An Ocean Between Us Tour '07
This is happening concert by concert because otherwise I'd be here forever and this entry would be three years long. So, first things first, here's the Thursday concert recap.
So I got out of class late, of course, because my prof has no idea what she's talking about. Speedwalked (word?) back here, packed everything up, left Jenny all her stuff, and was out of here by about quarter to 3, which was fifteen minutes later than I had hoped. So I did about 80 on the expressway and made the drive in about 2 hours and 10 minutes instead of my normal and half or longer. Fun fun.
Got home, picked up the tickets and brother, made sure we had directions, and off we went - couldn't park in the next building over's parking lot, so we had to double back and park in a city lot. Actually got to Clutch about fifteen minutes after doors were supposed to open, but apparently everyone in the world was waiting in line for will call, and we got to go right in! This was excellent because we ended up being pretty close. Then this girl who's friends with Jim found us, so we went and stood with them on the extreme left, but only one line of people away from the stage. And we managed to scoot our way center pretty well, until Jim and I were completely centered and only about 3 or 4 people back. During this time, we endured the worst country music I have ever experienced. It was like, extreme white trash hillbilly country about weed and fucking. Ridiculous. Jim threatened to learn how to play it and I threatened to disown him.
Anyway, Through the Eyes of the Dead finally came out and the awful country went away. Got a little smushed, but nothing too bad, just that the pit was behind us. We were trying to move forward so Jim took advantage of that. I think we ended up behind just one row of people. So I had a pretty good view because I was between the shoulders of two guys. Don't know much of their stuff, but they played the two songs Jim wanted them to from their old album, one of them was possibly Beneath Dying Skies. Whatever. It was tricky because they're easily the heaviest band on the tour, and the guys in front of me were headbanging so hard that I had to be careful to keep an eye on them or else their shoulders would come back and get me in the face. So I had to kind of move with them. Basically the crowd was just getting into them whether they really knew the music or not cuz it was pretty decent thrash/deathcore. Then the big guy on my left traded spots with his friend who was only about my size. And Jim managed to squeeze in to the left of that guy to be on the barrier.
Then when we were waiting for Haste the Day, who I am currently obsessed with, they played Blue October - Consent to Treatment! I was like holy cow. So I was a dork and sang along and annoyed Jim. When they finished soundchecking, Jim had me shove my shoulder in and then when the band came on we both shoved and I got up to the barrier, too. Which was absolutely fantastic. They played the Minor Prophet, which was absolutely fantastic live. I'm kind of in love with that song. Um, they also played Pressure the Hinges, When Everything Falls, and Needles, for sure, cause I know those really well. And according to set lists from other dates, they played Blue 42, Walk On and Fallen. It was awesome, because although the stage is tall and you're on the barrier, you can see everything, so Stephen was running around screaming, and then we were pretty close to Brennan, who plays guitar and does the singing vocals. I was pretty much focused on them, since they were right there. I was pushed around a little bit but it really wasn't bad at all. I was having too much fun to care, anyway.
So they finished, sadly it was such a short set. But as they were all walking off, Devin came to the front of the stage and kind of tossed on of his drumsticks to the right of me. And we were all kind of holding our hands out for him to throw the other one, and he kind of looks at me and pauses, then looks at everyone around me. So he jumped down off the stage - not wearing shoes, I noticed - and walks up to me, so I was probably giving him some sort of crazy not quiet sure look but he took my hand in his, put the drumstick in it, and closed it with his other hand. So I know then I gave him this huge smile and told him thank you and that they were amazing. Basically it was like, the best concert moment ever.
He was wearing glove things, so you can see where they rubbed on the handle.
And then of course, All That Remains, the reason Jim and I were there, really. They came out to This Calling, and Phil just completely killed that opening scream. And the crowd went apeshit. It was packed. There was no way I was giving up my spot though, we were on the side with Mike and Jeanne and I had been waiting over a year to see these guys. And they had an amazing setlist, unfortunately they didn't play For Salvation, Whispers, or Focus Shall Not Fail, but they did play almost everything of the Fall of Ideals, including Not Alone, It Dwells In Me, We Stand, The Weak Willed, Become the Catalyst, The Air that I Breathe, and I think they ended with Six, which of course everyone knows from Guitar Hero 2. From This Darkened Heart they played Tattered On My Sleeve. Pretty sure, anyway, and from what Jim remembered.
Really, this band is crazy good. Ollie - and Mike - are both amazing guitarists, and Ollie totally knows it and plays it up. Whenever they were soloing Phil would run to a side and get the crowd in on it, having us scream and doing the solo fingers. I have no idea what they're really called, but when you hold a hand out and wiggle your fingers... as if you were playing? Who knows. It's fun. And Jeanne did the background vocals - the death growls! I didn't know that, so that's extra cool. I'm going to be her when I grow up, I've got it all planned out. And Phil took off his shirt. Mmmhmm. It was kind of hard to hear him, but he's definitely got a good voice, did both the screaming and the singing. And ran around like crazy, you could see the sweat just dripping off his arms. They were fantastic, definitely worth waiting for.
Afterwards, Jeanne and Ollie came and shook hands with everyone at the barrier. So when she kind of paused at me and I told her how amazing she was. I love it when women are in good bands, doing not girly things, especially in metal. And Ollie, of course, but he was just kind of flying by, grabbing hands and going. Whatever, that dude it totally hardcore. And finally, when Jason threw his drumsticks out, Jim kind of jumped for one and then almost dropped it over the barrier. I have no idea how he got it, but it turned out to be a good night for us!
Finally As I Lay Dying came out. I didn't know much by them, either, just the songs I like off their new cd, cause the choruses are sung. And by then the crowd had just gotten lethal. Like, ATR had me pushed pretty hard against the barrier, which was uncomfortably at like, solar plexus level so it hurt and I couldn't breath, but they were even worse for AILD. And then since I didn't know much, it was just not fun. Plus I felt bad since someone else probably wanted my spot more than I did. So I waited until they played An Ocean Between Us, and then finally asked Jim if he really wanted to be up there, and he didn't, so we escaped to the back and he got a Pepsi.
It was really cold outside of the crowd after being trapped in that heat, and we were definitely sweaty and gross. I wanted to see if any of Haste the Day was around, but they didn't even have a merch dude, so we waited until the end of AILD's set, and there still weren't any bands around. HtD's merch dude eventually told me that they'd probably be somewhere, but the security was making people leave and it was way too cold outside to hunt down tourbuses. So we headed out. I definitely need to see both HtD and ATR again, and meet HtD - I've got an idea for a tattoo of 'such a beautiful song we sing' that would be awesome if I could get Stephen or Brennan to write it out for me.
And on the ride home, Jim used the drumsticks on the dashboard and made the whole car bounce. Overall we didn't get lost or mugged or attacked by homeless people and I was very proud of myself. And that was the First Concert of the weekend.
And here's a picture of what my arm looked like afterwards - I was using it to try and push back against the barrier on something other than my ribcage. It didn't appreciate it.
I was hoping it would turns bright purple and be all impressive but now it's just kind of smaller and green. Oh well.
So I got out of class late, of course, because my prof has no idea what she's talking about. Speedwalked (word?) back here, packed everything up, left Jenny all her stuff, and was out of here by about quarter to 3, which was fifteen minutes later than I had hoped. So I did about 80 on the expressway and made the drive in about 2 hours and 10 minutes instead of my normal and half or longer. Fun fun.
Got home, picked up the tickets and brother, made sure we had directions, and off we went - couldn't park in the next building over's parking lot, so we had to double back and park in a city lot. Actually got to Clutch about fifteen minutes after doors were supposed to open, but apparently everyone in the world was waiting in line for will call, and we got to go right in! This was excellent because we ended up being pretty close. Then this girl who's friends with Jim found us, so we went and stood with them on the extreme left, but only one line of people away from the stage. And we managed to scoot our way center pretty well, until Jim and I were completely centered and only about 3 or 4 people back. During this time, we endured the worst country music I have ever experienced. It was like, extreme white trash hillbilly country about weed and fucking. Ridiculous. Jim threatened to learn how to play it and I threatened to disown him.
Anyway, Through the Eyes of the Dead finally came out and the awful country went away. Got a little smushed, but nothing too bad, just that the pit was behind us. We were trying to move forward so Jim took advantage of that. I think we ended up behind just one row of people. So I had a pretty good view because I was between the shoulders of two guys. Don't know much of their stuff, but they played the two songs Jim wanted them to from their old album, one of them was possibly Beneath Dying Skies. Whatever. It was tricky because they're easily the heaviest band on the tour, and the guys in front of me were headbanging so hard that I had to be careful to keep an eye on them or else their shoulders would come back and get me in the face. So I had to kind of move with them. Basically the crowd was just getting into them whether they really knew the music or not cuz it was pretty decent thrash/deathcore. Then the big guy on my left traded spots with his friend who was only about my size. And Jim managed to squeeze in to the left of that guy to be on the barrier.
Then when we were waiting for Haste the Day, who I am currently obsessed with, they played Blue October - Consent to Treatment! I was like holy cow. So I was a dork and sang along and annoyed Jim. When they finished soundchecking, Jim had me shove my shoulder in and then when the band came on we both shoved and I got up to the barrier, too. Which was absolutely fantastic. They played the Minor Prophet, which was absolutely fantastic live. I'm kind of in love with that song. Um, they also played Pressure the Hinges, When Everything Falls, and Needles, for sure, cause I know those really well. And according to set lists from other dates, they played Blue 42, Walk On and Fallen. It was awesome, because although the stage is tall and you're on the barrier, you can see everything, so Stephen was running around screaming, and then we were pretty close to Brennan, who plays guitar and does the singing vocals. I was pretty much focused on them, since they were right there. I was pushed around a little bit but it really wasn't bad at all. I was having too much fun to care, anyway.
So they finished, sadly it was such a short set. But as they were all walking off, Devin came to the front of the stage and kind of tossed on of his drumsticks to the right of me. And we were all kind of holding our hands out for him to throw the other one, and he kind of looks at me and pauses, then looks at everyone around me. So he jumped down off the stage - not wearing shoes, I noticed - and walks up to me, so I was probably giving him some sort of crazy not quiet sure look but he took my hand in his, put the drumstick in it, and closed it with his other hand. So I know then I gave him this huge smile and told him thank you and that they were amazing. Basically it was like, the best concert moment ever.
He was wearing glove things, so you can see where they rubbed on the handle.
And then of course, All That Remains, the reason Jim and I were there, really. They came out to This Calling, and Phil just completely killed that opening scream. And the crowd went apeshit. It was packed. There was no way I was giving up my spot though, we were on the side with Mike and Jeanne and I had been waiting over a year to see these guys. And they had an amazing setlist, unfortunately they didn't play For Salvation, Whispers, or Focus Shall Not Fail, but they did play almost everything of the Fall of Ideals, including Not Alone, It Dwells In Me, We Stand, The Weak Willed, Become the Catalyst, The Air that I Breathe, and I think they ended with Six, which of course everyone knows from Guitar Hero 2. From This Darkened Heart they played Tattered On My Sleeve. Pretty sure, anyway, and from what Jim remembered.
Really, this band is crazy good. Ollie - and Mike - are both amazing guitarists, and Ollie totally knows it and plays it up. Whenever they were soloing Phil would run to a side and get the crowd in on it, having us scream and doing the solo fingers. I have no idea what they're really called, but when you hold a hand out and wiggle your fingers... as if you were playing? Who knows. It's fun. And Jeanne did the background vocals - the death growls! I didn't know that, so that's extra cool. I'm going to be her when I grow up, I've got it all planned out. And Phil took off his shirt. Mmmhmm. It was kind of hard to hear him, but he's definitely got a good voice, did both the screaming and the singing. And ran around like crazy, you could see the sweat just dripping off his arms. They were fantastic, definitely worth waiting for.
Afterwards, Jeanne and Ollie came and shook hands with everyone at the barrier. So when she kind of paused at me and I told her how amazing she was. I love it when women are in good bands, doing not girly things, especially in metal. And Ollie, of course, but he was just kind of flying by, grabbing hands and going. Whatever, that dude it totally hardcore. And finally, when Jason threw his drumsticks out, Jim kind of jumped for one and then almost dropped it over the barrier. I have no idea how he got it, but it turned out to be a good night for us!
Finally As I Lay Dying came out. I didn't know much by them, either, just the songs I like off their new cd, cause the choruses are sung. And by then the crowd had just gotten lethal. Like, ATR had me pushed pretty hard against the barrier, which was uncomfortably at like, solar plexus level so it hurt and I couldn't breath, but they were even worse for AILD. And then since I didn't know much, it was just not fun. Plus I felt bad since someone else probably wanted my spot more than I did. So I waited until they played An Ocean Between Us, and then finally asked Jim if he really wanted to be up there, and he didn't, so we escaped to the back and he got a Pepsi.
It was really cold outside of the crowd after being trapped in that heat, and we were definitely sweaty and gross. I wanted to see if any of Haste the Day was around, but they didn't even have a merch dude, so we waited until the end of AILD's set, and there still weren't any bands around. HtD's merch dude eventually told me that they'd probably be somewhere, but the security was making people leave and it was way too cold outside to hunt down tourbuses. So we headed out. I definitely need to see both HtD and ATR again, and meet HtD - I've got an idea for a tattoo of 'such a beautiful song we sing' that would be awesome if I could get Stephen or Brennan to write it out for me.
And on the ride home, Jim used the drumsticks on the dashboard and made the whole car bounce. Overall we didn't get lost or mugged or attacked by homeless people and I was very proud of myself. And that was the First Concert of the weekend.
And here's a picture of what my arm looked like afterwards - I was using it to try and push back against the barrier on something other than my ribcage. It didn't appreciate it.
I was hoping it would turns bright purple and be all impressive but now it's just kind of smaller and green. Oh well.