lol I started typing this Saturday and am just finishing it now
I think this show, my sixth Spree concert so far, was simultaneously the best and worst Spree show I've ever been too. At least last night that's what I felt, but after a good night's sleep the bad parts don't seem so bad anymore.
I'm am *crazy* about getting to venues early, especially if it's Standing Room Only, ESPECIALLY if it's the Spree. Marcel had told me early on that he was closing down the karate school friday and saturday so that he'd be able to come down this weekend for the concert, and for our anniversary. (Five Years on July 2nd! o_O) But then a few nights ago he called and told me the internet guy was going to his place yesterday to install internets for him since he didn't have any, and he'd be there anytime between 11 & 2. You see, I should know by now to never make plans, because every single time I do they fall through and it really upsets me. I had figured he'd be leaving NY early (It takes 4 - 5 hours to get here using local trains) and then we could spend the day walking around on South St and be on line for the show by 7, latest. Instead he didn't even get to my apartment until 8, and we didn't get to the theatre til 8 30. So then I wasn't in my usual spot up against the stage =( And I mean we weren't far back at all, but I get really anxious in large crowds of people, and when I'm against the stage it's just me and the band in front. I don't pay attention at all to what's going on behind me. So there were a couple of times I started to get a bit sick feeling, nauseous and dizzy and obscenely hot (it was so gross in there by the end of the night), but it wasn't too bad I guess. I survived. =p
The opening girl had a nice voice, but was WAY spaced out. I mean like, TOTALLY out there. And she at least was better than the people I saw open for the Spree last time. I have to say, as much I love Tim, I've yet to see a band open for him that I really liked. At all.
Finally around a quarter or 20 after 10 the lights went down and as he has been doing there was a red cloth drawn across the length of the stage. But unlike the show in NYC where they opened with a sildeshow the words to Give Me Some Truth were displayed on it as the song was played. Then he came out and slowly cut the cloth away. Ricky opened the show as per usual, but not with his normal solo, which was cool to have something different. Then they blasted into American Dreams followed by Running Away which was awesome. I love that song. And since I know the words to the new songs now it was a lot more fun than the NYC show. Here's the rest of the set:
American Dreams
Running Away
(short intro) Hanging Around
Get Up and Go
Hold Me Now
Sun
Light to Follow
Younger Yesterday
Fragile Army
La La/Middle
We Crawl
Watch Us Explode (Justify)
Championship
+++++++++
Together We're Heavy
Lithium
Everything Starts at the Seam
When the Fool Becomes a King
Light and Day
Sonic Bloom
What wasn't awesome was this group of MAJOR asshole kids that shoved their way up to the front during Hold Me Now. Oh my god, I was SO. ANGRY. I can handle if people are jumping around the song and kind of fall into you, but not on purpose but I swear to god I wanted to break this kid. He even shoved Marcel out from next to me and I was like YOU are a jackass there is NO fucking way you are getting in front of me. (You do NOT come between me and my Spree.) So while he was pushing and jumping and screaming like a fucking asshat he received lots of hard elbows in the side and the occasional me slamming by body into him to knock him out of the way. And yes, that may sound harsh, but believe me it wasn't. All the people that had gotten there early and stood through the opening act were just knocked off to the side so this group of assholes could get through. I was seething. But I'm sure he ended up going home with a nice bunch of bruises on his side. Fucking douchebag. And not only that but during Hold Me Now he kept trying to hand this sailor hat to Tim to put on, which Tim took and wore, but then the through the entire rest of the song and also through Sun (which was the mellow version they've been doing recently) he kept screaming "THAT'S MY HAT. HE HAS MY HAT. TIM IS WEARING MY HAT." I wanted to be like WE KNOW WE FUCKING SAW YOU GIVE IT TO HIM NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP SO WE CAN LISTEN. And he kept talking to Marcel (who loves people just about as much as I do. Har har) And Marcel even said to him, if you don't knock it off I'm gonna hurt you and we will probably both be thrown out. So then the kid shifted more to the right and this girl that was with him came up next to me. Who was also shoving to try to get up front. I didn't elbow her AS hard. >:| But seriously, have some fucking respect, just because it's a standing room only concert doesn't mean it's a fucking free for all.
So yea. They really pissed me off but then for a while they were ok again. Just obnoxious (I still wanted them to be thrown out so badly.) They kept screaming during the songs. And even during Audrey's flute solo he kept screaming about his god damn hat and some guy behind him was like "She's playing a really nice flute solo right now could please quiet down." And him and his friends were just like "MEH SHE'S PLAYING HER FLUTE SOLO BLEH BLEH BLEH" I was like you have to got be kidding me. So annoying.
But ANYWAY, at the end of Watch Us Explode, instead of walking off the stage with the rest of the band Ryan Fitzgerald, one of the guitarists (aka the really hot one) dove right into the crowd and crowd surfed his way to the back of the audience. And I got to help pass him along which was awesome =) The other young guitarist whose name I still don't know (I don't know a lot of the new people's names, besides Buffy, really) also dove into the crowd but he was further to the right so I didn't get to move him along.
Then the break for the encore came and there was some general milling about and I told Marcel that they'd be coming through the crowd to get back onto the stage, then some of the theatre workers brought along big trunks for them to use as stairs. We waited a little bit longer (but not much at all) and the workers came back but this time with the band behind them. And the way the crowd separated I was right on the edge of where the band passed through. It was the best part of the night!!! I always wanted to be in that spot and now I finally was and it was SUPER exciting. I got to shake hands/high five/pat on the back all of the members and told them they were doing an amazing job. And Tim was the last one to pass through and he just grabbed my hand with both his and looked right at me and smiled. *melts* Then as he kept walking I patted him on the back. OMG. I was so excited. *fangirls everywhere*
AND they were wearing their original white robes!!!1!!11!! Ricky Rasura had the coolest one with this very hippy looking strip of fabric sewn to the collar. But yea it was awesome, the only time I saw them in those robes was when they opened for Bowie three years ago. So they started the encore off and then Tim was like "I have a special song for you guys tonight. Well, all the songs are special but this one is really special. And it's up to guys whether or not we'll be playing it again." And they broke out into the cover of Lithium.
Oh. My. God. Everyone went CRAZY. At that time after all the milling about during the break between the encore I was closer to the stage and right in front of Tim. And once they hit the chorus it was just a GIGANTIC mosh pit. My right shoe came off (but my toes stayed in) from someone jumping on the back of it, and I had to hold my bag so tight cause it kept falling off my shoulder from the jumping, and people were falling all over the place and slamming into each other, it was madness. And everyone was already hot and gross from the rest of the show, but after this it was ridiculous. Marcel said when he looked up the confetti that was still falling from the ceiling (there was a MASSIVE amount of confetti blown out at this show. It was all kinds of awesome) didn't even reach the crowd. There was so much heat coming off of us it just swirled around over our heads. And I had this huge dude (not fat, just tall and well-built) that kept knocking into me. Between the heat and all the jumping and being pushed around I thought it was gonna be the end of me. But it was awesome and a huge success. Afterwards Tim was like "Wow. Well, looks like we'll keep performing that one." Was very cool.
But then since I wasn't feeling too hot afterwards I wound my way back to Marcel since he had a bit of open space around him, which is what I needed. I was tempted to move to the side of the crowd, but I knew I would never have found my way back in. And I'm glad I decided not to do that because I would have been so sad if I missed out on Sonic Bloom.
I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was that they played that. Oh my god. I love, love, love Tripping Daisy (Tim's original band) and especially that song. Someone had shouted it out earlier (someone from the forum, I found out later on actually) when Tim was introducing Lithium. I kept thinking each song in the encore was gonna be the last but they just kept on playing and he was like "Ok. How bout we keep this going?! And since someone yelled it out before I think I'll play this song for you." I instantly went (O_O) *OMG!SQUEE* because I knew what was coming, and he just went "How many Tripping Daisy fans do we have out here tonight?" I of course screamed nice and loud, along with about 20 other people. And he was like ok, this one if off the Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb album, called Sonic Bloom. Everyone else in the audience was just kind of standing around bobbing their heads, but all the TD fans were singing at the top of their lungs and dancing and I was in heaven. I've wanted to see him do that song live for SO long. Omg. It was made of awesome. Then after that he thanked us for being such an amazing audience, and that they all really needed a show like this because they were exhausted and needed something to get their energy back up. He was like "You guys far exceeded my expectations for this show tonight and thank you SO much." And it really was one of the craziest most energetic crowds I'd ever seen at one of their shows.
Afterwards there was a table set up in the lobby with the band for them to sign stuff but my entire body (and Marcel's he told me) was just like "FUCK YOU" because I was sweating my ass off, my back and legs hurt, and I was so frickin' thirsty, so we just left and made a beeline for the WaWa a block down to get some water and dinner. But I didn't really feel bad about it cause Marcel said he was in just as much pain as I was (and he's a master sensei in pretty good shape =p) and he didn't really care about meeting the bad. (It was also 12 30 by the time the show ended, and we hadn't eaten or drank anything yet) So we bought some stuff and took a cab home because there was no way either of us wanted to walk in the shape we were in =p Although it was kind of gross because someone spilled some kind of alcohol in the back seat and while there wasn't a puddle or anything the seat was still wet and my pants absorbed most of it. It was gross. But oh well.
All in all it was an awesome night and the good definitely outweighs the bad, especially looking back on it now. I can't wait to see them again =) And since that was really long perhaps I'll post about the rest of my weekend once Marcel's on his way back to LI.
P.S. I just remembered! Teasley (the percussionist) wasn't there =( I love him! He's so out of his mind. It made me sad. But he's been posting a ton of bulletins on Myspace lately about shows and stuff in (I think) Alabama, so I guess he's doing his own thing. *sighs*