Ours/Blue October Recap - Hampton Beach
Saw Ours at the Hampton Beach Ballroom Casino last night. Had a blast, and I have to say- Blue October really impressed me, and their fans? Totally full of class. Ours came on stage around 7:20 after being introduced by a guy from 93.1 in Portland, ME who basically said something to the effect of what an amazing singer Jimmy was, which was pretty damn cool! I had managed to get myself front and DEAD CENTER in front of Jimmy after asking nicely if I could stand up front for Ours and then would move after. Blue October fans are awesome and because there was a little bit of space, they were more than happy to let me move up. Erin stood right behind me and it’s a good thing that I was a) at the barricade and had something to hold onto and b) Erin was standing behind me. It also bears mentioning that Jimmy looked totally hot - no hat (thank GOD), black jeans and a t-shirt. In the four Ours shows I have seen, I have NEVER seen him in anything without sleeves. Needless to say, considering the fact it was cloudy and windy, it was a nice treat.
Ours opened with Willing, and in the middle of it, Jimmy looked straight at Erin and I and smiled. It was a smile of recognition too - like he knew who we were! We’re talking FULL OUT GRIN HERE. I was taking pictures at that point and I thought Jimmy had smiled at me because he had seen me doing so. There are 3 pictures in a row on my camera that are blurry because of that moment. Jimmy was in awesome mood- really smiley. The guy standing next to me was like, "He just totally looked STRAIGHT AT YOU.” It’s probably good that I was holding onto the barricade and had my camera wrapped around my wrist because I would have either a) fallen over at that moment, b) dropped the camera, or c) a combination of both. Sing to Me was awesome. Its totally catchy and I loved it a lot. I’m hoping that’ll be on the new record. I also loved Bohemian Rhapsody. Just Jimmy and the guitar, gah. I’ve never heard it live before, and the crowd was getting into it, which was nice. The people around us before they started were asking who they were and seemed pretty impressed by this point, so to have something that everyone knew and could sing along to was, in my opinion, genius on Jimmy’s part.
Murder is probably one of my favorite songs to see live because of the intensity. Jimmy got down on the floor and started banging out the beat with drumsticks, while Race and James got people clapping along. At one point Static was playing and then looked over at Race to figure out what the beat was so he could get the people on his side into it. Ryan from Blue October came out and played violin with them and that just added to the intensity - a whole new layer to the song. The song is intense as it is, and that just made it so much more awesome.
At the end of Murder, it looked like Jimmy wanted to put his foot on the barricade although it was a bit too far away. I almost thought he was going to jump down on the floor and get up on the barricade right where I was standing and I'm really not going to lie (And I'm going to fangirl for a minute here), HOLY SHIT IF THAT HAD HAPPENED I WOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE FLOOR. They wrapped up with Fallen Souls and I was watching Jimmy's face before he went into the scream. I have never noticed it before but he takes a moment before he does and its the most beautiful thing. He closes his eyes and breathes, almost like he's preparing and working himself up for it.
After their set we worked our way out of the crowd at the front, and here's the thing about the Casino Ballroom. Anywhere you stand, you can pretty much see. We were able to watch Switchfoot and Blue October from off to the side. Ran into Rachel and Kathilyn, along with a couple of friends of theirs, so it was good to see them again.
We stepped out back to get some air and were standing at the bottom of a rather large set of stairs when I felt something fall pretty heavily against my leg. I look down and there was a woman face down on the concrete. Erin's in shock thinking she was out cold, but she turned out to be ok. It bears mentioning that the stairs were wet and she had heels on, plus the stairs were pretty steep. It had been raining all day so they were slippery - we had a moment where we tripped going back up them. Not a set of stairs to be wearing heels around, for sure! Security got her sitting on the stairs and when we stepped out later on, saw her getting into the van with Jimmy and co. Not sure what happened after they left, and the van wasn't back after the concert when we left. We spoke to security briefly and they said she was going to be ok. She was clearly an Ours fan because we saw her talking to Kathilyn and Rachel inside before this happened, but I didn't know who she was. So I really hope everything *was* ok with her. We also ran into Race and Locke, and walked by Static (who looked like he was a man on a mission) so we really didn't get a chance to say hey to him. We did get to speak to Race and Locke for a minute (just a quick hi) as they were helping April bring out merch.
Even though I went to the concert solely for Ours, I was really impressed by Blue October. They put on a HELL of a show and I would go see them again. I really need to check out more of their music because its good. Justin is just a lot of fun to watch on stage - he’s a very captivating performer and Ryan is a blast to watch on the violin because he totally rocks that shit out. He also plays the keyboards. There was an older guy standing next to Erin and I back towards the soundboard that was jumping around and knew all the words to every single song. He was fun to watch, and at one point, Justin pulled up a kid (who was about 14 or 15) from the front row (who had taken my spot after Ours) onto stage to sing Jump Rope with them, which was totally cool! The crowd was going nuts and one of the guys was off to the side filming, so I’m sure the video is floating around somewhere. Overall, it was an awesome show and I had a blast. It was the perfect capper of a week with Erin.
Ok, picture time!
Jimmy looked straight at Erin and I and smiled and this is what happened:
^ Probably my favorite picture that I took all night.
All the rest of the pictures are here: smg.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Princessleia04/Ours%20Hampton%2009/
Ours opened with Willing, and in the middle of it, Jimmy looked straight at Erin and I and smiled. It was a smile of recognition too - like he knew who we were! We’re talking FULL OUT GRIN HERE. I was taking pictures at that point and I thought Jimmy had smiled at me because he had seen me doing so. There are 3 pictures in a row on my camera that are blurry because of that moment. Jimmy was in awesome mood- really smiley. The guy standing next to me was like, "He just totally looked STRAIGHT AT YOU.” It’s probably good that I was holding onto the barricade and had my camera wrapped around my wrist because I would have either a) fallen over at that moment, b) dropped the camera, or c) a combination of both. Sing to Me was awesome. Its totally catchy and I loved it a lot. I’m hoping that’ll be on the new record. I also loved Bohemian Rhapsody. Just Jimmy and the guitar, gah. I’ve never heard it live before, and the crowd was getting into it, which was nice. The people around us before they started were asking who they were and seemed pretty impressed by this point, so to have something that everyone knew and could sing along to was, in my opinion, genius on Jimmy’s part.
Murder is probably one of my favorite songs to see live because of the intensity. Jimmy got down on the floor and started banging out the beat with drumsticks, while Race and James got people clapping along. At one point Static was playing and then looked over at Race to figure out what the beat was so he could get the people on his side into it. Ryan from Blue October came out and played violin with them and that just added to the intensity - a whole new layer to the song. The song is intense as it is, and that just made it so much more awesome.
At the end of Murder, it looked like Jimmy wanted to put his foot on the barricade although it was a bit too far away. I almost thought he was going to jump down on the floor and get up on the barricade right where I was standing and I'm really not going to lie (And I'm going to fangirl for a minute here), HOLY SHIT IF THAT HAD HAPPENED I WOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE FLOOR. They wrapped up with Fallen Souls and I was watching Jimmy's face before he went into the scream. I have never noticed it before but he takes a moment before he does and its the most beautiful thing. He closes his eyes and breathes, almost like he's preparing and working himself up for it.
After their set we worked our way out of the crowd at the front, and here's the thing about the Casino Ballroom. Anywhere you stand, you can pretty much see. We were able to watch Switchfoot and Blue October from off to the side. Ran into Rachel and Kathilyn, along with a couple of friends of theirs, so it was good to see them again.
We stepped out back to get some air and were standing at the bottom of a rather large set of stairs when I felt something fall pretty heavily against my leg. I look down and there was a woman face down on the concrete. Erin's in shock thinking she was out cold, but she turned out to be ok. It bears mentioning that the stairs were wet and she had heels on, plus the stairs were pretty steep. It had been raining all day so they were slippery - we had a moment where we tripped going back up them. Not a set of stairs to be wearing heels around, for sure! Security got her sitting on the stairs and when we stepped out later on, saw her getting into the van with Jimmy and co. Not sure what happened after they left, and the van wasn't back after the concert when we left. We spoke to security briefly and they said she was going to be ok. She was clearly an Ours fan because we saw her talking to Kathilyn and Rachel inside before this happened, but I didn't know who she was. So I really hope everything *was* ok with her. We also ran into Race and Locke, and walked by Static (who looked like he was a man on a mission) so we really didn't get a chance to say hey to him. We did get to speak to Race and Locke for a minute (just a quick hi) as they were helping April bring out merch.
Even though I went to the concert solely for Ours, I was really impressed by Blue October. They put on a HELL of a show and I would go see them again. I really need to check out more of their music because its good. Justin is just a lot of fun to watch on stage - he’s a very captivating performer and Ryan is a blast to watch on the violin because he totally rocks that shit out. He also plays the keyboards. There was an older guy standing next to Erin and I back towards the soundboard that was jumping around and knew all the words to every single song. He was fun to watch, and at one point, Justin pulled up a kid (who was about 14 or 15) from the front row (who had taken my spot after Ours) onto stage to sing Jump Rope with them, which was totally cool! The crowd was going nuts and one of the guys was off to the side filming, so I’m sure the video is floating around somewhere. Overall, it was an awesome show and I had a blast. It was the perfect capper of a week with Erin.
Ok, picture time!
Jimmy looked straight at Erin and I and smiled and this is what happened:
^ Probably my favorite picture that I took all night.
All the rest of the pictures are here: smg.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Princessleia04/Ours%20Hampton%2009/