The Black Cards London Gig! And meeting Pete!
So because this is the WEEK OF GIGS last night was The Black Cards at the ICA.
I showed up around... 6:30 I think. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the line of mostly-girls who were mostly-younger-than-me lined up outside the venue (lots of hoodies and coloured hair). I met up with collar_blue and maryangel200 had come along with her. collar_blue put her hand up way back when for my spare ticket and they'd been trying to find a second one for maryangel200 but had no luck, so she pretty much thought she come say 'hi' and go home. I was sure we could get her a ticket somehow, so after checking at the desk to see if there were any left (there weren't, they didn't even handle any sales) we went outside I asked the queue "I know it's a long shot, but does anyone have a spare ticket?" and VOILA, someone did! So maryangel200 got to see Pete too!
We went inside and hung out in the bar area (I have no idea why people were queuing outside, there was a bar, with drinks and food and chairs) it was so civilized compared to all the pavement sitting I'd done on the weekend for MCR. When doors opened we got a pretty good position down the front on Bebe's side. The crowd was deepest on Pete's side, naturally. The venue was SERIOUSLY tiny. never_coming_bk came to join us and I managed to recognise reinventweather and drag her into our circle of fangirls. YAY LJ PEOPLE.
The first support were called Christian TV and they sounded kind of like a dancey boyband. It was a DJ and a singer. IDEK, something about the vocals gave me a boyband vibe. And the singer kept crotch adjusting. And it was unfortunate how many times his crotch wound up near maryangel200's face. Poor thing.
(See? I am not making this up)
Second support were Spark, and they were kind of kooky and English. Three piece: singer, drummer, bass player. Interesting, right?
Finally it was time for the Black Cards. They led into them coming onstage by playing a bit of rob d's clubbed to death which set the scene nicely. And then they came out!
HI PETE HI! HI BEBE! HI SPENCER! HI NATE!
You guys, PETE WAS HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME UP THERE. He was SO fucking happy, all bouncing around and bopping. Whenever he didn't have his fingers on the bass during a song he would take a step forward and let fans reach out and touch him and just smile deeply and happily and look completely blissed out. *heartclutch* oh Pete.
And can we talk about Bebe for a minute or twelve? Because holy FUCK. The girl is smoking hot. And she owns the stage, really. I mean, I know she was standing right in front of me and all but I could NOT take my eyes off her. She's amazing. She does this thing where she turns sideways and wiggles her ass, right? BEBE I WILL GIVE YOU THREE YEARS TO STOP THAT. YOU JUST KEEP GOING. And she does all the hair flipping, and all the striding around on stage and she was wearing SEX SHOES (who got a picture? I need a picture), which actually gave way on her and she kind of slipped at one point, but she totally recovered, then after the song was over and she was back on her feet she kind of gestured at the spot where she nearly stacked it and rolled her eyes and smiled like "oh I'm such a goof." HEARTS IN MY EYES YOU GUYS. I WILL JUST BE OVER HERE IN THE BEBE FAN CLUB WITH b_dsaint. BBL.
I think my crush was showing because I got a high five from her, and she offered me the mic at one point when she was doing audience stuff and she was all 'hey, you know the words' at me when we were singing along to Fame (because I have that one on my ipod and I have maybe listened to it way too much). At one point never_coming_bk just turned to me and said "she likes you". *happyfangirlnoise*
Pete and Bebe took turns talking to the audience between songs and Pete was happy to waffle on about whatever for as long as he liked. At one point he said something like "I should let Bebe talk, I should let the singer talk for a change." and Bebe was like "But you guys like hearing Pete right?" and the crowd cheered and Bebe pouted, so of course we all chimed in "We like hearing you talk too Bebe!"
Before they did Aces he talked about how he had been 'broadcasting from the basement' and how after FOB he had 'a squirrel on his face' ie. his 'depression beard' and he really didn't think he'd ever set foot onstage again. He then gave a shoutout to his mate (I totally forget his name now) in the audience who helped getting him writing again. And he's so happy to be back up there.
There was one point during a song intro where he didn't need to play where he just squatted down with his bass on his lap, listening to Bebe and smiling like he had nowhere else he'd rather be. HEARTS IN MY FUCKING EYES, GUYS. ETA! manuanya found a photo of this on TUMBLR - click for ginormous but WATCH OUT! YOUR EYES WILL FILL WITH HEARTS.
He played the first few songs in his COAT (dude, stop taking advice from Mikeyway or you're gonna start to smell like him). And it was seriously warm in that venue. Eventually he took it off and before they did Summer he was saying, "this is a good one because it's winter here, so we thought it'd be nice to bring a little summer to you. I think it's summer in my fucking pits right now." YOU ARE SUCH A CHARMER, PETE.
Fave songs of the night for me were Fame, Club Called Heaven and the most awesome cover of Bang Bang they did. Bebe going 'my baby shot me down' was seriously kneemelting. HI, I LOVE YOU.
After the show at least three quarters of the audience hung around because Pete had announced during the show that they would hang around for a meet and greet afterwards. Which meant a LOT of people stayed for that (you have no one to blame for this but yourself Pete). They were rushing people through and basically said NO PHOTOS because there was just so many people to get through. never_coming_bk had baked cupcakes for the band and Bebe was stoked to receive them! She took down never_coming_bk's twitter username down to thank her.
When it was my turn to talk to them I told Bebe hi from Miz because I promised Miz I would, here is my vague recollection of the conversation:
Me: I need to say hi from Miz, she wasn't sure if you'd remember her
Bebe: Oh Miz! I love her!
Me: She adores you
Bebe: She made me this great shirt
Me: I have one of those too!
(I didn't have the heart to tell her it was Rach who made the shirts, but hey, she totally remembers them so \o/)
Of course when I got to Pete I had no idea what to say. I fail at talking to famous people. I ended up telling Pete I was representing ICH (as per dancinbutterfly's suggestion) and Pete totally perked up and got interested.
Pete: Ice cream headaches! *jabs at Spencer* dude, she's from ice cream headaches
Spencer: I was a mod! They made me a mod! For like... five minutes
Me: They modded the whole bar, the way I heard it
Pete: That's totally transatlantic, that, from across the ocean
Me: I'm from Australia, actually
Pete: Is that like the Indian ocean? No, no, it's the Pacific, I don't even know
Me: I fail at geography
I can't remember the next part but it's cool, but somehow I managed to get a Wentz hug so I am most pleased. Even if I do suck at talking to famous people. reinventweather is a lot better at it. She told Pete it took balls for him to get back onstage and keep trying after FOB and it was so good to see him onstage again and Pete was MOVED. He kept saying "that means so much to me. That means a lot." He must have repeated that five or six times even after we'd been ushered away from the table.
ETA! manuanya just reminded me that during the gig Pete told a story of the day he rode in an elevator with Robert Smith, and freaked out the whole time because he couldn't think what to say to him - because surely he's heard everything, right? In the end he didn't say ANYTHING, just rode the lift back down to the lobby. So wow, thanks Pete, I feel a lot better about my faily chat with you now. *VIRTUAL HUGS*
They stayed signing a LOT longer than they were supposed to and they managed to talk to everyone who'd waited to meet them, and they didn't stop smiling the whole time.
HI SMILEY SPENCER HIIIIII
If you have ANY opportunity to go see them GO. It's a great show, lots of tunes to boogie to and they are really fun to watch. And did I mention that Bebe is a hotass? Because she totally is.
I showed up around... 6:30 I think. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the line of mostly-girls who were mostly-younger-than-me lined up outside the venue (lots of hoodies and coloured hair). I met up with collar_blue and maryangel200 had come along with her. collar_blue put her hand up way back when for my spare ticket and they'd been trying to find a second one for maryangel200 but had no luck, so she pretty much thought she come say 'hi' and go home. I was sure we could get her a ticket somehow, so after checking at the desk to see if there were any left (there weren't, they didn't even handle any sales) we went outside I asked the queue "I know it's a long shot, but does anyone have a spare ticket?" and VOILA, someone did! So maryangel200 got to see Pete too!
We went inside and hung out in the bar area (I have no idea why people were queuing outside, there was a bar, with drinks and food and chairs) it was so civilized compared to all the pavement sitting I'd done on the weekend for MCR. When doors opened we got a pretty good position down the front on Bebe's side. The crowd was deepest on Pete's side, naturally. The venue was SERIOUSLY tiny. never_coming_bk came to join us and I managed to recognise reinventweather and drag her into our circle of fangirls. YAY LJ PEOPLE.
The first support were called Christian TV and they sounded kind of like a dancey boyband. It was a DJ and a singer. IDEK, something about the vocals gave me a boyband vibe. And the singer kept crotch adjusting. And it was unfortunate how many times his crotch wound up near maryangel200's face. Poor thing.
(See? I am not making this up)
Second support were Spark, and they were kind of kooky and English. Three piece: singer, drummer, bass player. Interesting, right?
Finally it was time for the Black Cards. They led into them coming onstage by playing a bit of rob d's clubbed to death which set the scene nicely. And then they came out!
HI PETE HI! HI BEBE! HI SPENCER! HI NATE!
You guys, PETE WAS HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME UP THERE. He was SO fucking happy, all bouncing around and bopping. Whenever he didn't have his fingers on the bass during a song he would take a step forward and let fans reach out and touch him and just smile deeply and happily and look completely blissed out. *heartclutch* oh Pete.
And can we talk about Bebe for a minute or twelve? Because holy FUCK. The girl is smoking hot. And she owns the stage, really. I mean, I know she was standing right in front of me and all but I could NOT take my eyes off her. She's amazing. She does this thing where she turns sideways and wiggles her ass, right? BEBE I WILL GIVE YOU THREE YEARS TO STOP THAT. YOU JUST KEEP GOING. And she does all the hair flipping, and all the striding around on stage and she was wearing SEX SHOES (who got a picture? I need a picture), which actually gave way on her and she kind of slipped at one point, but she totally recovered, then after the song was over and she was back on her feet she kind of gestured at the spot where she nearly stacked it and rolled her eyes and smiled like "oh I'm such a goof." HEARTS IN MY EYES YOU GUYS. I WILL JUST BE OVER HERE IN THE BEBE FAN CLUB WITH b_dsaint. BBL.
I think my crush was showing because I got a high five from her, and she offered me the mic at one point when she was doing audience stuff and she was all 'hey, you know the words' at me when we were singing along to Fame (because I have that one on my ipod and I have maybe listened to it way too much). At one point never_coming_bk just turned to me and said "she likes you". *happyfangirlnoise*
Pete and Bebe took turns talking to the audience between songs and Pete was happy to waffle on about whatever for as long as he liked. At one point he said something like "I should let Bebe talk, I should let the singer talk for a change." and Bebe was like "But you guys like hearing Pete right?" and the crowd cheered and Bebe pouted, so of course we all chimed in "We like hearing you talk too Bebe!"
Before they did Aces he talked about how he had been 'broadcasting from the basement' and how after FOB he had 'a squirrel on his face' ie. his 'depression beard' and he really didn't think he'd ever set foot onstage again. He then gave a shoutout to his mate (I totally forget his name now) in the audience who helped getting him writing again. And he's so happy to be back up there.
There was one point during a song intro where he didn't need to play where he just squatted down with his bass on his lap, listening to Bebe and smiling like he had nowhere else he'd rather be. HEARTS IN MY FUCKING EYES, GUYS. ETA! manuanya found a photo of this on TUMBLR - click for ginormous but WATCH OUT! YOUR EYES WILL FILL WITH HEARTS.
He played the first few songs in his COAT (dude, stop taking advice from Mikeyway or you're gonna start to smell like him). And it was seriously warm in that venue. Eventually he took it off and before they did Summer he was saying, "this is a good one because it's winter here, so we thought it'd be nice to bring a little summer to you. I think it's summer in my fucking pits right now." YOU ARE SUCH A CHARMER, PETE.
Fave songs of the night for me were Fame, Club Called Heaven and the most awesome cover of Bang Bang they did. Bebe going 'my baby shot me down' was seriously kneemelting. HI, I LOVE YOU.
After the show at least three quarters of the audience hung around because Pete had announced during the show that they would hang around for a meet and greet afterwards. Which meant a LOT of people stayed for that (you have no one to blame for this but yourself Pete). They were rushing people through and basically said NO PHOTOS because there was just so many people to get through. never_coming_bk had baked cupcakes for the band and Bebe was stoked to receive them! She took down never_coming_bk's twitter username down to thank her.
When it was my turn to talk to them I told Bebe hi from Miz because I promised Miz I would, here is my vague recollection of the conversation:
Me: I need to say hi from Miz, she wasn't sure if you'd remember her
Bebe: Oh Miz! I love her!
Me: She adores you
Bebe: She made me this great shirt
Me: I have one of those too!
(I didn't have the heart to tell her it was Rach who made the shirts, but hey, she totally remembers them so \o/)
Of course when I got to Pete I had no idea what to say. I fail at talking to famous people. I ended up telling Pete I was representing ICH (as per dancinbutterfly's suggestion) and Pete totally perked up and got interested.
Pete: Ice cream headaches! *jabs at Spencer* dude, she's from ice cream headaches
Spencer: I was a mod! They made me a mod! For like... five minutes
Me: They modded the whole bar, the way I heard it
Pete: That's totally transatlantic, that, from across the ocean
Me: I'm from Australia, actually
Pete: Is that like the Indian ocean? No, no, it's the Pacific, I don't even know
Me: I fail at geography
I can't remember the next part but it's cool, but somehow I managed to get a Wentz hug so I am most pleased. Even if I do suck at talking to famous people. reinventweather is a lot better at it. She told Pete it took balls for him to get back onstage and keep trying after FOB and it was so good to see him onstage again and Pete was MOVED. He kept saying "that means so much to me. That means a lot." He must have repeated that five or six times even after we'd been ushered away from the table.
ETA! manuanya just reminded me that during the gig Pete told a story of the day he rode in an elevator with Robert Smith, and freaked out the whole time because he couldn't think what to say to him - because surely he's heard everything, right? In the end he didn't say ANYTHING, just rode the lift back down to the lobby. So wow, thanks Pete, I feel a lot better about my faily chat with you now. *VIRTUAL HUGS*
They stayed signing a LOT longer than they were supposed to and they managed to talk to everyone who'd waited to meet them, and they didn't stop smiling the whole time.
HI SMILEY SPENCER HIIIIII
If you have ANY opportunity to go see them GO. It's a great show, lots of tunes to boogie to and they are really fun to watch. And did I mention that Bebe is a hotass? Because she totally is.