(no subject)
So we went to Projekt Revolution in Camden, NJ tonight and I wanted to share a bit. I don't have pictures or videos or set lists. Sorry. First of all, I can not impress upon you enough just how fucking hot it was. I thought Warped Tour during a heat wave last year was hot, but this certainly surpassed that. I have never been so uncomfortably wringing wet in my entire life.
The gates opened at 12:45 and we got there about 2:15 to find the main portion of the venue, where the main stage was, would not open until 4:00 pm and the first band would not go on until 5:00. So you couldn't even get out of the heat just to sit in your seat in the pavilion for a little while. It was during this time that the bands were playing on the second stage, in the "Revolution Village", which was outside. My daughter and I walked over to the parking lot where the second stage was set up, watched one band, I couldn't even tell you who they were, play one song, decided it was too hot and went back inside. Apparently many people felt the same way as there were hundreds of people milling around the concession area and sitting all around the floor. My daughter suggested we go back to the car, sit in the air conditioning, and drink our own water (water was $4 a bottle). But that turned into an ordeal. For "security purposes" you weren't supposed to leave the venue once you got in and we had to get special permission to leave, (I lied about having a medical condition and had medication in the cooler in the car) and then this guy had to initial our tickets, which signified we were ok to leave and come back and when we did come back an hour later, another guy actually chased us down to scratch off the initials on our tickets so we wouldn't leave again. jesus christ.
Finally, we were able to go to our seats. I was concerned about what kind of seats we would have. I paid $150 a piece for the tickets. I am someone who stresses over seating at a concert. I hate to go to a concert and have shitty seats. or have really tall and/or large people in front of me blocking the view. or semi-hysterical teenaged girls standing on their seats blocking the view. And If the band looks like ants on the stage, then why fucking bother? I knew from the seating chart we would be in the section directly in front of the stage and somewhere in the middle of said section, but was pleased to find our seats were dead center. yay! and then NO ONE sat in the 5 seats directly in front of us all night! but wait it gets better: the guys, 2 rows directly in front of us were kind enough to remain seated most of the night (only when MCR came on did they then sit up on their upright seats)so basically we had an unobstructed view of the stage all night! Which is a first for me. It was pretty fucking sweet.
By the time we sat down, Julien-K were almost through their set. We caught Technical Difficulties which is on The Transformers soundtrack. We liked Julien-K.
Next up was Placebo. They introduced themselves as the Ladies and Gentlemen of Placebo. My daughter is a fan and was looking forward to seeing them. She sang along to every song grinning from ear to ear. Brian Molko told a story about living in London and how there is a Camden in London and what train or bus to take to get there and how every weekend they have this huge market with like 17 Hot Topics (his words, not mine) and how you can go there and buy your thigh high boots and when you do you should come by to see him. They sounded great and had some very enthusiastic fans in the crowd.
HIM followed Placebo. I like HIM and have never seen them live. I was not disappointed. The band sounded amazing. They did Wings of a Butterfly, Killing Loneliness, Vampire Heart, and Your Sweet 666, amongst others. I was very happy to have seen HIM.
After HIM my daughter and I went to the bathroom and to get something to eat, so we missed about half of Taking Back Sunday's set. Adam Lazzara was wearing a long sleeve, button up, black and red plaid shirt. I was hot just looking at him. This was the second time we have seen Taking Back Sunday and the crowd was certainly into it. Adam managed to wrap the mic around his neck without cracking himself in the face and bleeding all over the place. so yeah, they had a good set.
My Chemical Romance took the stage promptly at 7:45 and everyone was on their feet by then. It was almost dark and anticipation was high. This is the 6th time we have seen MCR live, but because of the seats we had, I think this was my favorite show so far. The stage at the Tweeter is kinda small, so it keeps the band closer together. You don't really miss what Frank is doing because you were watching Ray or miss what Gerard did while you were watching Frankie. Unless you're in the pit, you get to see everybody. I like that.
I believe Gerard had something written on his neck at the start of the set, but I couldn't tell what it said and after the first 3 songs, it was gone anyway. It just kinda melted away. He was wearing those holey jeans, the sheriff's badge on that black jacket, and a red bandanna. His legs look really thin.
After the "baby shaking incident", I was curious to see if there would be any interaction between Frank and Gerard. There were 2 instances to speak of. During House of Wolves, Gerard went over to Frank's side of the stage and got down on his knees in front of Frank's guitar. Frank, somewhat gently, with his left foot pushed off of Gerard's right shoulder, and arced around with his guitar. Gerard got up and went back to center stage. Then about halfway through the set, Gerard decided to take a "break". He kept saying how hot it was. God forbid he should actually take off that fucking jacket. the world might suddenly implode. But he was on his knees in front of the drum riser and Frankie went over and knelt beside him, back to the audience, and then there was much pouring water over Gerard's head. Because of the lighting at the time, I couldn't be sure if Frank was also pouring water over Gerard's head or not, but it looked like it to me. That was it. No more interaction to speak of, but then again Gerard didn't really interact with anyone in the band tonight, just the audience. Oh and some security type named Charlie. During "the break" Gerard sat on the front of stage with his legs dangling next to Charlie. He was saying how you think there are no breaks in rock and roll but there are. You can break your leg, you can break your nose, and you can have a broken heart. At this point the break was over and they got back to business.
And business it was. There was not any messing around at all tonight. In a way, they seemed a little too serious, with the exception of Gerard. Ray did what Ray does. focuses on that guitar and not much else. Bob joked a little with the drummer from The Bled who sat in with him on one song. Matt didn't really stand out to me at all. James is so far in the back and in the dark, most of the time you can't even see him. and Frank, well Frank seemed kind of sedate tonight. But I acknowledge, I have a tendency to watch Gerard, so a Frankie watcher may have a different take. (Frank was wearing a white t-shirt with black, hand written lettering. My daughter says it said: "Fuck you Chuck". I couldn't see what was under the Fuck You because of his guitar strap. Anybody know?) But they were tight and sounded great.
Gerard seemed to be in a good mood though and seeing how this was a home show for them, they certainly had a large contingency of people that were very visible on the side of the stage. My daughter insisted that the heavy set, older woman with the bleach blond hair, and the fanny pack, who stood only a couple of feet away from Frankie, was Gerard's mom. I don't know. I've only seen her on the LOTMS dvd. could of been her. I didn't recognize anyone else. I didn't see Mikey or Alicia or Jamia, but they were probably there.
I don't recall what song they were doing when Gerard started calling for the boas. He told someone in the pit "I'll give you $100 for that". A couple of them made it onto the stage, but he never put any of them on. He said it was too hot for that. He did the "bases" and during Prison, I think it was, he asked all the guys to take off their shirts and wave them in the air. There were alot of shirts in the air. Sometimes I forget that guys like MCR too and it always takes a show to remind me. But it's still kinda funny to see big burly boys, and not so burly boys, fist pumping, back slapping each other and singing along. It warms the heart, you know?
On a side note, Gerard started singing Rhianna's "Umbrella" and had the audience singing it along with him. My daughter looked at me like WTF?
I thought they were gonna change it up and end with Helena, cause it kind of sounded like they would what with all the "so long and goodnight", but it lead into Cancer and Gerard finished the set alone on stage. His voice sounded good to me tonight. I was glad of it.
We did not stay for Linkin Park. I like LP, but their earlier stuff. I have the new cd and the only song I can honestly say I like is What I've Done.
It had been a long day and we were more than ready to call it a night. I was desperate for a shower and some air conditioning.
Despite the sweltering heat, or maybe because of it, it was a memorable day.
The gates opened at 12:45 and we got there about 2:15 to find the main portion of the venue, where the main stage was, would not open until 4:00 pm and the first band would not go on until 5:00. So you couldn't even get out of the heat just to sit in your seat in the pavilion for a little while. It was during this time that the bands were playing on the second stage, in the "Revolution Village", which was outside. My daughter and I walked over to the parking lot where the second stage was set up, watched one band, I couldn't even tell you who they were, play one song, decided it was too hot and went back inside. Apparently many people felt the same way as there were hundreds of people milling around the concession area and sitting all around the floor. My daughter suggested we go back to the car, sit in the air conditioning, and drink our own water (water was $4 a bottle). But that turned into an ordeal. For "security purposes" you weren't supposed to leave the venue once you got in and we had to get special permission to leave, (I lied about having a medical condition and had medication in the cooler in the car) and then this guy had to initial our tickets, which signified we were ok to leave and come back and when we did come back an hour later, another guy actually chased us down to scratch off the initials on our tickets so we wouldn't leave again. jesus christ.
Finally, we were able to go to our seats. I was concerned about what kind of seats we would have. I paid $150 a piece for the tickets. I am someone who stresses over seating at a concert. I hate to go to a concert and have shitty seats. or have really tall and/or large people in front of me blocking the view. or semi-hysterical teenaged girls standing on their seats blocking the view. And If the band looks like ants on the stage, then why fucking bother? I knew from the seating chart we would be in the section directly in front of the stage and somewhere in the middle of said section, but was pleased to find our seats were dead center. yay! and then NO ONE sat in the 5 seats directly in front of us all night! but wait it gets better: the guys, 2 rows directly in front of us were kind enough to remain seated most of the night (only when MCR came on did they then sit up on their upright seats)so basically we had an unobstructed view of the stage all night! Which is a first for me. It was pretty fucking sweet.
By the time we sat down, Julien-K were almost through their set. We caught Technical Difficulties which is on The Transformers soundtrack. We liked Julien-K.
Next up was Placebo. They introduced themselves as the Ladies and Gentlemen of Placebo. My daughter is a fan and was looking forward to seeing them. She sang along to every song grinning from ear to ear. Brian Molko told a story about living in London and how there is a Camden in London and what train or bus to take to get there and how every weekend they have this huge market with like 17 Hot Topics (his words, not mine) and how you can go there and buy your thigh high boots and when you do you should come by to see him. They sounded great and had some very enthusiastic fans in the crowd.
HIM followed Placebo. I like HIM and have never seen them live. I was not disappointed. The band sounded amazing. They did Wings of a Butterfly, Killing Loneliness, Vampire Heart, and Your Sweet 666, amongst others. I was very happy to have seen HIM.
After HIM my daughter and I went to the bathroom and to get something to eat, so we missed about half of Taking Back Sunday's set. Adam Lazzara was wearing a long sleeve, button up, black and red plaid shirt. I was hot just looking at him. This was the second time we have seen Taking Back Sunday and the crowd was certainly into it. Adam managed to wrap the mic around his neck without cracking himself in the face and bleeding all over the place. so yeah, they had a good set.
My Chemical Romance took the stage promptly at 7:45 and everyone was on their feet by then. It was almost dark and anticipation was high. This is the 6th time we have seen MCR live, but because of the seats we had, I think this was my favorite show so far. The stage at the Tweeter is kinda small, so it keeps the band closer together. You don't really miss what Frank is doing because you were watching Ray or miss what Gerard did while you were watching Frankie. Unless you're in the pit, you get to see everybody. I like that.
I believe Gerard had something written on his neck at the start of the set, but I couldn't tell what it said and after the first 3 songs, it was gone anyway. It just kinda melted away. He was wearing those holey jeans, the sheriff's badge on that black jacket, and a red bandanna. His legs look really thin.
After the "baby shaking incident", I was curious to see if there would be any interaction between Frank and Gerard. There were 2 instances to speak of. During House of Wolves, Gerard went over to Frank's side of the stage and got down on his knees in front of Frank's guitar. Frank, somewhat gently, with his left foot pushed off of Gerard's right shoulder, and arced around with his guitar. Gerard got up and went back to center stage. Then about halfway through the set, Gerard decided to take a "break". He kept saying how hot it was. God forbid he should actually take off that fucking jacket. the world might suddenly implode. But he was on his knees in front of the drum riser and Frankie went over and knelt beside him, back to the audience, and then there was much pouring water over Gerard's head. Because of the lighting at the time, I couldn't be sure if Frank was also pouring water over Gerard's head or not, but it looked like it to me. That was it. No more interaction to speak of, but then again Gerard didn't really interact with anyone in the band tonight, just the audience. Oh and some security type named Charlie. During "the break" Gerard sat on the front of stage with his legs dangling next to Charlie. He was saying how you think there are no breaks in rock and roll but there are. You can break your leg, you can break your nose, and you can have a broken heart. At this point the break was over and they got back to business.
And business it was. There was not any messing around at all tonight. In a way, they seemed a little too serious, with the exception of Gerard. Ray did what Ray does. focuses on that guitar and not much else. Bob joked a little with the drummer from The Bled who sat in with him on one song. Matt didn't really stand out to me at all. James is so far in the back and in the dark, most of the time you can't even see him. and Frank, well Frank seemed kind of sedate tonight. But I acknowledge, I have a tendency to watch Gerard, so a Frankie watcher may have a different take. (Frank was wearing a white t-shirt with black, hand written lettering. My daughter says it said: "Fuck you Chuck". I couldn't see what was under the Fuck You because of his guitar strap. Anybody know?) But they were tight and sounded great.
Gerard seemed to be in a good mood though and seeing how this was a home show for them, they certainly had a large contingency of people that were very visible on the side of the stage. My daughter insisted that the heavy set, older woman with the bleach blond hair, and the fanny pack, who stood only a couple of feet away from Frankie, was Gerard's mom. I don't know. I've only seen her on the LOTMS dvd. could of been her. I didn't recognize anyone else. I didn't see Mikey or Alicia or Jamia, but they were probably there.
I don't recall what song they were doing when Gerard started calling for the boas. He told someone in the pit "I'll give you $100 for that". A couple of them made it onto the stage, but he never put any of them on. He said it was too hot for that. He did the "bases" and during Prison, I think it was, he asked all the guys to take off their shirts and wave them in the air. There were alot of shirts in the air. Sometimes I forget that guys like MCR too and it always takes a show to remind me. But it's still kinda funny to see big burly boys, and not so burly boys, fist pumping, back slapping each other and singing along. It warms the heart, you know?
On a side note, Gerard started singing Rhianna's "Umbrella" and had the audience singing it along with him. My daughter looked at me like WTF?
I thought they were gonna change it up and end with Helena, cause it kind of sounded like they would what with all the "so long and goodnight", but it lead into Cancer and Gerard finished the set alone on stage. His voice sounded good to me tonight. I was glad of it.
We did not stay for Linkin Park. I like LP, but their earlier stuff. I have the new cd and the only song I can honestly say I like is What I've Done.
It had been a long day and we were more than ready to call it a night. I was desperate for a shower and some air conditioning.
Despite the sweltering heat, or maybe because of it, it was a memorable day.