HammerFall in concert and THE BEST FLIGHT EVAH
Yesterday I flew to Seattle. When we took off we flew right over Fairbanks and I was like "YAY!" cause I've been wanting to do that for awhile haha. It got cloudy near the Alaska Range with some little holes I could see mountains in. Eventually the clouds got thin enough I could see the ground and I was like "EEEE" cause I saw a bunch of glaciers! :D Yay haha
We landed in Seattle and I walked to where Heather said she'd meet me..I was SO nervous and scared haha. I'm always like that when meeting Internet friends. :P She found me and we took the light rail to the bus stop. Luckily my anxiety wore off rather quickly..she's nice, easygoing and pretty comfortable to be around hehe. She's been on my friends list since 2004 so it's about time we met haha. The weather in Seattle was SO nice..sunny and warm! Heather said it had been raining the past two days and days like that were rare. Wowww haha..I must be good luck. ;) We got to her apartment to drop my stuff off and took the bus to the Space Needle. We got lunch and then went to the top of it. There was good views of Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains, the Cascade Range and the city
Then we walked to the venue (and got lost on the way :P). We were reaaaally early (like 2 1/2 hours early) and just sat on the ground and waited. Anders Johansson (their drummer) was out talking to someone in Swedish! I smiled at him but he was just like "whatever." He didn't seem very friendly. Then later Joacim Cans walked by and smiled and said hi to me! *dies* Haha. Oscar also walked by and said hi..he gave us guitar picks too! Sweeeet haha. Eventually we lined up for the meet and greet and got to go inside and talk to them and get a show poster signed. :D I loved Joacim's accent haha. All of them signed the poster and I got pics with Joacim, Oscar and then the whole band. Yeah I finally have pics with metal musicians! :D Then they left and we took a spot at the front and waited for the show to start
HammerFall had FOUR opening bands (WAY TOO MANY). The first was Sword of Judgment from Tacoma, WA. I didn't care for the vocals but their guitar playing was REALLY good. People were moshing and crashing into me..so annoyinggg. Moshing so doesn't look fun to me. Next band was Helles, also from Tacoma. They were like..EXTREME death metal. The "singer" was this big guy that was SCREAMING and growling and like beating his chest. Ughh..I was standing there just like "ugh..do not want." I looked at the people near me and they weren't impressed either. Bleh. After them was Screams of Angels, also from Washington. They were alright. The singer was outgoing and fun at least. :P And last of the opening bands was Powerglove from Massachusetts. They do metal versions of Nintendo songs. Everyone REALLY got into them. The moshing was really bad with them and everyone was like pressed up against me and squishing me. I could hardly move my feet at all. I kept getting smashed against the stage wall and my knee kept getting banged against it too (once REALLY hard..oww). I have a lovely big bruise there now and it's very sore. And the guy behind me was like kinda resting his arms on me and headbanging and his hair was slapping the back of my head. Seriously? GET YOUR OWN SPACE. Jeez. And there was another guy absolutely pressed up against me and it felt like he was humping me. EW. Ugh. I was REALLY getting PO'ed. And there were these kids next to me (Heather had gone to another place cause she was feeling nauseous) like..12 and 7 or 8 or something..and the band wanted us to chant "f**k that bird" (wth??) and they were chanting it too. I was like..your parents let you go to this?? I was just like "whatever" with the music and just stood there looking mad haha
Finally it was HammerFall's turn. I actually took a pic of the setlist so I won't list all the songs. They put on a pretty good show. Joacim kept looking at me haha. Like during Blood Bound he sang "look into my eyes!" and he bent over and looked straight into my eyes. I just had to smile stupidly whenever he did that. :P He also fist bumped me too hehe. I was definitely getting squished but tried to enjoy the music too. They played my fave from the new album, Any Means Necessary and Last Man Standing..I was glad when I saw those on the setlist. At one point this big, tall strong guy comes and just pushes in between Heather and I and he was waaay too big and strong to shove away. So if that's possible I was even more squished. Thanks. HammerFall's songs are very concert friendly and great to sing along to (when you can understand Joacim at least heh..maybe I was too close to hear properly though) and I enjoy it most when I can sing along and stuff at concerts so yay. Oscar jumping made me want to also but I was way too squished. At the end of the show Oscar gave me another guitar pick! I think I may have lost it when I was getting my stuff though..aw. I have two others though (the other Pontus gave me at the meet and greet). I felt soooo gross and sweaty after the show..especially since everyone was pressed against me. Eww. I definitely took a shower after we got back to the apartment. We talked some and went to bed (she has a kitty too but it just stayed under the bed..aw)
Today we got up, went online a little and then went to breakfast. The weather was definitely different..it was raining (though not that heavily) and cooler. So crazy the day I get there just happens to clear up randomly. :P Then we went to the airport..I invited her to come to Alaska. Hopefully she can! When I went to the gate number on the ticket it said San Diego instead of Fairbanks! (Uh Dana? Trying to tell me something? Haha) I was like "oh crap!" since it was close to boarding time. I found a flight info board and it said N4 and I had to ride a train to get there. The train was just leaving when I got there..aaah. Luckily another came soon and I got to the gate just as they were boarding my section. *phew* It was cloudy leaving Seattle and for awhile (though with more little gaps I could see mountains through) which was annoying me. Then eventually it actually cleared up a lot and I about DIED. THERE WERE SO MANY GLACIERS OMG. I was FREAKING OUT hahaha. It was amazing it had cleared up just right where we were..further inland it was cloudy again. Wowww. There were ones going into water, ones with medial moraines, sweet crevasses..omgggg. And not just small ones, these were HUGE. I was making squealing, OMG GLACIERS noises and shaking haha. So great. :D There were glaciers on the other side too (I guess Fairbanks directly to Seattle has glaciers on both sides. I think if you go to Anchorage first you have to sit on a certain side). I went over once just in time to get a pic of a SWEET glacier..I guess next time I should sit on both sides and get both views (no guarantee it'll be clear enough though). I was so happy. :D I wanted to know which glaciers they were though. I may have seen Columbia Glacier..there were these two glaciers merging together and I thought it could either be Hubbard or Columbia..the map showed Malaspina Glacier near Hubbard and I don't think I saw Malaspina so I assumed it was Columbia. I could even tell there was a lot of ice in the bay..which Columbia has cause it's retreating so fast. Hm. We got to Fairbanks early..maybe there was a good wind helping us go faster. I shall post pics soon!
We landed in Seattle and I walked to where Heather said she'd meet me..I was SO nervous and scared haha. I'm always like that when meeting Internet friends. :P She found me and we took the light rail to the bus stop. Luckily my anxiety wore off rather quickly..she's nice, easygoing and pretty comfortable to be around hehe. She's been on my friends list since 2004 so it's about time we met haha. The weather in Seattle was SO nice..sunny and warm! Heather said it had been raining the past two days and days like that were rare. Wowww haha..I must be good luck. ;) We got to her apartment to drop my stuff off and took the bus to the Space Needle. We got lunch and then went to the top of it. There was good views of Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains, the Cascade Range and the city
Then we walked to the venue (and got lost on the way :P). We were reaaaally early (like 2 1/2 hours early) and just sat on the ground and waited. Anders Johansson (their drummer) was out talking to someone in Swedish! I smiled at him but he was just like "whatever." He didn't seem very friendly. Then later Joacim Cans walked by and smiled and said hi to me! *dies* Haha. Oscar also walked by and said hi..he gave us guitar picks too! Sweeeet haha. Eventually we lined up for the meet and greet and got to go inside and talk to them and get a show poster signed. :D I loved Joacim's accent haha. All of them signed the poster and I got pics with Joacim, Oscar and then the whole band. Yeah I finally have pics with metal musicians! :D Then they left and we took a spot at the front and waited for the show to start
HammerFall had FOUR opening bands (WAY TOO MANY). The first was Sword of Judgment from Tacoma, WA. I didn't care for the vocals but their guitar playing was REALLY good. People were moshing and crashing into me..so annoyinggg. Moshing so doesn't look fun to me. Next band was Helles, also from Tacoma. They were like..EXTREME death metal. The "singer" was this big guy that was SCREAMING and growling and like beating his chest. Ughh..I was standing there just like "ugh..do not want." I looked at the people near me and they weren't impressed either. Bleh. After them was Screams of Angels, also from Washington. They were alright. The singer was outgoing and fun at least. :P And last of the opening bands was Powerglove from Massachusetts. They do metal versions of Nintendo songs. Everyone REALLY got into them. The moshing was really bad with them and everyone was like pressed up against me and squishing me. I could hardly move my feet at all. I kept getting smashed against the stage wall and my knee kept getting banged against it too (once REALLY hard..oww). I have a lovely big bruise there now and it's very sore. And the guy behind me was like kinda resting his arms on me and headbanging and his hair was slapping the back of my head. Seriously? GET YOUR OWN SPACE. Jeez. And there was another guy absolutely pressed up against me and it felt like he was humping me. EW. Ugh. I was REALLY getting PO'ed. And there were these kids next to me (Heather had gone to another place cause she was feeling nauseous) like..12 and 7 or 8 or something..and the band wanted us to chant "f**k that bird" (wth??) and they were chanting it too. I was like..your parents let you go to this?? I was just like "whatever" with the music and just stood there looking mad haha
Finally it was HammerFall's turn. I actually took a pic of the setlist so I won't list all the songs. They put on a pretty good show. Joacim kept looking at me haha. Like during Blood Bound he sang "look into my eyes!" and he bent over and looked straight into my eyes. I just had to smile stupidly whenever he did that. :P He also fist bumped me too hehe. I was definitely getting squished but tried to enjoy the music too. They played my fave from the new album, Any Means Necessary and Last Man Standing..I was glad when I saw those on the setlist. At one point this big, tall strong guy comes and just pushes in between Heather and I and he was waaay too big and strong to shove away. So if that's possible I was even more squished. Thanks. HammerFall's songs are very concert friendly and great to sing along to (when you can understand Joacim at least heh..maybe I was too close to hear properly though) and I enjoy it most when I can sing along and stuff at concerts so yay. Oscar jumping made me want to also but I was way too squished. At the end of the show Oscar gave me another guitar pick! I think I may have lost it when I was getting my stuff though..aw. I have two others though (the other Pontus gave me at the meet and greet). I felt soooo gross and sweaty after the show..especially since everyone was pressed against me. Eww. I definitely took a shower after we got back to the apartment. We talked some and went to bed (she has a kitty too but it just stayed under the bed..aw)
Today we got up, went online a little and then went to breakfast. The weather was definitely different..it was raining (though not that heavily) and cooler. So crazy the day I get there just happens to clear up randomly. :P Then we went to the airport..I invited her to come to Alaska. Hopefully she can! When I went to the gate number on the ticket it said San Diego instead of Fairbanks! (Uh Dana? Trying to tell me something? Haha) I was like "oh crap!" since it was close to boarding time. I found a flight info board and it said N4 and I had to ride a train to get there. The train was just leaving when I got there..aaah. Luckily another came soon and I got to the gate just as they were boarding my section. *phew* It was cloudy leaving Seattle and for awhile (though with more little gaps I could see mountains through) which was annoying me. Then eventually it actually cleared up a lot and I about DIED. THERE WERE SO MANY GLACIERS OMG. I was FREAKING OUT hahaha. It was amazing it had cleared up just right where we were..further inland it was cloudy again. Wowww. There were ones going into water, ones with medial moraines, sweet crevasses..omgggg. And not just small ones, these were HUGE. I was making squealing, OMG GLACIERS noises and shaking haha. So great. :D There were glaciers on the other side too (I guess Fairbanks directly to Seattle has glaciers on both sides. I think if you go to Anchorage first you have to sit on a certain side). I went over once just in time to get a pic of a SWEET glacier..I guess next time I should sit on both sides and get both views (no guarantee it'll be clear enough though). I was so happy. :D I wanted to know which glaciers they were though. I may have seen Columbia Glacier..there were these two glaciers merging together and I thought it could either be Hubbard or Columbia..the map showed Malaspina Glacier near Hubbard and I don't think I saw Malaspina so I assumed it was Columbia. I could even tell there was a lot of ice in the bay..which Columbia has cause it's retreating so fast. Hm. We got to Fairbanks early..maybe there was a good wind helping us go faster. I shall post pics soon!