Panic at the Cobra Academy Australia 08 (3/?)
Rod Laver was... kind of a little bit of a clusterfuck, GA-wise, and by sheer crappy chance I wound up getting denied barrier with the other three and decided that there was no point being three people back in a crazy shoving part of the pit before the openers even came on, so I shoved my way out and wound up on the barrier a lot further stage right. I could see Brendon, Ryan and Jon pretty well (except when they went too far back), and I did see a couple of things I'd have missed from any other angle so I can't regret it (and given the other epic failery of the Rod Laver security plan, which was that they refused to give water out until Zack yelled at them multiple times about it so there was no water until 9itA, which by that point would probably have made me miserable if I had managed to stick with the others anyway), but it did also mean that I only saw Spencer when he walked on and off stage and couldn't see the drums at all. Probably more about their Epic Fail later, though, because a) cbfed dwelling right now and b) I really do kind of want to write them a blistering letter pointing out that both science and anecdotal evidence in NO WAY support their idea of a 'safer way' to do it. Physics and psychology both thumb their nose at that crap.
Melbourne:
TAI. Adam Siska is a darling bouncy wee thing, and somehow managed to bounce back behind the speaker stack every time I tried to take a photo of him.
Aw, Bill. Also featured: the security guard who got jammed between me and the barrier so that I couldn't, y'know, get on it when the crowd hit critical mass and stopped listening to instructions.
I really don't think Michael Guy Chislett could look any more stereotypically Australian if he tried, it's just- HEE. Aww.
William doing his pointy dance (tm Andrea).
Gabe and Bill, during Checkmarks, iirc. AW.
...I can't lie. From my little boat floating on the river Shallow, this picture is all about the line of Ryan Ross' back. Just- look at that. Seriously. Aesthetically guuuuuuh.
Ahahahaaa their FACES. I have no idea what was going on here, but I giggled.
Pretty boys. *maybe has Pansy Division in her head now, too* Brendon kept getting his vest caught in his strings, it was kind of ridiculously adorable. (I am using that phrase a lot, but it is RELEVANT, okay? :D)
It's entirely possible that if you zoom in on this it may seem like Brendon is probably wearing blue underwear. Not that I would've done such a thing.
No prizes for guessing why this photo makes me grin like a crazy person.
I'm pretty sure this was when Ryan was sassing Jon about the bare feet.
Brendon was saying something to Zack. ...my position was also totally excellent for side-stage, and I got to see Zack field the tambourine from both Brendon (which he threw hard, hee), and Ryan. It may have been the first of the three times I've seen Ryan throw his tambourine to Zack that it didn't nearly take his head off. <3
Seriously, their little faaaaaaaaces.
Gabe got cornered by the mens room out in the arena after the show. We kind of hoped he was on his way out rather than in. I have to admire the sheer aplomb with which he handled being basically hemmed in against a wall by a scary number of shove-y people (I gave up on trying to get up to him to say something when the group around us suddenly tripled in size and it started feeling stupid and dangerous and I no longer wanted to be a part of it).
And, that's all I have for stills. Video's going to take me a lot longer to go through - I have some good video, but I am willing to bet without having even checked it on the computer yet that most of the audio will be sufficiently bad as to be unlistenable, but we shall see. Fangirl photos (of which I have lamely far fewer than I would've liked) to follow once I have my shit together a bit better.
And if you're the person who was in the Brisbane M+G photo with me and jocondite - I'm sorry, I fail hardcore and have forgotten your name - please comment or email me and I can send you the photo (and crop you out when I post it myself, if you prefer).
I have a LOT of shiny awesome stuff to write up, and some hilarious quotes and injokes, but mostly for now: aaaaaaaah I can't wait till Saturday. :D