also, the sky was purple

[miss_universe93]

I'm baaaack (/cliche). Perth was amazingly fun, you guys, at least the parts where I wasn't seasick. Quick rundown - we flew in on Thursday at around 3pm, made it to our hotel and checked in and stuff, and then went to dinner at the hotel restaurant where my mum went nuts over the salt and pepper squid. Friday we had a lunch date with the incomparable holymackeralcat and her mum who was lovely enough to pick us up from the hotel and take us on a little driving tour of the suburbs leading into Cottesloe. It was so crazy and awesome to be able to sit across from Cat and have a conversation, LOL. I was actually surprisingly comfortable with her, though still slightly shy as I am, and the whole thing was just lovely. And of course, that night, JOVI SHOW! It was the night that made my whole life, you guys. I can't say how incredible it was to have them down there in front of me playing the songs I've mainlined since I was nine. Our seats weren't particularly close - in fact we were ten rows away from being in the very last row - but you guys probably only half get how long I've waited to see these guys. I've loved this band for forever and I was not going to miss this opportunity, and $2000 in travel and a whole heap of miles later, I didn't, and I'm so so glad. Some of the highlights for me:

• Jovi coming on fifteen minutes early and still managing to play slightly overtime. ILU boys, you don't waste time.
  
• John wearing a Joker shirt in silent tribute of Heath Ledger.
  
• Richie singing a heart-breaking solo version of "I'll Be There For You". He has such a beautiful voice and he's so talented in his own right, not to mention there is a big contingent of diehard Sambora-ites in Jovi fan circles, so it was really nice to see him get a song all to himself (Jon actually left the stage for it). The way he sings "IBTFY" just breaks your heart after all the things he's been through this year. He keeps up a bright front but you can tell every once in a while how much he's been hurt. My mum said she wanted to go give him a hug!
  
• Hearing the ever talked about "Blaze of Glory/Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Bad Medicine/Shout" alternates! "Heaven's Door" is so surprising in how low-key and beautiful it is, and the fact that the crowd knows it and sways along makes it perfect. And "Shout" is so fun. Jon gets so into it and there was this fast-cut effect going on on the vid screens.
  
• The priceless video screen zooms on drummer Tico, who is completely nuts. Also, the gratuitous "we need to give him some screentime" zooms on David whenever he had a piano bit, such as in "Runaway". He is also nuts, and it is glorious. I just wish I got a better look at what hideous shirt he'd chosen to wear!
  
• Jon's Colgate smile everytime we sang the lyrics back to him. An orthodontist's dream, LMAO.
  
• Richie's purple pimp jacket during the encore. I knew he was going to bring it out eventually, and then he did, and I felt like a total fan for it LOL. The thing has TASSLES, you guys. TASSLES. And of course he didn't remove the trademark cowboy hat for the whole show.
  
• Jon doing the whole "It's alright!" leadup to "Who Says You Can't Go Home" and half the crowd having no idea what he was doing. That was lame, since it was kind of a crowd trend - a good proportion of the crowd didn't know any Jovi songs post-"Crush" era with the exception of "Have A Nice Day" and headed out to get drinks when a newish song was played. However, seeing some people in my section looking confused when Jon did the whole "it's alright!" thing and got no response was admittedly hilarious.
  
• The slash-fest that "Who Says You Can't Go Home" turned into. Jon and Richie sang it side by side into the same microphone, and while I am not a Jon/Richie slasher (and believe me, those people exist, with videos and fiction) even I had to notice the secret looks they were giving each other throughout. I think one of my favourite posts in ONTD history was a Jovi one where one of the comments was "Jon gives off that bi-curious vibe" LOL. Because honestly, despite how married he is, that is true.
  
• The nice security dudes down on the grass section. I was up in the stands so I didn't experience it firsthand; however, what I did see while we were waiting for the show to start was one section that had the suckiest view ever, angled behind the stage toward the seats as opposed to the stage itself. When Jovi came on, a bunch of people from that section went up to stand beside the section in front and were given permission to stay there for the show as long as they didn't cause a scene. I just thought that was really nice of security to let them do that, and that they remained there to make sure no one got trampled.
  
• The fact that I totally forget "Blood On Blood" was a hit until they played it and everyone went freaking mental. And the best part was us die-hard Jovi fans knew the backup parts as well, so the bridge became a bit of a mess in our section, LOL. It was like WE WERE SO YOUNG, SO YOUNG SO YOOO- ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE, ALL FOR OOOO- JUST AS SURE... lmao.
  
• On that note, I loved that the big Jovi hits turned the concert into A Jovi Singalong. It was so awesome to know there were hundreds of other people there who knew every word and chord like I did. Getting to sing "Prayer" back to the band was like the most amazing thing ever.

I have to devote a whole paragraph to this last one: the merch! Now, in Melbourne apparentally the wait at the merch stand was literally 2 hours long, however in perth it was nothing out the ordinary even after the show, when my mum lined up for me. I ended up buying a t-shirt for $50 (which is a big thing for me as I never buy tees at concerts) with the Lost Highway cover on the front and the band on the back, and my mum got two tour posters, one for each of us at $10 a pop. The sell out item, though, were these racer-back girl's tops with the old heart logo that came in actual sizes from 6-18 or something. I saw a lot of fangirls who were really impressed with the fact they could buy something that would actually fit. There were programs too, which we more like books since they looked so thick and shiny, but they were $35 so I didn't get to grab one. I don't think there was anything in it that I hadn't seen before anyway. My poster is so pretty it makes up for it, though. The whole band is on it and it's all sepia and country-esque, and it has the Oz tour dates at the bottom as well as Christchurch's. It will go centre-place on my wall to remind those that enter that my room is a happy place where the words "hair metal" and "one hit wonder" are not allowed to be spoken.
Venue-wise, all in all I am really glad I chose to go to Perth instead of spending too much money on Ebay grabbing standing tickets to the Melbourne show. A lot of fans had experience at that one which could be described as horror stories - it rained, some people couldn't see the stage and others couldn't hear the show very well either. None of that had anything to do with the band, more with bad timing due to us hosting the tennis which meant Rod Laver Arena was booked. The only thing I regret missing was that they played their amazing "Hallelujah" cover, but I know i was very lucky to be able to see them at all because a lot of fans missed out completely. Perth had quite a few people who had travelled from Adelaide, regional WA and further just to see them.
I got very lucky!
Anyway, so, Saturday was not the best day of the weekend since we took the ferry down to Rottnest Island - unfortunately, the ferries didn't have stabilizers like the ones in Sydney do so my mum got majorly seasick, and so did I, actually. It was only a half-hour journey each way but it was really bad. However it was worth it once I got there as Cat and her friend met up with me in town (as she was there with her family for Australia Day) and took me on a little tour of the place. It's so beautiful there - there are no cars on the island and it's populated with these little animals called quokkas that look like a cross between a giant rat and a possum. I'll have pictures up of them and everything else in a few days when my net is fast.

Also, as I have been thinking about it, I think it should be randomly known about me that I like country music. I know, right. My mum's favourite artist ever is a tie between Garth Brooks and Elvis (and possibly U2 and INXS but they are bands *is smart*) and thus I grew up hearing the former. In fact, I remember when i was little, she would put Garth's "In Pieces" on in the front room where the stereo was and my brother and I would dance around and sing all the songs using remote controls as microphones. I totally wish my family owned a camcorder, too, cause I bet we were adorable. Anyway, so, I use that as my flimsy explanation as to how I fail to understand why more people don't like country music sometimes. It's just natural to me to have some country around, which is why I am currently playing Keith Urban. When I heard Jovi were going to release a country-tinged album I like cried with joy, by which I mean I did some jumping up and down and squealing. And then of course, I go to a Jovi show and the Lost Highway songs are when everyone left to go and buy drinks. Figures!
Tomorrow Mum and I and maybe Trav are heading out, most likely to see Juno and possibly eat cheeseburgers. I've already read/commentated on everyone's posts so let me know if I missed anything!