A Concert Addict's Newest Adventure ...And a New Layout
First off, new layout. check it out, tell me what you think :)
Okay, so now it's time for my super detailed concert stories.
**pictures added!!!! (5 now. more to come)**
Gabe from Midtown!
Catch 22
The Early November
Gym Class Heroes singer rapping about Midtown
Army of Me
even more to come. yes, that's right, more.... silverstein, like yesterday, and the starting line pictures. maybe others. woo.
So, I went to the Concert for Tsunami Relief with Christine. We got there at about 2pm, when it was supposed to start, and had to wait in line (it was moving though) for about 10/20 minutes. Once in, I checked my coat, then we moved into the main area and hung out to the side watching Gym Class Heroes (who I had already seen once before, on December 26th with Fall Out Boy and Midtown) and then The Loved Ones. During The Loved Ones, there were some pretty lame attempts at mosh pits. Silly people. After The Loved Ones, we moved into the crowd. Not too far back, but we still had to work our way up closer. So we were pretty decently close for Me Without You. Man the singer was so effed up. God only knows what he was on. But he did have a cool raccoon hat, so I must give him points for that. And there were, yet again, attempts at mosh pits. People need to learn better. They looked foolish. As we worked our way forwards even more, we made some friends (a Brian, a Drew, and some people I didn't learn the names of). We got pretty much up front by the time Silverstein came on. They were awesome. It was tons of fun watching/listening to them. Though the crowd surfers started to pick up. Next came Underoath. They were pretty awesome too. More crowd surfers. More kicks to the head. Then Army Of Me came out. The singer was wearing a Marine's jacket/uniform thing. I think it was Marines... Anyway... The crowd wasn't quite as energetic for them, but they still put on a decent show. After them came The Youth Ahead. I liked them to. Nothing really exciting happened or anything during them though, so moving right along... Like Yesterday came on. That was cool. I really liked them. They put on a great show too. Then came Catch 22. The band I had been waiting for all night above all others. They were sooooooo great. I kept shouting at them to play Point the Blame. They did. I have it recorded on my phone. Don't I feel special. Well, it was amazing, and the first time all night I was completely pumped up for a band (not that I wasn't excited for all the others, but still...) during the show. So that was frickin' awesome. But crowd surfers kept interrupting my getting to watch them. Oh well, that's just a part of concerts. It happened with pretty much every band anyways. Then came Midtown. Oh boy Midtown. How I do love thee. Gabriel (bassist/lead vocals) is amazing. Such great energy, such great playing, such a great time. He was wearing the same thing as when I saw Midtown December 26th. Yay for tour outfits. So anyway, it was very cool getting to see them for a second time, especially because I knew them a little bit better this time around. Plus I got one of Gabe's picks. Woo! So after Midtown came The Early November. Also great show. Also great energy. Another great time. They played Baby Blue, which made me really happy (because I love the song), and really sad (because of the the lyrics) at the same time. They didn't play Ever So Sweet though. Tear. They only got to play like, 5 songs though, so I guess it's hard to choose which ones you do and don't play. Either way though, it was fun. Oh, and after they finished the bassist came down to the corwd and was signing stuff for people, so I got my extra ticket signed. After them came From Autumn to Ashes. I don't really know them well, so it wasn't as fun, especially since it proceeded 3 bands I love. But they were good, I guess. And last, but certainly not least, came The Starting Line. They were awesome. They had amazing energy and played great songs. And a lovely encore of Surprise, Surprise. The only band that got to do an encore too. I got their set list. Another one to add to my collection. Yay.
Okay, so then the night was done. Or so I thought. Although the music was done, there was more to my night. I had been standing on my feet for over nine (9!!!!!!!!) hours. No sitting. No food. Some water. Lots of sweat. But it was still such a great time. When we went to get my sweatshirt from the coatcheck, we found a sea of musicians. Many of the guys from the bands were hanging out around the coatcheck/merch area. So first we got the singer from Army of Me to sign something for us. I got my extra ticket signed. Then came the best thing ever. The thing that truly made my night. Gabe was standing there in all his glory (seriously, he's really tall, so he was like, towering over me, hehe). I went up to him and talked to him about the show and how they played such a great set, and how I'd seen him the month before. He signed my extra ticket. Then I was waiting in line to get up the the coatcheck/to buy the Midtown CD and an event t-shirt. And guess who needed to get by? Yes, Gabe. So of course I moved aside, and when he got up to the front thing, he asked the people behing it (merch people and the guys from Gym Class Heroes) if anyone had advil. And I was like "hey, I have some!" So he turns to me and is like "Oh man, can I have one?" So I reach into my pocket and hand him my little advil. The one I handed him was a little chipped, and he's like "hmmm, this one looks a little funky. You got another one?" So sure enough, I reach into my pocket, and hand him a 2nd one. Oh snap, Gabe took my advil! Haha, it's sad that I'm excited over that. Oh well, I am. I also talked to him about how I was going to try and organize a Tsunami Relief concert with local bands at my school, and how my principal said no. He said it was cool that I tried to set something up though, even if it didn't work out. Then the merch guy was trying to get people to buy the Midtown CD and Gabe points to me and is like "She's going to buy one!" and smiled. Of course this was true and I did. Then I also found one of their free Samplers on the ground. I got him to sign it for me. Him: "What's your name again?" (I hadn't ever told him my name, so it's ok that he "forgot") Me: "Nicole" Him: "Aww, that's a cute name[big smile]." Then he started to write " To Nic-" stopped, and was like "It's o-l-e right?" Yepp, he was right. So it says "To Nicole <3 Gabe". Okay, so moving on from my Gabe loving craziness. Somewhere in there I also got my extra ticket signed by the Gym Class Heroes singer too. Next I bought my Concerts For Tsunami Relief shirt. Then as we began to leave, we spotted the singer from Like Yesterday at yet another merch table. So we go over and ask him to sign stuff (the extra ticket!). He looks up at me and is like "You look familiar... Have I seen you before" and I was like "Ummmm. I dunno, I was up front when you guys played..." Him: "Maybe that's it..." SO then he signs my ticket "You looked familiar. I'm all mixed up --Mark"
That was finally the end of the concert night. We left Starland, passing through various people shoving flyers for upcoming shows in our faces (I grabbed one or two). We got in the car, went to McDonalds, where I couldn't really eat anything becasue of the whole vegetarian thing, and spotted all of these kids who clearly had just been at the show as well. I had told Christine earlier that all the concert kids would end up there. I was right. So then we ate, and then slept. And thus ending one of the most amazingest concert nights ever. :-D And applaud for anyone who actually read everything I just wrote. You're awesome.
Oh yeah, and all those crazy crowd surfers smashing into me for a good 9 hours bruised my nose, and possibly gave me a concussion. My head hurts so damn bad. As does every other part of my body. I swear, parts of my body I didn't even know existed now feel pain. Ugh. But you know what? Everything else that happened last night just completely makes up for it. So woo.