1st June 2004 - My Chemical Romance with The Bled and Hondo Maclean
Before I start I'd just like to say that after Saturday's stunning performance, I doubted MCR could actually get any better, I do however stand correct, they were phenominal. Better than CKY, HIM, Muse, Brand New, Funeral for a Friend, better than ANYONE I've ever seen live.
I got to Kate's house at 3pm after spending the majority of Monday trying to fix up my swollen eye (don't ask) and make it look unnoticable, which apparently worked. We headed off at 3:27 to go up to the London Garage and got there at about 5:30. I had spent the entire journey convinced her father didn't know where he was going, but we got there which was good. During the 2 hour wait I spent about an hour and a half of it praying to sweet god above that the creeps standing next to us would stop talking about me so loudly. I don't usually mind the odd bit of flirting and everything, but this was tack and made me want to vomit. What was cool though was we caught sight of Ray walking down the street and stopped him to get the pictures of us from last time signed, which we did and I shall post later, or edit into this post.
When we got into the Garage Kate gave in my coat etc while I ran to the loo (2 hour cue did bad things to my bladder) and then we walked into the main part of the building. To the people familiar with the Concorde 2 in Brighton, it's smaller than that. To my right was a slightly raised bar area and to my left was a tiny weeny stage which was about... 3 metres square. The thought that this incredible band would be so squashed together was excitement enough for me, but then, as I approached the spread out line of overweight 13 year olds that had snuck in I notice they were actually pressed up against the stage, there was no space, at all between them and this 3 foot high stage (call that less than a metre high for people that don't know feet). At noticing this and the two complete push overs standing between me and this holy grail of a stage I realised that this was it, if there was a gig that was going to rock my socks clean off my feet it'd be this one.
The Bled came on at 8pm, and I remembered enjoying what I heard from them on Saturday, however they rocked out at this gig. Seriously, you couldn't ask for a better opening band at a show. I got my first experience of having a show done above me and being able to get touchy feely with band members of my choice, however I spare the girl infront of me at this point and chose to bounce away with the guy called Paddy behind me. He was with two friends, but they had to be the three biggest Bled fans in the room which was awesome because the singer paid special attention to them and drenched Kate (in her corset) and then stood on her, good for you babe. All in all they rocked and I'll be buying their album next month.
Hondo Maclean came next. At first when the boy that looked 17 walked on stage I though "no, it must be a roadie" but the the girl behind me informed me he's the drummer and his name is Ron. Well Ron was mighty fine and was the sort of guy you'd see walking down the street and then take a double take just because you're not sure if he's real or you dreamed him up. Hondo played at 8:45 and this was the time where I seriously got into it. I hadn't ever heard any of Hondo's stuff ever, but I liked it and I pulled the teenie at the stage away and there I stood, holding this random lead singers thighs and occasionally holding myself up on the front of the stage and praying my fingers were safe. Hondo put on a fucknig great show as well and have some rather classy guitar riffs in a lot of their songs as well. The lead singer took a few stage dives and hit me in my good eye by accident, but it's cool, as you will soon find out.
MCR came out at 9:30 to huge, and I mean dust coming from the rafters above the tiny stage huge, applause with me and Kate right there, front row infront of the mic stand screaming our lungs out. Kate has photographic evidence of how close we were by the way. And so the gig began, and oh lord holy crap and son of bitch it was fucking incredible. The set its self was marvellous, but the fact that I had Gerard Way within touching distance for over and hour was positively thigh shaking worth. Kate called up at Mikey too, and he noticed her and grinned and said hey, and Ray, got all starey and apologetic with me when he almost took me out with his guitar neck (what a Matt Bellamy moment that would've been); but honestly, it's not the same as having Gerard holding your head in his hand and grinning down at you insanely before stepping over the bar and holding your head to his croth. And not only did this happen once my friends, oh no, this happened 4 times through out the evening. Orignial reaction from me was "fucking hell, where do I put my hands? Holy crap his pants are undone... if I just slipped on finger in there... maybe a hand, could I get away with it? Oh wait what's this, his pulling my hair *looks up and grins as Gerard sings down to her* aaah, I know, I'll put my hands on his hips, there we go" and then, as I stood there, singing along at the top of my lungs up to the man with his crotch in my face, the pelvic thrusting began. Best mimick of a blow job EVER and my hands accidentally found his arse too. He hugged my head, he shoved his head down Kate's corset, he got poked in the eye by a girl named Alley a few people away and she cried and he felt bad for making her cry and mentioning it to everyone. And they ended with Vampires after they played Demolition Lovers (brings a tear to my eye now) and he ended up on the floor by me and Kate, screaming as I screamed back and Kate took 315 photos.
Show over. Or was it?
We stepped back and away, Kate got our stuff so we could verbally molest Mikey as everyone else was until he legged it before she came back and my heart sank. Was it true I would only speak to Ray again? Roleplaying blow jobs isn't enough people, I need hugs and speaking voices. Then out came Mikey (the Garage doesn't have a backstage god bless it) to go to the bar and he signed out tickets. Then we got hugs from Ray again and then... my medication kicked in. I'd been feeling sick since Sunday, and chances are someone at Saturday's gig gave it to me. I'd been ODing on Daynurse all day, and had taken Paracetomal incase I got a headache at the gig too, and what d'you know, it hit me, I could barely string a sentence together. We walked up to the bar and knowing we wouldn't get served chose to buy merch instead, so we did, and said hey to Mikey again and then noticed Gerard. As a bleach blonde, fake tanned slapped tripped past me in cheap heels with saggy skin, Gerard stood up and said in the cutest voice ever "I've missed yooooou" and hugged her. They envy at first took over my drug enduced state and I glared menacingly for a while, at which point Kate suggested we got the other side of our tickets signed, so we ran around the other side of the bar to get to the other side of Gerard and there we go, got my ticket signed by the Way brothers. I suddenly realised that Kate's dad wasn't coming back for us for another hour, so I stood and watched in my stalker like way until Kate randomly started talking to someone (okay then, cause that's normal).
Enter Diana, she's 21, from Chicago and she'd been in Rome, doing something, possibly studying and then decided to come and follow MCR around while they toured the UK, every single show she went to. No wonder the guys were so chummy with her, obviously she was the person to be friends with at this moment, so that's exactly what we did. And honest to god, she's a complete and utter sweetheart, I wanted to keep her forever. I was too scared to interrupt Gerard, so she did it for me and hence why I sit here typing with his signature across my chest. This isn't the best part though, Gerard then turned to Diana and said "we're going to a bar, you wanna come" and my heart sank. As I turned away thinking "off I got to sit on a box till midnight" Gerard looked over at me and Kate and said "you wanna come too? I don't know what the legal age is here though". Cue cardiac arrest.
After I came down from this high and blinked a few times thinking "is just him being polite or what?" I looked at Kate and then at Diana and then back at Gerard and told him it's 18. He nodded and as I expected him to say "Oh, so no then, sorry" he said "we could still try it". Jesus fucking christ, the man was being sincere here, he actually wanted us to go with him. He then got called away, so he turned around and Kate, Diana and I had a discussion about how old Kate and I look and then Diana pointed out that if we go in with the band that'd be fine, we asked Gerard and he said cool, and then the evil blonde hoe dragged him away. We followed him, and bumped into the lead singer from Hondo who stopped me and Kate like "woah, you're the two girls from the front, you were rocking out!" so we talked to him and got a photo which was cool. We turned around and Diana beckoned us over and crouched on the floor signing something was the one and only Frank. Frank's so cool I love him. Kate gave him a picture of himself which she was in but she cut herself out and he laughed, asking who else had been there. When she said it was her and him on Saturday he smiled and drew her back in and wrote underneath it "Kate : Believe in yourself! Love Frank" which is so sickeningly cute! He then got us into the bar which is the VIP bar in the Garage which basically is a lot smaller and has dimmer lighting and band members. In we went, and suddenly this ugly teenage boy was with us (he snuck in with us and Frank) and there we were, hanging out with The Bled, Hondo Maclean and My Chemical Romance.
The room was seriously divided into groups, and the ugly kid (James) decided to talk to me, Kate and Diana. I called Jenn then to apologise, but Gerard couldn't speak to her because he was busy right now, and then I called Shibby, just to boast about where I was. I love how she said "How much have you had?". Diana was then kind enough to buy us some drinks, but for me that can't have been a good idea. After a vodka shot mixed with my medication and started to lose it. We chatted to Diana and this Japanese girl who couldn't speak english too well, but she was sweet. She went over to Gerard and started talking to him while Kate got dragged in a corner by creepy James. In short I was left standing on my own. From what I saw, Gerard couldn't understand what the Japanese girl was saying so kept looking at me and smiling but he got all frowny when James took Kate into a corner. Diana started talking to Ray and then James and Kate emerged, having swapped numbers and Kate refused to kiss him. Jesus Kate, you and creepy guys. James and Gerard got a photo together at some point, and Kate spoke to Mikey, who we can now confirm is 23. Mikey's cute and nice to talk to as well. Then it was about time for us to go because Kate's dad doesn't trust her around me at all, rightfully so, seeing as I just got us into a VIP bar with MCR.
We then said our good byes to the remaining band members in the room. Ray was lovely, but sweaty to hug, and said they'd probably be playing Reading and come back soon to see us (I pouted alot over leaving, sorry, I was drunk) and then we said bye to Mikey, who is adorable to hug because he's tiny and still sounds Dutch to me. Then Gerard, Kate told him we had to go because she figured the power of speech was beyond me at this point, which it wasn't. Then I hugged him and seriously, I didn't want to let go. I thought I was going to cry but I didn't and we just smiled a lot at each other and Gerard said "thanks so much for coming and hanging out" as if he's forced us into it or something. I at this pointed smiled and waved at him and promised to go see him next time he comes back.
We got in the car and I texted everyone I know. I was so happy I wanted to die right then and there, but I fucking adored Gerard so much I wanted to stay there in that bar with him forever. There are so many little things I remember and I don't want to put them all in this post because I can only express them with hand gestures and my face, but yeah, it's all amazing. It was the single greatest night of my life and I learnt that the entire band are seriously nice guys and I love them all. We got 315 photos of the night and I'd happily relive it over and over again, but I'm going to save it till next time, make me mark, be daring and ask for a kiss on the cheek.
This is what going to an all girls school does to you.
I got to Kate's house at 3pm after spending the majority of Monday trying to fix up my swollen eye (don't ask) and make it look unnoticable, which apparently worked. We headed off at 3:27 to go up to the London Garage and got there at about 5:30. I had spent the entire journey convinced her father didn't know where he was going, but we got there which was good. During the 2 hour wait I spent about an hour and a half of it praying to sweet god above that the creeps standing next to us would stop talking about me so loudly. I don't usually mind the odd bit of flirting and everything, but this was tack and made me want to vomit. What was cool though was we caught sight of Ray walking down the street and stopped him to get the pictures of us from last time signed, which we did and I shall post later, or edit into this post.
When we got into the Garage Kate gave in my coat etc while I ran to the loo (2 hour cue did bad things to my bladder) and then we walked into the main part of the building. To the people familiar with the Concorde 2 in Brighton, it's smaller than that. To my right was a slightly raised bar area and to my left was a tiny weeny stage which was about... 3 metres square. The thought that this incredible band would be so squashed together was excitement enough for me, but then, as I approached the spread out line of overweight 13 year olds that had snuck in I notice they were actually pressed up against the stage, there was no space, at all between them and this 3 foot high stage (call that less than a metre high for people that don't know feet). At noticing this and the two complete push overs standing between me and this holy grail of a stage I realised that this was it, if there was a gig that was going to rock my socks clean off my feet it'd be this one.
The Bled came on at 8pm, and I remembered enjoying what I heard from them on Saturday, however they rocked out at this gig. Seriously, you couldn't ask for a better opening band at a show. I got my first experience of having a show done above me and being able to get touchy feely with band members of my choice, however I spare the girl infront of me at this point and chose to bounce away with the guy called Paddy behind me. He was with two friends, but they had to be the three biggest Bled fans in the room which was awesome because the singer paid special attention to them and drenched Kate (in her corset) and then stood on her, good for you babe. All in all they rocked and I'll be buying their album next month.
Hondo Maclean came next. At first when the boy that looked 17 walked on stage I though "no, it must be a roadie" but the the girl behind me informed me he's the drummer and his name is Ron. Well Ron was mighty fine and was the sort of guy you'd see walking down the street and then take a double take just because you're not sure if he's real or you dreamed him up. Hondo played at 8:45 and this was the time where I seriously got into it. I hadn't ever heard any of Hondo's stuff ever, but I liked it and I pulled the teenie at the stage away and there I stood, holding this random lead singers thighs and occasionally holding myself up on the front of the stage and praying my fingers were safe. Hondo put on a fucknig great show as well and have some rather classy guitar riffs in a lot of their songs as well. The lead singer took a few stage dives and hit me in my good eye by accident, but it's cool, as you will soon find out.
MCR came out at 9:30 to huge, and I mean dust coming from the rafters above the tiny stage huge, applause with me and Kate right there, front row infront of the mic stand screaming our lungs out. Kate has photographic evidence of how close we were by the way. And so the gig began, and oh lord holy crap and son of bitch it was fucking incredible. The set its self was marvellous, but the fact that I had Gerard Way within touching distance for over and hour was positively thigh shaking worth. Kate called up at Mikey too, and he noticed her and grinned and said hey, and Ray, got all starey and apologetic with me when he almost took me out with his guitar neck (what a Matt Bellamy moment that would've been); but honestly, it's not the same as having Gerard holding your head in his hand and grinning down at you insanely before stepping over the bar and holding your head to his croth. And not only did this happen once my friends, oh no, this happened 4 times through out the evening. Orignial reaction from me was "fucking hell, where do I put my hands? Holy crap his pants are undone... if I just slipped on finger in there... maybe a hand, could I get away with it? Oh wait what's this, his pulling my hair *looks up and grins as Gerard sings down to her* aaah, I know, I'll put my hands on his hips, there we go" and then, as I stood there, singing along at the top of my lungs up to the man with his crotch in my face, the pelvic thrusting began. Best mimick of a blow job EVER and my hands accidentally found his arse too. He hugged my head, he shoved his head down Kate's corset, he got poked in the eye by a girl named Alley a few people away and she cried and he felt bad for making her cry and mentioning it to everyone. And they ended with Vampires after they played Demolition Lovers (brings a tear to my eye now) and he ended up on the floor by me and Kate, screaming as I screamed back and Kate took 315 photos.
Show over. Or was it?
We stepped back and away, Kate got our stuff so we could verbally molest Mikey as everyone else was until he legged it before she came back and my heart sank. Was it true I would only speak to Ray again? Roleplaying blow jobs isn't enough people, I need hugs and speaking voices. Then out came Mikey (the Garage doesn't have a backstage god bless it) to go to the bar and he signed out tickets. Then we got hugs from Ray again and then... my medication kicked in. I'd been feeling sick since Sunday, and chances are someone at Saturday's gig gave it to me. I'd been ODing on Daynurse all day, and had taken Paracetomal incase I got a headache at the gig too, and what d'you know, it hit me, I could barely string a sentence together. We walked up to the bar and knowing we wouldn't get served chose to buy merch instead, so we did, and said hey to Mikey again and then noticed Gerard. As a bleach blonde, fake tanned slapped tripped past me in cheap heels with saggy skin, Gerard stood up and said in the cutest voice ever "I've missed yooooou" and hugged her. They envy at first took over my drug enduced state and I glared menacingly for a while, at which point Kate suggested we got the other side of our tickets signed, so we ran around the other side of the bar to get to the other side of Gerard and there we go, got my ticket signed by the Way brothers. I suddenly realised that Kate's dad wasn't coming back for us for another hour, so I stood and watched in my stalker like way until Kate randomly started talking to someone (okay then, cause that's normal).
Enter Diana, she's 21, from Chicago and she'd been in Rome, doing something, possibly studying and then decided to come and follow MCR around while they toured the UK, every single show she went to. No wonder the guys were so chummy with her, obviously she was the person to be friends with at this moment, so that's exactly what we did. And honest to god, she's a complete and utter sweetheart, I wanted to keep her forever. I was too scared to interrupt Gerard, so she did it for me and hence why I sit here typing with his signature across my chest. This isn't the best part though, Gerard then turned to Diana and said "we're going to a bar, you wanna come" and my heart sank. As I turned away thinking "off I got to sit on a box till midnight" Gerard looked over at me and Kate and said "you wanna come too? I don't know what the legal age is here though". Cue cardiac arrest.
After I came down from this high and blinked a few times thinking "is just him being polite or what?" I looked at Kate and then at Diana and then back at Gerard and told him it's 18. He nodded and as I expected him to say "Oh, so no then, sorry" he said "we could still try it". Jesus fucking christ, the man was being sincere here, he actually wanted us to go with him. He then got called away, so he turned around and Kate, Diana and I had a discussion about how old Kate and I look and then Diana pointed out that if we go in with the band that'd be fine, we asked Gerard and he said cool, and then the evil blonde hoe dragged him away. We followed him, and bumped into the lead singer from Hondo who stopped me and Kate like "woah, you're the two girls from the front, you were rocking out!" so we talked to him and got a photo which was cool. We turned around and Diana beckoned us over and crouched on the floor signing something was the one and only Frank. Frank's so cool I love him. Kate gave him a picture of himself which she was in but she cut herself out and he laughed, asking who else had been there. When she said it was her and him on Saturday he smiled and drew her back in and wrote underneath it "Kate : Believe in yourself! Love Frank" which is so sickeningly cute! He then got us into the bar which is the VIP bar in the Garage which basically is a lot smaller and has dimmer lighting and band members. In we went, and suddenly this ugly teenage boy was with us (he snuck in with us and Frank) and there we were, hanging out with The Bled, Hondo Maclean and My Chemical Romance.
The room was seriously divided into groups, and the ugly kid (James) decided to talk to me, Kate and Diana. I called Jenn then to apologise, but Gerard couldn't speak to her because he was busy right now, and then I called Shibby, just to boast about where I was. I love how she said "How much have you had?". Diana was then kind enough to buy us some drinks, but for me that can't have been a good idea. After a vodka shot mixed with my medication and started to lose it. We chatted to Diana and this Japanese girl who couldn't speak english too well, but she was sweet. She went over to Gerard and started talking to him while Kate got dragged in a corner by creepy James. In short I was left standing on my own. From what I saw, Gerard couldn't understand what the Japanese girl was saying so kept looking at me and smiling but he got all frowny when James took Kate into a corner. Diana started talking to Ray and then James and Kate emerged, having swapped numbers and Kate refused to kiss him. Jesus Kate, you and creepy guys. James and Gerard got a photo together at some point, and Kate spoke to Mikey, who we can now confirm is 23. Mikey's cute and nice to talk to as well. Then it was about time for us to go because Kate's dad doesn't trust her around me at all, rightfully so, seeing as I just got us into a VIP bar with MCR.
We then said our good byes to the remaining band members in the room. Ray was lovely, but sweaty to hug, and said they'd probably be playing Reading and come back soon to see us (I pouted alot over leaving, sorry, I was drunk) and then we said bye to Mikey, who is adorable to hug because he's tiny and still sounds Dutch to me. Then Gerard, Kate told him we had to go because she figured the power of speech was beyond me at this point, which it wasn't. Then I hugged him and seriously, I didn't want to let go. I thought I was going to cry but I didn't and we just smiled a lot at each other and Gerard said "thanks so much for coming and hanging out" as if he's forced us into it or something. I at this pointed smiled and waved at him and promised to go see him next time he comes back.
We got in the car and I texted everyone I know. I was so happy I wanted to die right then and there, but I fucking adored Gerard so much I wanted to stay there in that bar with him forever. There are so many little things I remember and I don't want to put them all in this post because I can only express them with hand gestures and my face, but yeah, it's all amazing. It was the single greatest night of my life and I learnt that the entire band are seriously nice guys and I love them all. We got 315 photos of the night and I'd happily relive it over and over again, but I'm going to save it till next time, make me mark, be daring and ask for a kiss on the cheek.
This is what going to an all girls school does to you.