you remind me of august
The week was fantastic, perfect and wonderful. I spent it with people who I care about so much but do not get to see all the time, met new people, had a picnic, and found a new band. Just a warning, this post is long.
The morning after this, Anberlin/TAI tour started.
The national support for the tour were Wherewolves and I strongly recommend you check them out. They have a guitarist who we called Mikeyray until the last day of tour (then we found out his name was Sam) because he looks like Ray Toro and Mikey Way had a baby together. Aside from that their drummer, Jared, ended up breaking part of his kit by the end of their set in each city. (And it has recently come to our attention that the email address listed on their website actually belongs to a friend's friend in New Zealand who has been receiving emails recently from people wanting to interview Wherewolves, their manager, as well as merch invoices. The friend has emailed the manager to get the website changed but nothing has happened as of yet.)
Here is their latest EP and two tracks off their previous one when they used to be known as A Year To Remember:
- The Night Before/The Morning After EP
- Bombs
- We Stayed
Download, listen and give these boys a chance. They're well worth it.
cookiedough, jezzabe, sharpest_rose and I stayed together in Adelaide where nothing is open on a Sunday and we wandered the streets before going to the venue.
M&G moments: William would have devoured that beef, writes the majority of the fanfiction, and stated Gabe is the best kisser. William jumped from beef to fanfiction himself, while those of us around tried to change the subject. The palm tree was aroused. Sisky mocked Mary for liking Adam Lambert: "No guy from American Idol is cool. And Adam Lambert is least cool.
It was exactly a year since I last saw The Academy Is. Their set was fantastic, and a really good crowd. Every night was the same, after The Academy Is... finished almost all of the front few rows would move out of the pit and let the Anberlin fans take over. We stayed around in the venue and listened to Anberlin for a little bit before heading back to our hotel.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Phrase
Seed
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
Melbourne U18: Flew back to city in the morning. Home, shower/change. Missed the train by two minutes. Sped Drove to the city and ran to Billboards. M&G half an hour late. Quick chat and photos before barrier. Mike was sick and didn't play the show. William thinks Wherewolves is a great band name but TAI are stuck with The Academy Is. And he pulled this face: :\. THEY RIPPED HIS SHIRT. :| Great show even even if a little crazy because it was underage. Ran into Shrimp, who was working the Melbourne dates of the tour (he'd spent all day FedEx-ing things for Anberlin and buying Carden cold and flu drugs). Walked into Sisky around the corner. Apparently Sisky's grandmother thinks this haircut is a Hitler haircut. Told Sisky to go watch Anberlin and to tell Mike to "get well soon". Home. Food. Sleep.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Phrase
Midtown
Cougar
Classifieds
Big Mess
About A Girl
Melbourne 18+: Skipped classes and worked on an assignment all day. Headed into the city and was stuck at the car park for 20 minutes while waiting for the rain and wind to let up (My city likes to have insane weather when I have no umbrella or proper hoodie). Met up with cookiedough and sharpest_rose in Funky Curry, before heading around to the venue to see jezzabe, imjustlikeme, tshirtgirl (who lent me her scarf), laenij, samenashi and many more. M&G was surprisingly on time. Tony split us into two groups but we still spoke about capitalism, America's health care system, Ayn Rand, and neck beards. The Butcher and I also had a "what's up?" "the sky!" conversation because that's always my response to that question. Then Tony rounded up the guys because doors were about to open. Stood on a box at the side of barrier all show which worked out well view-wise.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Seed
Rumored Nights
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
Went and got pizza with jezzabe, sharpest_rose and cookiedough and wandered back to the venue. Saw Stephen Christian running from the venue as soon as Anberlin's set finished and he stared when we laughed. Chatted with Shrimp, then home and sleep.
Sydney: Spent the next two days either at work or finishing off assignments and then flew to Sydney. Had to wait around two hours for laenij and samenashi to arrive. Sat in baggage claim and lo and behold, I look up and see familiar techs and band boys. I stayed on my bench and amused nabii with my tweets before going up to laenij's gate who had two of Wherewolves on her flight.
We made our way to our hotel ( we could see the Harbour Bridge through the window! Why yes, I am not a Sydney native) and then tried to navigate our way to the Roundhouse but Sydney's buses are confusing and we are far too used to trams. The weather was so nice and warm that we left our hoodies in our room but it did get a little colder (Natalie was lovely enough to lend me her hoodie though). The internet had a party in the queue. Everything was running late because first there were problems with the drum kit and then with the bass. Got my setlist from one of the other shows signed by all (Sisky doesn't think pink suits him). Told the guys thank you for the tour and how wonderful it's been, and that when they come back it should be in a month that isn't August or February.
laenij and I ended up having Wherewolves dedicate Tokyo to us. &Wherewolves;
It was the best show of the tour and a perfect way to finish. The crowd was absolutely alive for The Academy Is...
Still not used to the haircut.
Carden was either really happy, or high on cold and flu meds.
idek
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Phrase
Beware Cougar
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
The entire set can also be seen here. Unfortunately missing the moment where William disappeared off-stage, popped up at the front of barrier and everyone stared and went "yeah?"
Fell headfirst over barrier Left the pit and watched Anberlin from the side, said hello to Bryce from Wherewolves, met up with nabii (♥) who crashed at our hotel, and also chatted to 3/4ths of Wherewolves while 1/4 loaded their trailer.
Shoebox Picnic: Yum Cha in the morning followed by a picnic in Hyde Park! Several of these photos are stolen from samenashi.
Yum cha!
One of the many topics of discussion accompanied by a venn diagram.
samenashi took a sneaky photo of my wristbands.
It's the ibis that wanted to be nabii's friend!
Stacks on.
These kids asked us if we had any alcohol, accepted Grainwaves instead, and then bonded with nabii because she had the same phone as them.
lol Short Stack
The Cab: more punk/hardcore than you.
After heading to JB Hi-Fi, we wandered back to the hotel but not before cupcakes. And cookiedough let us watch the recording she took of her interview with William. ( Transcript here.) Then Lou, Sam and I went out for dinner and couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for, so ended up in a little Italian place where the waiters were great entertainment and they gave us lollipops before we left.
Flew home the next day on a flight that has been the first in years where the changes in cabin pressure hurt my ears.
Love to everyone on tour, for the laughs, standing in airport terminals, jokes, pizza, pillow fights, photos, all shared moments, and for being your wonderful selves. ♥ You guys make everything worth it.
The morning after this, Anberlin/TAI tour started.
The national support for the tour were Wherewolves and I strongly recommend you check them out. They have a guitarist who we called Mikeyray until the last day of tour (then we found out his name was Sam) because he looks like Ray Toro and Mikey Way had a baby together. Aside from that their drummer, Jared, ended up breaking part of his kit by the end of their set in each city. (And it has recently come to our attention that the email address listed on their website actually belongs to a friend's friend in New Zealand who has been receiving emails recently from people wanting to interview Wherewolves, their manager, as well as merch invoices. The friend has emailed the manager to get the website changed but nothing has happened as of yet.)
Here is their latest EP and two tracks off their previous one when they used to be known as A Year To Remember:
- The Night Before/The Morning After EP
- Bombs
- We Stayed
Download, listen and give these boys a chance. They're well worth it.
cookiedough, jezzabe, sharpest_rose and I stayed together in Adelaide where nothing is open on a Sunday and we wandered the streets before going to the venue.
M&G moments: William would have devoured that beef, writes the majority of the fanfiction, and stated Gabe is the best kisser. William jumped from beef to fanfiction himself, while those of us around tried to change the subject. The palm tree was aroused. Sisky mocked Mary for liking Adam Lambert: "No guy from American Idol is cool. And Adam Lambert is least cool.
It was exactly a year since I last saw The Academy Is. Their set was fantastic, and a really good crowd. Every night was the same, after The Academy Is... finished almost all of the front few rows would move out of the pit and let the Anberlin fans take over. We stayed around in the venue and listened to Anberlin for a little bit before heading back to our hotel.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Phrase
Seed
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
Melbourne U18: Flew back to city in the morning. Home, shower/change. Missed the train by two minutes. Sped Drove to the city and ran to Billboards. M&G half an hour late. Quick chat and photos before barrier. Mike was sick and didn't play the show. William thinks Wherewolves is a great band name but TAI are stuck with The Academy Is. And he pulled this face: :\. THEY RIPPED HIS SHIRT. :| Great show even even if a little crazy because it was underage. Ran into Shrimp, who was working the Melbourne dates of the tour (he'd spent all day FedEx-ing things for Anberlin and buying Carden cold and flu drugs). Walked into Sisky around the corner. Apparently Sisky's grandmother thinks this haircut is a Hitler haircut. Told Sisky to go watch Anberlin and to tell Mike to "get well soon". Home. Food. Sleep.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Phrase
Midtown
Cougar
Classifieds
Big Mess
About A Girl
Melbourne 18+: Skipped classes and worked on an assignment all day. Headed into the city and was stuck at the car park for 20 minutes while waiting for the rain and wind to let up (My city likes to have insane weather when I have no umbrella or proper hoodie). Met up with cookiedough and sharpest_rose in Funky Curry, before heading around to the venue to see jezzabe, imjustlikeme, tshirtgirl (who lent me her scarf), laenij, samenashi and many more. M&G was surprisingly on time. Tony split us into two groups but we still spoke about capitalism, America's health care system, Ayn Rand, and neck beards. The Butcher and I also had a "what's up?" "the sky!" conversation because that's always my response to that question. Then Tony rounded up the guys because doors were about to open. Stood on a box at the side of barrier all show which worked out well view-wise.
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Seed
Rumored Nights
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
Went and got pizza with jezzabe, sharpest_rose and cookiedough and wandered back to the venue. Saw Stephen Christian running from the venue as soon as Anberlin's set finished and he stared when we laughed. Chatted with Shrimp, then home and sleep.
Sydney: Spent the next two days either at work or finishing off assignments and then flew to Sydney. Had to wait around two hours for laenij and samenashi to arrive. Sat in baggage claim and lo and behold, I look up and see familiar techs and band boys. I stayed on my bench and amused nabii with my tweets before going up to laenij's gate who had two of Wherewolves on her flight.
We made our way to our hotel ( we could see the Harbour Bridge through the window! Why yes, I am not a Sydney native) and then tried to navigate our way to the Roundhouse but Sydney's buses are confusing and we are far too used to trams. The weather was so nice and warm that we left our hoodies in our room but it did get a little colder (Natalie was lovely enough to lend me her hoodie though). The internet had a party in the queue. Everything was running late because first there were problems with the drum kit and then with the bass. Got my setlist from one of the other shows signed by all (Sisky doesn't think pink suits him). Told the guys thank you for the tour and how wonderful it's been, and that when they come back it should be in a month that isn't August or February.
laenij and I ended up having Wherewolves dedicate Tokyo to us. &Wherewolves;
It was the best show of the tour and a perfect way to finish. The crowd was absolutely alive for The Academy Is...
Still not used to the haircut.
Carden was either really happy, or high on cold and flu meds.
idek
Set:
Almost Here
Forever Young
Slow Down
Neighbors
Phrase
Beware Cougar
Checkmarks
Midtown
Big Mess
About A Girl
The entire set can also be seen here. Unfortunately missing the moment where William disappeared off-stage, popped up at the front of barrier and everyone stared and went "yeah?"
Fell headfirst over barrier Left the pit and watched Anberlin from the side, said hello to Bryce from Wherewolves, met up with nabii (♥) who crashed at our hotel, and also chatted to 3/4ths of Wherewolves while 1/4 loaded their trailer.
Shoebox Picnic: Yum Cha in the morning followed by a picnic in Hyde Park! Several of these photos are stolen from samenashi.
Yum cha!
One of the many topics of discussion accompanied by a venn diagram.
samenashi took a sneaky photo of my wristbands.
It's the ibis that wanted to be nabii's friend!
Stacks on.
These kids asked us if we had any alcohol, accepted Grainwaves instead, and then bonded with nabii because she had the same phone as them.
lol Short Stack
The Cab: more punk/hardcore than you.
After heading to JB Hi-Fi, we wandered back to the hotel but not before cupcakes. And cookiedough let us watch the recording she took of her interview with William. ( Transcript here.) Then Lou, Sam and I went out for dinner and couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for, so ended up in a little Italian place where the waiters were great entertainment and they gave us lollipops before we left.
Flew home the next day on a flight that has been the first in years where the changes in cabin pressure hurt my ears.
Love to everyone on tour, for the laughs, standing in airport terminals, jokes, pizza, pillow fights, photos, all shared moments, and for being your wonderful selves. ♥ You guys make everything worth it.