We are. The Black Parade!
The concert was amazing. Plain and simple, it was the best thing I've done in a heckuva long time.
I'm going to write about the whole day because I don't want to forget any of it.
The group was Chris H, Kelly H, Justin S, Melanie Y, Aysha, Jenna and we met up with Tiffany B and her boyfriend David.
In the morning I packed a bunch of stuff for the concert. Money, an MCR shirt, tickets, money. I wore my Monty Python "It's just a flesh wound" shirt to school. I ended up never wearing that MCR shirt. When I was coordinating plans with Chris Haller we decided all of us should meet at the Lakeforest mall after school. That way we could all meet up and leave at the same time so we'd be in the same spot in line once we got there. School was normal except Melanie and I were too excited so we left early 7th period to head down to Lakeforest. We missed the Ride-On but she called her dad and we were still able to get there early. We met up with Justin in the food court and wandered the mall for a little bit. Chris had to run home to get his van before he came to the mall, and I didn't have Jenna's or Aysha's number. Justin had a free chicken sandwich coupon to Chick-Fila so he used it and we went looking for a hobo to give it to. Justin said he had seen homeless people around there before and he thought he'd do something nice and give one. As we were walking around outside, we heard jingles. It was the ice-cream truck! So we made mad dash all the way across the parking lot to the shopping center with Funcoland and Wendy's. There's some learning center right there and as we got in line for the ice-cream a woman who I think worked for the center came out and said to the Ice-cream vendor "I'm buying one ice-cream of their choice for all these kids." So we profusely thanked her several times. It's been years since I have had ice-cream truck ice-cream/ I got Spiderman with the gumball eyes. Justin got Spongebob, which tasted tried to taste like banana. Melanie got Snoopy which promptly melted off the popsicle stick. We traded funny stories and headed up towards Borders Books side and went to CVS to pick up a disposable camera. By the time we got back to the mall it was 3:30 and we finally met up with Chris, Aysha and Jenna. Kelly came from home just in time. We all got out of there by 4:00.
On the car ride up we listened to Melanie's mix CD. It had MCR, AFI and Muse. We had a iPod>cassette converter but it was making a loud buzzing sound so we didn't use that. Talking, laughing and good times. We made it to Merriweather by 5:00. "Follow the guys wearing black! They know where they're going at concerts!" haha. So I called Tiffany who was there with her boyfriend David since 3:00. They line was ridiculously long and we wouldn't have been able to get so close as we did without them. We waited in line for 90 minutes. Melanie saw her friend Irene. Chris ran our cameras to the car because they were taking them away if you tried to bring them in. Some kid was poking at a venomous water snake. Not a smart idea. And Justin and I played rock paper scissors slap. Which was fun. He flicked me in the head, haha. As they began to open up the gates Kelly flew through and between people, and I was just holding on for dear life to keep up with her. No one was keeping her from Gerard Way, =P. Soon as they tore our ticket stubs we made a mad dash for the amphitheater. The pit wasn't open which was really disappointing so we were diving over seats to get as close as we could. We had sat down for about a minute and then they finally did open the pit. It was another mad dash to get pit armbands so we could get in. Kelly and Melanie ended up right in front of me and everyone else was right behind me. We were practically front stage. So began the hour long wait until the show started.
Muse was freaking amazing! They opened with Knights of Cydonia. The set list was New Born, Knights of Cydonia, Starlight, Map of the Problamatique, Invincible, Stockholm Syndrome and BUTTERFLIES AND HURRICANES!! They actually played it! It made me so happy. It's one of my favorite songs of all time. Matt Bellamy is an amazing musician. He plays the piano as well as guitar, and ridiculously well. Here is a video of his solo in Butterflies and Hurricanes. Knights of Cydonia was even more epic than the studio version. Matt played the Mirror Manson guitar and his crazy screen guitar which name I currently forget. The one that makes sound by waving his hand over it. Also the wind was blowing when he was doing knights. So when he did his epic screaming his hair was blowing in the wind. It was too perfect. O god it was amazing. However people are ass holes. There were a bunch of guys brawl dancing. Which is extreme moshing for those who don't know. The pit was so full there was no room to move at all. If you moved you rubbed up against three people in front or behind you at least. People were moving like waves. When someone moved ten people got pushed and knocked over. It was making me really angry. My friends were being pushed all over the place. This one fat kid thought it was funny to throw himself at everyone and push forward. So while he was swinging his arms to get in front he got to me, Kelly and Melanie. He wouldn't stop after I had pushed him off about 30 times so I backhanded him in the ear. His friend yelled something at me and made a fist, and I just glared at her and said that's good for you. They actually backed off and started bothering people further down (phew). Muse was a constant battle with the moshers. I was being pushed back so finally I dropped back a little to help David defend tiffany and all the other people behind us. We became the barrier between the moshers. I was getting pretty pissed. I knocked some guy in the back of the head to keep him from barreling through me into tiffany and whoever else was still behind me.
"Come one come all to this tragic affair!" Once MCR came on the pit settled. They were freaking AMAZING! They played straight through the Black Parade CD and never broke character. They had incredible stage presence and switched up the lyrics and always had the crowd join in on things. Pointing the mic, asking us to do things. He sung with us, not at us. Throughout the concert I was gradually making my way back up to the front with Kelly and Melanie. As people were crowd surfed off, I took the extra when the crowd shifted. Eventually I had made my way back up there but Melanie was was gradually shifted off in another direction. She was within arm-stretched high-five distance though. As the concert went on the pit became more active again. some guy my height and his smaller gothy girlfriend were ramming there way to the front. I pushed him off a couple time and then I yelled at him and he was sorta pissed. I told him I was trying to look out for my friends and then he seemed to settle. We became friends after that, his name was Colin, he was pretty cool. He was looking out for his girl too, and so he eventually backed out from the front. I'm not sure when, may have even been during Muse, but there was this one angry blonde with too much eye shadow and her ugly friend with a preteen mustache look. (must have been 17 though) and they were laughing their asses off punching their way to the front. I pushed and elbowed and shoved this guy off so many times and he was punching my side the whole time. He took a swing at the people in front of me and almost hit Kelly and Melanie so I punched him in the mouth. My hand was pretty bloody by now X_X. I had to shove some other girl who was backing into me for about 15 minutes. Oh and next to me was this one girls raging double-d's of doom. She didn't mean it but she was so crazy it was beating the crap out of me. The crowd surfers came in droves and I blocked a couple feet from colliding with me or the people around me. That's about the worst of it though. I felt chivalress. I made some more friends by sharing soda and ice with people. Justin said I got second looks. Woo! haha. "The Black Parade only has ...twooo songs left. (everyone: awww noo)...then you'll have to deal with the likes of My Chemical Romance! Now if you ask me, which I know you're not, I think their language is atrocious, and they happen to be terrible dressers." hahaha Gerard is funny. Like I said, he never broke character. We got to hear stuff from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. On stage they celebrated some of their crews birthdays. Some kid said it was her birthday too. "It's your birthday too?! Then get on the fucking stage!!!" oh my god we flipped, some other girl got on stage too. I was trying to flag him down to at least say Hi, but oh well. It was a-freaking-mazing. I love their concerts.
After the last song they bolted out of there, so no encore. We stuck around the barricade and Melanie got the Muse set list. (that's how I listed it above.) They threw a pick and I dropped looking for it. Kelly took about 2 seconds and found it. They threw someones shoe, and I got that. I thought it was Chris' shoe. I think it's a band members? I don't know how I'd find out, nor care. It's in the trunk. Maybe eBay it off or something. I'll figure it out. At this point Chris had to leave and Aysha and Jenna were already gone as well. Tiffany and David stuck around for a little but they needed to leave pretty quick. My ears made everything sound several pitches higher and my voice was scratchy as all hell. I was so beaten up and tired at this point my effort had completely gone. "Come on Kelly were getting you a fucking t-shirt. Pick one, Im going to go stand in line." it was funny though. Got her one and I got me one as well. They had some necklace or pendant but it was sold out. So I got some stickers/buttons instead. Gave her the shirt and found Melanie, who had also just got the same shirt Kelly did. I need to start wearing smaller shirts than I own. I own Large and Extra large because I like baggy, but I'm wearing Medium and it still feels sorta baggy. I'm gonna work out more too. Cuz I'm too skinny I think? I dunno. Anyway my mom was like half an hour away so we went to this field where the drop off zone was and chilled. Everyone else laid down on the grass but I only sat for a little. I had too much energy. Some guys in a golf cart said that if we weren't out of there in 5 minutes they'd have to arrest us. I guess they thought we were smoking or something? Who knows. So my mom shows up in 10 minutes and the security hadn't returned so whatever. We hit a major traffic jam. The left lane was being worked on and someone had broken down in the right lane. They were funneling us through bumper to bumper. My bladder decided it didn't want to wait till we got home so we had to pull over and went to a McDonalds. I scampered around but they refused to let me in and use the bathroom. Ugh, so we went behind a Safeway and there was a path that led into some trees. Turns out it was a neighborhood. Uuuugh. So embarrassing. We tried different jokes and stories on the way home. Kelly and Melanie drifted in and out of sleep. I tried to but the middle seat isn't exactly the most comfortable. Dropped Kelly off first. Stumbled up and walked her to her door, cuz that's what I do. Gave her the buttons and stickers, cuz thats what I do. Returned to the car and tried to sleep. At this point I don't even remember what was said. I remember dropping Melanie off, and then I remember being in our driveway. Just crashed at my house. We talked for awhile. Justin's a really cool person. And then it was off to sleep. Sweet dreams. EDIT: forgot to mention that when I got home I found out my shins were bloody. I kept using my feet to barricade people back and they kicked and stepping all over my legs. It's cool though. It just makes the concert more epic =P
So it was a great day. I doubt any of you even read half of that. But if you did, I'll give you candy. EDIT: (or cookies)
Oh and Abby! [Mission: Failure] but I'm not dead yet. Neeeed to talk to you though.
Peace
I'm going to write about the whole day because I don't want to forget any of it.
The group was Chris H, Kelly H, Justin S, Melanie Y, Aysha, Jenna and we met up with Tiffany B and her boyfriend David.
In the morning I packed a bunch of stuff for the concert. Money, an MCR shirt, tickets, money. I wore my Monty Python "It's just a flesh wound" shirt to school. I ended up never wearing that MCR shirt. When I was coordinating plans with Chris Haller we decided all of us should meet at the Lakeforest mall after school. That way we could all meet up and leave at the same time so we'd be in the same spot in line once we got there. School was normal except Melanie and I were too excited so we left early 7th period to head down to Lakeforest. We missed the Ride-On but she called her dad and we were still able to get there early. We met up with Justin in the food court and wandered the mall for a little bit. Chris had to run home to get his van before he came to the mall, and I didn't have Jenna's or Aysha's number. Justin had a free chicken sandwich coupon to Chick-Fila so he used it and we went looking for a hobo to give it to. Justin said he had seen homeless people around there before and he thought he'd do something nice and give one. As we were walking around outside, we heard jingles. It was the ice-cream truck! So we made mad dash all the way across the parking lot to the shopping center with Funcoland and Wendy's. There's some learning center right there and as we got in line for the ice-cream a woman who I think worked for the center came out and said to the Ice-cream vendor "I'm buying one ice-cream of their choice for all these kids." So we profusely thanked her several times. It's been years since I have had ice-cream truck ice-cream/ I got Spiderman with the gumball eyes. Justin got Spongebob, which tasted tried to taste like banana. Melanie got Snoopy which promptly melted off the popsicle stick. We traded funny stories and headed up towards Borders Books side and went to CVS to pick up a disposable camera. By the time we got back to the mall it was 3:30 and we finally met up with Chris, Aysha and Jenna. Kelly came from home just in time. We all got out of there by 4:00.
On the car ride up we listened to Melanie's mix CD. It had MCR, AFI and Muse. We had a iPod>cassette converter but it was making a loud buzzing sound so we didn't use that. Talking, laughing and good times. We made it to Merriweather by 5:00. "Follow the guys wearing black! They know where they're going at concerts!" haha. So I called Tiffany who was there with her boyfriend David since 3:00. They line was ridiculously long and we wouldn't have been able to get so close as we did without them. We waited in line for 90 minutes. Melanie saw her friend Irene. Chris ran our cameras to the car because they were taking them away if you tried to bring them in. Some kid was poking at a venomous water snake. Not a smart idea. And Justin and I played rock paper scissors slap. Which was fun. He flicked me in the head, haha. As they began to open up the gates Kelly flew through and between people, and I was just holding on for dear life to keep up with her. No one was keeping her from Gerard Way, =P. Soon as they tore our ticket stubs we made a mad dash for the amphitheater. The pit wasn't open which was really disappointing so we were diving over seats to get as close as we could. We had sat down for about a minute and then they finally did open the pit. It was another mad dash to get pit armbands so we could get in. Kelly and Melanie ended up right in front of me and everyone else was right behind me. We were practically front stage. So began the hour long wait until the show started.
Muse was freaking amazing! They opened with Knights of Cydonia. The set list was New Born, Knights of Cydonia, Starlight, Map of the Problamatique, Invincible, Stockholm Syndrome and BUTTERFLIES AND HURRICANES!! They actually played it! It made me so happy. It's one of my favorite songs of all time. Matt Bellamy is an amazing musician. He plays the piano as well as guitar, and ridiculously well. Here is a video of his solo in Butterflies and Hurricanes. Knights of Cydonia was even more epic than the studio version. Matt played the Mirror Manson guitar and his crazy screen guitar which name I currently forget. The one that makes sound by waving his hand over it. Also the wind was blowing when he was doing knights. So when he did his epic screaming his hair was blowing in the wind. It was too perfect. O god it was amazing. However people are ass holes. There were a bunch of guys brawl dancing. Which is extreme moshing for those who don't know. The pit was so full there was no room to move at all. If you moved you rubbed up against three people in front or behind you at least. People were moving like waves. When someone moved ten people got pushed and knocked over. It was making me really angry. My friends were being pushed all over the place. This one fat kid thought it was funny to throw himself at everyone and push forward. So while he was swinging his arms to get in front he got to me, Kelly and Melanie. He wouldn't stop after I had pushed him off about 30 times so I backhanded him in the ear. His friend yelled something at me and made a fist, and I just glared at her and said that's good for you. They actually backed off and started bothering people further down (phew). Muse was a constant battle with the moshers. I was being pushed back so finally I dropped back a little to help David defend tiffany and all the other people behind us. We became the barrier between the moshers. I was getting pretty pissed. I knocked some guy in the back of the head to keep him from barreling through me into tiffany and whoever else was still behind me.
"Come one come all to this tragic affair!" Once MCR came on the pit settled. They were freaking AMAZING! They played straight through the Black Parade CD and never broke character. They had incredible stage presence and switched up the lyrics and always had the crowd join in on things. Pointing the mic, asking us to do things. He sung with us, not at us. Throughout the concert I was gradually making my way back up to the front with Kelly and Melanie. As people were crowd surfed off, I took the extra when the crowd shifted. Eventually I had made my way back up there but Melanie was was gradually shifted off in another direction. She was within arm-stretched high-five distance though. As the concert went on the pit became more active again. some guy my height and his smaller gothy girlfriend were ramming there way to the front. I pushed him off a couple time and then I yelled at him and he was sorta pissed. I told him I was trying to look out for my friends and then he seemed to settle. We became friends after that, his name was Colin, he was pretty cool. He was looking out for his girl too, and so he eventually backed out from the front. I'm not sure when, may have even been during Muse, but there was this one angry blonde with too much eye shadow and her ugly friend with a preteen mustache look. (must have been 17 though) and they were laughing their asses off punching their way to the front. I pushed and elbowed and shoved this guy off so many times and he was punching my side the whole time. He took a swing at the people in front of me and almost hit Kelly and Melanie so I punched him in the mouth. My hand was pretty bloody by now X_X. I had to shove some other girl who was backing into me for about 15 minutes. Oh and next to me was this one girls raging double-d's of doom. She didn't mean it but she was so crazy it was beating the crap out of me. The crowd surfers came in droves and I blocked a couple feet from colliding with me or the people around me. That's about the worst of it though. I felt chivalress. I made some more friends by sharing soda and ice with people. Justin said I got second looks. Woo! haha. "The Black Parade only has ...twooo songs left. (everyone: awww noo)...then you'll have to deal with the likes of My Chemical Romance! Now if you ask me, which I know you're not, I think their language is atrocious, and they happen to be terrible dressers." hahaha Gerard is funny. Like I said, he never broke character. We got to hear stuff from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. On stage they celebrated some of their crews birthdays. Some kid said it was her birthday too. "It's your birthday too?! Then get on the fucking stage!!!" oh my god we flipped, some other girl got on stage too. I was trying to flag him down to at least say Hi, but oh well. It was a-freaking-mazing. I love their concerts.
After the last song they bolted out of there, so no encore. We stuck around the barricade and Melanie got the Muse set list. (that's how I listed it above.) They threw a pick and I dropped looking for it. Kelly took about 2 seconds and found it. They threw someones shoe, and I got that. I thought it was Chris' shoe. I think it's a band members? I don't know how I'd find out, nor care. It's in the trunk. Maybe eBay it off or something. I'll figure it out. At this point Chris had to leave and Aysha and Jenna were already gone as well. Tiffany and David stuck around for a little but they needed to leave pretty quick. My ears made everything sound several pitches higher and my voice was scratchy as all hell. I was so beaten up and tired at this point my effort had completely gone. "Come on Kelly were getting you a fucking t-shirt. Pick one, Im going to go stand in line." it was funny though. Got her one and I got me one as well. They had some necklace or pendant but it was sold out. So I got some stickers/buttons instead. Gave her the shirt and found Melanie, who had also just got the same shirt Kelly did. I need to start wearing smaller shirts than I own. I own Large and Extra large because I like baggy, but I'm wearing Medium and it still feels sorta baggy. I'm gonna work out more too. Cuz I'm too skinny I think? I dunno. Anyway my mom was like half an hour away so we went to this field where the drop off zone was and chilled. Everyone else laid down on the grass but I only sat for a little. I had too much energy. Some guys in a golf cart said that if we weren't out of there in 5 minutes they'd have to arrest us. I guess they thought we were smoking or something? Who knows. So my mom shows up in 10 minutes and the security hadn't returned so whatever. We hit a major traffic jam. The left lane was being worked on and someone had broken down in the right lane. They were funneling us through bumper to bumper. My bladder decided it didn't want to wait till we got home so we had to pull over and went to a McDonalds. I scampered around but they refused to let me in and use the bathroom. Ugh, so we went behind a Safeway and there was a path that led into some trees. Turns out it was a neighborhood. Uuuugh. So embarrassing. We tried different jokes and stories on the way home. Kelly and Melanie drifted in and out of sleep. I tried to but the middle seat isn't exactly the most comfortable. Dropped Kelly off first. Stumbled up and walked her to her door, cuz that's what I do. Gave her the buttons and stickers, cuz thats what I do. Returned to the car and tried to sleep. At this point I don't even remember what was said. I remember dropping Melanie off, and then I remember being in our driveway. Just crashed at my house. We talked for awhile. Justin's a really cool person. And then it was off to sleep. Sweet dreams. EDIT: forgot to mention that when I got home I found out my shins were bloody. I kept using my feet to barricade people back and they kicked and stepping all over my legs. It's cool though. It just makes the concert more epic =P
So it was a great day. I doubt any of you even read half of that. But if you did, I'll give you candy. EDIT: (or cookies)
Oh and Abby! [Mission: Failure] but I'm not dead yet. Neeeed to talk to you though.
Peace