So This Is The New Year.
Hell.
Well, I went to the Franz Ferdinand/Death Cab For Cutie concert last night, cane and all. How was it? Bloody amazing. Was even better than the first one I went to (even if I was the only one to think so?) Apparently Montreal was better. Even the band agrees. How do I know?
1) Alex said he hated the Ricoh Coliseum while onstage (aaaamen, Alex)
2) They told me. In person. I.e. I met Franz Ferdinand. Eee? Yes.
Nought much interesting to say here, really. Subha and Sarah (furlong_furlong) and I had planned to get there at about 4, but due to my complete idiocy re: the subway system, we were running 1/2 hour late. No worries, right? After all, last time I got there at about 6:00, when the doors were due to be opened at 6:30, and I got to the front. So no worries. Right?
WRONG.
The line was RIDONKULOUS. Apparently there are a lot of emo Death Cab For Cutie fans that we weren't counting on. There were about 80-100 people in front of us, ugh. And then it was pandemonium when they opened the doors. Nearly got trampled. FUN.
I had to go to the washroom while my friends found a spot... so it was hard to find them in the crowd. But I commed the people for actually letting me pass them. Thank you.
Last time, we were to the right, where Bob (bass player) usually is, but this time, we were squished to the left/centre-ish, between where Nick and Laex (and Andy?!) are. Groovy. Not-so-groovy that we were about 5 rows back, but groovy all the same.
I quite liked The Cribs... they were very groovy. I rocked out a little despite not knowing their stuff, and they did a great job of warming up the crowd. I'd check out their album. That's how groovy I think they are. I can't quite tell if there's a lead singer though, as the bass player and guitar player seem to be twin brothers, and the both sing about the same amount of parts in songs, so...
Here is evidence that bass players are just generally AWESOME: the Cribs' bass player's bass was glow-in-the-dark orange. You heard me. Now if that's not awesome... (the pics are craptastic, but mreh)
Doan look at the blurriness. Look at the GLOWINESS.
Here are a couple more pics of The Cribs.
The, uh, lead singer? He started singing first, anyways.
This was taken without flash so that you could get an idea of how the lighting looked. It's blurry and such, but it captured the colours...
Ze drummer. Looks like a fun lad.
The (lead?) singer again...
AWESOME BASS. That is all.
But enough of that! ONWARDS TO...
BRILLIANT. It started out with this ominous-sounding European(?) music, the stage went dark (and the crowd went wild) and then they all came on at once and launched right into "This Boy." Whooo-eee, did I sing along. It was MURDER on my knee, but I pogo...ed... like mad, going "I wanna wanna wanna wanna..." at the required moments. YES.
I guess it's time for some pics. The ones of Bob are ARSE because I was so far from him, and Nick decided to have red-eye, which my camera refuses to acknowledge and remove... so sorry in advance for red eye!Nick. Sigh. Also, some of them may seem to be cropped oddly. That's just me removing the backs of heads of audience members who are much taller than I. Damn them.
The boys are so spectacula-ar. (Bob... not in frame.. *twitch*)
"All I want," he said sultrily, "is your SOULS." (Not really.)
And on the news: guitarist Nick McCarthy possessed by demons in mid-concert, as evidenced by this picture.
Blurry Bob(tm). Not to be taken while consuming alcohol.
As the demons inside Nick make him hiss, Paul plays the hell out of the drums in the background.
Just like heaven. [/bad Cure reference]
Alex explains to a dim Death Cab fan audience member exactly how babies are made. Paul is too ashamed to even look at Alex right now. I am making all of this up.
*HISS* (Apparently Nick's demons leapt into him for a second?)
"...can't nobody slow me do-own, oh no... I've got to keep on moooovin'..." (I'm still lying.)
Now Nick's playing the keyboard. *pause* THE DEMONIC KEYBOARD. Or ...y'know...not.
...on second thought, I'm pretty sure it's a demonic keyboard.
Blurry Bob(tm) and Paul doing something that looks laughably like *head/drum*
Paul on guitar for ... um... which song? Walk Away? I can't remember, for the life of me. PAUL, STOP HIDING BEHIND NICK.
Thank you, Paul.
The lovely Andy Knowles on drums! Look at that... concentration. Let's call it that. As opposed to "constipated face."
Blurry Bob(tm) and blurry Andy. Not sure why I like this picture, but I do.
This is Paul. See Paul rock. Rock, Paul, rock. NO PAUL, DON'T LOOK MCCARTHY IN THE EYES. HE'LL POSESS YOU. *ahem* Sorry.
Paul plays as Nick puts us all in a trance with his demon antics.
...Bob WOULD be just out of frame, wouldn't he. *fume.*
Yet another pic to show the lighting. It was awesome lighting.
NO, ALEX, DOAN PLAY THE DEMON KEYBOARD. It'll make you-- oh, cripes.
Don't be fooled by the charming smile. He's about to go for the jugular.
"Hello, I'm Bob, and I'll be out of focus today. Any questions? You in the back, with the cane? No. Thanks for coming out!"
"Ooooh baby I love your way..." (I think something in me just died.)
I'm pretty sure Andy needed a crowbar to get out into those jeans.
Damn skippy, there're two people on the drums. Sure, Death Cab did summat like that, but did they have...
THREE? NO. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT AWESOME ENOUGH. Plus Franz was doing that FIRST so there.
Heeyyy-yooo.
He's had his fill of soul-sucking for the night.
*belch* (...I'm a bad person.)
Best moments:
-- Bob was moving! *GASP*
-- Alex's cowboy boots. The hell?
-- Nick. Just Nick.
-- Andy was on stage for pretty much the whole thing! Is he an official Franz now?
-- Paul playing. He rocked out, man.
-- Alex's introductions. He was so dramatic, it was GREAT. Even the limp DCFC people were getting into it, fantastic. It was great fun to scream out "AN-DEEEEH" when he was introducing Andy. Best quotes: "And you're wondering... who's this man here? He wasn't here last time, was he?" (Re: Andy)
"I can feel the broken hearts in the room tonight... and they're all caused by this man." (Alex, about Nick)
"And the man who broke all these hearts in the FIRST place... the one with the voice that will take you somewhere else..." (Nick, about Alex)
"...." (Bob, about everything) <--- I'm a liar.
I'd heard from a girl (from slacken_ties -- we happened to meet while in the line-up outside) that a) she'd met Bob and b) they were in a hurry. So Suby, Surrah Surrah (Sarah) and another girl we'd arranged to meet up with were pretty much bolting 'round the back (well, I was limping, but stfu plz) to where the tour buses were, half-expecting them to be gone.
They weren't. Joy.
There was a small crowd there... just over a dozen people. And it was NOT warm, but we waited for about 20 minutes... and then I saw Bob inside the building briefly. (That sounds rather stalkerella, but I just happened to glance up and see, so...) Joy.
Waited a bit more, and then he came ambling out with a glass of wine (posh). The little crowd of freezing fans (ooh, alliteration) ran over and Bob resigned to his fate of fandemonium. Well, no, it was a small bunch and they were all pretty calm. Love Canadians for that. I had nought planned to say, and I'd left my CDs for them to sign (because I hadn't actually expected to meet them), so I just dumbly held out my brand-new Franz tote-bag and asked him to sign it. I must have sounded so terrified, because he said "Of course, no problem." Ahhhh bless you, Bob. More pathetic terror when I asked, "Ehm, would you mind... could you... would it be any trouble to just... can I have a picture with you, please?" More "Of course"-ness, and...
Please ignore my utter heinousness, and concentrate instead on Bob's wine. Cute, oui? And he's even better-looking in person than in photos. JOY.
After that, I took a picture of Irene and Bob with her camera, and she chatted to him for a bit. (She'd gone to the Montreal show, which apparently was better. Bob agreed. Strike one.)
After that I was pretty damn ready to die happy, but we decided to push our luck, because earlier we'd seen Paul-and-Esther go into the building...
More waiting. Not sure how long, but I do know that I was starting to lose the feeling in my fingers.
And then... Paul! Hoorah. He's really quite sweet, and I appreciate that he signed my bag too! And took a picture with me as well (I sounded ready to drop, I'm sure.) Irene and he were talking about Montreal as well, so I decided to jump in(ish.)
This is all from memory, so ...
Irene: Wasn't Montreal better?
Paul: Yeah, this one was shite.
Me: Ahhh, I liked this one! But the set up's such arse, we're so far from the stage...
Paul: Yeah, exactly-- we were going to play The Docks, but that was even more shite.
Hahahaha. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Ricoh.
I took a picture of Irene and Paul, and since I seem to be taking arse pictures that night, I said in advance, "I apologise if this comes out shite."
Irene: She said "shite"!
Paul: *laughs* She did say shite!
Me: *mental facepalm* Oh, ehm, I always say that... it's more fun to say than "shit."
Fun fun. Picture time!
Please try to ignore me. I'm not theeeeere. Ugh, I'm hideous.
Esther. Is. So. Lovely.
Onwards to my favourite bit.
Afte Paul-ness, one of the 4 tour buses left and we had a small fit because we thought it might've been Franz... but no, it was (half of?) Death Cab. That was really very uncool of them. There were quite a few Death Cab fans waiting out there in the cold along with us, and they didn't even have the decency to come out to see the people who are supporting their musical career? That's not on. I felt really badly for the DCFC people, especially since some of them were really young. They must have been so disappointed. Sigh.
By this time, it was hella late, and we were contemplating leaving, but again, we decided to stick it out. A woman passed us with a little model of a human skeleton, which amused us (or maybe just me) mightily... further down the sidewalk, she and a man were fooling around with it. Didn't pay much attention until one of the girls whispered, "Is that NICK?"
It was.
For the next 10 minutes, we had quite heart attacks as he kept going on and off the bus-- suppose they left? Argh. Security wouldnae let us pass either, so we had to wait by the far end. By this time it was literally only four of us there... surely they'd come out, right?
Damn right.
Nick, a woman, and a man I didn't know started coming our way.
Hang on...
ALEX.
Nick, a woman, and Alex came down our way and said hello and such... I decided to actually say something this time. And now that I think of it, I snarled at Nick McCarthy. Hee hee. He's SUCH a love.
Me: This one-- *jerks head towards Irene* has been saying all night that Montreal was better... d'you think so too?
Nick: Ehmmm... *small grimace* sorry...
Irene: It was, wasn't it?
Nick: Yeah, it really was...
Me: GAHHHH.
Nick: Sorry, sorry-- hang on, I saw you.
Me: Uhhh?
Nick: I saw you in the crowd-- *grabs my shoulder* you were great... *runs hand over my cheek*
Me: *momentarily speechless* Er. Well, *I* was enjoying it, it was great for me!
Nick: No no, yeah, I saw you, fantastic...
Thud. I nearly ran-- well, limped away. Strange man touching me! ALERT. ALERT. It may be Nick, but I still went "Ennnngh!" inwardly until my common sense went, "Hello. It's NICK."
Pictures were being taken left, right and centre. I was holding two cameras at one point! But I took my friend and Alex, my other friend and Alex, Irene and Alex, Irene and Nick, my friend and Nick-- and then no one took mine! I nearly pitched a fit because Nick was turning to leave. Noooo... so I gathered up what little wit I had left and called, "Nick, can I just get a picture please?" and he turned... Alex was nearby, so he said, "Let's just all take one then, you between us."
Thud.
Life? Made.
Nick is a COMPLETE spazz, though, as he spotted my cane (it's hella awesome-- patterns on it and such) declared with great enthusiasm that he liked it, and snatched it from me. Cue me nearly falling over. "I need that! Aiii!"
"OHHHH sorry sorry."
Spazz. Lovely, lovely.
Did I mention that Nick was PISSED? He was drunk byond all belief. Tres amusant and much too cute.
There it is. Franz is a LOVELY set of people, and I really appreciate them taking the time out to come say hi to us. I like when bands and celebs are nice to their fans. WE put them where they are, after all.
In all, I had a MARVELOUS time, and I actually enjoyed Death Cab's set a lot. Because I liked them before in any event, and they also played a lot of my favourite songs.
...even though the fire alarm kept going off for some reason.
Bless,
--Jo.
Well, I went to the Franz Ferdinand/Death Cab For Cutie concert last night, cane and all. How was it? Bloody amazing. Was even better than the first one I went to (even if I was the only one to think so?) Apparently Montreal was better. Even the band agrees. How do I know?
1) Alex said he hated the Ricoh Coliseum while onstage (aaaamen, Alex)
2) They told me. In person. I.e. I met Franz Ferdinand. Eee? Yes.
Nought much interesting to say here, really. Subha and Sarah (furlong_furlong) and I had planned to get there at about 4, but due to my complete idiocy re: the subway system, we were running 1/2 hour late. No worries, right? After all, last time I got there at about 6:00, when the doors were due to be opened at 6:30, and I got to the front. So no worries. Right?
WRONG.
The line was RIDONKULOUS. Apparently there are a lot of emo Death Cab For Cutie fans that we weren't counting on. There were about 80-100 people in front of us, ugh. And then it was pandemonium when they opened the doors. Nearly got trampled. FUN.
I had to go to the washroom while my friends found a spot... so it was hard to find them in the crowd. But I commed the people for actually letting me pass them. Thank you.
Last time, we were to the right, where Bob (bass player) usually is, but this time, we were squished to the left/centre-ish, between where Nick and Laex (and Andy?!) are. Groovy. Not-so-groovy that we were about 5 rows back, but groovy all the same.
I quite liked The Cribs... they were very groovy. I rocked out a little despite not knowing their stuff, and they did a great job of warming up the crowd. I'd check out their album. That's how groovy I think they are. I can't quite tell if there's a lead singer though, as the bass player and guitar player seem to be twin brothers, and the both sing about the same amount of parts in songs, so...
Here is evidence that bass players are just generally AWESOME: the Cribs' bass player's bass was glow-in-the-dark orange. You heard me. Now if that's not awesome... (the pics are craptastic, but mreh)
Doan look at the blurriness. Look at the GLOWINESS.
Here are a couple more pics of The Cribs.
The, uh, lead singer? He started singing first, anyways.
This was taken without flash so that you could get an idea of how the lighting looked. It's blurry and such, but it captured the colours...
Ze drummer. Looks like a fun lad.
The (lead?) singer again...
AWESOME BASS. That is all.
But enough of that! ONWARDS TO...
BRILLIANT. It started out with this ominous-sounding European(?) music, the stage went dark (and the crowd went wild) and then they all came on at once and launched right into "This Boy." Whooo-eee, did I sing along. It was MURDER on my knee, but I pogo...ed... like mad, going "I wanna wanna wanna wanna..." at the required moments. YES.
I guess it's time for some pics. The ones of Bob are ARSE because I was so far from him, and Nick decided to have red-eye, which my camera refuses to acknowledge and remove... so sorry in advance for red eye!Nick. Sigh. Also, some of them may seem to be cropped oddly. That's just me removing the backs of heads of audience members who are much taller than I. Damn them.
The boys are so spectacula-ar. (Bob... not in frame.. *twitch*)
"All I want," he said sultrily, "is your SOULS." (Not really.)
And on the news: guitarist Nick McCarthy possessed by demons in mid-concert, as evidenced by this picture.
Blurry Bob(tm). Not to be taken while consuming alcohol.
As the demons inside Nick make him hiss, Paul plays the hell out of the drums in the background.
Just like heaven. [/bad Cure reference]
Alex explains to a dim Death Cab fan audience member exactly how babies are made. Paul is too ashamed to even look at Alex right now. I am making all of this up.
*HISS* (Apparently Nick's demons leapt into him for a second?)
"...can't nobody slow me do-own, oh no... I've got to keep on moooovin'..." (I'm still lying.)
Now Nick's playing the keyboard. *pause* THE DEMONIC KEYBOARD. Or ...y'know...not.
...on second thought, I'm pretty sure it's a demonic keyboard.
Blurry Bob(tm) and Paul doing something that looks laughably like *head/drum*
Paul on guitar for ... um... which song? Walk Away? I can't remember, for the life of me. PAUL, STOP HIDING BEHIND NICK.
Thank you, Paul.
The lovely Andy Knowles on drums! Look at that... concentration. Let's call it that. As opposed to "constipated face."
Blurry Bob(tm) and blurry Andy. Not sure why I like this picture, but I do.
This is Paul. See Paul rock. Rock, Paul, rock. NO PAUL, DON'T LOOK MCCARTHY IN THE EYES. HE'LL POSESS YOU. *ahem* Sorry.
Paul plays as Nick puts us all in a trance with his demon antics.
...Bob WOULD be just out of frame, wouldn't he. *fume.*
Yet another pic to show the lighting. It was awesome lighting.
NO, ALEX, DOAN PLAY THE DEMON KEYBOARD. It'll make you-- oh, cripes.
Don't be fooled by the charming smile. He's about to go for the jugular.
"Hello, I'm Bob, and I'll be out of focus today. Any questions? You in the back, with the cane? No. Thanks for coming out!"
"Ooooh baby I love your way..." (I think something in me just died.)
I'm pretty sure Andy needed a crowbar to get out into those jeans.
Damn skippy, there're two people on the drums. Sure, Death Cab did summat like that, but did they have...
THREE? NO. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT AWESOME ENOUGH. Plus Franz was doing that FIRST so there.
Heeyyy-yooo.
He's had his fill of soul-sucking for the night.
*belch* (...I'm a bad person.)
Best moments:
-- Bob was moving! *GASP*
-- Alex's cowboy boots. The hell?
-- Nick. Just Nick.
-- Andy was on stage for pretty much the whole thing! Is he an official Franz now?
-- Paul playing. He rocked out, man.
-- Alex's introductions. He was so dramatic, it was GREAT. Even the limp DCFC people were getting into it, fantastic. It was great fun to scream out "AN-DEEEEH" when he was introducing Andy. Best quotes: "And you're wondering... who's this man here? He wasn't here last time, was he?" (Re: Andy)
"I can feel the broken hearts in the room tonight... and they're all caused by this man." (Alex, about Nick)
"And the man who broke all these hearts in the FIRST place... the one with the voice that will take you somewhere else..." (Nick, about Alex)
"...." (Bob, about everything) <--- I'm a liar.
I'd heard from a girl (from slacken_ties -- we happened to meet while in the line-up outside) that a) she'd met Bob and b) they were in a hurry. So Suby, Surrah Surrah (Sarah) and another girl we'd arranged to meet up with were pretty much bolting 'round the back (well, I was limping, but stfu plz) to where the tour buses were, half-expecting them to be gone.
They weren't. Joy.
There was a small crowd there... just over a dozen people. And it was NOT warm, but we waited for about 20 minutes... and then I saw Bob inside the building briefly. (That sounds rather stalkerella, but I just happened to glance up and see, so...) Joy.
Waited a bit more, and then he came ambling out with a glass of wine (posh). The little crowd of freezing fans (ooh, alliteration) ran over and Bob resigned to his fate of fandemonium. Well, no, it was a small bunch and they were all pretty calm. Love Canadians for that. I had nought planned to say, and I'd left my CDs for them to sign (because I hadn't actually expected to meet them), so I just dumbly held out my brand-new Franz tote-bag and asked him to sign it. I must have sounded so terrified, because he said "Of course, no problem." Ahhhh bless you, Bob. More pathetic terror when I asked, "Ehm, would you mind... could you... would it be any trouble to just... can I have a picture with you, please?" More "Of course"-ness, and...
Please ignore my utter heinousness, and concentrate instead on Bob's wine. Cute, oui? And he's even better-looking in person than in photos. JOY.
After that, I took a picture of Irene and Bob with her camera, and she chatted to him for a bit. (She'd gone to the Montreal show, which apparently was better. Bob agreed. Strike one.)
After that I was pretty damn ready to die happy, but we decided to push our luck, because earlier we'd seen Paul-and-Esther go into the building...
More waiting. Not sure how long, but I do know that I was starting to lose the feeling in my fingers.
And then... Paul! Hoorah. He's really quite sweet, and I appreciate that he signed my bag too! And took a picture with me as well (I sounded ready to drop, I'm sure.) Irene and he were talking about Montreal as well, so I decided to jump in(ish.)
This is all from memory, so ...
Irene: Wasn't Montreal better?
Paul: Yeah, this one was shite.
Me: Ahhh, I liked this one! But the set up's such arse, we're so far from the stage...
Paul: Yeah, exactly-- we were going to play The Docks, but that was even more shite.
Hahahaha. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Ricoh.
I took a picture of Irene and Paul, and since I seem to be taking arse pictures that night, I said in advance, "I apologise if this comes out shite."
Irene: She said "shite"!
Paul: *laughs* She did say shite!
Me: *mental facepalm* Oh, ehm, I always say that... it's more fun to say than "shit."
Fun fun. Picture time!
Please try to ignore me. I'm not theeeeere. Ugh, I'm hideous.
Esther. Is. So. Lovely.
Onwards to my favourite bit.
Afte Paul-ness, one of the 4 tour buses left and we had a small fit because we thought it might've been Franz... but no, it was (half of?) Death Cab. That was really very uncool of them. There were quite a few Death Cab fans waiting out there in the cold along with us, and they didn't even have the decency to come out to see the people who are supporting their musical career? That's not on. I felt really badly for the DCFC people, especially since some of them were really young. They must have been so disappointed. Sigh.
By this time, it was hella late, and we were contemplating leaving, but again, we decided to stick it out. A woman passed us with a little model of a human skeleton, which amused us (or maybe just me) mightily... further down the sidewalk, she and a man were fooling around with it. Didn't pay much attention until one of the girls whispered, "Is that NICK?"
It was.
For the next 10 minutes, we had quite heart attacks as he kept going on and off the bus-- suppose they left? Argh. Security wouldnae let us pass either, so we had to wait by the far end. By this time it was literally only four of us there... surely they'd come out, right?
Damn right.
Nick, a woman, and a man I didn't know started coming our way.
Hang on...
ALEX.
Nick, a woman, and Alex came down our way and said hello and such... I decided to actually say something this time. And now that I think of it, I snarled at Nick McCarthy. Hee hee. He's SUCH a love.
Me: This one-- *jerks head towards Irene* has been saying all night that Montreal was better... d'you think so too?
Nick: Ehmmm... *small grimace* sorry...
Irene: It was, wasn't it?
Nick: Yeah, it really was...
Me: GAHHHH.
Nick: Sorry, sorry-- hang on, I saw you.
Me: Uhhh?
Nick: I saw you in the crowd-- *grabs my shoulder* you were great... *runs hand over my cheek*
Me: *momentarily speechless* Er. Well, *I* was enjoying it, it was great for me!
Nick: No no, yeah, I saw you, fantastic...
Thud. I nearly ran-- well, limped away. Strange man touching me! ALERT. ALERT. It may be Nick, but I still went "Ennnngh!" inwardly until my common sense went, "Hello. It's NICK."
Pictures were being taken left, right and centre. I was holding two cameras at one point! But I took my friend and Alex, my other friend and Alex, Irene and Alex, Irene and Nick, my friend and Nick-- and then no one took mine! I nearly pitched a fit because Nick was turning to leave. Noooo... so I gathered up what little wit I had left and called, "Nick, can I just get a picture please?" and he turned... Alex was nearby, so he said, "Let's just all take one then, you between us."
Thud.
Life? Made.
Nick is a COMPLETE spazz, though, as he spotted my cane (it's hella awesome-- patterns on it and such) declared with great enthusiasm that he liked it, and snatched it from me. Cue me nearly falling over. "I need that! Aiii!"
"OHHHH sorry sorry."
Spazz. Lovely, lovely.
Did I mention that Nick was PISSED? He was drunk byond all belief. Tres amusant and much too cute.
There it is. Franz is a LOVELY set of people, and I really appreciate them taking the time out to come say hi to us. I like when bands and celebs are nice to their fans. WE put them where they are, after all.
In all, I had a MARVELOUS time, and I actually enjoyed Death Cab's set a lot. Because I liked them before in any event, and they also played a lot of my favourite songs.
...even though the fire alarm kept going off for some reason.
Bless,
--Jo.