(no subject)
okay so steven and i left yesterday around 3:15 and we stopped at the dollar store to get disposable cameras, and the bank to get money for tickets. then we got on the turnpike headed for the starland ballroom. the drive was good until we got in sayreville, then we got horribly, horribly lost. the streets were messing with our heads, like one minute we were on milltown road, and the next we were on main street, without having made a turn. eventually we pulled into a gas station and asked for directions. we had to turn around and drive 10 miles to the place, that's how far out of the way we were. when we got there at 5, we parked and went up to the box office.
"i'm sorry, the show is sold out." shit.
we were standing there trying to figure out what to do when a girl came up to us and offered some advice. she said that if we went around to the back where all the trailers are, we might find someone who would be able to get us on the guest list. so around the back we went, asking anyone we saw if they knew how we could get into the show. at some point two guys with guitar cases came out of the bulding so we went up to them and one of the guys said that his brother might be able to help us out, and he pointed us in his direction.
we went up to that guy and told him that we drove all the way from philly to get tickets and it was sold out. he said that he would probably be able to get us in if we hung around for a while, then he walked away. so we went to the back door that he went through and stood there for a while.
nick, the drummer for mest came out and was talking, smoking, and drinking with some people, so i took a picture or two, then he went back in. then jeremiah came off the bus, signed some autographs, took some pictures, then walked over to a car, got in, and drove off.
around 6:15, the guy came back out and asked if we could help him out with something so we said sure and followed him back inside. he gave us two "working" passes to wear and told us he was going to have us getting the place ready for the show. so we walked around, carrying stools out, moving couches... the whole time, nick was tapping away on stage on the drums.
the guy who had us help him (chris) told us he was the stage manager and he might need us to help change set between the bands so he wanted us to stay close to the stage. just as they opened the doors at 7, we headed down to the barrier and stood right against it. front row, right side. steven wanted to stand on the left side, but i knew that jeremiah would be on the right so i wanted to stand there.
the crowd came in quickly and packed in tight. i still had plenty of room to move and breathe, but i knew that wouldn't last for long. i knew that once the show go under way, the crowd would get more insane and they would push so i mentally prepared myself for a breathless night of pain, crushed against the barrier.
dynamite boy came out and the crowd started to push a little. as their set went on, people started to crowd surf and security made sure everyone was safe by pulling them out of the crowd once they came to the front. i noticed that i was slowly being pushed to the right, to the end of the barrier. the crowd expanded out to the right, but there was nothing in front of them except shoddy metal barriers, blocking the equipment from the crowd. i wanted to stay against something solid, knowing that if i only had people to lean on, i would be severly injured.
close to the end of dynamite boy's set, tony, the lead singer of mest came out and stood with all the equipment down off the stage, rocking out to the band. he was air drumming and singing along. the fans kept screaming his name but he just ignored them, paying attention to the band. then, he left.
chris came over to us and asked how we were doing. i told him we were okay, but had a little hard time breathing. so he asked if we wanted to stand on the other side of the barrier with all the equipment, right next to the stairs to the stage.
"YES!"
so we moved inside the barrier and stood on the side of the stage, detached from everyone else. when dynamite boy was finished playing they came off stage using the steps that i was standing about an inch from. then chris came over and asked for us to help break and set up, so we got up on stage, moving the equipment off.
we helped to set up for the next band and then resumed our spots. matchbook romance came out and played. the bassist was crazy; dancing, spinning around in circles, etc. a lot of people in the crowd were apparently fans because they were singing along a lot. now, i had heard some matchbook romance before and at the concert just... wow. they're amazing.
after they were done we again moved around the equipment. chris had me set up andy, the drummer of fall out boy's drumset. after that was all set up we went back to our spots again to watch the band. awesome. so fucking awesome.
and then. they wanted to pack up all the stuff that wasn't mest's so we had to move everything from the building to outside during the final intermission. after that we once again went to our standing spot.
jeremiah, tony, and matt (the bassist for mest) came into the equipent area. someone gave jeremiah a t-shirt and he went to pull the one he was wearing off. the crowd started screaming "take it off, take it off!" so i as he was taking off his shirt, matt and tony kind of cornered him against the wall, half blocking him from the crowd, half uh... molesting jeremiah. haha, they pinned him against the wall and had these devillish grins on their faces.
matt and tony went and sat on the side of the stage while jeremiah took pictures with people and signed autographs. this whole time, i was maybe 10 feet away from them, at most. when they got up on stage, they all brushed past me and i had a severe teenie moment where i giggled.
they played. jeremiah sang a lot (more than tony, i think). he gave away 20597 picks to the girls in the front row. he gave his water bottle to the girls in the front row. subsequently, the girls licked the mouth of it all "ooooh jeremiah spit!" he talked to these girls who were also in the equipment area (i assume they were friends, maybe a girlfriend?). he did something resembling the can-can, trying to have the girls capture it on film. he made 29573 crazy faces. he rolled his eyes a lot at the girls in the front row screaming at him. he sweat profusely. he and matt danced together. he cursed a lot.
if i could remember all the songs they played, i'm write that in here, but alas, i do not.
when they left the stage, the girls in the front were screaming for jeremiah so he rolled his eyes and walked over, leaning on the stage right in front of me. up against me, in fact. he took pictures with them all and signed stuff then turned around to walk away, but i stopped him, shoving my camera at steven.
"jeremiah, can i have a picture with you?" so we huddled together and took the picture, then he left. he also left a sizeable amount of sweat on me.
after they left, i thanked chris for letting us do this, and he asked if we wanted to hang around for a while. he said the band would be back out in about an hour, and he would introduce us. it was midnight and we had an hour drive home, so i stupidly declined. i'm really pissed at myself for that. really fucking pissed.
but the night overall was unbelieveable.
tony before the doors even opened
dynamite boy
tony while out watching dynamite boy
dynamite boy
dynamite boy
dynamite boy
matchbook romance
matchbook romance
fall out boy
fall out boy
fall out boy
fall out boy (i don't know who the guy at the mic is, but he's not part of the band)
the guy in the pooh costume. he didn't have tickets so he thought if he dressed up, he'd get into the show. clearly his plan worked. he even got pulled onstage by the bassist of fall out boy.
this is my "artistic" picture. you are looking at the ass of the bassist for matchbook romance. i thought the all access pass was neat so i took a picture. this was during fall out boy's performance.
the bassist from matchbook romance played the last song with fall out boy and then tackled everyone. this is the heap of musicians post-tackle.
the bassist from matchbook romance after the tackling. he hurt his wrist in the fall.
jeremiah signing autographs before they went on.
the best picture of matt EVER, haha
tony showing his tattoos off before they went on
jeremiah changing
matt and tony "blocking" a changing jeremiah.
mest
this was jeremiah's can-can dance that he did easily a dozen times during the show
matt and jeremiah getting ready to dance together
me and jeremiah
the pass chris gave me to wear. on the left scribbled out is "band" and on the right is "vip."
self-explanatory, and totally out-of-scale
"i'm sorry, the show is sold out." shit.
we were standing there trying to figure out what to do when a girl came up to us and offered some advice. she said that if we went around to the back where all the trailers are, we might find someone who would be able to get us on the guest list. so around the back we went, asking anyone we saw if they knew how we could get into the show. at some point two guys with guitar cases came out of the bulding so we went up to them and one of the guys said that his brother might be able to help us out, and he pointed us in his direction.
we went up to that guy and told him that we drove all the way from philly to get tickets and it was sold out. he said that he would probably be able to get us in if we hung around for a while, then he walked away. so we went to the back door that he went through and stood there for a while.
nick, the drummer for mest came out and was talking, smoking, and drinking with some people, so i took a picture or two, then he went back in. then jeremiah came off the bus, signed some autographs, took some pictures, then walked over to a car, got in, and drove off.
around 6:15, the guy came back out and asked if we could help him out with something so we said sure and followed him back inside. he gave us two "working" passes to wear and told us he was going to have us getting the place ready for the show. so we walked around, carrying stools out, moving couches... the whole time, nick was tapping away on stage on the drums.
the guy who had us help him (chris) told us he was the stage manager and he might need us to help change set between the bands so he wanted us to stay close to the stage. just as they opened the doors at 7, we headed down to the barrier and stood right against it. front row, right side. steven wanted to stand on the left side, but i knew that jeremiah would be on the right so i wanted to stand there.
the crowd came in quickly and packed in tight. i still had plenty of room to move and breathe, but i knew that wouldn't last for long. i knew that once the show go under way, the crowd would get more insane and they would push so i mentally prepared myself for a breathless night of pain, crushed against the barrier.
dynamite boy came out and the crowd started to push a little. as their set went on, people started to crowd surf and security made sure everyone was safe by pulling them out of the crowd once they came to the front. i noticed that i was slowly being pushed to the right, to the end of the barrier. the crowd expanded out to the right, but there was nothing in front of them except shoddy metal barriers, blocking the equipment from the crowd. i wanted to stay against something solid, knowing that if i only had people to lean on, i would be severly injured.
close to the end of dynamite boy's set, tony, the lead singer of mest came out and stood with all the equipment down off the stage, rocking out to the band. he was air drumming and singing along. the fans kept screaming his name but he just ignored them, paying attention to the band. then, he left.
chris came over to us and asked how we were doing. i told him we were okay, but had a little hard time breathing. so he asked if we wanted to stand on the other side of the barrier with all the equipment, right next to the stairs to the stage.
"YES!"
so we moved inside the barrier and stood on the side of the stage, detached from everyone else. when dynamite boy was finished playing they came off stage using the steps that i was standing about an inch from. then chris came over and asked for us to help break and set up, so we got up on stage, moving the equipment off.
we helped to set up for the next band and then resumed our spots. matchbook romance came out and played. the bassist was crazy; dancing, spinning around in circles, etc. a lot of people in the crowd were apparently fans because they were singing along a lot. now, i had heard some matchbook romance before and at the concert just... wow. they're amazing.
after they were done we again moved around the equipment. chris had me set up andy, the drummer of fall out boy's drumset. after that was all set up we went back to our spots again to watch the band. awesome. so fucking awesome.
and then. they wanted to pack up all the stuff that wasn't mest's so we had to move everything from the building to outside during the final intermission. after that we once again went to our standing spot.
jeremiah, tony, and matt (the bassist for mest) came into the equipent area. someone gave jeremiah a t-shirt and he went to pull the one he was wearing off. the crowd started screaming "take it off, take it off!" so i as he was taking off his shirt, matt and tony kind of cornered him against the wall, half blocking him from the crowd, half uh... molesting jeremiah. haha, they pinned him against the wall and had these devillish grins on their faces.
matt and tony went and sat on the side of the stage while jeremiah took pictures with people and signed autographs. this whole time, i was maybe 10 feet away from them, at most. when they got up on stage, they all brushed past me and i had a severe teenie moment where i giggled.
they played. jeremiah sang a lot (more than tony, i think). he gave away 20597 picks to the girls in the front row. he gave his water bottle to the girls in the front row. subsequently, the girls licked the mouth of it all "ooooh jeremiah spit!" he talked to these girls who were also in the equipment area (i assume they were friends, maybe a girlfriend?). he did something resembling the can-can, trying to have the girls capture it on film. he made 29573 crazy faces. he rolled his eyes a lot at the girls in the front row screaming at him. he sweat profusely. he and matt danced together. he cursed a lot.
if i could remember all the songs they played, i'm write that in here, but alas, i do not.
when they left the stage, the girls in the front were screaming for jeremiah so he rolled his eyes and walked over, leaning on the stage right in front of me. up against me, in fact. he took pictures with them all and signed stuff then turned around to walk away, but i stopped him, shoving my camera at steven.
"jeremiah, can i have a picture with you?" so we huddled together and took the picture, then he left. he also left a sizeable amount of sweat on me.
after they left, i thanked chris for letting us do this, and he asked if we wanted to hang around for a while. he said the band would be back out in about an hour, and he would introduce us. it was midnight and we had an hour drive home, so i stupidly declined. i'm really pissed at myself for that. really fucking pissed.
but the night overall was unbelieveable.
tony before the doors even opened
dynamite boy
tony while out watching dynamite boy
dynamite boy
dynamite boy
dynamite boy
matchbook romance
matchbook romance
fall out boy
fall out boy
fall out boy
fall out boy (i don't know who the guy at the mic is, but he's not part of the band)
the guy in the pooh costume. he didn't have tickets so he thought if he dressed up, he'd get into the show. clearly his plan worked. he even got pulled onstage by the bassist of fall out boy.
this is my "artistic" picture. you are looking at the ass of the bassist for matchbook romance. i thought the all access pass was neat so i took a picture. this was during fall out boy's performance.
the bassist from matchbook romance played the last song with fall out boy and then tackled everyone. this is the heap of musicians post-tackle.
the bassist from matchbook romance after the tackling. he hurt his wrist in the fall.
jeremiah signing autographs before they went on.
the best picture of matt EVER, haha
tony showing his tattoos off before they went on
jeremiah changing
matt and tony "blocking" a changing jeremiah.
mest
this was jeremiah's can-can dance that he did easily a dozen times during the show
matt and jeremiah getting ready to dance together
me and jeremiah
the pass chris gave me to wear. on the left scribbled out is "band" and on the right is "vip."
self-explanatory, and totally out-of-scale