(no subject)
So I'm sure some, if not most, of you know that Alkaline Trio is my favourite band and that Matt Skiba is my favourite person, yes? Well, Matt has done a little side project called "Matt Skiba and the Sekrets" that has Hunter from AFI and Jarrod, who is drumming for MCR and put out a record for it and went on a little tour.
So, of course, I had to go to as many dates as I could. I didnt mention it at all on livejournal because I have neglected this place horribly, but I am hoping that writing some reports would get me back in the habit of writing. (i have some other concert reports i still need to write. will do those soon)
So shall we start from the beginning? :D?
So the day started out with me working. As usual, lol, but Lesley and i made a mint milk chocolate mousse by infusing start up cream and then the rest of the cream with fresh mint leaves and it was DELICIOUS and i was so excited i was vibrating and wore more of the mousse on my chefs jacket then what i ate of it.
We needed 40 mint leaves for the US mint recipe. My boss bought two 2lb BAGS of mint. HOLY MOLEY.
It was also all over the front of the apron too LOL. and now that i look at this pic closer you can see it all over my face. NO REGRETS. That shit was DELICIOUS.
Then it was a long wait til Haley showed up. Oh man, it was harsh. haha. I even left the house a bit early for the airport but still ended up being late? WHATEVER. I HAD HALEY AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERED. I love her so much ;;
So the plan was to come back here to my apt and get some rest because we had to leave at 4-5 am for Cleveland to meet Heather, who was flying in at about 2 pm. But, of course, we started chatting and then decided it would be cool to check tumblr and twitter to see how the first night of the tour was going.
BAD IDEA.
Apparently, the first night in Chicago was a fucking TRAINWRECK. Matt was fucked UP and forgetting lyrics and chords and people were actually walking out. And freaking out, which i guess i can understand because they paid to see a show and expected to get their money's worth, but one girl actually @replied Matt to tell him she hated him. REALLY?!
It was upsetting, both because we were endlessly worried about Matt but also about the tour because, wtf, I was gearing up to drive 9 hours and if for some reason the show got canceled then i would still have to like, go out there to pick up heather and it was all such a mess.
So we forced ourselves to sleep. It was only two hours, but some sleep was better then none.
Had to fill up the tank, the first place was CLOSED and that was a pain, but then we got it all settled and HIT THE ROAD.
Man, it was a long 9 hours. We played 3 Cheers since it was the anniversary of it's release and listened to pretty much the widest selection of music. everything from NIN to ABBA and back to Queen. It was fun though! Even though i got really fucking sleepy a couple of times and one time had to force Haley to talk to me because i was literally unable to keep my eyes open.
And funny stuff happened! Haley tried to chug redbull but it came out of her nose! I tried to eat a Subway sammich but it was the WORST put together sammich EVER and was falling apart as i was trying to eat it and i was swerving around and haley was like D: and one point she had to take the wheel for me because i was holding a piece of chicken from the sammich in the crook of my elbow XD IT WAS BAD.
Also coming out of CT there was this dude that was racing with us? He even waved at us when he took his exit hahaha. That was weird.
There's some photos of this part, but Haley has them. I hope to receive them soon and will pst them then edit this part here.
THEN WE GOT TO CLEVELAND. once we hit ohio the drive seemed to take FOREVER, oh man, especially because the airport is literally like 8 hours outside of Cleveland. but we picked up Heather and were only like a half an hour late! ACHIEVEMENT.
lol O CLEVELAND.
So we drove to the venue and the parking garage actually had coin meters in it. So that was fab. At least it was a relatively cheap and close by the venue which is a total plus.
So we walked toward the venue and Heather got mauled by a very enthusiastic youthanize and it was our first time meeting but GODDAMN WHY DID WE WAIT SO LONG. I fucking love Julia and i knew from the moment i saw her Calabrese shirt that we were destined to be together forever ♥
We went to WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS THE VENUE but it ended up not being it and we were just standing around talking in front of this weird place, but this bandwagon pulls up and then pulls in and we watch it and people start coming out and we're like !!! and this one lady walks up and starts chatting with us. She is walking her dog just to try and get a glimpse of Skeebs HAHA. A lady after our heart!
My friend, through the Drive A fan group, Jewel shows up after awhile to meet me and Haley and to hang out before she has to go to work and she told us we were in the wrong spot for the venue and it was actually a few doors down. LOL OOPS. but she went into the Chipotle with me and i had myself a motherfucking burrito because the thing i miss about colorado MOST is having three chipotles within driving distance!
Then we had to wait for villiagegreen to show up because her DD was making her late. She ended up arriving while i was still eating and she brought BAKED GOODS like amazing fucking cupcakes which i wish i ate more of and these awesome PB&J cookies and omg it was all so good.
THIS IS WHEN WE MET THE LIGHT OF OUR LIVES, OUR GROUP HUSBAND. We saw Hunter and this tiny, skinny, lanky guy that Heather knew was Nathan who used to be in a band called Dead To Me. Bee hailed them over with the sweet siren call of delicious deliciousness and they descended upon the goodies without hesitation. Oh man, Nathan was SO HAPPY to have some sweets. Kid's got a huge sweet tooth, as we found out :)
He basically told us that he was gonna be our new BFF. IT TOTALLY TRUE.
So after that, we were all fizzy and happy because Nathan is literally like this little bundle of joy in a elvin princeling form. Bee DRAGGED us off to go explore a little bit even though heather and haley and i were like BUT NO MUST BE FIRST IN LINE AND BE THERE IF MATT COMES AROUND!!! but i am kind of glad we went exploring.
First was a little toy shop. It was toys and collectibles and prank stuff and it was super cool. This magician did magic for us and we all stood there awkwardly, lol. Whoops.
Jewel and an unfortunate Qui Gon Jinn doll lololol
Then we went to a vegan/non-vegan restaurant! We got some fries to chomp on around the table and talked about David Bowie having a sentient penis. It was HILARIOUS.
I just realised what Heather is doing with her glasses LOL
After a certain amount of photos are taken of me, I resort to these faces. I am such a slob-faced goon, oh my god XD
So then we went back to the venue and I noticed Skiba was there talking to some guys. I was the only one that noticed at first, but then he was sort of wandering around next to the bandwagon, looking for something, and Bee was waffling on calling him over to us to give him some of her baked goods. Julia ended up doing, just calling out HEY MATT YOU WANT SOME COOKIES and of course he came over haha.
Oh man. Oh man. Skiba. The first thing i did, i think, was jump up to hug him. I was just so overcome for a moment. POOR BABY :( Especially since the moment he opened his mouth, he could barely speak. He had totally lost his voice. He was super sick and barely able to speak, but he still came over to talk to us because he is the best.
We sent him off to the place we got food from after he sat and chatted with us for a moment, then we just sat around talking about everything and nothing. BEST LINE SITTING DAY EVER. EVER. I've never had so much fun linesitting!
Me and Bee <3333333
Heather, me, and Julia <333333333333333
ACCIDENTAL but i love it anyways. FEETS.
THE BEST GROUP OF FRIENDS EVERRRRRR love all of these human beings SO MUCH gah <3333
THEN NATHAN CAME BACK and sat and talked to us for awhile and he was gifted with the rest of Bee's baked goods and GODDAMN he was happy about it. He is the best thing, oh man ;;
HE IS THE CUTEST LITTLE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. These reports is gonna contain a tooooon of flailing over nathan, jsyk. He is SERIOUSLY the best thing and he really made this whole trip for us.
HAPPIEST SWEET-TOOTHED FEY CREATURE EVER
AND THEN THIS HAPPENED. MATT SKIBA IN THE BACKGROUND OF ME BEING ASSHOLE-FACED I A PHOTO. OH MAN. GODDAMNIT. GOOOODDAMNIT XD Then my mortification is palpable on the right side. And of course this happened in front of Nathan too because LIKE I SAID too many cameras pointed at me and after awhile i resort to looking like a jerk XD
Then Nathan went back to the bandwagon to burn us cds of his solo project!!!!! (it's super good, btw, i would share, but...) And it was time to basically line up. These people got in front of us, btw, just jumped in front of us like dicks, (EXCUSE ME I JUST DROVE LIKE 10 HOURS YA DICKBAGS) but two ended up being these rad kids from Philly that we made friends with later.
Nathan came over later with CDs, just three, and i didnt get one unfortunately but i think i am gonna email him and ask for one because he keeps sending me music anyways XD but he told us he hates the internet and that we're only allowed to share the music with each other, then totally was like NO NO I MEAN ITS GOOD SOMETIMES when we explained that we'd all met because of the internet. XD so cute.
Then we went in the venue! Bee got pre-toasted and I got my Sekrets CD finally so they could get the money directly and we all took turns going pee and then waiiiiting which is always the hardest part.
The first band was a local band called Night Sweats. They were LOUD but pretty cool. The drummer was the singer and he was pretty awesome. He was HILARIOUS and he was the steadiest singer/drummer i've ever heard! Especially since he was beating the SHIT out of those drums, oh man. He also told the crowd that he'd make out with everyone, but he was straight so it'd be more passionate with the girls. l.o.l.
SMOKING POPES SMOKING POPES oh man. I love them. I was totally stoked on seeing them again, ive been hooked since i saw them open for Trio and ofjsiduhdsg. They totally made this tour for me as well!
Me and Heather's head and the amazing awesome Josh Caterer. :D
I wish there were more pics of the popes from this night but here is a video!
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Click to viewOh, what's that, is THAT ME SINGING WITH JOSH CATERER? Yes, yes it is. (OMGOMGOMG) At about 3 mins in, you see him smile at me, then right after that he leans down right in my face and shares the mic with me and my horrid, goober voice comes cutting through.
OH MAN. THAT WAS SUCH A RUSH WHEN THAT HAPPENED. OMG. I fucking love Josh Caterer and the Popes, you guys, they really made each and every show a special one for me and I appreciate that intensely.
I also got a setlist for every night! :D :D
SKIBA AND THE SEKRETS!!! Man. They were definitely better then they were in Chicago! It ended up being pretty awesome, especially since Matt was soooo sick. He was actually singing pretty well for having no speaking voice.
People went CRAZY for the first few songs like, wtf? Mosh pits and stuff D: We got SLAMMED into the side of the stage and that was totally weird, like. Idek. I just know that I ended up being so close to Hunter that I couldnt stand to look at him because i was literally just staring straight up his nose. Wow.
Heather's head!
There's not really any good professional photos of this show thats not 800 x 800 pb so i will edit those then edit this. right now i just wanna get this written!
This is during 'Luciferian Blues' and it's really funny because at about 1:15 you can kind of tell when Haley faceplanted on the stage because she got pushed so hard haha. This is when heather and i both pushed people off of her and i bodily stopped some dude from jumping onto the stage to stage dive. #pitwarrior
It calmed down after that but it was a GOOD TIME. Can we talk about how the encore started out with a cover of 'Since U Been Gone'? But it was amazing, they made it so dark and sinister sounding. I wish I could have that recorded, I'd listen to it ALL THE TIME.
During How The Hell Did We Get Here, he kept watching Heather and smiled at her a few times because he knows she loves House Of Leaves so much. BLESS HIS WHOLE FACE.
Then the show was over and we all stumbled outside and i ran back to my car because i had this giant package of chocolate from work to give. GIANT. It had so much stuff in it haha. I also grabbed chocolate for Beck, who loved it :)
So then we waited around for a Sekret to come out, haha. Mostly for Nathan tbh. This is when I got to talk to Josh Caterer and was REALLY AWKWARD at him. Every time i talked to him it was super awkward but he is still really one of the nicest guys ever!
We were also forced to give up Julia :(((( she had to go back to Detroit because SCHEDULED TO WORK AT LIKE 8 AM AFTER A SHOW IN A DIFFERENT STATE SUCKS jesus poor bb :( wish i thought to get one last picture with that lovely human <3
But finally nathan came around again, wearing this cardigan with holes in the elbows because he doesnt wear clothes that arent falling apart. (he was looking for a thrift store for shoes without giant holes in the heels) (also he wore that caridgan before the show and was dancing to the cure as he set up and he is literally the cutest human on the planet)
but i gave him the package of chocolates and his whole face lit up, lmao. He immediately opened it up and started chomping down. He asked me what stuff was, then he'd pick it up and eat it and before he finished he'd move onto the next thing XD
I asked him if he knew where Skiba was and he said he was inside, and we expressed concern about going back in because Haley and Heather are underage, so he 'escorted' us back in with his arms spread out to 'block' us from view and pretended to be talking about stuff really loudly XD it was amazing.
We waited at the back of the 'skiba meeting' crowd for a bit, talking with Nathan who was still chomping on chocolates (chocolate covered oreo this time lol) and we talked about doing our nails and stuff and he talked about loving being 'one of the girls' HAHA <3
Skiba was leaving, was gonna go back backstage, so Nathan suddenly grabbed us and the chocolate and pushed his way through and got Skiba's attention for us and told him that i had brought Chocolate. OH MAN skiba was so happy hee. He gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek ♥ (KISS NUMBER 4!!) He was really happy to see us in general and with what little scrap of voice he had left, he told us how much he appreciated us and that we were there. Baww.
LOOK BEE FINALLY GOT HER PICTURE WITH HIM!!!!
and then we fell out happily, giggling and gleeing and Beck picked me up and hauled me around and it was GR8. We went back outside and I creepily watched as Nathan got on the bus with the stash of chocolate and Hunter literally jumped straight into it and started chowing down XD Nathan later told me that Jarrod had actually woken up and climbed out of his bunk for the chocolate. SUCCESS!!!
We just hung out for a long time talking to Nathan until it was time to go, I got directions to my friend Tanya's tiny apartment and we braved the crazy fucking construction closings of Cleveland and tossed ourselves into Tanya's couch and floor and died. XD sleeeep.
some parting shots with Bee:
Me and Bee <3
Haley and Bee <3
Heather and Bee <3333
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A LOT OF TYPING. what a good fucking night this was <3 hopefully tomorrow night i can knock out philly!