You never asked to be a Mayan deity! I never asked to be on television!
Or: How I Relived Concert Going like a Teen Without all the Embarrassment
On 5/24, I entered a new level of StarKid fandom: I went to see them perform live at the House of Blues in LA. The recap is going to get pretty fan-insidery and photo-heavy, so click the cut to keep following me on this supermegafoxyawesomehot journey.
Having been a fan of StarKid since shortly before Darren showed up on Glee, I was ecstatic to just go see them perform. When I hedged my bets with selecting a tour date and the life roulette actually played out in my favor so that I'd be seeing Darren along with the team, I pretty much went into full fangirl mode. I will say this, however, as great as it was seeing Darren with his true artistic family, every single member of that group is amazingly talented and fantastic. It was by no means 'The Darren Criss Show Featuring StarKid,' and for that I was exceedingly glad.
I left work early and got in line about 2:30pm the day of the show. While in line for about four hours, I made some brief StarKid friends, did a lot of reflecting on how I was one of the oldest people in line and didn't really care, and got RedVines from a fan dressed as AVPM Ron:
Once in the venue, it was pandemonium... but in the kindest way I've ever seen a group of teens behave. When we were waiting in line it was about the most polite line I've ever seen, and that didn't shift much inside the venue. It just got a little more pressurized. The group of gals I had befriended in line took my advice and beelined straight for the left side of the stage where we ended up being just center of the speakers in the 'third' row. Our mantra for moving during the show was "Up and Center," and by the end of the night I was in the 'fourth' row and center about another 20 feet, so it mostly worked.
Here's a shot of the crowd from the upstairs balcony. In the bottom, towards the right there's a girl holding up a camera and I'm right next to her. My short self didn't do too bad as there were a lot of short teens there so I never really had much of an issue seeing.
Darren first came out to do a number with opening artist/UofM buddy Charlene Kaye, and the place (predictably) went nuts. Still, 'twas nothing to the main show. The stage started with the band in the back and a tent off to one side where each StarKid emerged in turn during "Me and My Dick" (of which, as an 'all ages' show they cleverly clipped 'dick' each time to have another member emerge from the tent -- not that doing songs from Me and My Dick exactly made it 'all ages' appropriate ;) ). This was the time it was fully and wonderfully confirmed that the venue wasn't just full of Glee-loving Darrenites. Screams for Joey Richter, Joe Walker, Lauren Lopez, Brian Holden and Dylan Saunders were deafening -- and not too diminished for Other Brian (Rosenthal), Jamie Lyn Beatty or Meredith Stepien. Still, when Darren popped out of that tent, curly haired, scruffy facial haired, bespectacled, and smiling, it was another volume level entirely. The glasses didn't last long -- they flew off his face (and he caught them dexterously) during his first solo number.
They were cute while they lasted, though.
Favorite moments in a nutshell:
"Different As Can Be," because Quirrelmort is about the cutest thing ever.
And I'm just going to take a second to address Joe Walker and his REALLY short shorts:
I mean really, how is one supposed to focus on a performance with those well sculpted legs and booty in our face... not to mention the package that accompanies...
Where was I? Oh yeah, favorite things other than Joe Walker's package...
"Guys Like Potter" as a smooth-jazz quintet with Brian Holden on leads. Damn, that boy can sing.
The inside jokes and making fun of Darren throughout the show.
During the initial translation of the ancient Mayan tablet, one of the signs of the Apocalypse is: One of the Dikrats will be consumed by a giant FOX. To which Darren says: That makes no sense...
Darren singing "Hey Dragon" to the Jim Povolo Mayan Deity 'Margaret.' (see blog title) And all of Darren's solo bits. Rather than fit him into every number, they put him in some and then gave him a few solo bits: "Status Quo" (omg Imma pass out now), "Hey Dragon," and "To Have a Home."
Jamie and Darren singing "Not Alone." Jamie has an amazing voice, and while I kinda wanted them to duet on Sami/Harry, I was really happy this was the number they performed together. The whole audience was -- seriously, YouTube that ish, we're all singing along like badasses.
"Granger Danger." This was probably the number I most wanted to see from AVPM and it didn't disappoint. Mostly because when they got to the section where Joey and Lauren are overlapping their verses, Joey climbed on an amp directly in front of where I was standing and locked eyes with me as he leaned over the stage with his mic. Joey looking at me, singing his part, while I was singing Lauren's... yeah. Bliss.
(Not from that number, but you get the idea...)
HMB numbers. Being as it's the most recent show, I was ecstatic to have some of those numbers in even though a good portion of the HMB cast isn't on the tour. Still, "Rogues Are We" was fun, the 'somebody's buddy' section of "Dark Sad Lonely Knight" was superb (and props to Darren for grabbing on to the harmony parts like a boss). The closing song was "Super Friends," and apparently in my frenzy to get last glimpses of everyone (especially Darren, Joe & Joey) AND avoid flying beach balls of ridiculous size, I missed seeing show visitor Nick Lang up in the balcony dancing along. What I would have given to see him do the 'modern dancer' bit up there...
"To Dance Again." StarKid kickline, y'all... and again, Walker in those shorts.
Typical Team StarKid Funtimes Moments:
(During the 'hotties, nerds, and tools' line from "Goin' Back to Hogwarts." Jamie's recovering from being dubbed 'hottie.' Darren's being dubbed 'nerd,' and Joey has yet to be named 'tool.'
Billboard had this great behind the scenes article posted a few days after the concert chronicling Darren being worked into the show and the team as a whole. At the end of the article the journalist praised the entirety of Team StarKid for their creativity, talent, dedication to their fans, and genuine nature, calling them 'the new fame.' It's a completely accurate assessment and my only personal addition is that despite all the awesomeness that is Darren being on Glee, and how they've all seemed to accept him, it was obvious from this show that his true artistic home and real family is StarKid. And for that, I am ecstatic and blessed that I got to see Darren in his natural element, frolicking with his fellow nerds as they all put on a spectacular show.
On 5/24, I entered a new level of StarKid fandom: I went to see them perform live at the House of Blues in LA. The recap is going to get pretty fan-insidery and photo-heavy, so click the cut to keep following me on this supermegafoxyawesomehot journey.
Having been a fan of StarKid since shortly before Darren showed up on Glee, I was ecstatic to just go see them perform. When I hedged my bets with selecting a tour date and the life roulette actually played out in my favor so that I'd be seeing Darren along with the team, I pretty much went into full fangirl mode. I will say this, however, as great as it was seeing Darren with his true artistic family, every single member of that group is amazingly talented and fantastic. It was by no means 'The Darren Criss Show Featuring StarKid,' and for that I was exceedingly glad.
I left work early and got in line about 2:30pm the day of the show. While in line for about four hours, I made some brief StarKid friends, did a lot of reflecting on how I was one of the oldest people in line and didn't really care, and got RedVines from a fan dressed as AVPM Ron:
Once in the venue, it was pandemonium... but in the kindest way I've ever seen a group of teens behave. When we were waiting in line it was about the most polite line I've ever seen, and that didn't shift much inside the venue. It just got a little more pressurized. The group of gals I had befriended in line took my advice and beelined straight for the left side of the stage where we ended up being just center of the speakers in the 'third' row. Our mantra for moving during the show was "Up and Center," and by the end of the night I was in the 'fourth' row and center about another 20 feet, so it mostly worked.
Here's a shot of the crowd from the upstairs balcony. In the bottom, towards the right there's a girl holding up a camera and I'm right next to her. My short self didn't do too bad as there were a lot of short teens there so I never really had much of an issue seeing.
Darren first came out to do a number with opening artist/UofM buddy Charlene Kaye, and the place (predictably) went nuts. Still, 'twas nothing to the main show. The stage started with the band in the back and a tent off to one side where each StarKid emerged in turn during "Me and My Dick" (of which, as an 'all ages' show they cleverly clipped 'dick' each time to have another member emerge from the tent -- not that doing songs from Me and My Dick exactly made it 'all ages' appropriate ;) ). This was the time it was fully and wonderfully confirmed that the venue wasn't just full of Glee-loving Darrenites. Screams for Joey Richter, Joe Walker, Lauren Lopez, Brian Holden and Dylan Saunders were deafening -- and not too diminished for Other Brian (Rosenthal), Jamie Lyn Beatty or Meredith Stepien. Still, when Darren popped out of that tent, curly haired, scruffy facial haired, bespectacled, and smiling, it was another volume level entirely. The glasses didn't last long -- they flew off his face (and he caught them dexterously) during his first solo number.
They were cute while they lasted, though.
Favorite moments in a nutshell:
"Different As Can Be," because Quirrelmort is about the cutest thing ever.
And I'm just going to take a second to address Joe Walker and his REALLY short shorts:
I mean really, how is one supposed to focus on a performance with those well sculpted legs and booty in our face... not to mention the package that accompanies...
Where was I? Oh yeah, favorite things other than Joe Walker's package...
"Guys Like Potter" as a smooth-jazz quintet with Brian Holden on leads. Damn, that boy can sing.
The inside jokes and making fun of Darren throughout the show.
During the initial translation of the ancient Mayan tablet, one of the signs of the Apocalypse is: One of the Dikrats will be consumed by a giant FOX. To which Darren says: That makes no sense...
Darren singing "Hey Dragon" to the Jim Povolo Mayan Deity 'Margaret.' (see blog title) And all of Darren's solo bits. Rather than fit him into every number, they put him in some and then gave him a few solo bits: "Status Quo" (omg Imma pass out now), "Hey Dragon," and "To Have a Home."
Jamie and Darren singing "Not Alone." Jamie has an amazing voice, and while I kinda wanted them to duet on Sami/Harry, I was really happy this was the number they performed together. The whole audience was -- seriously, YouTube that ish, we're all singing along like badasses.
"Granger Danger." This was probably the number I most wanted to see from AVPM and it didn't disappoint. Mostly because when they got to the section where Joey and Lauren are overlapping their verses, Joey climbed on an amp directly in front of where I was standing and locked eyes with me as he leaned over the stage with his mic. Joey looking at me, singing his part, while I was singing Lauren's... yeah. Bliss.
(Not from that number, but you get the idea...)
HMB numbers. Being as it's the most recent show, I was ecstatic to have some of those numbers in even though a good portion of the HMB cast isn't on the tour. Still, "Rogues Are We" was fun, the 'somebody's buddy' section of "Dark Sad Lonely Knight" was superb (and props to Darren for grabbing on to the harmony parts like a boss). The closing song was "Super Friends," and apparently in my frenzy to get last glimpses of everyone (especially Darren, Joe & Joey) AND avoid flying beach balls of ridiculous size, I missed seeing show visitor Nick Lang up in the balcony dancing along. What I would have given to see him do the 'modern dancer' bit up there...
"To Dance Again." StarKid kickline, y'all... and again, Walker in those shorts.
Typical Team StarKid Funtimes Moments:
(During the 'hotties, nerds, and tools' line from "Goin' Back to Hogwarts." Jamie's recovering from being dubbed 'hottie.' Darren's being dubbed 'nerd,' and Joey has yet to be named 'tool.'
Billboard had this great behind the scenes article posted a few days after the concert chronicling Darren being worked into the show and the team as a whole. At the end of the article the journalist praised the entirety of Team StarKid for their creativity, talent, dedication to their fans, and genuine nature, calling them 'the new fame.' It's a completely accurate assessment and my only personal addition is that despite all the awesomeness that is Darren being on Glee, and how they've all seemed to accept him, it was obvious from this show that his true artistic home and real family is StarKid. And for that, I am ecstatic and blessed that I got to see Darren in his natural element, frolicking with his fellow nerds as they all put on a spectacular show.