(no subject)
Oh man. Empires last night was phenomenal. This whole trip has been awesome.
First off, of course, the trip I've had planned for over a month would be on the one day that Atlanta gets snow. My mom offered to take me to the airport, and you would not believe the lines at the Delta counters. Not only were people trying to get to the Northeast, now there were more people dealing with the 400+ flights out of Atlanta that Delta had cancelled in anticipation of the weather. Getting through security was another nightmare, and I was seriously worried that I would miss my flight. (Because my airline did cancel one or two flights to Chicago, everything was oversold, and in that situation, your best bet is the first flight out.) I did make it, but I had to sit on the jumpseat, which meant no nap, which meant a really, really long day (I got up at 5 and ended up going to bed around 1:30am EST).
The friend I stayed with lives in Hyde Park on the south side, and the concert was up in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side - roughly an hour on public transportation. When I got there, the doors should have been opened, but they weren't. By the time they actually opened the doors, my toes were starting to go tingly numb (it was really cold). I ended up wandering upstairs to check out the balcony. I had a borrowed SLR with me to shoot the show, and while I know that up against the stage is the best place to shoot, I didn't want to stand for four hours and deal with getting shoved around by overenthusiastic concert-goers. The balcony at Lincoln Hall is fantastic - the rail was lined with tall chairs, so I grabbed one as close to center as possible and parked myself there for the night.
Part of the balcony was blocked off as the VIP area (Empires VIP only, from the looks of things), but pretty much the whole area was family and friends. After the first opener, a middle-aged couple sat next to me, and we got into a conversation. I told them I was from Atlanta but used to live up in Chicagoland, and found out they live close to where my apartment was and their son is the keyboardist for the second opener, This Is Me Smiling, and, oh yes, also plays for the symphony.
They left after the set, and some friends of Empires took those seats soon after. The guy sitting closest to me (who is also apparently in a band...possibly he plays bass?) told his buddy that he had been privvy to the "Van Vleet experience" before, and later commented, "I'm not attractive enough to be in this band," to which his friend replied, "But Max!" Lolol, poor Max.
Guys, Alfred The Hot Bassist is The Hot Bassist no longer! D:
Despite that, the show was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I was a little frustrated because the lens I had on my camera was way too slow to shoot a concert, but I did manage to get a few really nice shots. Most of them, though, are mostly-in-focus-band with big-blur-SVV in front. Also, Tomrad struck all of his rockstar poses either behind the lights or out in front when there were no lights, and then as soon as the lighting got good enough, defaulted back to his hunched-over-the-fretboard look.
The venue kicked us out of the concert area really fast because they had a late show coming in, so everyone (and there were a lot of people) ended up standing out in the bar area which is not large. I didn't want to go near the merch tables because they were crazy busy, but SVV was wandering around and eventually Tomrad extracted himself from the hoarde and joined the rest of us squished in front of the bar. Ryan left early (practically hit me in the face with his canvas grocery bag) and Max is really young, so I just watched the Opening Ceremonies while everybody in Clan hoodies got pictures and whatnot. I spoke briefly to Tom and Sean right before I left, and Tom got into this long explanation about them trying to find a tour manager and they haven't found the right one yet, and that's why they haven't been able to get to cities like Atlanta yet. SVV found out I'm a flight attendant and was like, "That's the best job EVERRR." They were both giving away hugs like their lives depended on it (Tom in particular would turn around and start hugging people who had just made eye contact; I was thinking, damn, this guy invited, like, his entire high school - but no), and Tom adorably introduced himself as if I hadn't told him I flew up just to see his band.
Also, I really like this band because this band is normal-sized. I think that if I ever met Panic I'd feel like a giant.
Damn, I'm really long-winded. Pictures later.
(I really, really don't want to go fight the airport today, but I haven't spent more than 12 hours at home in the past week, so I should probably get on that.)
First off, of course, the trip I've had planned for over a month would be on the one day that Atlanta gets snow. My mom offered to take me to the airport, and you would not believe the lines at the Delta counters. Not only were people trying to get to the Northeast, now there were more people dealing with the 400+ flights out of Atlanta that Delta had cancelled in anticipation of the weather. Getting through security was another nightmare, and I was seriously worried that I would miss my flight. (Because my airline did cancel one or two flights to Chicago, everything was oversold, and in that situation, your best bet is the first flight out.) I did make it, but I had to sit on the jumpseat, which meant no nap, which meant a really, really long day (I got up at 5 and ended up going to bed around 1:30am EST).
The friend I stayed with lives in Hyde Park on the south side, and the concert was up in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side - roughly an hour on public transportation. When I got there, the doors should have been opened, but they weren't. By the time they actually opened the doors, my toes were starting to go tingly numb (it was really cold). I ended up wandering upstairs to check out the balcony. I had a borrowed SLR with me to shoot the show, and while I know that up against the stage is the best place to shoot, I didn't want to stand for four hours and deal with getting shoved around by overenthusiastic concert-goers. The balcony at Lincoln Hall is fantastic - the rail was lined with tall chairs, so I grabbed one as close to center as possible and parked myself there for the night.
Part of the balcony was blocked off as the VIP area (Empires VIP only, from the looks of things), but pretty much the whole area was family and friends. After the first opener, a middle-aged couple sat next to me, and we got into a conversation. I told them I was from Atlanta but used to live up in Chicagoland, and found out they live close to where my apartment was and their son is the keyboardist for the second opener, This Is Me Smiling, and, oh yes, also plays for the symphony.
They left after the set, and some friends of Empires took those seats soon after. The guy sitting closest to me (who is also apparently in a band...possibly he plays bass?) told his buddy that he had been privvy to the "Van Vleet experience" before, and later commented, "I'm not attractive enough to be in this band," to which his friend replied, "But Max!" Lolol, poor Max.
Guys, Alfred The Hot Bassist is The Hot Bassist no longer! D:
Despite that, the show was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I was a little frustrated because the lens I had on my camera was way too slow to shoot a concert, but I did manage to get a few really nice shots. Most of them, though, are mostly-in-focus-band with big-blur-SVV in front. Also, Tomrad struck all of his rockstar poses either behind the lights or out in front when there were no lights, and then as soon as the lighting got good enough, defaulted back to his hunched-over-the-fretboard look.
The venue kicked us out of the concert area really fast because they had a late show coming in, so everyone (and there were a lot of people) ended up standing out in the bar area which is not large. I didn't want to go near the merch tables because they were crazy busy, but SVV was wandering around and eventually Tomrad extracted himself from the hoarde and joined the rest of us squished in front of the bar. Ryan left early (practically hit me in the face with his canvas grocery bag) and Max is really young, so I just watched the Opening Ceremonies while everybody in Clan hoodies got pictures and whatnot. I spoke briefly to Tom and Sean right before I left, and Tom got into this long explanation about them trying to find a tour manager and they haven't found the right one yet, and that's why they haven't been able to get to cities like Atlanta yet. SVV found out I'm a flight attendant and was like, "That's the best job EVERRR." They were both giving away hugs like their lives depended on it (Tom in particular would turn around and start hugging people who had just made eye contact; I was thinking, damn, this guy invited, like, his entire high school - but no), and Tom adorably introduced himself as if I hadn't told him I flew up just to see his band.
Also, I really like this band because this band is normal-sized. I think that if I ever met Panic I'd feel like a giant.
Damn, I'm really long-winded. Pictures later.
(I really, really don't want to go fight the airport today, but I haven't spent more than 12 hours at home in the past week, so I should probably get on that.)