Manila, oh Manila you are my favorite town
Hi. TL;DR posts are annoying but wtf..
It's been a week since that jovial weekend and I am still hungover. Every waking moment of my life since then was spent singing the songs that were played during those three days. I'm slacking off in school and I'm spending hours in school daydreaming rather than doing actual work - well, except for those two days when I had to study for two exams. I am not planning to drown myself in regrets though, I am more than ready to fail those two exams. And besides, this was what I signed up for. I had this all planned perfectly since four months ago, I was not gonna miss any of it just so I could "study" for two exams.
So what happened?
LIV5 happened. No big deal.
Kidding. It was a hugeass deal! Finally, I got to cross out the top five bands on my list of bands to see live. Hopefully though, before I die (which again hopefully doesn't happen any time soon) I get to cross out all the remaining artists.
I went to 3 of 4 shows, and of those three, the last one was where I had fun the most. The first show I went to was the Glorietta leg of the tour. It was.. okay. I had fun at first (especially since I was seeing the GoBros skin and flesh and bones! Bonus Jobe and Jess and Bdales) but during The Ready Set's set (haha) I just wanted to punch everybody around me. The people annoyed me so much (except for the people I was with of course). Since I didn't have tickets, obviously I was outside the barricades, and apparently, people watching from outside the barricades were not die-hard fans. You should probably omit die-hard because some were not fans AT ALL. I mean come on! Move the hell out of here if you guys didn't know the bands who were playing! Make way for us! There was even one lola who tried stealing my best friend's small private concert space and just slept standing while the shows were ongoing. Fuck really woman? I was mostly pissed during the Glorietta show and believe me I tried to keep my cool. At least I didn't scream at the woman (and everybody else for that matter) because really, if she was my age.. I can't even imagine the things I'd do. Some guys were screaming profanities at The Summer Set too. The girls in front of me also didn't cooperate. Like wow, for the first concert experience of my life, fans didn't help each other out. They were trying to push us back since apparently, we were "crushing" them. Oh come on, you guys are in a (rock) concert. I was so surprised because even at the All Time Low concert, when I was crushing everybody's feet because of excessive jumping around, they still made way for my camera and one girl even made me sit on her chair so I could videotape Remembering Sunday properly, and they didn't mind my screaming even if it ruined their videos. I despise watching from outside the barricades. I also remember a similar thing that happened during LIV3 last year. This couple beside me was trash talking We the Kings. Non-fans *facepalm*.
I managed to get back to the concert mood when A Rocket to the Moon started playing Like We Used To. And they included Dakota on their set list as well!
Forever the Sickest Kids was kind of headlining this tour. Lol nobody's headlining this tour but well you gettit. They were the last one to play and they were the most amazing stage-presence-wise. Let's all thank the unconventionally hyper onstage JCook for this. I mostly focused my attention on Kyle during their set though. He was really good, or maybe it's just because I'm no drummer so I was in awe the whole time I was watching him. I was also most lively during their set since a lot of people left our side of the stage already and it became rather spacious so I had the chance to flail around.. which caught Kyle's attention at some point. Nobody ever saw this exchange between the two of us though. I kind of shook my best friend's shoulder twice because I wasn't sure if she was seeing what I was seeing (Kyle waving at me) and I kept on repeating "Kyle.. Kyle.. Kyle!" But she was busy taking photos of the band. That was also why I was feeling skeptic about the whole situation. I had no proof, nobody witnessed it besides myself.
So this was what happened:
Right after they played Robots and Aliens (or was it Shut the Front Door?), I was still flailing around while continuously screaming "Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!".. and surprisingly, he looked at my direction so I waved both my hands still screaming his name. He did something that I'd like to call the "come at me" gesture with both of his hands twice and pointed to my direction using his drumstick. That's when I started shaking my best friend's shoulder, I looked at her and saw that she was peering through her camera's viewfinder still taking photos of the band. So I looked back to Kyle and he was still looking at my direction. He then did this gesture with his left hand that seemed to me as saying "Wait, excuse me but I still have a lot of drumming to do," after which he began playing the drums for the next song which was either Shut the Front Door or Crossroads. Right at that moment, I looked behind me and found some guys who were videotaping the band. I was the only one paying attention to Kyle so I blatantly assumed it was I whom he tried to talk to at that time.
And that was not all. Right after playing Shut the Front Door (or Crossroads, whichever) - and I mean RIGHT AFTER, he immediately looked at my direction of the side stage once again and did the "come at me gesture" again. Right then, it was either I was deluding myself into thinking that it was really me who exchanged motions with Kyle because I was desperate or he did the "come at me" gesture for the crowd to amplify things up even more. I am not sure, but please do not break my bubble. One week and a day have passed and a lot of time was spent believing that I actually got to "talk" to Kyle at the Glorietta show.
And even if he wasn't.. something more bizarre happened at the TriNoma leg of the tour where I'm a hundred and one percent sure it was me Kyle was talking to. And this time, my sister witnessed the whole exchange.. so yeah.
Right after the show, my best friend and I had dinner at McDonald's. While eating, Ynna suddenly blurted out "Uy, si Jonathan o!" I only half-believed her since she said that a bit calmly as if it was just somebody we know she saw. When I turned around, Jonathan was really there, along with the others and security walking fast. I didn't know what to do. I stood up and was ready to follow them but then I realized I didn't bring my bag with me, so I turned back around and surprised myself. I thought Ynna was already on her feet following the band, but she was still eating! Haha. I was the only weirdough around. I gave up on the thought of stalking them then and just continued eating. It's too late to be having regrets.. but wow, I kept on thinking what if we did follow them that day and got to take a picture with the band. That'd be awesome. But what was more important was we watched them play live, we heard their music being played live, and really, that was what all of this was about.
I also met a long-time internet buddy, Jerome that day. And how I wish Lee Len was also with me during all the shows so I'd have a bumper buddy lol, plus she's Jerome's friend as well, so maybe things wouldn't be as awkward with Jerome if she were only there. Everything would have been perfect. Just imagine: My best concert buddy + my best friend fo lyfez + the bands we all love? Shit'll get cray. Horseshit cray.
PS: Jonathan said we'd have pool party at the hotel after the show, but the security told them not to go out of their hotel rooms and the hotel management closed down the pool. BOO YOU HOES.
Pictures + TriNoma + Market! Market! + band dudes' replies' screen caps tomorrow.
edit:
Trinoma show was the bomb. I had two tickets reserved but the problem was, we're three people. If only the concert was held inside the mall and not at the Mindanao Parking Lot, it would be relatively easy to grab another ticket for Ynna. I was confident about it, but then I didn't expect the security at TriNoma to be THAT strict. I was being blatantly selfish about my ticket and I'm sorry about that. In fact, I'm selfish all the time. I could've just given my two purple tickets to my sister and best friend but being a parsimonious hoggish concert Nazi, I didn't and I just mediated to buying somebody's silver ticket. My sister wouldn't take it though, it was her first show so naturally, she'd want the purple ticket. Out of guilt, I offered to pay half of the ticket price. That still doesn't make me immaculate though. I'm sorry for being a bitch. :(
The plan was to meet up with my sister and Ynna at the Mindanao Parking Lot before 5 PM which was the start of the show. I got there at around 4 PM and when my sister arrived half an hour after, we went straight to the Concierge to ask for one more ticket. The lady said they had none anymore but offered this girl's silver ticket which was not for free. Nothing's free in this world anymore. I was already planning to meet Jerome's friend for a silver ticket, but since this girl was here in front of me already, and I wouldn't have to go to all these trouble looking for some girl named Pat wearing a purple tshirt, I decided I should just buy from her. The price was the same anyway. The girl was not friendly though.
My sister and I then proceeded to the venue which was huge and made the show not as intimate as the Glorietta show. There were three or four long lines of excited, jittery fans already. I saw Jerome again and said hi. Ynna was on her way, and I went near the entrance where she could see me since she didn't know the way. That was when I saw Erijah walking towards me. Goddamn LIV3 concert buddy, Erijah! He won meet and greets for The Ready Set and Forever the Sickest Kids btw.
Fast forward to the show:
So we went inside the concert grounds and Ynna had to be separated from us because we had different tickets. That sucked ballz. My ate isn't always a good concert buddy especially when something triggers her mood and she just shuts down, kind of like how I did during the Glorietta show. She won't sing along/dance, nor talk. That's when I get scared. But during the concert, she was fairly enough a great concert buddy. I guess I can say she's always been my lucky charm at concerts. Every time I'm with her at shows, something good happens.. we'll get to that later.
So A+ Dropouts started playing. Insane how those kids are already living the life I'm dreaming of. Touring with the bands I adore at 14/15? Getting to travel a whole lot with your best friends and sharing your music to a bunch of musically hungry people? Doing what you love the most and getting paid for it? They're there.
While I'm here.
The Summer Set was up next and they were beyond awesome. At that moment, it still felt pretty sublime that they were really there and I was hearing their music live. It felt like it was genuinely the first time I was seeing them live. Mostly because I was in a better (perfect, actually) mood and the people around me were absofuckinlutely real fans who sang along to every word and jumped and lamely danced around to almost the entire sets. I also saw Julienne and Fie there. They were actually 2 or 3 peole away from me but I didn't say hi. I was afraid they wouldn't remember me. But I caught Julienne looking at me twice, so maybe... Hah. I'm forever the awkward kid.
Now for the best part, The Ready Set started playing. I remember going insane during Spinnin' and Killer but I don't exactly remember if it was during Stays Four the Same or Hollywood Dream when the bizarre thing I was talking about earlier happened.
The tent at the left side of the stage (my right) suddenly opened and out came Kyle Burns. Shit, without a doubt, got cray again, for me at least, and I started screaming his name at the top of my very lungs once again. I didn't care anymore if the people around me who were enjoying the set at that moment got annoyed. Miraculously, Kyle did turn to the crowd before walking on.. and he. noticed. me. again. flailing.
Me: "Kyle!! Kyle!! HI KYLE!! I EXIST!!!!!"
Kyle: *SMILES AND WAVES AT ME*
Again, I looked at the person I was with (which was my sister obviously) to see if I wasn't the only one seeing this. She was laughing and looking at Kyle and I started freaking out even more because she knew what was happening. I was shaking her hard and Kyle was still looking at me so I did the heart gesture with my hands (like what Jonathan made us do during She's a Lady) and screamed, "I LOVE YOU KYLE OMYGOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH KYLE!!!" To which he mumbled something which I will interpret as "I love you back" and then POINTED. AT. ME. Like seriously pointed at me, with all the glory of his index finger and he kept on smiling. Then he again waved and proceeded to the backstage. And in that moment I swear I was infinite. I shook my sister's shoulders hard and I couldn't believe legit tears started pouring out of my eyes. It felt really weird because TRS' set that night included power pop/dance-to-the-beat kinds of songs only and I was crying during his set. My knees really felt weak and I was afraid I'd fall over. My sister was laughing. She saw everything. I saw everything. Everything happened to me. And I really do have crazy fan girl problems. For one, I didn't actually meet Kyle. What more if I got to meet him personally and got to talk to him and hug him right? I wouldn't know what to do.
The night went from the best to even better than the best. A Rocket to the Moon was next on the lineup and Halvo was being his usual makulit Halvo. Nick's nose wasn't really that bad (haha!). He was quite good-looking even. And Justin's voice was perfect. Everything was perfect. The set list, Nick's amazing voice, the crowd singing along to every word. Everything was just perfect..
Forever the Sickest Kids was the final band to play, and I have no words anymore for how amazing they were (loljk, I'm just getting tired typing and thinking).
During one of the song intervals, Jonathan told us to jump over the barricades if we could, without hurting ourselves. That was what I wanted to do from the very start, I didn't have the chance to do it though because the security guards started to look over at us and prohibited us to do it.
Also, Caleb wrote a song for Manila which Jonathan sang also during one of the song intervals. It went like this "Manila, oh Manila you are my favorite town.." (hence the title of this post) I forgot the rest. Mehe.
Jonathan said they'd hang out at the merch table after the show, so I waited for them. But they ditched us again!
Had dinner at KFC and then went home with my concert buddies and then dreamed of LIV5 that night.
Now for the best LIV5 show ever: Market! Market! leg of the tour.
That day, we, dent students, were required to attend the 8th Philippine Dental Association.. party? haha lol I have no idea what the event was called. I didn't even think twice about attending said event since, as I have said, LIV5 preparations were made since four months ago and nothing could stop me from going. Not ditching it even if the professors decide to give plus points for attendance (which, luckily, didn't happen). Although Saturday night, I was already thinking about ditching the Market! Market! show since the TriNoma show euphoria lingered until later that night and I was thinking what if the M!M! show turns out to be even worse than the Glorietta show? That would relatively be a dismal end to a perfect tour. Moreover, I didn't have stubs for the M!M! show and I didn't want to watch from outside the barricades again. But it was the closest venue to my place. M!M! is only about 15 give or take a few minutes away from my house.. I just knew I had to go.
I was thinking I'd go to the venue as early as possible so I could catch the guys during sound check and perhaps hang out with them after. But I didn't get to wake up early and I had to go to church. Bianca, my other concert buddy whom I only met through tumblr, and then later on I found out is my school mate, texted me at noon and asked me when I'd be able to get there because they were only 15 minutes away at that moment. I then rushed to take yet another shower after which I read another message from her telling me that she had one silver ticket and she was willing to give it to me. Another dilemma since I was with my sister and best friend again during this show. At that moment, I knew I just had to grab two more tickets or there'd be no fun show for me.
When my sister and I arrived, I hurriedly went straight to the Concierge to beg for tickets. I also hoarded LIV5 flyers hehe. This pretty much was what happened:
Me: Uhm, hi. Do you still have tickets for the show later? I was wait listed by the way.
Her: Did you receive a text message from us Ma'am?
Me: No :(
Her: There are still some purple tickets left. Are you an ACard or VIPinoy card holder?
Me: VIPinoy. Omygod omygod.
Her: We can give you tickets, but they're only purple ones.
Me: Okay. Thank you so much. Omygod thank you.
Yep, I freaked out. Amidst that short conversation, I even thought of convincing the woman behind the desk to just give me white tickets since Bianca was gonna give me one and I would skip the worrying part re: who's getting the purple tickets and who's getting the white one. But wtf, they were giving me purple freaking tickets (closest to the stage) and who was I to antagonize their decisions mehehe. I begged my sister to just give the other purple ticket to my best friend since she already got to watch at the purple area the day before and I knew how much Ynna wanted to take good photos of all the bands. Lol, of course I was being selfish about my own purple ticket again sorry you guys. :(
But I had a plan in mind.
My sister and I went to the purple tickets entrance and waited in line. And then I saw Bianca with her sister and we freaked out right then - forgive the excessive freaking out, it was the first time we met each other. I had to explain to her about the tickets we got and asked if she was still willing to give me her spare white/silver stub since my best friend had none. So here was my plan: go to the Concierge again, have the white stub exchanged for a purple one and then tada. Included in my plan was a lot of talking and arguing with the women behind the counter but I was ready.
We made a break for the Concierge once again right after I put my game-face on while Bianca and her sister went to the Foodcourt to meet her friend who was gonna give her pink/VIP stubs. I talked to the lady again and she told me she couldn't give me any more purple stubs since other people might claim theirs any time soon. She said I could come back later though to check if there would be any left. Dejectedly, we walked away and just hung out at the entrance to the concert grounds once again. I didn't even have to be depressed for far too long. I saw Erijah again, with Alehia and some of their other friends. I walked up to Erijah and congratulated him on winning the meet and greets once again. I asked if he already met them, and he said they were scheduled to meet them later. We chatted for a bit before I was able to ask them if they still have spare purple tickets. Luckily, their friends Freghel/Fregh(?) and his brother had two more. I spazzed and flailed around until I heard Fregh say "we are kinda selling them" and then I asked "for how much? :(" I may have looked far too sad because Fregh talked to his brother for a bit, maybe they discussed about the price, and I was internally praying hard they'd sell it cheap, but then she suddenly said, "sige we're giving it to you na lang :)" "SERIOUSLY?!" "ay hindi, we're kidding! haha of course you can have it" "thank you!! thank you so much!! omygod!! wait I'm gonna tell my friend. thank you so much!!"
I took that moment as an ominous warning that I would have the best day of my life that day. I was just so lucky. First, I scored two tickets for me and my sister, and the next second, I scored another one for my best friend.
While waiting in line, A+ Dropouts did their sound check. Idk but I think they played Misery Business, or at least Lucas just played the intro. I was chatting animatedly with Bianca the whole time, I was beyond excited for this show, and the next thing we know, the security was letting people in. When it was our time to get inside, I suddenly heard a security personnel say "O, padaanin nyo, padaanin nyo. Excuse, excuse." Lo and behold, when I looked behind me, Christian and Rico were there. Just. Right. Behind. Me. Like less than five inches behind me. And I was so surprised I didn't get to speak and ask for a picture or an autograph like what I had always imagined I'd do. Christian said "Excuse us, excuse us, band dudes coming through. We don't really want to..." I tuned out his last words since I looked to my right at Bianca and did the "O" with my mouth and eyes. Then Christian passed me by, I legit thought he was not gonna fit because he was big and the space was so small. And then Rico brushed his whole abdominal part against my left shoulder while he was passing through, and I also realized he was not as tall as I thought. Hehe.
We waited for over half an hour for the show to start. Eventually, Ynna came. We took pictures, chatted, and the usual fan girling stuff. For me, everything happened fast. One moment, I was talking to Bianca, and the next moment, my sister was cutting me off and was pointing to the stage and telling me "Ayan na!" to which I hurriedly stood up, feeling thankful that I already had my backpack slung on my back, and ran for it. It felt like we won a race when we reached our spaces right behind the barricades and first row to the stage. We were so close.. so so so close to everybody (to the left side stage guitar players and bassists at least), I could see their pores. Haha. Kidding.
I don't want to go about each sets anymore. I had fun period. The music was holy period. I just danced and jumped to the rhythm and screamed at the top of my lungs as I did before. Stephen comma Evan comma Austin and Rico comma Halvo. Bonus John going to the front stage near us to take pictures of Rocket. I held up a sign saying "Kyle, drumsticks please," but Kyle didn't notice it.
We got some freebies though. My sister was the best in catching picks and grabbing set lists. She caught Lucas and Nick's guitar picks, and successfully coaxed Christian into giving her TRS' set list. Meanwhile, I successfully cajoled Manong FOH to hand me Rico's guitar pick, and my best friend caught Austin's.
After everything, we again took some pictures. Ziggy threw some FTSK stickers at us, and we caught some. Sucks that we left the concert grounds early.. I saw some fans getting a picture with Rico when we had already left. I tried to get in again but the guards wouldn't let me anymore.
Epic band encounters during the show:
I'm thankful for my best friend and my sister for being patient with me that weekend. And I'm thankful for them for being great concert buddies.
(I don't know how to end this annoyingly long blog properly, so bye?)
Wait.. pictures + encounters with the band kind screen caps + stuff tomorrow. Let me not forget.
Good night. I hope you're also having the time of your lives. :-)
It's been a week since that jovial weekend and I am still hungover. Every waking moment of my life since then was spent singing the songs that were played during those three days. I'm slacking off in school and I'm spending hours in school daydreaming rather than doing actual work - well, except for those two days when I had to study for two exams. I am not planning to drown myself in regrets though, I am more than ready to fail those two exams. And besides, this was what I signed up for. I had this all planned perfectly since four months ago, I was not gonna miss any of it just so I could "study" for two exams.
So what happened?
LIV5 happened. No big deal.
Kidding. It was a hugeass deal! Finally, I got to cross out the top five bands on my list of bands to see live. Hopefully though, before I die (which again hopefully doesn't happen any time soon) I get to cross out all the remaining artists.
I went to 3 of 4 shows, and of those three, the last one was where I had fun the most. The first show I went to was the Glorietta leg of the tour. It was.. okay. I had fun at first (especially since I was seeing the GoBros skin and flesh and bones! Bonus Jobe and Jess and Bdales) but during The Ready Set's set (haha) I just wanted to punch everybody around me. The people annoyed me so much (except for the people I was with of course). Since I didn't have tickets, obviously I was outside the barricades, and apparently, people watching from outside the barricades were not die-hard fans. You should probably omit die-hard because some were not fans AT ALL. I mean come on! Move the hell out of here if you guys didn't know the bands who were playing! Make way for us! There was even one lola who tried stealing my best friend's small private concert space and just slept standing while the shows were ongoing. Fuck really woman? I was mostly pissed during the Glorietta show and believe me I tried to keep my cool. At least I didn't scream at the woman (and everybody else for that matter) because really, if she was my age.. I can't even imagine the things I'd do. Some guys were screaming profanities at The Summer Set too. The girls in front of me also didn't cooperate. Like wow, for the first concert experience of my life, fans didn't help each other out. They were trying to push us back since apparently, we were "crushing" them. Oh come on, you guys are in a (rock) concert. I was so surprised because even at the All Time Low concert, when I was crushing everybody's feet because of excessive jumping around, they still made way for my camera and one girl even made me sit on her chair so I could videotape Remembering Sunday properly, and they didn't mind my screaming even if it ruined their videos. I despise watching from outside the barricades. I also remember a similar thing that happened during LIV3 last year. This couple beside me was trash talking We the Kings. Non-fans *facepalm*.
I managed to get back to the concert mood when A Rocket to the Moon started playing Like We Used To. And they included Dakota on their set list as well!
Forever the Sickest Kids was kind of headlining this tour. Lol nobody's headlining this tour but well you gettit. They were the last one to play and they were the most amazing stage-presence-wise. Let's all thank the unconventionally hyper onstage JCook for this. I mostly focused my attention on Kyle during their set though. He was really good, or maybe it's just because I'm no drummer so I was in awe the whole time I was watching him. I was also most lively during their set since a lot of people left our side of the stage already and it became rather spacious so I had the chance to flail around.. which caught Kyle's attention at some point. Nobody ever saw this exchange between the two of us though. I kind of shook my best friend's shoulder twice because I wasn't sure if she was seeing what I was seeing (Kyle waving at me) and I kept on repeating "Kyle.. Kyle.. Kyle!" But she was busy taking photos of the band. That was also why I was feeling skeptic about the whole situation. I had no proof, nobody witnessed it besides myself.
So this was what happened:
Right after they played Robots and Aliens (or was it Shut the Front Door?), I was still flailing around while continuously screaming "Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!".. and surprisingly, he looked at my direction so I waved both my hands still screaming his name. He did something that I'd like to call the "come at me" gesture with both of his hands twice and pointed to my direction using his drumstick. That's when I started shaking my best friend's shoulder, I looked at her and saw that she was peering through her camera's viewfinder still taking photos of the band. So I looked back to Kyle and he was still looking at my direction. He then did this gesture with his left hand that seemed to me as saying "Wait, excuse me but I still have a lot of drumming to do," after which he began playing the drums for the next song which was either Shut the Front Door or Crossroads. Right at that moment, I looked behind me and found some guys who were videotaping the band. I was the only one paying attention to Kyle so I blatantly assumed it was I whom he tried to talk to at that time.
And that was not all. Right after playing Shut the Front Door (or Crossroads, whichever) - and I mean RIGHT AFTER, he immediately looked at my direction of the side stage once again and did the "come at me gesture" again. Right then, it was either I was deluding myself into thinking that it was really me who exchanged motions with Kyle because I was desperate or he did the "come at me" gesture for the crowd to amplify things up even more. I am not sure, but please do not break my bubble. One week and a day have passed and a lot of time was spent believing that I actually got to "talk" to Kyle at the Glorietta show.
And even if he wasn't.. something more bizarre happened at the TriNoma leg of the tour where I'm a hundred and one percent sure it was me Kyle was talking to. And this time, my sister witnessed the whole exchange.. so yeah.
Right after the show, my best friend and I had dinner at McDonald's. While eating, Ynna suddenly blurted out "Uy, si Jonathan o!" I only half-believed her since she said that a bit calmly as if it was just somebody we know she saw. When I turned around, Jonathan was really there, along with the others and security walking fast. I didn't know what to do. I stood up and was ready to follow them but then I realized I didn't bring my bag with me, so I turned back around and surprised myself. I thought Ynna was already on her feet following the band, but she was still eating! Haha. I was the only weirdough around. I gave up on the thought of stalking them then and just continued eating. It's too late to be having regrets.. but wow, I kept on thinking what if we did follow them that day and got to take a picture with the band. That'd be awesome. But what was more important was we watched them play live, we heard their music being played live, and really, that was what all of this was about.
I also met a long-time internet buddy, Jerome that day. And how I wish Lee Len was also with me during all the shows so I'd have a bumper buddy lol, plus she's Jerome's friend as well, so maybe things wouldn't be as awkward with Jerome if she were only there. Everything would have been perfect. Just imagine: My best concert buddy + my best friend fo lyfez + the bands we all love? Shit'll get cray. Horseshit cray.
PS: Jonathan said we'd have pool party at the hotel after the show, but the security told them not to go out of their hotel rooms and the hotel management closed down the pool. BOO YOU HOES.
Pictures + TriNoma + Market! Market! + band dudes' replies' screen caps tomorrow.
edit:
Trinoma show was the bomb. I had two tickets reserved but the problem was, we're three people. If only the concert was held inside the mall and not at the Mindanao Parking Lot, it would be relatively easy to grab another ticket for Ynna. I was confident about it, but then I didn't expect the security at TriNoma to be THAT strict. I was being blatantly selfish about my ticket and I'm sorry about that. In fact, I'm selfish all the time. I could've just given my two purple tickets to my sister and best friend but being a parsimonious hoggish concert Nazi, I didn't and I just mediated to buying somebody's silver ticket. My sister wouldn't take it though, it was her first show so naturally, she'd want the purple ticket. Out of guilt, I offered to pay half of the ticket price. That still doesn't make me immaculate though. I'm sorry for being a bitch. :(
The plan was to meet up with my sister and Ynna at the Mindanao Parking Lot before 5 PM which was the start of the show. I got there at around 4 PM and when my sister arrived half an hour after, we went straight to the Concierge to ask for one more ticket. The lady said they had none anymore but offered this girl's silver ticket which was not for free. Nothing's free in this world anymore. I was already planning to meet Jerome's friend for a silver ticket, but since this girl was here in front of me already, and I wouldn't have to go to all these trouble looking for some girl named Pat wearing a purple tshirt, I decided I should just buy from her. The price was the same anyway. The girl was not friendly though.
My sister and I then proceeded to the venue which was huge and made the show not as intimate as the Glorietta show. There were three or four long lines of excited, jittery fans already. I saw Jerome again and said hi. Ynna was on her way, and I went near the entrance where she could see me since she didn't know the way. That was when I saw Erijah walking towards me. Goddamn LIV3 concert buddy, Erijah! He won meet and greets for The Ready Set and Forever the Sickest Kids btw.
Fast forward to the show:
So we went inside the concert grounds and Ynna had to be separated from us because we had different tickets. That sucked ballz. My ate isn't always a good concert buddy especially when something triggers her mood and she just shuts down, kind of like how I did during the Glorietta show. She won't sing along/dance, nor talk. That's when I get scared. But during the concert, she was fairly enough a great concert buddy. I guess I can say she's always been my lucky charm at concerts. Every time I'm with her at shows, something good happens.. we'll get to that later.
So A+ Dropouts started playing. Insane how those kids are already living the life I'm dreaming of. Touring with the bands I adore at 14/15? Getting to travel a whole lot with your best friends and sharing your music to a bunch of musically hungry people? Doing what you love the most and getting paid for it? They're there.
While I'm here.
The Summer Set was up next and they were beyond awesome. At that moment, it still felt pretty sublime that they were really there and I was hearing their music live. It felt like it was genuinely the first time I was seeing them live. Mostly because I was in a better (perfect, actually) mood and the people around me were absofuckinlutely real fans who sang along to every word and jumped and lamely danced around to almost the entire sets. I also saw Julienne and Fie there. They were actually 2 or 3 peole away from me but I didn't say hi. I was afraid they wouldn't remember me. But I caught Julienne looking at me twice, so maybe... Hah. I'm forever the awkward kid.
Now for the best part, The Ready Set started playing. I remember going insane during Spinnin' and Killer but I don't exactly remember if it was during Stays Four the Same or Hollywood Dream when the bizarre thing I was talking about earlier happened.
The tent at the left side of the stage (my right) suddenly opened and out came Kyle Burns. Shit, without a doubt, got cray again, for me at least, and I started screaming his name at the top of my very lungs once again. I didn't care anymore if the people around me who were enjoying the set at that moment got annoyed. Miraculously, Kyle did turn to the crowd before walking on.. and he. noticed. me. again. flailing.
Me: "Kyle!! Kyle!! HI KYLE!! I EXIST!!!!!"
Kyle: *SMILES AND WAVES AT ME*
Again, I looked at the person I was with (which was my sister obviously) to see if I wasn't the only one seeing this. She was laughing and looking at Kyle and I started freaking out even more because she knew what was happening. I was shaking her hard and Kyle was still looking at me so I did the heart gesture with my hands (like what Jonathan made us do during She's a Lady) and screamed, "I LOVE YOU KYLE OMYGOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH KYLE!!!" To which he mumbled something which I will interpret as "I love you back" and then POINTED. AT. ME. Like seriously pointed at me, with all the glory of his index finger and he kept on smiling. Then he again waved and proceeded to the backstage. And in that moment I swear I was infinite. I shook my sister's shoulders hard and I couldn't believe legit tears started pouring out of my eyes. It felt really weird because TRS' set that night included power pop/dance-to-the-beat kinds of songs only and I was crying during his set. My knees really felt weak and I was afraid I'd fall over. My sister was laughing. She saw everything. I saw everything. Everything happened to me. And I really do have crazy fan girl problems. For one, I didn't actually meet Kyle. What more if I got to meet him personally and got to talk to him and hug him right? I wouldn't know what to do.
The night went from the best to even better than the best. A Rocket to the Moon was next on the lineup and Halvo was being his usual makulit Halvo. Nick's nose wasn't really that bad (haha!). He was quite good-looking even. And Justin's voice was perfect. Everything was perfect. The set list, Nick's amazing voice, the crowd singing along to every word. Everything was just perfect..
Forever the Sickest Kids was the final band to play, and I have no words anymore for how amazing they were (loljk, I'm just getting tired typing and thinking).
During one of the song intervals, Jonathan told us to jump over the barricades if we could, without hurting ourselves. That was what I wanted to do from the very start, I didn't have the chance to do it though because the security guards started to look over at us and prohibited us to do it.
Also, Caleb wrote a song for Manila which Jonathan sang also during one of the song intervals. It went like this "Manila, oh Manila you are my favorite town.." (hence the title of this post) I forgot the rest. Mehe.
Jonathan said they'd hang out at the merch table after the show, so I waited for them. But they ditched us again!
Had dinner at KFC and then went home with my concert buddies and then dreamed of LIV5 that night.
Now for the best LIV5 show ever: Market! Market! leg of the tour.
That day, we, dent students, were required to attend the 8th Philippine Dental Association.. party? haha lol I have no idea what the event was called. I didn't even think twice about attending said event since, as I have said, LIV5 preparations were made since four months ago and nothing could stop me from going. Not ditching it even if the professors decide to give plus points for attendance (which, luckily, didn't happen). Although Saturday night, I was already thinking about ditching the Market! Market! show since the TriNoma show euphoria lingered until later that night and I was thinking what if the M!M! show turns out to be even worse than the Glorietta show? That would relatively be a dismal end to a perfect tour. Moreover, I didn't have stubs for the M!M! show and I didn't want to watch from outside the barricades again. But it was the closest venue to my place. M!M! is only about 15 give or take a few minutes away from my house.. I just knew I had to go.
I was thinking I'd go to the venue as early as possible so I could catch the guys during sound check and perhaps hang out with them after. But I didn't get to wake up early and I had to go to church. Bianca, my other concert buddy whom I only met through tumblr, and then later on I found out is my school mate, texted me at noon and asked me when I'd be able to get there because they were only 15 minutes away at that moment. I then rushed to take yet another shower after which I read another message from her telling me that she had one silver ticket and she was willing to give it to me. Another dilemma since I was with my sister and best friend again during this show. At that moment, I knew I just had to grab two more tickets or there'd be no fun show for me.
When my sister and I arrived, I hurriedly went straight to the Concierge to beg for tickets. I also hoarded LIV5 flyers hehe. This pretty much was what happened:
Me: Uhm, hi. Do you still have tickets for the show later? I was wait listed by the way.
Her: Did you receive a text message from us Ma'am?
Me: No :(
Her: There are still some purple tickets left. Are you an ACard or VIPinoy card holder?
Me: VIPinoy. Omygod omygod.
Her: We can give you tickets, but they're only purple ones.
Me: Okay. Thank you so much. Omygod thank you.
Yep, I freaked out. Amidst that short conversation, I even thought of convincing the woman behind the desk to just give me white tickets since Bianca was gonna give me one and I would skip the worrying part re: who's getting the purple tickets and who's getting the white one. But wtf, they were giving me purple freaking tickets (closest to the stage) and who was I to antagonize their decisions mehehe. I begged my sister to just give the other purple ticket to my best friend since she already got to watch at the purple area the day before and I knew how much Ynna wanted to take good photos of all the bands. Lol, of course I was being selfish about my own purple ticket again sorry you guys. :(
But I had a plan in mind.
My sister and I went to the purple tickets entrance and waited in line. And then I saw Bianca with her sister and we freaked out right then - forgive the excessive freaking out, it was the first time we met each other. I had to explain to her about the tickets we got and asked if she was still willing to give me her spare white/silver stub since my best friend had none. So here was my plan: go to the Concierge again, have the white stub exchanged for a purple one and then tada. Included in my plan was a lot of talking and arguing with the women behind the counter but I was ready.
We made a break for the Concierge once again right after I put my game-face on while Bianca and her sister went to the Foodcourt to meet her friend who was gonna give her pink/VIP stubs. I talked to the lady again and she told me she couldn't give me any more purple stubs since other people might claim theirs any time soon. She said I could come back later though to check if there would be any left. Dejectedly, we walked away and just hung out at the entrance to the concert grounds once again. I didn't even have to be depressed for far too long. I saw Erijah again, with Alehia and some of their other friends. I walked up to Erijah and congratulated him on winning the meet and greets once again. I asked if he already met them, and he said they were scheduled to meet them later. We chatted for a bit before I was able to ask them if they still have spare purple tickets. Luckily, their friends Freghel/Fregh(?) and his brother had two more. I spazzed and flailed around until I heard Fregh say "we are kinda selling them" and then I asked "for how much? :(" I may have looked far too sad because Fregh talked to his brother for a bit, maybe they discussed about the price, and I was internally praying hard they'd sell it cheap, but then she suddenly said, "sige we're giving it to you na lang :)" "SERIOUSLY?!" "ay hindi, we're kidding! haha of course you can have it" "thank you!! thank you so much!! omygod!! wait I'm gonna tell my friend. thank you so much!!"
I took that moment as an ominous warning that I would have the best day of my life that day. I was just so lucky. First, I scored two tickets for me and my sister, and the next second, I scored another one for my best friend.
While waiting in line, A+ Dropouts did their sound check. Idk but I think they played Misery Business, or at least Lucas just played the intro. I was chatting animatedly with Bianca the whole time, I was beyond excited for this show, and the next thing we know, the security was letting people in. When it was our time to get inside, I suddenly heard a security personnel say "O, padaanin nyo, padaanin nyo. Excuse, excuse." Lo and behold, when I looked behind me, Christian and Rico were there. Just. Right. Behind. Me. Like less than five inches behind me. And I was so surprised I didn't get to speak and ask for a picture or an autograph like what I had always imagined I'd do. Christian said "Excuse us, excuse us, band dudes coming through. We don't really want to..." I tuned out his last words since I looked to my right at Bianca and did the "O" with my mouth and eyes. Then Christian passed me by, I legit thought he was not gonna fit because he was big and the space was so small. And then Rico brushed his whole abdominal part against my left shoulder while he was passing through, and I also realized he was not as tall as I thought. Hehe.
We waited for over half an hour for the show to start. Eventually, Ynna came. We took pictures, chatted, and the usual fan girling stuff. For me, everything happened fast. One moment, I was talking to Bianca, and the next moment, my sister was cutting me off and was pointing to the stage and telling me "Ayan na!" to which I hurriedly stood up, feeling thankful that I already had my backpack slung on my back, and ran for it. It felt like we won a race when we reached our spaces right behind the barricades and first row to the stage. We were so close.. so so so close to everybody (to the left side stage guitar players and bassists at least), I could see their pores. Haha. Kidding.
I don't want to go about each sets anymore. I had fun period. The music was holy period. I just danced and jumped to the rhythm and screamed at the top of my lungs as I did before. Stephen comma Evan comma Austin and Rico comma Halvo. Bonus John going to the front stage near us to take pictures of Rocket. I held up a sign saying "Kyle, drumsticks please," but Kyle didn't notice it.
We got some freebies though. My sister was the best in catching picks and grabbing set lists. She caught Lucas and Nick's guitar picks, and successfully coaxed Christian into giving her TRS' set list. Meanwhile, I successfully cajoled Manong FOH to hand me Rico's guitar pick, and my best friend caught Austin's.
After everything, we again took some pictures. Ziggy threw some FTSK stickers at us, and we caught some. Sucks that we left the concert grounds early.. I saw some fans getting a picture with Rico when we had already left. I tried to get in again but the guards wouldn't let me anymore.
Epic band encounters during the show:
- during "Back to Back", Jordan pointed at my sister while singing the words to the chorus which were: "I wanna fall back to back to back in love with YOU *le points*" kiligz
- Jonathan eye raping me during some songs
- Austin eye raping me when I yelled "Hi Austin!"
- Rico waving at us
- "Evan! Evan! Pose for my camera!" *looks down and awkwardly smiles*
- "Ziggy! Can I have a picture taken with you?" "One second"
- "Evan! Guitar picks please?" And then Evan went to the back for guitar picks at the top of the amps and then said there's none anymore and then he pointed at Lucas. He was saying something I didn't understand. It was either he was saying I should go ask from Lucas, or he'd get one from Lucas later.
- We got to touch Evan. Hallelujah not going to wash our hands anymore.
- Brendan saw my "drumsticks please" sign (I folded the Kyle part) and motioned with his hands to say "wait" or s/t like that.
- No encounters with TSS :( they were so intimidating. Stephen especially. I tried, to no avail, to quit or at least lessen my screaming during their set because I know Stephen doesn't like that. Especially if you're screaming his name.. and incorrectly pronouncing it if I may add. But.. :(
- I kept on screaming Andy to TRS' guitar player. Dafuq, I got the wrong person. It was Deryck. And Andy was on the other side of the stage. Kill me.
- No relevant encounters with TRS and ARTTM as well :(
I'm thankful for my best friend and my sister for being patient with me that weekend. And I'm thankful for them for being great concert buddies.
(I don't know how to end this annoyingly long blog properly, so bye?)
Wait.. pictures + encounters with the band kind screen caps + stuff tomorrow. Let me not forget.
Good night. I hope you're also having the time of your lives. :-)