Currently Listening: Rise Against - Hero of War (on repeat)
To say that I had a good weekend would be unjust because it was really very awesome. Here's what went down.
On Thursday we went down to Orlando for Rise Against. I'm never going to understand why at 4 o'clock in the afternoon there were only 10 people in line. Of course there was already a girl there for Tokio Hotel the next night (more on that later), but I guess it's a good thing since we didn't want to be any farther back than that. Waiting in line for 2 hours was a breeze, especially with a bunch of funny dudes.
The lineup was The Gaslight Anthem, Thrice, Alkaline Trio, and Rise Against. Any of those 3 big name bands could have easily sold out House of Blues alone, as they have in the past, so the fact the the 3 of them were there together was incredible. Gaslight was really great. I'd only listened to their stuff a few times before seeing them, but they totally won me over with their awesome live show. Thrice is such an epic band to watch. They are almost theatrical, and the sound is impeccable. "Broken Lungs" will always be one of my favorite songs of all time, especially live. Alkaline Trio was the third up on stage. I really love seeing these guys live. You'd never think 3 dude could make 2000 people show so much energy, but they do every time. Some of my favorites weren't played, but they still had a great set.
And now for the night's headliner, Rise Against. This was my second time seeing them, and just as before they blew me away. They have such great stage presence and Tim is a great front man. Hearing the new songs live was great, especially "Hero of War." It bothers me that "Give It All" is played so early in the set; I wish they would close with it. Watching them live gives me such motivation and empowerment to go and do anything I set my mind to, I love it.
Overall, the show was completely worth every cent and I wish I could see another date of it. I got to meet Matt Skiba after the show which was something I've been waiting for since 2005. That was great. I also met Zach Blair and Tim McIlrath. Zach was super fun to meet, and being able to meet Tim for the second time was completely unexpected but totally appreciated. All in all, such a phenomenal night.
The next day Amber and I were going to see Tokio Hotel. We decided to be really obnoxious and ironic and "dress up" like jerks, so we did. I thought we were cute to be honest. We got there at 10 or so in the morning and the line was already longer than that of Rise Against's from the day prior. As the day slowly progressed, the line continued to grow and the girls just got more and more obnoxious. These girls (because 98% of them were females) didn't like the band, no; they lived and breathed Tokio Hotel. It was so crazy to see and I totally felt left out from all of it because in all honestly I'd heard maybe 10 songs and really didn't care much at all. In retrospect, I guess I wish I had known more, but it was cool to see it in a different perspective. By 3 pm the line was enormous and so was the one for the Virgin Megastore meet and greet. We waited til 5:30 to meet them, heard girls scream for them for a majority of that time, and meeting them lasted all of 10 seconds. My views on their personalities are: Bill looks like a doll, and is really over the top, but he's nice. I even got a picture of him in which he looks pretty stupid, but at least he let me take it. Tom is quiet and didn't even really look up. He's the Benji to Bill's Joel. (Hah) Georg (who needs an 'e' at the end of his name) has a nice smile and was nice. I found him to be the friendliest in the .2345 seconds I could say hello. Gustav was what you could say the typical drummer is. Sign, Hi, next. He's cute though. Back in the original show line we stood super cramped and listening to typical line drama. All I was concerned with was getting Amber to think "small like snake" and get her in fast to be where she wanted to be. When the opened the gate to let us in I honestly thought we were going to get trampled. Whenever we really have to rush into a venue I know I forget about the rest of the world and just focus on getting in. It's funny to replay it in my mind afterward. Amber and I did a great job and ended up beating most of the people originally in front of us in and landed on a perfect barricade spot. We then had to wait 2.5 hours for those TH fools to get on stage. So ridiculous. Girls were dying left and right, free water was given out, and no one would stop yelling and complaining. The show itself was really good. They kept me entertained, and even when they didn't, their crazy fans did. I have to say it's pretty cool o know that a good 95% of the people there were all seeing this band live for the first time and yet knew every single word and loved this band so much. That doesn't really happen with many bands these days. After seeing them I can finally take them more serious as a "band" and not a joke, and the music is quite good. I like being won over for good reasons!
(I'm sure you're thrilled to read this Amber :] )
So after meeting 7 band dudes, 2 trips to House of Blues, 2 different hotels, lots of laughing, lots of waiting, and lots of fun, I'm home, rested, and ready for my next show. I am living some of the best times ever right now, and I love it all.
