Dance
18. Darkness
19. Nearly Witches
Tuesday midmorning, I picked up shutyourface (but no eckerlilas D:) and we drove to San Antonio. It was wicked windy. More than one semi made me a bit nervous because of its inability to stay in the appropriate lane, but the drive ended up being uneventful. As usual, we stopped at Buccee's (cleanest bathrooms for a gas station/rest stop EVER; don't laugh until you see some of the utterly disgusting ones available elsewhere along I-10 or I-45). We saw some of the locally bottled cane-sugar Dr. Pepper but didn't buy it, b/c I figured someone else had already gotten some for Dallon. (It turned out that no-one had. My bad. But that was rectified later.) After a trip through the warehouse district of SATX and the longest wait EVER at a fast food joint, we arrived at the venue. There was no box-office, so we just got in line with everyone else. There was a girl with a t-shirt that read, "Make me Mrs. Urie" which gives me so many motts. SO MANY. Zack came out and checked on the line (and talked to the t-shirt girl; dear Zack - DON'T FEED THE CREEPERS), and we checked with him about will-call. We ate our fast food and listened to soundcheck, which included Wayward Son. Eventually we separated ourselves into the M&G line vs. the regular entry line, with me & Lesa at the front. *cough* As we do. fiddleyoumust and E arrived just in time to get their wristbands, and we went in for the M&G.
Zack's giving a modified "don't be creepy" speech again, with a specific warning to not grope their asses when you're getting your picture taken. The fact that he needs to tell people that makes me >:/
Um. I have no idea what I talked to them about. Mostly I was sort of Bzuh? when Brendon was like, "Hey, hi, good to see you again," as he signed my set-list from the June Houston show. I think I asked if they were feeling better, b/c they had the tour crud that caused Brendon to miss the SLC show. And there was some random babble about the drive from north Texas and the crazy wind storms.
After the pictures were taken we sort of started to drift toward the barrier, and Zack was like, "Hang on! I'm not new here, I know you four want the barrier. Give me a minute!" When he had escorted the Discos back to the green room, he returned for his "the barrier isn't the place for everyone" speech, and then, voila, we took our spots at the barrier. IDK how it happened, but the t-shirt girl ended up to my right. SO MANY MOTTS. I was even less impressed later: during Foxy's set, Zack came out and sat on the barrier-step in front of me, and she said, "Rub his head for good luck!" I was like, "No touching without permission." (WHY DO PEOPLE NEED TO BE TOLD THAT? ISN'T IT COMMON COURTESY?)
But whatever, at that spot I had a perfect view of Brendon, Dallon, and Spencer (and of Patrick and Matt).
Foxy - IDEK what to say about them. I like the music, I love the show, but when I stop to listen to the lyrics, I'm sort of appalled. Mostly I just don't know where to look - Eric, the lead singer, is probably doing something ridiculous, like somersaults or headstands, the trumpeter is busy demonstrating remarkable flexibility, and keyboardist is standing on his keys or lifting them into the crowd, so he can stand on the barrier while he plays.
Patrick Stump - THAT RED SUIT, OMG. *takes a deep breath* Um. Musically? I like the medley of Let's Dance & Spotlight. Something about the intro to Everybody sounds like When Doves Cry live; I absolutely LOVE his cover of In The Air Tonight. For This City, he's been leaving the stage and greeting people; when he got to me & Lesa he recognized us from the TX shows on his solo headlining tour. Since we stayed after and got him to sign set-lists after all three shows. *cough* As you do.
All in all, I still cannot believe that this is the same guy who sang Pete Wentz's lyrics for so long. He moves all over the place, dancing and playing, and he is clearly SO VERY EXCITED about his new album and playing with these guys.
PATD :D :D :D I had a hard time deciding where to look. Brendon's voice was still a bit rough, although not as bad as it was for the Madison show earlier that week. Um. What? They covered Florence + the Machine. Eric from Foxy came out and sat on the barrier in front of me during Always. And when Spencer tossed his sticks after Nearly Witches, I got one of them. :D And a set list.
I am not fond of the smoke effects with their lighting. They are unnecessary in a small venue, and it makes viewing and picture-taking difficult without flash.
The Darkness's I Believe In A Thing Called Love is a GREAT cover song for them. Ian gets to shred, Brendon's crazy all-over-the-place range gets use, and Spencer can pound the hell out of his drums.
Yes, Brendon, we all know that That Green Gentleman is about weed. Thanks for explaining. Also, LOL @ Ian, leaning back lazily against the pillar that goes through the stage and strumming his guitar, nodding in agreement. IDK if if was this show or the Austin where he chimed in, "Legalize marijuana!" after Brendon's intro.
I cannot say enough how good I think the four of them are together. Ian's so talented and seems so easy going, clearly enjoying what he's doing; Dallon's humor and ability to troll fits with them; Brendon seems happy and genuinely excited to be performing every night, and Spencer's steady as always behind the kit.
After saying goodnight to E and fiddleyoumust, shutyourface and I drove to Austin and crashed at katieupsidedown's place.
We slept in (or tried to; my body has decided that I should be awake at 5:30am every day no matter when I go to bed, so I mostly just laid in my sleeping bag and tried not to move, so Rufus didn't get excited), and then got up and went foraging for tacos. Which really means that Lesa finally got to try Torchy's. After a disco nap, we headed to the venue (awesome parking karma was in effect). There were maybe 30 ppl in line? Again there were no tickets for willcall/m&g - once Zack had us checked off his list, he sent it to the box-office, and we never got hard tickets. Eventually we were joined by fiddleyoumust, playfullips, ericaplease, and sunn_doyouknow. At one point when I went to put stuff in my car, Patrick and a lady walked by, each leading a teeny tiny little dog. I tried not to make eye-contact. TINY DOGS FOR A TINY FRONT-MAN.
This time at the M&G I asked the Discos about the inspiration for the spoken-word part in Mercenary. Apparently Brendon did it originally, and they switched it to the game-like voice later. (He said he thought it sounded better the way it is on the album, but I'd like to hear the original version, for comparison.) Pictures again, then to the barrier.
Foxy - Similar to the previous night, but with the added distraction of watching Bden & Spencer rock out as they watched from the side of the stage. Spencer did a little air-drumming and head-nodding, but Brendon rocked the fuck out. Clearly he loves some Foxy.
Patrick - I spent a moment being sad that he wasn't wearing the red suit again, but he's clearly got a tailor on the job, b/c his suit was just as slick. Actually, all of them dress well in his band. Still excited about the album. Once again during This City, he jumped down from the stage and greeted people, and he came over to me & Lesa and hopped up on the barrier right in front of me, so we held him up while he finished the song. (Security there and in San Antonio were pretty useless, actually.) This is possibly more exposure to Patrick Stump's person than I have ever needed or wanted, to be honest.
Panic - NGL, I stared at Spencer for 90% of the show. I might as well have made chin-hands at him; I was not subtle. But I couldn't get to my camera or phone b/c of the crush, so what else was I to have done? Um... what else? They covered Flo + the Machine again. The crowd went crazy when, after Always, Spencer came back on stage and squeezed Brendon's shoulder, and Brendon said I love you. To the crowd, but that's obviously not how most of the crowd interpreted it, given the screaming and whistling. Brendon's introduction of Sins was marginally less squick-inducing, since he only implied that his mom is so hot that he'd bang her if she weren't related to him, rather than out-and-out saying it as he did in San Antonio.
After the show we went to Kerby Lane with katieupsidedown, thespatz, and C, and then it was home for 3 hours of sleep before getting up and driving to NoLa. (I have no idea how I would make that drive if not for Rise Against. That is my driving music.)
I needed allllll the coffee the next morning. Lesa got to my house at 8am, we poured coffee into travel mugs, and got on our way.
The drive was pleasant, not quite as boring as the Houston-San Antonio stretch of I-10. Other than a random encounter with an old biker in the parking lot of McDonald's, that is. He was weird, and I just wanted him to get out of my way so I could go pee!
Once again, good parking karma - we found a spot on the street less than a block away from the venue, Tipitina's Uptown. There were a handful of people there, including two girls who the venue staff told us had been there when they arrived at 9am. Zack confirmed that they'd been there when the buses rolled in. (We had a couple of extra M&G spots, since some of the crew couldn't make it, so we gave them to those girls. Such dedication deserves not to be stuck behind a dozen people.)
We sat on the benches farthest from the buses at first, in the sunlight, b/c we were cold. At one point, the same lady I'd seen Wednesday with Patrick in Austin walked by with the dogs, and when she came back she stopped and chatted with us, asking if we hadn't been at the show the night before, and wondering how we'd made it to NoLa that morning. She seemed impressed with our fervor. I'm wondering if she continues to see us, if she'll think it's okay or that it's creepy.
Most of Foxy went back and forth between their van and the venue. Eventually Matt Rubano came by and stopped to talk for a sec. He went into to the venue, then came back out with his bass and went back to the bus, telling us he had to "learn some new notes". [Note: Panic's bus was right by the venue; Patrick's was down the street, across an intersection, but they had unloaded all their gear, and it was sitting behind a couple of metal barriers on the sidewalk; these metal barriers are what was later hauled into the venue to create the stage barrier.]
When the sun got higher and it was warmer we moved to the bench in the shade of the bus. MORE band dudes were walking by, and we made some efforts to not make eye-contact, because we weren't sitting by the bus to talk to them - we were sitting there to SIT, b/c we knew we'd have to stand for hours later. Skooter, Patrick's drummer, stopped and chatted with us, remembering that we were from Houston. And then Patrick and his GF (same lady as before, but holding hands now) and Matt came back. Matt nodded and told us that he'd learned all the notes, and we just nodded back, but then Patrick paused and started talking to us. He was really excited to be playing Tipitina's because of its history, and because he loves Treme, and it's been on that show. Lesa and I were basically like ♥__♥. Zack did some hovering, to make sure that we weren't bothering Patrick and that no one else did, and eventually Patrick retreated into the venue. Finally we were joined by fiddleyoumust, playfullips, & ericaplease, and we did the M&G. Again.
So, here's the thing. On the drive there, I was looking through the lyrics for V&V. And I sing along on Let's Kill Tonight, but I never really thought about what I was singing. You know that line: you're the galantine, cold and alone it suits you well? Galantine is a dish of cold, deboned meat. O_o [The peals of laughter this generated when I found it on google were loud. And extended.] So I asked Brendon & Spencer if there was some special urban dictionary meaning for that word, or what, and they said no, they meant cold meat, but we should come up with another definition and start it on urban dictionary.
This was the only show we did not try to stake out spots on the barrier. The barrier was frail and unsecured, and having been at shows with serious crowd surges two previous nights, we elected to get drinks, buy merch, and scope out a good spot on the balcony. Even though the crowd ended up being the most sedate GA crowd I've ever seen (IDK if it's because it was 18+ or b/c it just was not a TX crowd) I was just as glad not to stand for five more hours, because I was already feeling kind of funk, overwarm and congested, with a sore throat, but I was hoping it was b/c of singing/smoke effects.
It was an awesome show, even Spencer agrees. We had a bird's eye view of pretty much everything. But when it was over we had to drive home. :( :( :( I was tired (six hours of sleep over three days: not good) and feverish, and poor Lesa had to switch out driving when I know she was just as tired. We eventually stopped at Lake Charles to sleep for an hour, and then we were back on the road to make it home early in the morning. Houston is huge, and I forget how huge until I hit Harris County and get excited that I'm home but then it takes FORTY-FIVE MORE MINUTES.
I slept a few hours. Woke up coughing & feverish, so I had to bail on Jack's Mannequin, because there was no way I was in any shape to stand for another GA show. My fever broke Saturday morning, and I feel like I might hack up a lung soon, but still. Three days of Patrick & Panic, and more coming up soon! (NGL, last night I was at CWMP for BuzzFest27, and at 8:30, when Chevelle were on stage, I still wished I were in Tampa, where it was 9:30 and time for Discos to take the stage.)
Anyway, here's a handful of pictures that I took from the SA and NoLa shows. They are in the reverse order that they were taken, so NoLa bows first. (All of my pictures from SATX & NoLa are in a folder at my photobucket account here, if you want to see them.)
(Yes, I am a creeper and took a photo of Spencer as he watched Patrick's set. I am not ashamed.)
ETA
Other random things I recall, in no particular order:
- Dallon introducing Brendon as the master of the house, following with other lines from the Les Mis song, earworms me every time.
- I will never not be charmed by Brendon calling Dallon a "tall drink of water".
- Ditto for Brendon introducing Spencer as his best friend (who will "bang anything he can get his hands on").
- Run Dry (x Heart x Fingers) might possibly be my favorite song from Soul Punk, and I'm glad PStump & his band are performing it on this tour.
- I am still not that fond of Allie, but I like the freeze-frame thing they all do in the middle of it.
- There were a few moments when the lighting was so dim that through the smoke Spencer was just a silhouette, but his wide, bright smile was always visible.
- Zack is awesome. There could've been some ugliness w/ the line at La Zona Rosa b/c some people are apparently incapable of reading and following directions (what part of FORM A SEPARATE LINE BY THE BOX OFFICE is unclear?) but he straightened things out before we had to riot.
Also, the set-list, which only varied by the cover (they did Rolling In The Deep in NoLa, and Dog Days at the two TX shows) as abbreviated on the copy I received at SATX:
1. Ready To Go
2. But It's Better
3. Mona Lisa
4. Lying
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Camisado (I think this is where they segue into Personal Jesus at the end.)
7. Hurricane (THIS is the song that ended with Personal Jesus.)
8. Only Difference
9. Kill Tonight
10. Always
11. Nine
12. Things Have Changed
13. Memories
14. New Perspective
15. Dog Days
16. Sins
*
17. Time To Dance
18. Darkness
19. Nearly Witches