Let's do this
Okay, third time's the charm for this entry. I have my photobucket and youtube accounts at the ready, and no real plans for the rest of the night. THIS IS GETTING DONE. I hate how I've gotten out of the habit of proper concert reporting. I'm in kind of a weird mood, so this should be fun.
So, Tampa. Drove out there by myself, waited a good long while in the BLAZING JANUARY SUN (srsly, it was so hot, I'm glad I managed to pull an umbrella from the depths of my car or I probably would have died) and the venue opened the doors about an hour and 20 minutes late, which is a new record. It didn't really affect the show except the local band (The Woodwork) didn't get to play until after William went on, but whatever. It was a place called the Czar Bar, and it was fairly nice. Relatively big on the inside, with lots of different rooms and 21+ areas, which I did not visit because I was my own designated driver. Sigh. The stage lighting was kind of weird! All of my pictures are kind of artistic-looking. Here, have some Cab kids.
Why yes, Alex is wearing just one glove, and it is, in fact, a tribute to Michael Jackson. Alex said that's he's one of his favorite musicians, and he could either touch little kids or wear a glove. GOOD CHOICE. (This does not, however, excuse the header on his blog. WTF)
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed their songs being played acoustically, their album is very upbeat and poppy, but I am guessing it worked because they were stripped down to their two best elements: Alex's voice and Ian's guitar. Both of them are VERY GOOD at what they do, it's very neat to watch. William came onstage with them for their cover of Sublime's "Santeria," which was so much fun! He looks like he's plotting something here:
What is he plotting? I am pretty sure he has devised a plan to steal Ian from The Cab. "Hahaha, no I'm not~"
You so are, William. I understand, as he'd be a huge upgrade for your band (no one likes Mike Carden) but I am pretty sure the Alexes will fight you for him. And while they are tiny, there is only one of you. ...Uh, report. Right. The glowstick on Ian's hat was a nice touch.
Alex exchanging TOP SECRET INFO with William. He is SO onto you, dude.
I took a video of "I'll Run," and I will share with you the story Alex introduced it with: "So William and I have gotten pretty close on this tour--no, not THAT kind of close, geez. And one morning we woke up and it was like 5am [I really, really doubt that] and we decided we should go jogging together! So we did, and all of a sudden William started running really fast ahead of me, and I'm like, 'wait up, I have short legs!' and he turned to me and said: "Alex...I'll run." Yeah. Really. Anyway, the best part of the video is the "Let me run my fingers through your hair" line, haha.
After that fun, it was time for the William Beckett show, who opened his set with an a capella rendition of a song called "The Promise," and oh, William. You have been working on your singing, haven't you? Keep it up. Next, perhaps work on your fashion choices?
I still miss your hair. You keep cutting it progressively shorter, and I get a little sadder each time.
Let's see... he also played "Pour Yourself a Drink," which was neat, and a b-side off the latest album called "Every Burden Has a Version," and honestly, I could not get into it. It seemed like a string of bad similes? "Like the cat that caught the cream, you'll never be quite satisfied." I dunno, I didn't like "40 Steps" much when I first heard it, but it grew on me eventually. To further prove my theory, William brought Ian out for "The Test" and made him play both the guitar AND the harmonica:
The song sounded really nice, of course. But William, Ian knows.
After that, he brought Alex onstage too and the three of them did the "Brick" cover, which more or less broke my heart. They sound SO GOOD together, and that song, and just. The Acabdemy Is! William wrapped up the set with "Down and Out," "Eastbound Traffic", and finally "About a Girl," during which he had Sisky make his one appearance of the night: he had to yell "WHOOOOO" after the first chorus, haha.
So, the Hot Topic adventure! Erin and I went to the beach during the day, which was lovely, if a little cold. Truthfully? The Volusia mall is pretty crappy. It's only one story, and doesn't even have a Cinnabon, so obviously it is lame. I liked this helpful sign though:
And Erin met someone very, very special:
Props to Hot Topic for organizing the whole event very nicely. I think the security outside the store may have been A LITTLE overkill, but that just makes it more hilarious. William Beckett is a BIG DEAL, you guys.
They were pretty serious about the "no pictures" in the store during the meet&greet, but I was sneaky and snapped this shot anyway, so you have an idea of what it looked like. You can see Ian!
The meeting-and-greeting was fun, I now have all three CDs signed by Beckett, and a poster (not the CD, loool, that was faily on my part. My dad got me the TAI CD instead and I didn't exchange it in time!) from The Cab. And thanks for the hug, Alex, I am glad you smell nicer than you look.
After that, Erin and I drove up to Gainesville (which is funny, because originally she'd made it quite clear she didn't want to come, but charming Alex is charming :P) and got woken up the next day by an interesting phone call. Hint: getting on your own tour bus before it leaves the city = good idea. Got in line for the show around 3pm or so, and fortunately the venue was in the shade this time and the wait was much nicer. When it got closer to the show, we saw a couple of familiar faces across the street at the gas station, and one of Philip's friends was like "Huh? Why are you pointing at the hobos? We've already seen plenty of them today." But it wasn't a pair of hobos, it was Sisky and Alex! This was pretty hilarious. xD
The Gainesville venue was tiny and set up strangely, there was a bar (with TVs set up so you could play Mario or Tetris, cool) and the stage was off to the side, almost in a separate room. But they packed it full with 200 people, and man, it got warm and toasty pretty quickly. There was an opening band this time, some Gainesville kids called Dear Dakota.
They had two very strong vocalists and overall, were not bad. They wanted SO MUCH to be playing with their full band, and kept trying to get people into it through copious amounts of hand clapping, and I'm just like, "Dudes. Acoustic. Chill." They did bust out a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," which people got pretty into, because, well. "DON'T STOP--BELIIIIEVING" I was amused by the semi-Pete/Patrick dynamic they had going. I wonder who writes the lyrics.
Then it was these kids again:
They were SO ON that night. Smiles and jokes and silliness all around. I got some of it on video, you can hear a little bit of the Spongebob song (yeah) before "Risky Business" here, and Alex telling Ian three times to put his shades on because it is JUST THAT SERIOUS. They were also talked into playing their "Disturbia" cover, which Alex got about halfway through before "forgetting the lyrics"/losing interesting. I am kind of amused by the foreshadowing here.
More silliness before "Vegas Skies;" (omg I love that song) Alex professes his love for Taylor Swift in an extremely creepy manner. Maybe pop stars are not for you, dude.
William AND Sisky came out for their little jam session ("Santeria," so awesome) and everyone is looking at Ian here, haha. (Also, creepy radio guy is creepy. DO NOT WANT)
In the theme of the evening (nay, the tour) they spiced up their cover of Nsync's "Gone" with a little bit of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" at the beginning. LOL. This is not a great picture, but, William's smile.
I hope they get to tour together again sometime in the future, because they clearly had a lot of fun and I do not like We the Kings. Here's a shot of William during "The Promise:"
William and Ian during "The Test:"
This time around, I took a video of "Brick" so I could focus on that instead of being sad. I don't really know what it is about this song, I don't have a personal connection to it or anything, I've just always found it really sad and moving. Just watch it.
And one more shot of William, for good measure.
Overall? Two of the most fun shows I've done, and one heck of an entertaining meet&greet. I think I've seen William's pretty face onstage something like 13 times now (yeeeah) and I can't wait to thank him for all of this nonsense in my upcoming EPIC CONCERT RECAP POST on the 17th. Good times.
Still to come: FOB on the TV and Disco Homos in the swamp.
So, Tampa. Drove out there by myself, waited a good long while in the BLAZING JANUARY SUN (srsly, it was so hot, I'm glad I managed to pull an umbrella from the depths of my car or I probably would have died) and the venue opened the doors about an hour and 20 minutes late, which is a new record. It didn't really affect the show except the local band (The Woodwork) didn't get to play until after William went on, but whatever. It was a place called the Czar Bar, and it was fairly nice. Relatively big on the inside, with lots of different rooms and 21+ areas, which I did not visit because I was my own designated driver. Sigh. The stage lighting was kind of weird! All of my pictures are kind of artistic-looking. Here, have some Cab kids.
Why yes, Alex is wearing just one glove, and it is, in fact, a tribute to Michael Jackson. Alex said that's he's one of his favorite musicians, and he could either touch little kids or wear a glove. GOOD CHOICE. (This does not, however, excuse the header on his blog. WTF)
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed their songs being played acoustically, their album is very upbeat and poppy, but I am guessing it worked because they were stripped down to their two best elements: Alex's voice and Ian's guitar. Both of them are VERY GOOD at what they do, it's very neat to watch. William came onstage with them for their cover of Sublime's "Santeria," which was so much fun! He looks like he's plotting something here:
What is he plotting? I am pretty sure he has devised a plan to steal Ian from The Cab. "Hahaha, no I'm not~"
You so are, William. I understand, as he'd be a huge upgrade for your band (no one likes Mike Carden) but I am pretty sure the Alexes will fight you for him. And while they are tiny, there is only one of you. ...Uh, report. Right. The glowstick on Ian's hat was a nice touch.
Alex exchanging TOP SECRET INFO with William. He is SO onto you, dude.
I took a video of "I'll Run," and I will share with you the story Alex introduced it with: "So William and I have gotten pretty close on this tour--no, not THAT kind of close, geez. And one morning we woke up and it was like 5am [I really, really doubt that] and we decided we should go jogging together! So we did, and all of a sudden William started running really fast ahead of me, and I'm like, 'wait up, I have short legs!' and he turned to me and said: "Alex...I'll run." Yeah. Really. Anyway, the best part of the video is the "Let me run my fingers through your hair" line, haha.
After that fun, it was time for the William Beckett show, who opened his set with an a capella rendition of a song called "The Promise," and oh, William. You have been working on your singing, haven't you? Keep it up. Next, perhaps work on your fashion choices?
I still miss your hair. You keep cutting it progressively shorter, and I get a little sadder each time.
Let's see... he also played "Pour Yourself a Drink," which was neat, and a b-side off the latest album called "Every Burden Has a Version," and honestly, I could not get into it. It seemed like a string of bad similes? "Like the cat that caught the cream, you'll never be quite satisfied." I dunno, I didn't like "40 Steps" much when I first heard it, but it grew on me eventually. To further prove my theory, William brought Ian out for "The Test" and made him play both the guitar AND the harmonica:
The song sounded really nice, of course. But William, Ian knows.
After that, he brought Alex onstage too and the three of them did the "Brick" cover, which more or less broke my heart. They sound SO GOOD together, and that song, and just. The Acabdemy Is! William wrapped up the set with "Down and Out," "Eastbound Traffic", and finally "About a Girl," during which he had Sisky make his one appearance of the night: he had to yell "WHOOOOO" after the first chorus, haha.
So, the Hot Topic adventure! Erin and I went to the beach during the day, which was lovely, if a little cold. Truthfully? The Volusia mall is pretty crappy. It's only one story, and doesn't even have a Cinnabon, so obviously it is lame. I liked this helpful sign though:
And Erin met someone very, very special:
Props to Hot Topic for organizing the whole event very nicely. I think the security outside the store may have been A LITTLE overkill, but that just makes it more hilarious. William Beckett is a BIG DEAL, you guys.
They were pretty serious about the "no pictures" in the store during the meet&greet, but I was sneaky and snapped this shot anyway, so you have an idea of what it looked like. You can see Ian!
The meeting-and-greeting was fun, I now have all three CDs signed by Beckett, and a poster (not the CD, loool, that was faily on my part. My dad got me the TAI CD instead and I didn't exchange it in time!) from The Cab. And thanks for the hug, Alex, I am glad you smell nicer than you look.
After that, Erin and I drove up to Gainesville (which is funny, because originally she'd made it quite clear she didn't want to come, but charming Alex is charming :P) and got woken up the next day by an interesting phone call. Hint: getting on your own tour bus before it leaves the city = good idea. Got in line for the show around 3pm or so, and fortunately the venue was in the shade this time and the wait was much nicer. When it got closer to the show, we saw a couple of familiar faces across the street at the gas station, and one of Philip's friends was like "Huh? Why are you pointing at the hobos? We've already seen plenty of them today." But it wasn't a pair of hobos, it was Sisky and Alex! This was pretty hilarious. xD
The Gainesville venue was tiny and set up strangely, there was a bar (with TVs set up so you could play Mario or Tetris, cool) and the stage was off to the side, almost in a separate room. But they packed it full with 200 people, and man, it got warm and toasty pretty quickly. There was an opening band this time, some Gainesville kids called Dear Dakota.
They had two very strong vocalists and overall, were not bad. They wanted SO MUCH to be playing with their full band, and kept trying to get people into it through copious amounts of hand clapping, and I'm just like, "Dudes. Acoustic. Chill." They did bust out a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," which people got pretty into, because, well. "DON'T STOP--BELIIIIEVING" I was amused by the semi-Pete/Patrick dynamic they had going. I wonder who writes the lyrics.
Then it was these kids again:
They were SO ON that night. Smiles and jokes and silliness all around. I got some of it on video, you can hear a little bit of the Spongebob song (yeah) before "Risky Business" here, and Alex telling Ian three times to put his shades on because it is JUST THAT SERIOUS. They were also talked into playing their "Disturbia" cover, which Alex got about halfway through before "forgetting the lyrics"/losing interesting. I am kind of amused by the foreshadowing here.
More silliness before "Vegas Skies;" (omg I love that song) Alex professes his love for Taylor Swift in an extremely creepy manner. Maybe pop stars are not for you, dude.
William AND Sisky came out for their little jam session ("Santeria," so awesome) and everyone is looking at Ian here, haha. (Also, creepy radio guy is creepy. DO NOT WANT)
In the theme of the evening (nay, the tour) they spiced up their cover of Nsync's "Gone" with a little bit of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" at the beginning. LOL. This is not a great picture, but, William's smile.
I hope they get to tour together again sometime in the future, because they clearly had a lot of fun and I do not like We the Kings. Here's a shot of William during "The Promise:"
William and Ian during "The Test:"
This time around, I took a video of "Brick" so I could focus on that instead of being sad. I don't really know what it is about this song, I don't have a personal connection to it or anything, I've just always found it really sad and moving. Just watch it.
And one more shot of William, for good measure.
Overall? Two of the most fun shows I've done, and one heck of an entertaining meet&greet. I think I've seen William's pretty face onstage something like 13 times now (yeeeah) and I can't wait to thank him for all of this nonsense in my upcoming EPIC CONCERT RECAP POST on the 17th. Good times.
Still to come: FOB on the TV and Disco Homos in the swamp.