(no subject)
once upon a time there was a girl who loved amanda palmer a whole fucking lot.
I honestly think this was the best show I've ever been to.
My friend Julia and I got to the venue reallllly early (like 4:30 and the doors didn't open until 7) because we figured Boston would be really packed and we HAD to get a good spot. But we ended up being the only people there until around 6. haha oops. Anyway, we got out of the car and immediately saw a big tour bus. We considered serenading it in hopes that Amanda would come out, but we decided to go into an art store that we found instead. And of course when we were in there for like TWO MINUTES, and my dad was waiting outside, Amanda pulled in in her little turquoise car and went into the venue and said hello to my dad on the way. WHAT THE HELL. Two minutes in the art store and we missed her. Whatever.
We ended up writing little notes for her and putting them under the windshield wipers on her car. hahaha. We were SO paranoid that someone was gonna see us and yell at us for touching Amanda's car. After that we entertained ourselves by playing lame hand clap games. Yay. We were also spying on this guy who was standing outside the venue (we later found out his name was Steven) because we both thought he was familiar, but couldn't exactly place who he was. During the show we discovered that he's AMAZING, so we were kind of sad that we didn't talk to him beforehand.
So time passed, we got inside, and we made it to the front. Right in the middle of the stage. SO EXCITING. I was leaning against an amp and there was this huge annoying paper flower stuck to it that I was seriously tempted to shred. We couldn't see the very first opening band because they weren't on the stage, they were kind of to the side of it, so there were people blocking our view the whole time. But that's okay, they weren't very good anyway. All their songs sounded the same. I think they were called the Army of Toys or something? I dunno.
Then Steven (the guy from outside) came on stage and introduced himself and said he was part of the Danger Ensemble, the troupe of actors that is touring with Amanda. They're all from Melbourne, Australia and they're completely amazing. So Steven was being really funny and adorable and introduced the first opening band, Vermillion Lies. They were SO GOOD. They're sisters and they play guitar and drums and accordian and piano and they're really awesome. One was named Zoe and she was GORGEOUS and I wanted her... the other one was named Kim and while she wasn't as pretty, she was really cool also. They played a song called The Organ Donor's Ballad about a person who had a heart transplant. They had another song called Long Red Hair, about these twins who were connected by their hair and when one of them got married, her husband cut their hair and they both bled to death. Lovely. Then they had two verrrry pornographic songs, one using food terms, the other using the solar system. The lyrics included "yes you are my fish filet" and "your milky way is all over me." Good stuff. They ended with a song called Global Warming, and it was a huge sing along and it was so much fun.
Steven came back out and he told us he had some very, very bad news. Cue gasps/awwing. Then he pulls from behind his back the cheesiest picture of Amanda EVER. It was clearly photoshopped, she was in a prom dress with a tiara I believe. So he told us that "Amanda Fucking Palmer is dead." Cue mass hysteria and tears. So we all mourned for a few minutes and then Steven introduced th second opener, The Builders and the Butchers. They were alright, but got boring after like two songs. I liked watching the drummer the best because he had tambourines around his ankles so he had to drum with every part of his body. It was funny. They gave out toys at the end (like rattles and mini tambourines and a googly eyed fish) for us to play during the last song, so I guess that was pretty cool. :)
SO THEN. Steven came back out with a special guest! Amanda Palmer's mother! She was sooo awesome. She announced to us that not only was Amanda dead, she was murdered! Cue screams of "WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER?!" And she was telling us about Amanda's childhood and how much she was going to miss her daughter and that we should all try to remember the good things about Amanda's life. Then she handed out sheet music and we all had a sing along to this really sad funeral song. Then THE DANGER ENSEMBLE CAME OUT. And they were brilliant. They were doing this graceful, beautiful dance and they were playing this slow track of Amanda singing, but it was being played backwards so it was.... fjdksjflksd. just really creepy and awesome. And they started calling her back from the dead...
Then I turned around and there she was! She was literally standing right behind me in the crowd, wearing a big white veil so I couldn't see her face. She came up right next to me and she obviously needed to get up on stage, so I kind of stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, not knowing if she needed me to give her a boost but not wanting to do it because I didn't want to invade her personal space... Then Steven and another member of the Danger Ensemble named Mark pulled her up. And she looked sooo pretty with her ruffly skirt and white veil all backlit with the creepy music. Wonderful. So Mark and Steven helped her to her keyboard and sat her down and slowly, sloooowly took off her veil... and BOOM straight into Astronaut. It was a really fantastic introduction.
This was the set list (thank goodness for people on shadowbox actually knowing all the songs and the order)
Astronaut
Ampersand
Blake Says
Bad Habit
I Want You, But I Don't Need You (Momus cover)
Strength Through Music
Guitar Hero
The Point of It All
Slide
Backstabber
Coin-Operated Boy
Runs In the Family
Have to Drive
Half Jack
Umbrella (Rihanna cover)
Living On a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Leeds United
After a few songs, actually I think after Ampersand, Amanda decided that her keyboard was too low. So the fantastic Katie Kay came out to help her, but they needed more help. So Amanda looks into the crowd, points STRAIGHT AT ME and goes "hey will you come help me?" So I'm sure I looked like an idiot as I scrambled onto the stage, then I stood there awkwardly and Katie and I lifted up the keyboard (the beautiful Kurtweil, sigh) and Amanda adjusted her stand and we put it back down. The whole thing took like ten seconds. Ha. So then Amanda smiled really big at me and of course not wanting to miss a chance, I was like "can I have a hug?" and she GRABBED me and pulled me to her and she was so sweaty and hot and wonderful. I clearly remember my hand being on her bare back and it was all damp and sticky. Gross, yes, but fantastic. Then she kissed my cheek and I'm sure I said thank you like five times before making my way back to my spot in the crowd. I couldn't believe that it had happened.
The set continued and everything was awesome, the Danger Ensemble were dancing and acting and being their amazing selves. Besides Steven and Mark, there were two girls named Tora and Kat. They were both really cool too. When Amanda got to Strength Through Music, the whole crowd quieted down and listened to her tell the story about the song, how she wrote it about Columbine, and then the day before they actually went into the studio to record it, the shooting at Virginia Tech happened. It was eerie. So she starts playing the intro chords and Lyndon, who played violin on the record and was touring with Amanda (he's from Australia too, he's adorable and sooo talented), started reading a list of students who were killed at Columbine, saying their names, ages, and how they were killed. After each person was read, Amanda played those two Strength Through Music chords. It was so beautiful and sad. I'm pretty sure by the time the list was done, the whole front row was crying or at least had tears in their eyes. I definitely did. While she played the actual song, the Danger Ensemble came out wearing school uniforms and proceeded to die in slow motion. Mark, who is a HUGE man, ended up dying on top of me. His head was on my shoulder and he was breathing really heavily and it was kind of gross, but I really didn't mind. I hoped more that he felt okay laying on me, and that he didn't think I was uncomfortable or anything. Mark is an amazing person.
Guitar Hero was super fun and cheered us all up. Amanda actually didn't play or sing, they just played the track from the cd, and she pranced around stage with one of the guitars from the video. The Danger Ensemble were all wearing sunglasses and air guitaring. It was awesome. Amanda was sooo close to me for most of that song, her skirt hit me a few times and I was afraid she was gonna step on my hands... but it was all good. It was fun (and goddamn sexy, holy crap) to watch her fake playing the guitar. haha. After the song, my friend Julia was called up on stage to auction off the guitar Amanda was holding and also the portrait that Steven was holding earlier in the night. I think the portrait ended up selling for something like $160, and the guitar went for almost $700. Amanda was pleased. :)
So the show kept going, fun things happened, Slide was SUPER CREEPY, oh my god. Mark was playing the Orange Man and Tora was the Red Little Girl... Mark was seriously SO scary. He was making this AWFUL face and his hands were out like claws and he was all twitchy... gahh. And Tora was dressed in this cute little red dress and sneakers, running across the stage to escape from the Orange Man. She ended up crowd surfing across the venue to escape. It was awesome and I was really lucky to get to see Slide performed live.
Coin-Operated boy is the next song that really sticks out to me. Steven and Mark came out wearing signs that said "WILL KISS FOR KASH." I blew a kiss at Mark, but I don't think he saw me. Tora and Kat came out too, dressed very Barbie-ish, and pretty much molested Mark and Steven. Then the boys ran away into the crowd and started making out with random people. Mark ended up making out with this guy right behind me, the guy looked so scared and it was hilarious. I think the girls ended up getting new coin-operated boys at the end of the song. It was cute.
Half Jack had this epic musical solo before it, with Amanda and Lyndon kind of dueling back and forth on the keyboard and violin. Then Umbrella was really fun, Amanda was trying to dance sexily around the stage while playing a pink ukelele, while The Danger Ensemble carried around actual umbrellas and shook their butts. They were adorable. At the end of the song, Amanda sat down right in front of me and the Ensemble put all the umbrellas over her and dumped water on top of them... I got completely soaked but it felt really good because it was SO hot in that room.
Then they left for a few minutes and we all cheered for the encore and when they Amanda and the Ensemble came back out, the brought the opening bands with them. They they played Living on a Prayer, which Amanda said was supposed to inspire us to give money to the Danger Ensemble because they were touring with her for free. I gave five dollars, and I wish I could have given more but it was all I had. Then they finished up with Leeds United, during which Amanda brought out a whole brass band on stage and rainbow confetti was flying everywhere. It was SO MUCH FUN. I just remember dancing like an idiot and singing as loud as I could and every time I looked up at Amanda she was just GRINNING. And it made me so happy. :D
So the show was over and Julia and I went to the merch booth, and neither of us bought anything! I was proud of myself. It wasn't just because I didn't have money, I honestly didn't feel like I needed to buy anything. I was perfectly happy just the way I was and it felt really good. We talked to a bunch of people, Steven, Mark, Tora, Zoe, and Kim, and I got them all to sign my pants, while Julia got them to sign her ipod. Then we got in line to meet Amanda, and the wait was surprisingly short! We had to go down a whole long hallway, but we got through in like ten minutes. I made Julia go first because I'm a jerk and wanted to have the last contact with Amanda before we left. haha.
I still can't believe what a nice person Amanda is. I got to the table where she was sitting (it was really nice, it was just her and Steven being her bodyguard, and the people in line were all far away), and she looked up at me and smiled and was like "Hey! My helper!" and I was like "yeah hi! you were amazing!" bla bla bla. I got her to sign my jeans, my zune (she was SO excited because I had a My Little Pony sticker on the back of it), and a magazine for my cousin Aaron.
We chatted for a minute, I don't even remember what we were talking about, then I mentioned that I had met her in January in Toronto and I showed her my heartplane necklace. And she remembered me! She reached out and grabbed my necklace and was like "OH THAT WAS YOU!" and she hugged me again and it was soooo sweet. Then we kind of halfway pulled back, but we were still really close together, and she had her hand on my face and she was stroking my cheek and we were just kind of looking at each other for a few seconds... I really thought I was going to melt all over the table. Then I couldn't stand it anymore and I just pulled her in for another hug and I was like "I love you so much, thank you." And she just laughed and said thank you and hugged me for another minute... and then I had to go. I mentioned at the last second that Julia and I had put love notes on her car and she was like "the bus?" and I was like "no, your car!" And I was hoping she wouldn't be creeped out that I knew which car was hers, but she was just like "OH NO I FORGOT TO PAY THE METER!" And we both laughed for a minute and I thanked her one last time and left. And I got outside and burst into happy tears and it was just the best night I ever could have hoped for.
On the way back to Worcester from Boston I got a wicked headache, so I went to sleep for a while. Julia slept too and we dropped her back off at school and we were driving back to the hotel... and then our car died. Like halfway between school and the hotel. That SUCKED. So we called AAA and had to wait for them and a taxi to come get us at 2 in the morning... but everything turned out okay. We ended up getting back to the hotel around 3 and I collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
Best night ever. EVER.
I honestly think this was the best show I've ever been to.
My friend Julia and I got to the venue reallllly early (like 4:30 and the doors didn't open until 7) because we figured Boston would be really packed and we HAD to get a good spot. But we ended up being the only people there until around 6. haha oops. Anyway, we got out of the car and immediately saw a big tour bus. We considered serenading it in hopes that Amanda would come out, but we decided to go into an art store that we found instead. And of course when we were in there for like TWO MINUTES, and my dad was waiting outside, Amanda pulled in in her little turquoise car and went into the venue and said hello to my dad on the way. WHAT THE HELL. Two minutes in the art store and we missed her. Whatever.
We ended up writing little notes for her and putting them under the windshield wipers on her car. hahaha. We were SO paranoid that someone was gonna see us and yell at us for touching Amanda's car. After that we entertained ourselves by playing lame hand clap games. Yay. We were also spying on this guy who was standing outside the venue (we later found out his name was Steven) because we both thought he was familiar, but couldn't exactly place who he was. During the show we discovered that he's AMAZING, so we were kind of sad that we didn't talk to him beforehand.
So time passed, we got inside, and we made it to the front. Right in the middle of the stage. SO EXCITING. I was leaning against an amp and there was this huge annoying paper flower stuck to it that I was seriously tempted to shred. We couldn't see the very first opening band because they weren't on the stage, they were kind of to the side of it, so there were people blocking our view the whole time. But that's okay, they weren't very good anyway. All their songs sounded the same. I think they were called the Army of Toys or something? I dunno.
Then Steven (the guy from outside) came on stage and introduced himself and said he was part of the Danger Ensemble, the troupe of actors that is touring with Amanda. They're all from Melbourne, Australia and they're completely amazing. So Steven was being really funny and adorable and introduced the first opening band, Vermillion Lies. They were SO GOOD. They're sisters and they play guitar and drums and accordian and piano and they're really awesome. One was named Zoe and she was GORGEOUS and I wanted her... the other one was named Kim and while she wasn't as pretty, she was really cool also. They played a song called The Organ Donor's Ballad about a person who had a heart transplant. They had another song called Long Red Hair, about these twins who were connected by their hair and when one of them got married, her husband cut their hair and they both bled to death. Lovely. Then they had two verrrry pornographic songs, one using food terms, the other using the solar system. The lyrics included "yes you are my fish filet" and "your milky way is all over me." Good stuff. They ended with a song called Global Warming, and it was a huge sing along and it was so much fun.
Steven came back out and he told us he had some very, very bad news. Cue gasps/awwing. Then he pulls from behind his back the cheesiest picture of Amanda EVER. It was clearly photoshopped, she was in a prom dress with a tiara I believe. So he told us that "Amanda Fucking Palmer is dead." Cue mass hysteria and tears. So we all mourned for a few minutes and then Steven introduced th second opener, The Builders and the Butchers. They were alright, but got boring after like two songs. I liked watching the drummer the best because he had tambourines around his ankles so he had to drum with every part of his body. It was funny. They gave out toys at the end (like rattles and mini tambourines and a googly eyed fish) for us to play during the last song, so I guess that was pretty cool. :)
SO THEN. Steven came back out with a special guest! Amanda Palmer's mother! She was sooo awesome. She announced to us that not only was Amanda dead, she was murdered! Cue screams of "WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER?!" And she was telling us about Amanda's childhood and how much she was going to miss her daughter and that we should all try to remember the good things about Amanda's life. Then she handed out sheet music and we all had a sing along to this really sad funeral song. Then THE DANGER ENSEMBLE CAME OUT. And they were brilliant. They were doing this graceful, beautiful dance and they were playing this slow track of Amanda singing, but it was being played backwards so it was.... fjdksjflksd. just really creepy and awesome. And they started calling her back from the dead...
Then I turned around and there she was! She was literally standing right behind me in the crowd, wearing a big white veil so I couldn't see her face. She came up right next to me and she obviously needed to get up on stage, so I kind of stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, not knowing if she needed me to give her a boost but not wanting to do it because I didn't want to invade her personal space... Then Steven and another member of the Danger Ensemble named Mark pulled her up. And she looked sooo pretty with her ruffly skirt and white veil all backlit with the creepy music. Wonderful. So Mark and Steven helped her to her keyboard and sat her down and slowly, sloooowly took off her veil... and BOOM straight into Astronaut. It was a really fantastic introduction.
This was the set list (thank goodness for people on shadowbox actually knowing all the songs and the order)
Astronaut
Ampersand
Blake Says
Bad Habit
I Want You, But I Don't Need You (Momus cover)
Strength Through Music
Guitar Hero
The Point of It All
Slide
Backstabber
Coin-Operated Boy
Runs In the Family
Have to Drive
Half Jack
Umbrella (Rihanna cover)
Living On a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Leeds United
After a few songs, actually I think after Ampersand, Amanda decided that her keyboard was too low. So the fantastic Katie Kay came out to help her, but they needed more help. So Amanda looks into the crowd, points STRAIGHT AT ME and goes "hey will you come help me?" So I'm sure I looked like an idiot as I scrambled onto the stage, then I stood there awkwardly and Katie and I lifted up the keyboard (the beautiful Kurtweil, sigh) and Amanda adjusted her stand and we put it back down. The whole thing took like ten seconds. Ha. So then Amanda smiled really big at me and of course not wanting to miss a chance, I was like "can I have a hug?" and she GRABBED me and pulled me to her and she was so sweaty and hot and wonderful. I clearly remember my hand being on her bare back and it was all damp and sticky. Gross, yes, but fantastic. Then she kissed my cheek and I'm sure I said thank you like five times before making my way back to my spot in the crowd. I couldn't believe that it had happened.
The set continued and everything was awesome, the Danger Ensemble were dancing and acting and being their amazing selves. Besides Steven and Mark, there were two girls named Tora and Kat. They were both really cool too. When Amanda got to Strength Through Music, the whole crowd quieted down and listened to her tell the story about the song, how she wrote it about Columbine, and then the day before they actually went into the studio to record it, the shooting at Virginia Tech happened. It was eerie. So she starts playing the intro chords and Lyndon, who played violin on the record and was touring with Amanda (he's from Australia too, he's adorable and sooo talented), started reading a list of students who were killed at Columbine, saying their names, ages, and how they were killed. After each person was read, Amanda played those two Strength Through Music chords. It was so beautiful and sad. I'm pretty sure by the time the list was done, the whole front row was crying or at least had tears in their eyes. I definitely did. While she played the actual song, the Danger Ensemble came out wearing school uniforms and proceeded to die in slow motion. Mark, who is a HUGE man, ended up dying on top of me. His head was on my shoulder and he was breathing really heavily and it was kind of gross, but I really didn't mind. I hoped more that he felt okay laying on me, and that he didn't think I was uncomfortable or anything. Mark is an amazing person.
Guitar Hero was super fun and cheered us all up. Amanda actually didn't play or sing, they just played the track from the cd, and she pranced around stage with one of the guitars from the video. The Danger Ensemble were all wearing sunglasses and air guitaring. It was awesome. Amanda was sooo close to me for most of that song, her skirt hit me a few times and I was afraid she was gonna step on my hands... but it was all good. It was fun (and goddamn sexy, holy crap) to watch her fake playing the guitar. haha. After the song, my friend Julia was called up on stage to auction off the guitar Amanda was holding and also the portrait that Steven was holding earlier in the night. I think the portrait ended up selling for something like $160, and the guitar went for almost $700. Amanda was pleased. :)
So the show kept going, fun things happened, Slide was SUPER CREEPY, oh my god. Mark was playing the Orange Man and Tora was the Red Little Girl... Mark was seriously SO scary. He was making this AWFUL face and his hands were out like claws and he was all twitchy... gahh. And Tora was dressed in this cute little red dress and sneakers, running across the stage to escape from the Orange Man. She ended up crowd surfing across the venue to escape. It was awesome and I was really lucky to get to see Slide performed live.
Coin-Operated boy is the next song that really sticks out to me. Steven and Mark came out wearing signs that said "WILL KISS FOR KASH." I blew a kiss at Mark, but I don't think he saw me. Tora and Kat came out too, dressed very Barbie-ish, and pretty much molested Mark and Steven. Then the boys ran away into the crowd and started making out with random people. Mark ended up making out with this guy right behind me, the guy looked so scared and it was hilarious. I think the girls ended up getting new coin-operated boys at the end of the song. It was cute.
Half Jack had this epic musical solo before it, with Amanda and Lyndon kind of dueling back and forth on the keyboard and violin. Then Umbrella was really fun, Amanda was trying to dance sexily around the stage while playing a pink ukelele, while The Danger Ensemble carried around actual umbrellas and shook their butts. They were adorable. At the end of the song, Amanda sat down right in front of me and the Ensemble put all the umbrellas over her and dumped water on top of them... I got completely soaked but it felt really good because it was SO hot in that room.
Then they left for a few minutes and we all cheered for the encore and when they Amanda and the Ensemble came back out, the brought the opening bands with them. They they played Living on a Prayer, which Amanda said was supposed to inspire us to give money to the Danger Ensemble because they were touring with her for free. I gave five dollars, and I wish I could have given more but it was all I had. Then they finished up with Leeds United, during which Amanda brought out a whole brass band on stage and rainbow confetti was flying everywhere. It was SO MUCH FUN. I just remember dancing like an idiot and singing as loud as I could and every time I looked up at Amanda she was just GRINNING. And it made me so happy. :D
So the show was over and Julia and I went to the merch booth, and neither of us bought anything! I was proud of myself. It wasn't just because I didn't have money, I honestly didn't feel like I needed to buy anything. I was perfectly happy just the way I was and it felt really good. We talked to a bunch of people, Steven, Mark, Tora, Zoe, and Kim, and I got them all to sign my pants, while Julia got them to sign her ipod. Then we got in line to meet Amanda, and the wait was surprisingly short! We had to go down a whole long hallway, but we got through in like ten minutes. I made Julia go first because I'm a jerk and wanted to have the last contact with Amanda before we left. haha.
I still can't believe what a nice person Amanda is. I got to the table where she was sitting (it was really nice, it was just her and Steven being her bodyguard, and the people in line were all far away), and she looked up at me and smiled and was like "Hey! My helper!" and I was like "yeah hi! you were amazing!" bla bla bla. I got her to sign my jeans, my zune (she was SO excited because I had a My Little Pony sticker on the back of it), and a magazine for my cousin Aaron.
We chatted for a minute, I don't even remember what we were talking about, then I mentioned that I had met her in January in Toronto and I showed her my heartplane necklace. And she remembered me! She reached out and grabbed my necklace and was like "OH THAT WAS YOU!" and she hugged me again and it was soooo sweet. Then we kind of halfway pulled back, but we were still really close together, and she had her hand on my face and she was stroking my cheek and we were just kind of looking at each other for a few seconds... I really thought I was going to melt all over the table. Then I couldn't stand it anymore and I just pulled her in for another hug and I was like "I love you so much, thank you." And she just laughed and said thank you and hugged me for another minute... and then I had to go. I mentioned at the last second that Julia and I had put love notes on her car and she was like "the bus?" and I was like "no, your car!" And I was hoping she wouldn't be creeped out that I knew which car was hers, but she was just like "OH NO I FORGOT TO PAY THE METER!" And we both laughed for a minute and I thanked her one last time and left. And I got outside and burst into happy tears and it was just the best night I ever could have hoped for.
On the way back to Worcester from Boston I got a wicked headache, so I went to sleep for a while. Julia slept too and we dropped her back off at school and we were driving back to the hotel... and then our car died. Like halfway between school and the hotel. That SUCKED. So we called AAA and had to wait for them and a taxi to come get us at 2 in the morning... but everything turned out okay. We ended up getting back to the hotel around 3 and I collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
Best night ever. EVER.