Allison's really long ass concert(s) recap
So, the most important thing to know about Sunday morning is that I didn’t have time to/forgot to make myself a peanut butter sandwich. I had an apple and a granola (muesli) bar, and then ran to catch the bus to the train to the venue. The train has a little marquee that tells you what station is coming up next. They were about eight ahead, so I was kind of confused. I finally got to the station and then had no idea where I was \o/
Apparently there are two exits out of that station, I was headed towards the footy field, and couldn’t find Swan St, so I asked the info dudes where it was and they pointed me to the opposite end of that exit, but the only sign I could find was Olympic blvd. So I called notyourfriend for help. She rescued me from myself and brought me to meet the others in line. Oh god, so many teenies. I got to cut a bunch of them and didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt, because I’m a terrible person. They had tagged ‘Santi’ EVERYWHERE. We didn’t even realize how much until Monday. Anyway, there was hanging out and saying hi, and Vicky T was out wandering around so I got another picture with her.
We were a bit curious as to how they’d handle the ‘Under 18’ part of the letting us in, and the answer is ‘not at all’. We just walked right in, all my carefully prepared lies, and notyourfriend’s fake school id that said she was Jess E. Lacey were unneeded.
I ended up a couple people back from the barrier, which was fine.
Look at that dork grin! He’s so pleased!
Mad dance moves.
I used Beth as a tripod until this one girl, who we referred to in line as William’s doppelganger, (purple plaid hair, same weird shag/mullet thing, skinny) started shoving me to the right. It was more the crowd than her, but I still blame her, because by the end of the set I was eating her hair, and the whole lack of food thing made me want to pass out, so I had to bail from the pit.
But you know, while up close I noticed that Ryland’s guitar wasn’t out yet, but Mike Carden’s was and that someone had a White Sox sticker on the back of their (bass), but no one in Cobra is from Chicago, so I was a bit confused. Turns out that they’re just sharing stuff; Alex Suarez is borrowing Sisky’s bass while they’re down here. He told me himself!
Ryland with Mike Carden’s guitar.
Fangs on the rise at the start of Hey Mr. DJ
At this point, that show is kind of a blur, except for the part where Gabe started singing in Spanish during “The Ballad of Big Poppa and Diamond Girl” and seemed impressed by my Spanish skills, if they way he was making the rapist eyes was any indication \o/ Beth said later, “He was really impressed by one person behind me….was that you?” So, yeah, I guess?
I had hoped that Gabe would come out before/during the TAI… set, but alas, it was not to be. I did hang out some with another girl who’d been having pit issues, too, so at least I wasn’t by myself. I did see Alex in one of the booth things towards the back of the crowd and I went up all casual like, “So they’ve got you teching, too?”
“Yeah, I’m doing lights for The Academy’s show.”
And then I asked about the sticker, I was all “I didn’t think you were from Chicago.” Which he’s not, he explained the whole borrowing thing, and then I was out of things to say, so I wandered off like the awkward turtle that I am.
I was so bittercakes during the TAI… set, because I had been so close! And now I was all far away, and my pictures kept turning out kind of shitty.
But I was in a pretty good spot to at least get kind of close to Gabe when he came out after the show as through. I only had to wade through three feet of adolescents (I’m such a superior twenty year old) instead of six. I told him I’d seen him in Chicago at the HCT (and I was wearing my ‘It’s Warmer in Gabe’s Basement’ shirt like a DORK) and he claimed I looked familiar. Thank you, Gabe!
I was getting something signed for the girl I’d been standing with, since she wanted stuff signed for like, three people, and so he wrote on her thing “Great seeing you again, ♥ Gabe”. I took a picture of it before giving it back to her.
Gabe was trapped in a corner and then William came out from the backstage, and the groups were so close together it was a bit nuts. I didn’t feel like wading through a bunch of crazy William fangirls, so I went outside with Beth and notyourfriend and the rest to get photos and signatures with Sisky and Chiz.
I was wearing my DePaul sweatshirt, but Sisky didn’t notice, he was kind of being mobbed. GOOD LORD is he pretty. He’s all tan and he’s got this stubble and oh man, his eyes. I was not expecting that. My hand may or may not have been shaking as I tried to take the photo. *facepalm*
Beckett had come out the back door to do the meet and greet with fans, so it was the three of them and Gabe, I think everyone else had just passed out, because they’d gotten NO sleep since the Adelaide show, seeing as (I’m assuming) the end of that show and the start of this one were about 12 hours apart.
With Beth and charliechocer for back up, I decided to brave the crowd towards Beckett. We were waiting for a while, and right as Tegan made it to the front, Bill got a “Last one, time to go”. But she got her SoaP DVD cover signed, and Beth shoved hers at him, too, so she got hers done. There was someone going “my friend is CRYING” etc. I tried not to laugh.
What surprised all of us, I think was the number of Beckett fanboys. Some of them were actually twelve and about four feet tall, I came this close to asking one if he wanted a boost up during the show. There were also a couple that had done the sneak into the underage show with us. One of them asked “guess how old I am”. Me:…15? Him: 19! Me: if you say so. (Compared to Sisky, who is also 19, this kid definitely looked 15). We actually saw him the next day, and he was all “Do you remember me?” “Yeah, you’re the fifteen year old.” He was wearing a scarf around his knee, on Monday, someone asked if he was gay and he got all offended. We gave him shit for his reaction though, and pointed out that 18+ Beckett fanboys are a bit thin on the ground.
Anyway, the band guys all had to leave and go sleep, and we were starving, so we headed down to Swanston St for some Japanese food. I didn’t think I ate that much, but I was stuffed after. Beth was nice enough to drive me back home, and Tegan was nice enough to tell her how to get there. They spent most of the ride making fun of my accent. It was a continuing theme on Monday.
Monday! Over 18s!
I knew that the two of them and some of the others would be back early on Monday, so I figured I’d head out after my nine am lecture. At 10:30, right as I was planning on leaving, I got a call from my friend saying “ready to work on that project that’s due tomorrow?” *sigh* So I got there just before 1 pm, and was convinced I was going to be cutting off a huge group of people, who’d be all pissed at me. (I thought I’d care, that day).
Nope! There were five or six people huddled in what became known as the Batcave/Tardis etc. More of our group from yesterday showed up about half an hour later, and then people we didn’t know turned up maybe half an hour after them. Around two or so, we decided to order pizza and have it delivered to our street corner. It was fun, we looked at pictures of Frank’s new tattoo on Maria’s sidekick, wrote ‘this shit is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! S-u-p-e-r-c-a-l-i-f-r-a-g-a…’ in front of the band entrance, in the first stage of my plan to get them to play “Hollerback Boy.”
Time actually passed by really quickly, until about 5 pm when it sloooooooowed. There was a lot of “What do you call…” “How do you say...” making fun of the American. A fair amount of people had showed up by then, doors were at 7:30. We were a little tired of our spot by then, it’d been four hours for me, about six for the others, so we made a lot of trips to Beth’s car, which happened to be parked behind the venue, where the bands also parked. I think it was around six? That they showed up, I felt so weird stalking them back there, but I got over it. I told Ryland how much I loved Guy Ripley and that I thought he was awesome, Nate ran away from us, and Alex moved inside quickly and I didn’t see Vicky. Gabe however, stayed outside for a while, and so did Mike Carden. I didn’t really talk to Mike, I didn’t have ANY idea what I’d say, so I hung out with Gabe, who was all “Hey, nice to see you again.”
I got another picture with him and asked if they could maybe play Hollerback Boy, and he said they would if we asked, so obviously, we would. Others were hanging out and taking pictures and I was hitting squee maximum and had to run off to a) make sure I didn’t embarrass myself and b) make sure we still had a place in line, though we did have a knife for our cheese, so we could cut anyone who tried to take it from us.
I’M SO SAD I LEFT. So, notyourfriend asked about the cat tattoo on his ankle from that buzznet video. I THOUGHT IT WAS TEMPORARY. NO, APPARENTLY NOT. He lifted his pant leg to show his ankle and the cat tattoo, (I would’ve swooned, I think) and then she showed him her “also into cats” bracelet. Apparently he was all “Can I put that on my ankle?” And she was all “I think it’d break?” SO HE PUT IT IN HIS MOUTH INSTEAD. (I need a copy of that picture, btw)
I returned eventually, Mike Carden was still there talking to people but it was just him and Gabe, and we were just hanging out by Beth’s car, and talking. Then he brought out his sidekick (it’s green and kind of flowery? OH GABE) and was all “I need to go make a phone call, I can’t use this down here, it’s locked, but I’ve got my FOE phone” *busts it out* “and it’s unlocked, but I’m out of credit.”
Us: You can get credit at any grocery store around here, there’s one up the block. (we were VERY tempted to get him some, and like, trade it for a shirt)
But then Maria (again don’t know LJ name) was all “You can borrow my sidekick.”
He was all “Are you sure?” “It’s a 1-800 number…”
Australians: What’s a 1-800?
Me: A toll free number?
But yeah, we flailed while he wandered around the other side of the parking lot and what not. Then he came back and talked to us all some more, monkeycrackmary got a picture of him with the graffiti on the wall and we were playing around with phones some more. He took his away after someone was jokingly scrolling through his contacts.
Then he was all “Shit, was that Ryland [that just walked by]?”
All of us that had gone RYLAND! in our heads: Yup.
Gabe: Oh, that means I have to go do sound check.
So we went back to our place in line and flailed for the next forty minutes, and did some “When did you get here?” as people joined our group.
Finally it was show time and hurray actual barrier! The opening act, City Riots, was playing on a side stage and tonight most of the crowd (except those of us wedged in at the barrier) actually turned to watch them. During the break we played the “Make Allison say things” game again. Seriously, just because I actually say the ‘er’ noise does not make me a freak. And please, no one ever say that Jon Walker always wears ‘thongs’ unless it’s NC-17 and kinky as hell. (If anyone ever needs a yank pick, let me know! …not that there aren’t tons of Americans in this fandom)
ANYWAY. THE SHOW.
So god, they came on stage to some rap song, like the night before, and I swear he looked out in the crowd and saw us losers fans who had been talking with him before and just grinned. They were all pretty pumped, and Gabe was showing off his Koala with an Uzi shirt (it says ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. DORK) and then they started in on Hey Mr. DJ, complete with the slow rise of the fangs and he was dancing and doing the little hat flick.
I think it was during Keep It Simple that he stepped on the barrier to lean out in the crowd, and he was stepping right in front of me. See, the barrier was really quite high, so his foot was poking me in the boob (that makes Pete and Gabe, btw, who have kind of kicked me in the torso) and as the crowd grabbed at him he lost his balance and had to use my head to steady him. I decided to help him out by clutching at his calf. APPROPRIATE TOUCHING. HONESTLY.
(yeah, that was my view)
Beth and I had looked at the set list and debated where to start shouting for Hollerback Boy (we were strategic. Mostly I didn’t want it to go in place of It’s Warmer In The Basement) and we decided to do it then. So I yelled for it, and everyone else who knew of the plan started going then, too. I definitely yelled “YOU PROMISED”. But he was all “How about we do that a little later in the show.”
That picture is just accidentally awesome.
At about this point I realized that Vicky T had taken her shoes off, and they stayed off for the rest of the show. I found it amusing. On the set list they call “It’s Amateur Night at the Apollo Creed!” “Speed It Up”, which is confusing to me, but I guess they can’t fit all of the epic titles on there. Like on Sunday, Gabe introduced “The Kids Are All Fucked Up” as a love song about taking too many drugs to either William or all of The Academy Is… Gabe mentioned that he was a little drunk, “but I’m awesome like this!” You’re such a class act, Gabe.
And then he was all “This is another love song…about loving a girl so much, you can’t share her with the world and keep her locked up in your basement.” (Take me there, Gabe, please!)
During the guitar bit, Ryland came out to the barrier, too, and was playing the guitar right there, so I reached up to touch Mike’s pretty, pretty guitar, and then reached back to touch Gabe’s pretty, pretty guitar player.
After Basement, Gabe, too, noticed that Vicky wasn’t wearing her shoes (though they weren’t her converse), and so he sat down on the stage right next to them and started giving her shit. She probably wished she had one in hand to smack him with. ♥
I think my favorite part of Diamond Girl, besides the salsa with Vicky, is when Gabe plays Ryland’s neck for the ‘ow ow ow ow’ noise. I forgot to get a picture on Sunday and had to try like, three times Monday to get one. (This is for you, kalpurna) Ryland said after “Did you notice that the lights went ‘ow ow ow’ too?” and they gave props to all the crew.
They played “Church of Hot Addiction”, and see, earlier when we had been talking, Maria mentioned to us (and later Gabe!) that she could never here the E in “G-A-B-E gonna get you high” so she had thought it was G-A-B. So as the song was starting up, he came right over to her and grabbed her finger and gave it a little shake, and then when it came up on the first chorus he definitely sang it “G-A-B gonna get you high”. As kalpurna says “celebrities who are into fans = bullet proof kink”.
I knew it was almost time for Bring it, so I had to start yelling for Hollerback Boy again, and everyone else did too and this time they did it \o/ It was beautiful guys.
Then it was time for Bring it and he was all “The first time you guys probably heard of us was last summer…well, maybe not all of you” and pointed at the cluster of us. Oh Gabe, if only you knew how late to the game I was <3
Bill and Sisky came out again and rocked it, Sisky rapping like a hard core dude, and kind of looking hilarious, Bill being a hot ass and flirting with Gabe. I mean…yeah.
(ahahah just hit six pages) As they were clearing the stage, Ryland came over to the front and handed me his pick. Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took me a second to get my fingers to work so I could put it in my pocket without dropping it. There was also a scramble for a set list, which I lost, but I think Maria won?
As they prepped the stage for TAI… it cracked me up as they brought out beer bottles with the water. Oh you classy lushes. AND THEN, they brought out four beverages in little glasses and put them in front of Butcher’s drum. They were obviously for Bill, because he came out with another one just like it and put it down with them.
Oh my god, that boy is lovely and very active, so active, in fact, that he broke ALLLL of those glasses by the end of the first or second song. The crew were trying to clean it up and Bill was all “Whoops? I kind of broke my drinks…”
He also said, “We were kind of tired at yesterday’s show. Which was at noon. Yesterday’s ‘matinee’.” I can’t remember if it was him or Gabe who complimented those of us who got fake IDs to make us U18 to get into that show.
Their set is sort of a blur of “oh my god, he’s really close! Hi!” When he reached into the crowd, other people usually grabbed his hand, so I used my length to hold on to his dainty wrists and at least once he held mine, too, as he pulled away. He made a lot of eye contact and oh pretty smile. Pretty, pretty smile.
I forget what song he plays the tambourine on, but I love that. When I took this picture, the girl behind me was all “I saaaaw that.” I responded with “I was taking a picture of the tambourine, I swear!”
I loved how during “We’ve Got a Big Mess on Our Hands” Butcher is actually the one that sings the ‘big big mess’ while Bill and the crowd do the ohhh ohs.
The Butcher is an amazing specimen, and Sisky’s head is apparently always moving too fast for my camera to capture. Maybe the amazingness of that face just can’t be captured with something like a point and shoot.
Chiz was not quite so difficult to photograph.
Bill wants YOU…
…to write wingfic.
They came out and did 40 Steps again (anyone have an mp3?), just Bill and Chiz, then Butcher joined them, (the reason the camera lingers on Butcher so during the video is, well, look at him. Also, I was hoping for a silly dance, like the day before.)
Then the rest of the band came out for “Almost Here” and after, Sisky threw his extra picks into the crowd. I just had my hand up out of instinct, and when one hit my hand just closed around it. Complete accident. I’ve never understood how ANYONE catches those.
I also managed to snag a bottle of water that we passed down the line, aaaaaaaaaand a set list. It was amazing. I totally scored. And then it was time for the meet and greet. Gabe was in the back by the bar and mobbed by fans, and I couldn’t see anyone else, so I ran over to the merch table and bought one of the tour shirts, because how many kids in Chicago will have the Australian Winter Tour shirt? Yeah, that’s what I figured. Also snagged the fugtastic Cobra vs. Starship shirt. You know, the one I wouldn’t by during the HCT because it was too hideous. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, GABE? Of course, the girls say it’s me being Australian “It’s HIDEOUS. I MUST HAVE IT.”
I pulled that on over my shirt and went to loiter by the door that Bill came out of the night before, sure enough, five minutes later there he was. He signed a few things, but apparently got cold, and ducked back to grab his jacket. Some people were very panicky about this, but when he came back out some of the dudes behind us began mock shrieking, like the girls yesterday. Bill was all “Very funny, you guys are verrrrry funny.”
I kept shoving monkeycrackmary who had the awesome art _audrey made, forward, because I really wanted him to see it. She got there eventually and he was properly impressed. He signed the two copies she brought for herself and Audrey and gave him one. We were joking that it might be kind of weird if he put it up at his place, so I was all “Send it to your grandma, she can put it in a scrapbook” and he was all “yeah, my mom is into keeping this stuff.”
Then it was my turn, and I did my “hi, you were great, I saw you guys in Chicago” bit and his eyes kind of bugged at that, “You did?” “Yeah, twice at the HCT. I go to DePaul.” “Oh!” (he was a little confused) “So are you originally from Australia?” “Nope, studying abroad, but I heard you guys were coming and bought my tickets before I actually had confirmation I was allowed to come.” He looked quite pleased.
I got my set list signed and then wandered off to meet up with people. I noticed that Alex was alone, and decided to go say hi again. I asked if he did the lights again, tonight and he said yeah, apparently TAI didn’t have anyone to do it, so he volunteered. ♥ I told him good job and got a picture.
I’d pushed notyourfriend in Nate’s direction earlier so she could complete her collection (I don’t know if he’d intended to meet with fans there, but he was going to), and there were only a few people standing by him, after I said bye to Alex, to I went over to talk to him. He’s ADORABLE. Did you know he was from Georgia? I got to look at his tour pass thing (and correct his pronunciation of Brisbane). They’re headed for Asia and Europe next, I was all “I don’t know how you say most of those.” I did mention that kalpurna and quettaser were headed to England for the Decaydance fest, and he said he thought people might do that.
I also said I thought it was awesome when I saw guys from the other bands rocking out to each other from side stage. He was all “It’s awesome touring with these guys, you know?” Because he really was adorable the way he was singing along with “Almost Here”.
And yeah, the crowd around Gabe had lessened, as I think we were being kicked out and the bar closing, so I was all “Can I grab another photo, now that I have my Cobra gear?” and we threw up the fangs. He also signed my TAI set list because I had nothing else. “One L or two? Two Ss or one?” I should’ve said three, that would’ve been very snake like, but yeah, wasn’t that creative at the time.
I was getting ready to go because I had to catch trains and buses and get my stuff from Beth’s car, but I saw Ryland sitting in their van, as the crowds mobbed Sisky, Chiz and Butcher (wish I could’ve gotten a photo with him. Or touched him) so I got him to sign the pick I got, it says ‘Ry-Ry’ guys. Ry-Ry. There wasn’t time for me to get Sisky to sign his pick, but it does have the TAI logo like on Butcher’s drums, so that’s pretty cool.
Then I got my stuff, ran to the train, caught it just in time and then caught the last bus back to Uni. I probably could’ve walked if I’d had to, but I was happy that I didn’t.
And man, I wish I had gone to Sydney, too, but I had a project and then this write up would be about sixteen pages long, instead of eight (before pictures).
Videos can be found here. Youtube has said a lot of them have failed, which makes me really sad, but I’ll figure something out eventually.
Or just browse the gallery yourself! All 152 pictures. I went a little nuts, guys. Flist, you have my permission to use the pictures in anyway you please, icons, pimping whatever.
Apparently there are two exits out of that station, I was headed towards the footy field, and couldn’t find Swan St, so I asked the info dudes where it was and they pointed me to the opposite end of that exit, but the only sign I could find was Olympic blvd. So I called notyourfriend for help. She rescued me from myself and brought me to meet the others in line. Oh god, so many teenies. I got to cut a bunch of them and didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt, because I’m a terrible person. They had tagged ‘Santi’ EVERYWHERE. We didn’t even realize how much until Monday. Anyway, there was hanging out and saying hi, and Vicky T was out wandering around so I got another picture with her.
We were a bit curious as to how they’d handle the ‘Under 18’ part of the letting us in, and the answer is ‘not at all’. We just walked right in, all my carefully prepared lies, and notyourfriend’s fake school id that said she was Jess E. Lacey were unneeded.
I ended up a couple people back from the barrier, which was fine.
Look at that dork grin! He’s so pleased!
Mad dance moves.
I used Beth as a tripod until this one girl, who we referred to in line as William’s doppelganger, (purple plaid hair, same weird shag/mullet thing, skinny) started shoving me to the right. It was more the crowd than her, but I still blame her, because by the end of the set I was eating her hair, and the whole lack of food thing made me want to pass out, so I had to bail from the pit.
But you know, while up close I noticed that Ryland’s guitar wasn’t out yet, but Mike Carden’s was and that someone had a White Sox sticker on the back of their (bass), but no one in Cobra is from Chicago, so I was a bit confused. Turns out that they’re just sharing stuff; Alex Suarez is borrowing Sisky’s bass while they’re down here. He told me himself!
Ryland with Mike Carden’s guitar.
Fangs on the rise at the start of Hey Mr. DJ
At this point, that show is kind of a blur, except for the part where Gabe started singing in Spanish during “The Ballad of Big Poppa and Diamond Girl” and seemed impressed by my Spanish skills, if they way he was making the rapist eyes was any indication \o/ Beth said later, “He was really impressed by one person behind me….was that you?” So, yeah, I guess?
I had hoped that Gabe would come out before/during the TAI… set, but alas, it was not to be. I did hang out some with another girl who’d been having pit issues, too, so at least I wasn’t by myself. I did see Alex in one of the booth things towards the back of the crowd and I went up all casual like, “So they’ve got you teching, too?”
“Yeah, I’m doing lights for The Academy’s show.”
And then I asked about the sticker, I was all “I didn’t think you were from Chicago.” Which he’s not, he explained the whole borrowing thing, and then I was out of things to say, so I wandered off like the awkward turtle that I am.
I was so bittercakes during the TAI… set, because I had been so close! And now I was all far away, and my pictures kept turning out kind of shitty.
But I was in a pretty good spot to at least get kind of close to Gabe when he came out after the show as through. I only had to wade through three feet of adolescents (I’m such a superior twenty year old) instead of six. I told him I’d seen him in Chicago at the HCT (and I was wearing my ‘It’s Warmer in Gabe’s Basement’ shirt like a DORK) and he claimed I looked familiar. Thank you, Gabe!
I was getting something signed for the girl I’d been standing with, since she wanted stuff signed for like, three people, and so he wrote on her thing “Great seeing you again, ♥ Gabe”. I took a picture of it before giving it back to her.
Gabe was trapped in a corner and then William came out from the backstage, and the groups were so close together it was a bit nuts. I didn’t feel like wading through a bunch of crazy William fangirls, so I went outside with Beth and notyourfriend and the rest to get photos and signatures with Sisky and Chiz.
I was wearing my DePaul sweatshirt, but Sisky didn’t notice, he was kind of being mobbed. GOOD LORD is he pretty. He’s all tan and he’s got this stubble and oh man, his eyes. I was not expecting that. My hand may or may not have been shaking as I tried to take the photo. *facepalm*
Beckett had come out the back door to do the meet and greet with fans, so it was the three of them and Gabe, I think everyone else had just passed out, because they’d gotten NO sleep since the Adelaide show, seeing as (I’m assuming) the end of that show and the start of this one were about 12 hours apart.
With Beth and charliechocer for back up, I decided to brave the crowd towards Beckett. We were waiting for a while, and right as Tegan made it to the front, Bill got a “Last one, time to go”. But she got her SoaP DVD cover signed, and Beth shoved hers at him, too, so she got hers done. There was someone going “my friend is CRYING” etc. I tried not to laugh.
What surprised all of us, I think was the number of Beckett fanboys. Some of them were actually twelve and about four feet tall, I came this close to asking one if he wanted a boost up during the show. There were also a couple that had done the sneak into the underage show with us. One of them asked “guess how old I am”. Me:…15? Him: 19! Me: if you say so. (Compared to Sisky, who is also 19, this kid definitely looked 15). We actually saw him the next day, and he was all “Do you remember me?” “Yeah, you’re the fifteen year old.” He was wearing a scarf around his knee, on Monday, someone asked if he was gay and he got all offended. We gave him shit for his reaction though, and pointed out that 18+ Beckett fanboys are a bit thin on the ground.
Anyway, the band guys all had to leave and go sleep, and we were starving, so we headed down to Swanston St for some Japanese food. I didn’t think I ate that much, but I was stuffed after. Beth was nice enough to drive me back home, and Tegan was nice enough to tell her how to get there. They spent most of the ride making fun of my accent. It was a continuing theme on Monday.
Monday! Over 18s!
I knew that the two of them and some of the others would be back early on Monday, so I figured I’d head out after my nine am lecture. At 10:30, right as I was planning on leaving, I got a call from my friend saying “ready to work on that project that’s due tomorrow?” *sigh* So I got there just before 1 pm, and was convinced I was going to be cutting off a huge group of people, who’d be all pissed at me. (I thought I’d care, that day).
Nope! There were five or six people huddled in what became known as the Batcave/Tardis etc. More of our group from yesterday showed up about half an hour later, and then people we didn’t know turned up maybe half an hour after them. Around two or so, we decided to order pizza and have it delivered to our street corner. It was fun, we looked at pictures of Frank’s new tattoo on Maria’s sidekick, wrote ‘this shit is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! S-u-p-e-r-c-a-l-i-f-r-a-g-a…’ in front of the band entrance, in the first stage of my plan to get them to play “Hollerback Boy.”
Time actually passed by really quickly, until about 5 pm when it sloooooooowed. There was a lot of “What do you call…” “How do you say...” making fun of the American. A fair amount of people had showed up by then, doors were at 7:30. We were a little tired of our spot by then, it’d been four hours for me, about six for the others, so we made a lot of trips to Beth’s car, which happened to be parked behind the venue, where the bands also parked. I think it was around six? That they showed up, I felt so weird stalking them back there, but I got over it. I told Ryland how much I loved Guy Ripley and that I thought he was awesome, Nate ran away from us, and Alex moved inside quickly and I didn’t see Vicky. Gabe however, stayed outside for a while, and so did Mike Carden. I didn’t really talk to Mike, I didn’t have ANY idea what I’d say, so I hung out with Gabe, who was all “Hey, nice to see you again.”
I got another picture with him and asked if they could maybe play Hollerback Boy, and he said they would if we asked, so obviously, we would. Others were hanging out and taking pictures and I was hitting squee maximum and had to run off to a) make sure I didn’t embarrass myself and b) make sure we still had a place in line, though we did have a knife for our cheese, so we could cut anyone who tried to take it from us.
I’M SO SAD I LEFT. So, notyourfriend asked about the cat tattoo on his ankle from that buzznet video. I THOUGHT IT WAS TEMPORARY. NO, APPARENTLY NOT. He lifted his pant leg to show his ankle and the cat tattoo, (I would’ve swooned, I think) and then she showed him her “also into cats” bracelet. Apparently he was all “Can I put that on my ankle?” And she was all “I think it’d break?” SO HE PUT IT IN HIS MOUTH INSTEAD. (I need a copy of that picture, btw)
I returned eventually, Mike Carden was still there talking to people but it was just him and Gabe, and we were just hanging out by Beth’s car, and talking. Then he brought out his sidekick (it’s green and kind of flowery? OH GABE) and was all “I need to go make a phone call, I can’t use this down here, it’s locked, but I’ve got my FOE phone” *busts it out* “and it’s unlocked, but I’m out of credit.”
Us: You can get credit at any grocery store around here, there’s one up the block. (we were VERY tempted to get him some, and like, trade it for a shirt)
But then Maria (again don’t know LJ name) was all “You can borrow my sidekick.”
He was all “Are you sure?” “It’s a 1-800 number…”
Australians: What’s a 1-800?
Me: A toll free number?
But yeah, we flailed while he wandered around the other side of the parking lot and what not. Then he came back and talked to us all some more, monkeycrackmary got a picture of him with the graffiti on the wall and we were playing around with phones some more. He took his away after someone was jokingly scrolling through his contacts.
Then he was all “Shit, was that Ryland [that just walked by]?”
All of us that had gone RYLAND! in our heads: Yup.
Gabe: Oh, that means I have to go do sound check.
So we went back to our place in line and flailed for the next forty minutes, and did some “When did you get here?” as people joined our group.
Finally it was show time and hurray actual barrier! The opening act, City Riots, was playing on a side stage and tonight most of the crowd (except those of us wedged in at the barrier) actually turned to watch them. During the break we played the “Make Allison say things” game again. Seriously, just because I actually say the ‘er’ noise does not make me a freak. And please, no one ever say that Jon Walker always wears ‘thongs’ unless it’s NC-17 and kinky as hell. (If anyone ever needs a yank pick, let me know! …not that there aren’t tons of Americans in this fandom)
ANYWAY. THE SHOW.
So god, they came on stage to some rap song, like the night before, and I swear he looked out in the crowd and saw us losers fans who had been talking with him before and just grinned. They were all pretty pumped, and Gabe was showing off his Koala with an Uzi shirt (it says ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. DORK) and then they started in on Hey Mr. DJ, complete with the slow rise of the fangs and he was dancing and doing the little hat flick.
I think it was during Keep It Simple that he stepped on the barrier to lean out in the crowd, and he was stepping right in front of me. See, the barrier was really quite high, so his foot was poking me in the boob (that makes Pete and Gabe, btw, who have kind of kicked me in the torso) and as the crowd grabbed at him he lost his balance and had to use my head to steady him. I decided to help him out by clutching at his calf. APPROPRIATE TOUCHING. HONESTLY.
(yeah, that was my view)
Beth and I had looked at the set list and debated where to start shouting for Hollerback Boy (we were strategic. Mostly I didn’t want it to go in place of It’s Warmer In The Basement) and we decided to do it then. So I yelled for it, and everyone else who knew of the plan started going then, too. I definitely yelled “YOU PROMISED”. But he was all “How about we do that a little later in the show.”
That picture is just accidentally awesome.
At about this point I realized that Vicky T had taken her shoes off, and they stayed off for the rest of the show. I found it amusing. On the set list they call “It’s Amateur Night at the Apollo Creed!” “Speed It Up”, which is confusing to me, but I guess they can’t fit all of the epic titles on there. Like on Sunday, Gabe introduced “The Kids Are All Fucked Up” as a love song about taking too many drugs to either William or all of The Academy Is… Gabe mentioned that he was a little drunk, “but I’m awesome like this!” You’re such a class act, Gabe.
And then he was all “This is another love song…about loving a girl so much, you can’t share her with the world and keep her locked up in your basement.” (Take me there, Gabe, please!)
During the guitar bit, Ryland came out to the barrier, too, and was playing the guitar right there, so I reached up to touch Mike’s pretty, pretty guitar, and then reached back to touch Gabe’s pretty, pretty guitar player.
After Basement, Gabe, too, noticed that Vicky wasn’t wearing her shoes (though they weren’t her converse), and so he sat down on the stage right next to them and started giving her shit. She probably wished she had one in hand to smack him with. ♥
I think my favorite part of Diamond Girl, besides the salsa with Vicky, is when Gabe plays Ryland’s neck for the ‘ow ow ow ow’ noise. I forgot to get a picture on Sunday and had to try like, three times Monday to get one. (This is for you, kalpurna) Ryland said after “Did you notice that the lights went ‘ow ow ow’ too?” and they gave props to all the crew.
They played “Church of Hot Addiction”, and see, earlier when we had been talking, Maria mentioned to us (and later Gabe!) that she could never here the E in “G-A-B-E gonna get you high” so she had thought it was G-A-B. So as the song was starting up, he came right over to her and grabbed her finger and gave it a little shake, and then when it came up on the first chorus he definitely sang it “G-A-B gonna get you high”. As kalpurna says “celebrities who are into fans = bullet proof kink”.
I knew it was almost time for Bring it, so I had to start yelling for Hollerback Boy again, and everyone else did too and this time they did it \o/ It was beautiful guys.
Then it was time for Bring it and he was all “The first time you guys probably heard of us was last summer…well, maybe not all of you” and pointed at the cluster of us. Oh Gabe, if only you knew how late to the game I was <3
Bill and Sisky came out again and rocked it, Sisky rapping like a hard core dude, and kind of looking hilarious, Bill being a hot ass and flirting with Gabe. I mean…yeah.
(ahahah just hit six pages) As they were clearing the stage, Ryland came over to the front and handed me his pick. Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took me a second to get my fingers to work so I could put it in my pocket without dropping it. There was also a scramble for a set list, which I lost, but I think Maria won?
As they prepped the stage for TAI… it cracked me up as they brought out beer bottles with the water. Oh you classy lushes. AND THEN, they brought out four beverages in little glasses and put them in front of Butcher’s drum. They were obviously for Bill, because he came out with another one just like it and put it down with them.
Oh my god, that boy is lovely and very active, so active, in fact, that he broke ALLLL of those glasses by the end of the first or second song. The crew were trying to clean it up and Bill was all “Whoops? I kind of broke my drinks…”
He also said, “We were kind of tired at yesterday’s show. Which was at noon. Yesterday’s ‘matinee’.” I can’t remember if it was him or Gabe who complimented those of us who got fake IDs to make us U18 to get into that show.
Their set is sort of a blur of “oh my god, he’s really close! Hi!” When he reached into the crowd, other people usually grabbed his hand, so I used my length to hold on to his dainty wrists and at least once he held mine, too, as he pulled away. He made a lot of eye contact and oh pretty smile. Pretty, pretty smile.
I forget what song he plays the tambourine on, but I love that. When I took this picture, the girl behind me was all “I saaaaw that.” I responded with “I was taking a picture of the tambourine, I swear!”
I loved how during “We’ve Got a Big Mess on Our Hands” Butcher is actually the one that sings the ‘big big mess’ while Bill and the crowd do the ohhh ohs.
The Butcher is an amazing specimen, and Sisky’s head is apparently always moving too fast for my camera to capture. Maybe the amazingness of that face just can’t be captured with something like a point and shoot.
Chiz was not quite so difficult to photograph.
Bill wants YOU…
…to write wingfic.
They came out and did 40 Steps again (anyone have an mp3?), just Bill and Chiz, then Butcher joined them, (the reason the camera lingers on Butcher so during the video is, well, look at him. Also, I was hoping for a silly dance, like the day before.)
Then the rest of the band came out for “Almost Here” and after, Sisky threw his extra picks into the crowd. I just had my hand up out of instinct, and when one hit my hand just closed around it. Complete accident. I’ve never understood how ANYONE catches those.
I also managed to snag a bottle of water that we passed down the line, aaaaaaaaaand a set list. It was amazing. I totally scored. And then it was time for the meet and greet. Gabe was in the back by the bar and mobbed by fans, and I couldn’t see anyone else, so I ran over to the merch table and bought one of the tour shirts, because how many kids in Chicago will have the Australian Winter Tour shirt? Yeah, that’s what I figured. Also snagged the fugtastic Cobra vs. Starship shirt. You know, the one I wouldn’t by during the HCT because it was too hideous. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, GABE? Of course, the girls say it’s me being Australian “It’s HIDEOUS. I MUST HAVE IT.”
I pulled that on over my shirt and went to loiter by the door that Bill came out of the night before, sure enough, five minutes later there he was. He signed a few things, but apparently got cold, and ducked back to grab his jacket. Some people were very panicky about this, but when he came back out some of the dudes behind us began mock shrieking, like the girls yesterday. Bill was all “Very funny, you guys are verrrrry funny.”
I kept shoving monkeycrackmary who had the awesome art _audrey made, forward, because I really wanted him to see it. She got there eventually and he was properly impressed. He signed the two copies she brought for herself and Audrey and gave him one. We were joking that it might be kind of weird if he put it up at his place, so I was all “Send it to your grandma, she can put it in a scrapbook” and he was all “yeah, my mom is into keeping this stuff.”
Then it was my turn, and I did my “hi, you were great, I saw you guys in Chicago” bit and his eyes kind of bugged at that, “You did?” “Yeah, twice at the HCT. I go to DePaul.” “Oh!” (he was a little confused) “So are you originally from Australia?” “Nope, studying abroad, but I heard you guys were coming and bought my tickets before I actually had confirmation I was allowed to come.” He looked quite pleased.
I got my set list signed and then wandered off to meet up with people. I noticed that Alex was alone, and decided to go say hi again. I asked if he did the lights again, tonight and he said yeah, apparently TAI didn’t have anyone to do it, so he volunteered. ♥ I told him good job and got a picture.
I’d pushed notyourfriend in Nate’s direction earlier so she could complete her collection (I don’t know if he’d intended to meet with fans there, but he was going to), and there were only a few people standing by him, after I said bye to Alex, to I went over to talk to him. He’s ADORABLE. Did you know he was from Georgia? I got to look at his tour pass thing (and correct his pronunciation of Brisbane). They’re headed for Asia and Europe next, I was all “I don’t know how you say most of those.” I did mention that kalpurna and quettaser were headed to England for the Decaydance fest, and he said he thought people might do that.
I also said I thought it was awesome when I saw guys from the other bands rocking out to each other from side stage. He was all “It’s awesome touring with these guys, you know?” Because he really was adorable the way he was singing along with “Almost Here”.
And yeah, the crowd around Gabe had lessened, as I think we were being kicked out and the bar closing, so I was all “Can I grab another photo, now that I have my Cobra gear?” and we threw up the fangs. He also signed my TAI set list because I had nothing else. “One L or two? Two Ss or one?” I should’ve said three, that would’ve been very snake like, but yeah, wasn’t that creative at the time.
I was getting ready to go because I had to catch trains and buses and get my stuff from Beth’s car, but I saw Ryland sitting in their van, as the crowds mobbed Sisky, Chiz and Butcher (wish I could’ve gotten a photo with him. Or touched him) so I got him to sign the pick I got, it says ‘Ry-Ry’ guys. Ry-Ry. There wasn’t time for me to get Sisky to sign his pick, but it does have the TAI logo like on Butcher’s drums, so that’s pretty cool.
Then I got my stuff, ran to the train, caught it just in time and then caught the last bus back to Uni. I probably could’ve walked if I’d had to, but I was happy that I didn’t.
And man, I wish I had gone to Sydney, too, but I had a project and then this write up would be about sixteen pages long, instead of eight (before pictures).
Videos can be found here. Youtube has said a lot of them have failed, which makes me really sad, but I’ll figure something out eventually.
Or just browse the gallery yourself! All 152 pictures. I went a little nuts, guys. Flist, you have my permission to use the pictures in anyway you please, icons, pimping whatever.