SUPERMASSIVE LOLLAPALOOZA RECAP POST
All right.
Hold on to your tits.
This is going to be a long one.
Hello ducks.
So aside from the cryptic LJ posts made on smartphones that didn't really want to cooperate, and endless (sometimes mindless) tweets, you might be wondering what happened at Lollapalooza. Long story short, Muse were amazing. We could leave it at that, maybe post up the setlist and talk about how incredible the boys were, but I feel like it might be nice to do something a little more... personal. After all, we were crazily snapping pictures all day long. So I bring to you a chronicle of our Lollapalooza meet-up, which will hopefully not be mind-numbingly boring, and will hopefully be even a fraction as awesome as the weekend itself was.
Chi-town is massive and gorgeous. I, for one, fell in love with the city. Most of the nucleus of the meet-up was centered around Congress Ave, which was adjacent to the University Center and the HI Hostel, which is where a good chunk of the ontd_musers stayed. So we saw a lot of that area.
Of course, there was the meet-up itself, which took place at Lou Malnati's on State Street.
Jordan, aka "Just a Bro", no LJKristen, aka "NOOOOOOOOB!"
Jessica, aka j_dragonflyomg Liz (hopeandmemory) get your phone outta your mouth
Zoe, aka glorious_rumorJess, aka kaosspad
Alison's failed first attempt at a nametagSuccess! Alison, aka aluhsin, aka Prophet of ontd_muse
Megan, aka meganvioVee, aka glitterati
Elle (sparky808) and I guess honorary ontd_muse member Gerrilyn showed up to hang out and drop off jerseys and eat pizza too, but I didn't get any solo pics of them booooo.
We had a great time, as you might be able to tell despite all the camera lenses being smeared with pizza grease, and left to acquire cheaper booze and poster-making supplies. While Jordan fell asleep in the CVS (I'm not kidding), we purchased poster board and glitta paint for this purpose.
Then we purchased some booze from the Walgreen's two blocks down. Then we realized 1) neither of our hotels allowed visitors, and 2) they didn't allow booze, either. Well, fuck.
So, failing that, we decided to just meet up bright and early on Friday morning. We planned to get up and get down to the Panera at around 7:30 am and head to the line. We'd just make the signs in line, we thought; fuck the po-lice.
Liz and I woke up at about 7:00 am, said "fuck it" and went back to sleep for a while.
We all finally got to the line at about 8:30 am. This was preceded by breakfast and much acquisition of supplies at the CVS. That CVS, man, we would have died without it. There were a LOT of people already lined up, as we might have been able to guess (and probably did) So we just parked ourselves and took to making ARTS AND CRAFTS~~~ like so many bosses.
Also group photos were taken:
That last one is all of us doing Maff Bellalamy Duck Face. We were also joined at this point by Kat (lalalive23)!!!
Our signs apparently became rather infamous because people wandered by saying things like "oh, you guys made the signs, can I see them!?" I love Twitter.
Let me also mention here that one of the coolest parts of the weekend was hearing aluhsin announce every once in a while: "Tom just tweeted," at which point we would crowd around phones and squeal like fangirls.
We decided to Tweetbomb Muse with a #deadstaratlolla hashtag, but it didn't really pan out. Can't blame them; they have other things to rehearse. Like Bliss. OH MY BABY BLISS. ;__;
At about 10:00 am, we thought it would be a good idea if Liz went to get her wristband fixed. You see, it broke. And by "it broke", we mean Liz panicked that it was too loose and pried it open with a spatula and knife about two weeks ago. Anyway. Cue the long-ass line there. I abandoned her at about 10:19 am to go reclaim a position in line for the gates. I planned the be one of the runners to barrier (Kat and Zoe were the others who deiced to take this role).
It took. For. Ever. For the gates to open. I think they finally opened after multiple heart attacks at around 11:20 am.
Let me tell you something. I'm a decent runner. I'm good with sprinting. Shit with long distances, but good with sprinting. That was... both? Sprinting for a LONG DISTANCE. About 4/5 mile, I think. And it was hot. And we'd been outside for a while. And I hadn't gotten much sleep. INTENSE. But I just kept pushing myself over that terrain. PAIN IS TEMPORARY, GLORY IS FOREVER.
This is Gerrilynn, and she is fabulous
It was worth it.
What felt like an hour later, we were joined by everyone else from our little group, made a circle and camped out.
All those other little bands were really good, but the main event is the main focus here. This isn't ontd_aperfectcircle or ontd_whitelies, after all. Though those would probably be pretty badass. Also completely at odds with each other.
Let's talk about Thomas Kirk.
It was sometime between APC and Muse, and I was just chilling at barrier (at this point the crowd had become thick enough that there was NO SITTIN' DOWN for the rest of the night -- expected). Suddenly a stunningly attractive man walks by and I sort of do a double take. "Oh my god, Tom," I said, pointing after him and turning to Liz. CUE SCREAMING. "Tom!!!! TOOOOMMMMM!!!" And all the way down the line. Everyone on Matt's side of barrier was therefore prepared for his arrival. When he made the circle back around some ten minutes later, he was holding a tinfoil hat and some other sundry leopard print items, presumably gifts for the band (read: Dom) (WHY DIDN’T WE BRING CHEESE, GUYS?!?!).
Cue Twitpics:
That last one ended up on Wikipedia, actually - and it's still there! Just look up "Tin Foil Hat." This is especially funny if you understand the term "tinhatter" in regards to fandom. Anyway... (Tom also tweeted about the Wikipedia thing, calling it "Domipedia"... btw)
At this point we remembered that we had jerseys to give the boys, and Tom was our best chance to hand them off. Oh my god. There was a frantic all-call for Elle and Ger to regroup with us at barrier, as we frantically began to panic that we would miss our window of opportunity.
Just then...
The jerseys were delivered via crowd-surfing in a backpack which I first just presumed to be full of dirty clothes. "The fuck am I looking at?!" Then I realized they were the jerseys.
These are the jerseys, by the way.
The self-prescribed Team Reps, that being those of us already at barrier in the appropriate shirts, took the jerseys and displayed them over the rails (Zoe for Matt - Resistance, Myself for Dom - BHAR, and Liz for Chris - Absolution). I felt so proud to be brandishing Dom's jersey, you guys have no idea. Like a little kid~~~
Also, remembering the shenanigans that have now become par for the course ontd spinoff communities (see ontd_skating and ontd_startrek, specifically), we searched around for a sheet of paper. Luckily Zoe, who is endlessly prepared, had a notebook and a Sharpie. I hastily scrawled "I <3 ONTD_MUSE" on a piece of looseleaf and we figured, we're ready with something at least.
Tom walked by again -- PRAISE MATTHAMED BELLAMESSIAH! -- only he was a little busy. He was busy kissy-facing with his girlfriend, who is ADORABLE BEYOND COMPARE, by the way. So we asked for a moment and he blew us off. Understandable, but it didn't stop the UTTER DEVASTATION we felt at having possibly missed our chance. (Liz teared up a little, ngl.)
I turned into Pessimistic Polly, aka Matt, for a little while. Liz, against all odds, was the optimist. What happened to us, it’s like we switched brains. In the back of our minds, though, we knew he had to walk by again. And besides, it gave us more time to psych ourselves up.
Excitement was at an all time high, and I think we would have broken through a glass wall to get to Tom when he walked back by, which he did. FOR COMM AND THE GLORY OF THE MUSE WAY!!!! We launched ourselves at him, shaking the jerseys like bullfighters’ capes.
I believe he said something like "What's all this, then?" But that might have been me projecting stereotypical Brit poshness onto him. He was so cute I just couldn't focus, regardless. We showed him the jerseys, and ours as well. Guys, he seemed impressed. I mean, he really looked stunned that these were REAL THINGS. "These are for the band." "Oh, cool!"
I DIED. Also there was That Awkward Moment when you don't have a jersey for Tom Kirk. :/ No time to think about that, though!!!
And then...
(photo by __savemysoul)
So yeah. That happened. And then we all proceeded to love, hope, die, scream, shout, and pray all to no avail all over the barrier and each other. Liz was actually shaking and crying. Like... crying. It was a magical moment in which I felt so euphoric you couldn't just taken me out of the realm of existence right then and there... no regrets. LOL I sound like such a pathetic fangirl.
Elle, aka sparky808, who spearheaded the entire jersey campaign and made it perfect, adds:
GUYS... GUYS... I CAN'T EVEN WITH THIS. I don't want to go on a huge rant/rave/excited tl;dr...
BUT SERIOUSLY. The fact that everyone loved the jerseys so much meant a lot to me! I don't have a lot of esteem when it comes to the art thing and I tend to feel trumped by the people who are considerably more talented than I am. But these jerseys turned out so good and it's finally something that I can be OUTWARDLY proud of rather than inwardly... like... it's something that people around me can REALLY enjoy and take part in. OF COURSE... if it hadn't been for you guys, these things wouldn't have even been as cool as they are. It was your input that did it, man. XD I keep hoping that the boys dug the jerseys as much as everyone else did, but the more I think about it... the more I realize I shouldn't care. All that matters is what my REAL 'clients' think of it. And you loved them. So it means everything in the world. Satisfaction and inspiration is what I want in my life as an artist, and I think I achieved it.
ANYWAY. /DONE. I was thinking of doing different ONTD_Muse shirts for next year! We should do something like this every year and change it up! Different designs! 8DDDDD
It should also be added that the amount of love these jerseys got from random Lolla attendees was RIDICULOUS. People were coming up to us from really far back in the crowd just to ask where we got them from. Some woman actually thought they were legitimate team jerseys because she asked meganvio, “What team do you girls play for?” Awkward, but very cool. OH AND ALSO: cute dudes really dig the jerseys. The majority of people that commented on the jerseys were REALLY FINE DUDES. That being said, if you ever want to pick up some fine honeys, wear them jerseys.
But it wasn't over.
Our little group went APESHIT at this. And then began speculation that Chris might ACTUALLY WEAR IT ONSTAGE. This speculation and the adrenaline high lasted us right through until Muse took the stage. We also had mass sing-alongs to the pre-set music, like Phoenix’s "Lizstomania" and The Offspring's "The Kids Are Alright." I have never been in such a loving, excited, amazing GA pit before. BEST LEAD-UP TO A SHOW EVER.
The security guys were awesome, even though they wouldn't let us put our bags over the rails. But, a little destruction's gonna happen. Deal With It.
Glitterati was soundchecked, the piano was wheeled out, shit was lost on everyone's part, it was magical and the band hadn't even taken the stage.
But then the band took the stage.
SETLIST:
Uprising
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Map of the Problematique
Butterflies & Hurricanes
Guiding Light
Citizen Erased
Nishe
United States of Eurasia
Helsinki Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Time is Running Out
Starlight
Stockholm Syndrome
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia
Here is a vid of “Citizen Erased” as shot by kaosspad, thought you might be interested (you can hear us fangirling the hell):
You want fangirling? Listen to our reaction when “Butterflies & Hurricanes” started, omfg. Also we actually are singing sort of on key TAKE THAT 90% OF SINGERS IN GA:
(fyi: no one actually died)
And the “Butterflies & Hurricanes” piano solo, also epic, also shot by kaosspad:
Your Lord and Savior, pic courtesy of lalalive23
Observations/Cool Stuff That Happened:
- I (Liz) have never been so excited to hear “Uprising” in my life, rofl. The entire crowd was freaking the fuck out, it was amazing.
- omfg so many people were passing out. They called for medics WELL AND OFTEN. I’m so glad our group was smart and hydrated and not drunk off our tits! It was hot as balls, let me tell you. And I live in Florida, I’m used to heat.
- NEGL I ((Vee)) was sort of disappointed that Dom wore his SoCal douchebag cosplay UNTIL I LOOKED AT THE SCREENS right in front of me and was treated to so many gratuitous Dom Howard arm/pit shots, omfffffgggggggg.
- So yes they all looked SO FINE 69, but admittedly Chris is looking very thin. Healthy, though!! Not our cuddly teddy bear anymore, but good for him on it!!!
- When everyone was singing “Best, you’ve got to be the best” during B&H, I totally started to cry a little. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT OKAY JFC.((Vee’s note: this song reminds me of the whole shit situation I’ve had for the last year/my dad, so I looked skyward and just let it all wash over me - intense to say the least #csb))
- They did “House of the Rising Sun” - this jazzed Jordan the fuck out!! (he’d never been to a Muse gig). It jazzed me, too, since they didn’t even play it in New Orleans #ROOD. Everyone sang along, though - it was awesome!
- When they played “Guiding Light,” literally the entire front row started interpretive dancing and singing along overdramatically. When it was over, Matt kind of looked out at the audience all wry and confused and went, “Well, you all had fun with that, didn’t you!” L M A O.
- It was such a beautiful, cathartic moment during the end of “Citizen Erased,” omg. We were just leaning against the barrier and this little breeze rolled in and Matt was playing the piano and crooning into the mic and jfc I am going to cry thinking about it. I think I held up a fistful of glow sticks in lieu of a cell phone or a lighter, rofl. I did the same thing for “Guiding Light,” too. ((Vee’s note: I held up my phone omfg))
- During “Citizen Erased” Tom’s girlfriend came walking back by with another girl - well, I say “walking by” but she was actually skipping/dancing to the song with her hands in the air and smiling, IT WAS ADORABLE I JUST CAN’T YOU GUYS.
- Also, Matt’s voice? Has gotten so much better. Not that it was bad or anything, but he’s definitely been practicing his falsetto, jfc. He sounded amazing.
- I was so excited to hear MOTP that I actually forgot the lyrics, lmfao.
- During “Starlight,” when we were all singing “hoooooold you iiiiin myyyy aaaaarms” (yes I cannot type those words in sequence without dragging them out like that, rofl), Matt sort of pointed out at the crowd and drew his arm in to his chest, like he was holding all of us. I think I have never loved Matt Bellamy as much as I did in that moment, lmao. ((Vee’s note: OMG I MISSED THAT))
- SS was INSANELY BELLDOMMY. I hate saying that, you know, because it’s like “lol typical fangirl fuck off they’re not gay” I KNOW THEY’RE NOT GAY, but you know as well as I that things haven’t been quite the same in the world of Matt Bellamy + Dom Howard = BFF, right? Babies and separation, that’s what I chalk it up to. But oh my god during Stockholm Syndrome, they were JUST LIKE OLD TIMES. So many smiles exchanged, so much silent rapport, and Matt walked over and did his best to simulate straddling Dom’s drumkit even though he couldn’t quite do so without destroying the kit a la 2004. This sent Dom into a fit of laughter, it was AMAZING.
- Then the fabulous bitch proceeded to throw the Glitterati (Santa 2.0, sorry) through the head of Dom’s bass drum. It took him two tries - he missed like a boss the first time.
- The security guards were being total dicks during PIB and KOC because they kept popping the balalalloons (or Hullaballoons, whatever you want to call them) as they bounced toward them. I barely got to touch one. :/ ((Vee’s note: I FINALLY GOT TO TOUCH ONE!!! I have been to six Muse gigs and have never touched one and I FINALLY GOT TO, LIFE MADE))
- It seems obvious, but with the combination of SS/PIB/KOC... holy shit, fuckton of crowd surfers were pulled out of the pit. CROOOOOWSUUUURFERS EVERYWHEEEEERE (speaking of, kind of bummed we didn’t get “New Born.” IDC that they play it all the time, it has one of my favorite riffs of all time) ((Vee: Same)) ((Vee Again: P.S. Stockholm Syndrome will forever remind me of LizGate 2011 “This is the last time I’ll forget you... and this is the last time I’ll abandon you...”)). I had to duck down below the barrier at one point so I didn’t get kicked in the head (because I had already gotten punched in the head about 72 times by the girl behind me who needed to aim her flailing arms elsewhere omg).
- Man With a Harmonica was a religious experience and it’s still going through my head this much later.
- It was kind of cool to high-five all the dudes and chicks that had been pulled out for crowd-surfing as they were escorted away, though, lol rock and roll.
Friday was the nicest day, weather-wise, at Lollapalooza, so at least there was no mud to trounce through on the way back. We were just happy to have survived to talk about it.
Best Muse gig of my fangirl life. The experience was worth it times a billion. Worth everything and more. The ontd_musers I met were phenomenal and beautiful. I would love to put some long, rambly wrap-up here at the end but I'll just leave it at this: this comm rocks, and Muse still does too. Haters step the fuck off :D
♥ tyfyt
Hold on to your tits.
This is going to be a long one.
Hello ducks.
So aside from the cryptic LJ posts made on smartphones that didn't really want to cooperate, and endless (sometimes mindless) tweets, you might be wondering what happened at Lollapalooza. Long story short, Muse were amazing. We could leave it at that, maybe post up the setlist and talk about how incredible the boys were, but I feel like it might be nice to do something a little more... personal. After all, we were crazily snapping pictures all day long. So I bring to you a chronicle of our Lollapalooza meet-up, which will hopefully not be mind-numbingly boring, and will hopefully be even a fraction as awesome as the weekend itself was.
Chi-town is massive and gorgeous. I, for one, fell in love with the city. Most of the nucleus of the meet-up was centered around Congress Ave, which was adjacent to the University Center and the HI Hostel, which is where a good chunk of the ontd_musers stayed. So we saw a lot of that area.
Of course, there was the meet-up itself, which took place at Lou Malnati's on State Street.
Jordan, aka "Just a Bro", no LJKristen, aka "NOOOOOOOOB!"
Jessica, aka j_dragonflyomg Liz (hopeandmemory) get your phone outta your mouth
Zoe, aka glorious_rumorJess, aka kaosspad
Alison's failed first attempt at a nametagSuccess! Alison, aka aluhsin, aka Prophet of ontd_muse
Megan, aka meganvioVee, aka glitterati
Elle (sparky808) and I guess honorary ontd_muse member Gerrilyn showed up to hang out and drop off jerseys and eat pizza too, but I didn't get any solo pics of them booooo.
We had a great time, as you might be able to tell despite all the camera lenses being smeared with pizza grease, and left to acquire cheaper booze and poster-making supplies. While Jordan fell asleep in the CVS (I'm not kidding), we purchased poster board and glitta paint for this purpose.
Then we purchased some booze from the Walgreen's two blocks down. Then we realized 1) neither of our hotels allowed visitors, and 2) they didn't allow booze, either. Well, fuck.
So, failing that, we decided to just meet up bright and early on Friday morning. We planned to get up and get down to the Panera at around 7:30 am and head to the line. We'd just make the signs in line, we thought; fuck the po-lice.
Liz and I woke up at about 7:00 am, said "fuck it" and went back to sleep for a while.
We all finally got to the line at about 8:30 am. This was preceded by breakfast and much acquisition of supplies at the CVS. That CVS, man, we would have died without it. There were a LOT of people already lined up, as we might have been able to guess (and probably did) So we just parked ourselves and took to making ARTS AND CRAFTS~~~ like so many bosses.
Also group photos were taken:
That last one is all of us doing Maff Bellalamy Duck Face. We were also joined at this point by Kat (lalalive23)!!!
Our signs apparently became rather infamous because people wandered by saying things like "oh, you guys made the signs, can I see them!?" I love Twitter.
Let me also mention here that one of the coolest parts of the weekend was hearing aluhsin announce every once in a while: "Tom just tweeted," at which point we would crowd around phones and squeal like fangirls.
We decided to Tweetbomb Muse with a #deadstaratlolla hashtag, but it didn't really pan out. Can't blame them; they have other things to rehearse. Like Bliss. OH MY BABY BLISS. ;__;
At about 10:00 am, we thought it would be a good idea if Liz went to get her wristband fixed. You see, it broke. And by "it broke", we mean Liz panicked that it was too loose and pried it open with a spatula and knife about two weeks ago. Anyway. Cue the long-ass line there. I abandoned her at about 10:19 am to go reclaim a position in line for the gates. I planned the be one of the runners to barrier (Kat and Zoe were the others who deiced to take this role).
It took. For. Ever. For the gates to open. I think they finally opened after multiple heart attacks at around 11:20 am.
Let me tell you something. I'm a decent runner. I'm good with sprinting. Shit with long distances, but good with sprinting. That was... both? Sprinting for a LONG DISTANCE. About 4/5 mile, I think. And it was hot. And we'd been outside for a while. And I hadn't gotten much sleep. INTENSE. But I just kept pushing myself over that terrain. PAIN IS TEMPORARY, GLORY IS FOREVER.
This is Gerrilynn, and she is fabulous
It was worth it.
What felt like an hour later, we were joined by everyone else from our little group, made a circle and camped out.
All those other little bands were really good, but the main event is the main focus here. This isn't ontd_aperfectcircle or ontd_whitelies, after all. Though those would probably be pretty badass. Also completely at odds with each other.
Let's talk about Thomas Kirk.
It was sometime between APC and Muse, and I was just chilling at barrier (at this point the crowd had become thick enough that there was NO SITTIN' DOWN for the rest of the night -- expected). Suddenly a stunningly attractive man walks by and I sort of do a double take. "Oh my god, Tom," I said, pointing after him and turning to Liz. CUE SCREAMING. "Tom!!!! TOOOOMMMMM!!!" And all the way down the line. Everyone on Matt's side of barrier was therefore prepared for his arrival. When he made the circle back around some ten minutes later, he was holding a tinfoil hat and some other sundry leopard print items, presumably gifts for the band (read: Dom) (WHY DIDN’T WE BRING CHEESE, GUYS?!?!).
Cue Twitpics:
That last one ended up on Wikipedia, actually - and it's still there! Just look up "Tin Foil Hat." This is especially funny if you understand the term "tinhatter" in regards to fandom. Anyway... (Tom also tweeted about the Wikipedia thing, calling it "Domipedia"... btw)
At this point we remembered that we had jerseys to give the boys, and Tom was our best chance to hand them off. Oh my god. There was a frantic all-call for Elle and Ger to regroup with us at barrier, as we frantically began to panic that we would miss our window of opportunity.
Just then...
The jerseys were delivered via crowd-surfing in a backpack which I first just presumed to be full of dirty clothes. "The fuck am I looking at?!" Then I realized they were the jerseys.
These are the jerseys, by the way.
The self-prescribed Team Reps, that being those of us already at barrier in the appropriate shirts, took the jerseys and displayed them over the rails (Zoe for Matt - Resistance, Myself for Dom - BHAR, and Liz for Chris - Absolution). I felt so proud to be brandishing Dom's jersey, you guys have no idea. Like a little kid~~~
Also, remembering the shenanigans that have now become par for the course ontd spinoff communities (see ontd_skating and ontd_startrek, specifically), we searched around for a sheet of paper. Luckily Zoe, who is endlessly prepared, had a notebook and a Sharpie. I hastily scrawled "I <3 ONTD_MUSE" on a piece of looseleaf and we figured, we're ready with something at least.
Tom walked by again -- PRAISE MATTHAMED BELLAMESSIAH! -- only he was a little busy. He was busy kissy-facing with his girlfriend, who is ADORABLE BEYOND COMPARE, by the way. So we asked for a moment and he blew us off. Understandable, but it didn't stop the UTTER DEVASTATION we felt at having possibly missed our chance. (Liz teared up a little, ngl.)
I turned into Pessimistic Polly, aka Matt, for a little while. Liz, against all odds, was the optimist. What happened to us, it’s like we switched brains. In the back of our minds, though, we knew he had to walk by again. And besides, it gave us more time to psych ourselves up.
Excitement was at an all time high, and I think we would have broken through a glass wall to get to Tom when he walked back by, which he did. FOR COMM AND THE GLORY OF THE MUSE WAY!!!! We launched ourselves at him, shaking the jerseys like bullfighters’ capes.
I believe he said something like "What's all this, then?" But that might have been me projecting stereotypical Brit poshness onto him. He was so cute I just couldn't focus, regardless. We showed him the jerseys, and ours as well. Guys, he seemed impressed. I mean, he really looked stunned that these were REAL THINGS. "These are for the band." "Oh, cool!"
I DIED. Also there was That Awkward Moment when you don't have a jersey for Tom Kirk. :/ No time to think about that, though!!!
And then...
Click to view (photo by __savemysoul)
So yeah. That happened. And then we all proceeded to love, hope, die, scream, shout, and pray all to no avail all over the barrier and each other. Liz was actually shaking and crying. Like... crying. It was a magical moment in which I felt so euphoric you couldn't just taken me out of the realm of existence right then and there... no regrets. LOL I sound like such a pathetic fangirl.
Elle, aka sparky808, who spearheaded the entire jersey campaign and made it perfect, adds:
GUYS... GUYS... I CAN'T EVEN WITH THIS. I don't want to go on a huge rant/rave/excited tl;dr...
BUT SERIOUSLY. The fact that everyone loved the jerseys so much meant a lot to me! I don't have a lot of esteem when it comes to the art thing and I tend to feel trumped by the people who are considerably more talented than I am. But these jerseys turned out so good and it's finally something that I can be OUTWARDLY proud of rather than inwardly... like... it's something that people around me can REALLY enjoy and take part in. OF COURSE... if it hadn't been for you guys, these things wouldn't have even been as cool as they are. It was your input that did it, man. XD I keep hoping that the boys dug the jerseys as much as everyone else did, but the more I think about it... the more I realize I shouldn't care. All that matters is what my REAL 'clients' think of it. And you loved them. So it means everything in the world. Satisfaction and inspiration is what I want in my life as an artist, and I think I achieved it.
ANYWAY. /DONE. I was thinking of doing different ONTD_Muse shirts for next year! We should do something like this every year and change it up! Different designs! 8DDDDD
It should also be added that the amount of love these jerseys got from random Lolla attendees was RIDICULOUS. People were coming up to us from really far back in the crowd just to ask where we got them from. Some woman actually thought they were legitimate team jerseys because she asked meganvio, “What team do you girls play for?” Awkward, but very cool. OH AND ALSO: cute dudes really dig the jerseys. The majority of people that commented on the jerseys were REALLY FINE DUDES. That being said, if you ever want to pick up some fine honeys, wear them jerseys.
But it wasn't over.
Our little group went APESHIT at this. And then began speculation that Chris might ACTUALLY WEAR IT ONSTAGE. This speculation and the adrenaline high lasted us right through until Muse took the stage. We also had mass sing-alongs to the pre-set music, like Phoenix’s "Lizstomania" and The Offspring's "The Kids Are Alright." I have never been in such a loving, excited, amazing GA pit before. BEST LEAD-UP TO A SHOW EVER.
The security guys were awesome, even though they wouldn't let us put our bags over the rails. But, a little destruction's gonna happen. Deal With It.
Glitterati was soundchecked, the piano was wheeled out, shit was lost on everyone's part, it was magical and the band hadn't even taken the stage.
But then the band took the stage.
SETLIST:
Uprising
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Map of the Problematique
Butterflies & Hurricanes
Guiding Light
Citizen Erased
Nishe
United States of Eurasia
Helsinki Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Time is Running Out
Starlight
Stockholm Syndrome
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia
Here is a vid of “Citizen Erased” as shot by kaosspad, thought you might be interested (you can hear us fangirling the hell):
You want fangirling? Listen to our reaction when “Butterflies & Hurricanes” started, omfg. Also we actually are singing sort of on key TAKE THAT 90% OF SINGERS IN GA:
(fyi: no one actually died)
And the “Butterflies & Hurricanes” piano solo, also epic, also shot by kaosspad:
Your Lord and Savior, pic courtesy of lalalive23
Observations/Cool Stuff That Happened:
- I (Liz) have never been so excited to hear “Uprising” in my life, rofl. The entire crowd was freaking the fuck out, it was amazing.
- omfg so many people were passing out. They called for medics WELL AND OFTEN. I’m so glad our group was smart and hydrated and not drunk off our tits! It was hot as balls, let me tell you. And I live in Florida, I’m used to heat.
- NEGL I ((Vee)) was sort of disappointed that Dom wore his SoCal douchebag cosplay UNTIL I LOOKED AT THE SCREENS right in front of me and was treated to so many gratuitous Dom Howard arm/pit shots, omfffffgggggggg.
- So yes they all looked SO FINE 69, but admittedly Chris is looking very thin. Healthy, though!! Not our cuddly teddy bear anymore, but good for him on it!!!
- When everyone was singing “Best, you’ve got to be the best” during B&H, I totally started to cry a little. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT OKAY JFC.((Vee’s note: this song reminds me of the whole shit situation I’ve had for the last year/my dad, so I looked skyward and just let it all wash over me - intense to say the least #csb))
- They did “House of the Rising Sun” - this jazzed Jordan the fuck out!! (he’d never been to a Muse gig). It jazzed me, too, since they didn’t even play it in New Orleans #ROOD. Everyone sang along, though - it was awesome!
- When they played “Guiding Light,” literally the entire front row started interpretive dancing and singing along overdramatically. When it was over, Matt kind of looked out at the audience all wry and confused and went, “Well, you all had fun with that, didn’t you!” L M A O.
- It was such a beautiful, cathartic moment during the end of “Citizen Erased,” omg. We were just leaning against the barrier and this little breeze rolled in and Matt was playing the piano and crooning into the mic and jfc I am going to cry thinking about it. I think I held up a fistful of glow sticks in lieu of a cell phone or a lighter, rofl. I did the same thing for “Guiding Light,” too. ((Vee’s note: I held up my phone omfg))
- During “Citizen Erased” Tom’s girlfriend came walking back by with another girl - well, I say “walking by” but she was actually skipping/dancing to the song with her hands in the air and smiling, IT WAS ADORABLE I JUST CAN’T YOU GUYS.
- Also, Matt’s voice? Has gotten so much better. Not that it was bad or anything, but he’s definitely been practicing his falsetto, jfc. He sounded amazing.
- I was so excited to hear MOTP that I actually forgot the lyrics, lmfao.
- During “Starlight,” when we were all singing “hoooooold you iiiiin myyyy aaaaarms” (yes I cannot type those words in sequence without dragging them out like that, rofl), Matt sort of pointed out at the crowd and drew his arm in to his chest, like he was holding all of us. I think I have never loved Matt Bellamy as much as I did in that moment, lmao. ((Vee’s note: OMG I MISSED THAT))
- SS was INSANELY BELLDOMMY. I hate saying that, you know, because it’s like “lol typical fangirl fuck off they’re not gay” I KNOW THEY’RE NOT GAY, but you know as well as I that things haven’t been quite the same in the world of Matt Bellamy + Dom Howard = BFF, right? Babies and separation, that’s what I chalk it up to. But oh my god during Stockholm Syndrome, they were JUST LIKE OLD TIMES. So many smiles exchanged, so much silent rapport, and Matt walked over and did his best to simulate straddling Dom’s drumkit even though he couldn’t quite do so without destroying the kit a la 2004. This sent Dom into a fit of laughter, it was AMAZING.
- Then the fabulous bitch proceeded to throw the Glitterati (Santa 2.0, sorry) through the head of Dom’s bass drum. It took him two tries - he missed like a boss the first time.
- The security guards were being total dicks during PIB and KOC because they kept popping the balalalloons (or Hullaballoons, whatever you want to call them) as they bounced toward them. I barely got to touch one. :/ ((Vee’s note: I FINALLY GOT TO TOUCH ONE!!! I have been to six Muse gigs and have never touched one and I FINALLY GOT TO, LIFE MADE))
- It seems obvious, but with the combination of SS/PIB/KOC... holy shit, fuckton of crowd surfers were pulled out of the pit. CROOOOOWSUUUURFERS EVERYWHEEEEERE (speaking of, kind of bummed we didn’t get “New Born.” IDC that they play it all the time, it has one of my favorite riffs of all time) ((Vee: Same)) ((Vee Again: P.S. Stockholm Syndrome will forever remind me of LizGate 2011 “This is the last time I’ll forget you... and this is the last time I’ll abandon you...”)). I had to duck down below the barrier at one point so I didn’t get kicked in the head (because I had already gotten punched in the head about 72 times by the girl behind me who needed to aim her flailing arms elsewhere omg).
- Man With a Harmonica was a religious experience and it’s still going through my head this much later.
- It was kind of cool to high-five all the dudes and chicks that had been pulled out for crowd-surfing as they were escorted away, though, lol rock and roll.
Friday was the nicest day, weather-wise, at Lollapalooza, so at least there was no mud to trounce through on the way back. We were just happy to have survived to talk about it.
Best Muse gig of my fangirl life. The experience was worth it times a billion. Worth everything and more. The ontd_musers I met were phenomenal and beautiful. I would love to put some long, rambly wrap-up here at the end but I'll just leave it at this: this comm rocks, and Muse still does too. Haters step the fuck off :D
♥ tyfyt