MCR! Part two!
Since you're all so desperately crawling over my last post (snort, where is everyone?), here's the next instalment... I apologise in advance for the brief tmi in here...
On the 27th, shinetheway had to go help her mom with some shopping, so I headed into the city on my lonesome to stake out the line at the Hordern. I got there at around 12ish and there were at least 50, maybe 100 people already lined up. Many had camped out overnight. I went to where I thought the end of the line was, but it was actually the beginning of four lines (it was a weird set-up), but the line was running out of room so the girls at the front suggested I start a new line. It was a bit awkward so I hovered around for a while. A venue/security guy came along and announced partway back that there were still two empty lines and we should move down the front. So we did. And ended up making new lines right next to the people who'd been there all night. They weren't happy.
I parked myself amongst a couple of groups of girls, feeling old and awkward and lonely, and tried to be friendly. I wasn't sure what would happen when Shine arrived because people weren't real friendly... but then the group I was kind of chatting to had a friend arrive and let him join them so I figured I'd be able to too. Shine arrived at about 4 and she was way better than me at chatting with people and making friends n stuff. We all talked about how we'd been accidentally put in the front of the line and kind of giggled nervously about the evil glares we were getting from the girls in the first lines. Some of the teenies were really quite rude and mean about other fans. The next couple of days I saw pics on tumblr of a few of these girls meeting Frank & felt like, ugh, it's always the selfish mean ones that get the good stuff. :/
ANYWAY. Coming up to 7.30, the security people came to see what was going on, the manager woman looked at what had happened with the extra 2 lines and said "Oh fuck!" and everyone started getting a little nervous. They checked who'd been there longest, shuffled barriers a little, sorted it out and finally opened the gate...uh, the roller door. There was much frantic shoving, I got through fairly quickly past the ticket scanners and then we had to go through a courtyard area, into the actual venue where there was another barrier in front of the doors. People were pissed off. The girls who'd been there all night were basically losing their spot & others were trying to push the barrier, I and other randoms were caught up in the melee. I'd totally lost Shine. The security guys on the doors were trying to communicate with each other and open both doors at the same time but some people on my side just kept pushing, until the barrier actually fell over and we all got shoved forward. A few girls got through the door before they got it shut and yelled for everyone to stop. It was fucking ridiculous. After a few moments everyone calmed down, they got the door open again and everyone bolted through & ran for the front. I wound up 2nd row, just about in front of Ray, although throughout all the shoving and rearranging during the wait & the opener, I ended up further in towards the middle. It was a pretty good spot.
The pit was pretty damn insane. People had no qualms just shoving each other out of the way trying to get through. Around where I was we all kind of tried to work together but there was a lot of really hard shoving from further back. Shine found me from a few rows back but it was too packed for her to get through and nobody was going to give an inch of space.
I'm rambling bigtime, sorry!
Once again I was amongst groups of girls all felt a bit old and lonely but at least everyone round me was nice. The opening band was Closure in Moscow, who were pretty good. The lead singer is very attractive, reminded me of Russell Brand, and I loved the way he was dressed... but the only thing I really noticed about the music was the over-use of stop-start moments and tricky tempo changes which got kind of annoying after a couple of songs. They had about 10 big fans in the crowd, all of whom were grouped directly behind me, so I huddled down and just admired the lead guy.
[Ahem, TMI coming up, be warned...
In the break between them and MCR coming on.... my period started. I know, what the FUCK. I had a pad in my bag but there was no way I could get to it or do anything at all about it. I stood there trying to figure out a way to deal with it & the only sensible solution would have been to back out of the crowd & go to the toilets. But, sensible solution be fucked. I just stayed put. Praise all the gods in heaven for my very strong pelvic floor, that is all I have to say. I could've shot myself in the uterus right then. :| ]
SO.
Gerard came out in a great mood again, Ray and Mikey seemed really smiley too, and this time I could hardly see Frank but he was apparently much livelier than the day before too. First song was, of course, Na Na, and it rocked so hard with crazy wild energy. And then into Venom which is one of my favourites, and then Planetary which is pretty much my favourite ever. I was SO GLAD I got to be there for Planetary twice. AWESOME.
Edit: I forgot to mention the glitter balloons! During Planetary people at the front and sides threw out all these colourful balloons which the crowd threw around and when they bounced up on stage Gerard had a little sharp something that he burst them with, and they were filled with glitter! It was so beautiful and fun! :D ( You can kind of see in this video, but it's very flashy & bouncy and hard to watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sdcJLUB41E&feature=related )
This was the set:
Gerard started getting concerned for the crowd pretty early on, and made a few appeals for everyone to look out for each other, made us all yell out to promise we'd pick people up and look after them. Ray also looked pretty worried a few times, looking at the surging of the crowd a way back from where I was. But he smiled at us a lot too, and I spent probably an unhealthy amount of time just grinning straight at him while he grinned back. :D I hope he remembers the tall non-teeny crazily-grinning person who wouldn't stop staring at him... :P
I was also thrilled that they did Summertime, which they didn't do at bdo, and Scarecrow was surprisingly AMAZING live, too. My only disappointment, songwise, was no SING. But there was Only Hope For Me... so I did get heaps of my favourites. :D Mama is also really really fun live. And the call & response bit before Helena was fun too. Oh and Sleep! OH FUCK IT'S ALL AMAZING OKAY.
Edit: Here's a video of Helena that was taken from very close behind me I think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sV2MNwwEIc Not great quality but just for the record.
Gerard got really excited about his orange juice this time. He went on for an hilarious amount of time about it. He said how he was going to just drink it from the jug (which was a bottle, not a jug, but I guess americans call that kind of large bottle a jug...) but he'd decided to be "a bit more classy" and use a cup. :D So then he was all "you wanna see the jug? Where's the jug?" and roaming around stage with his cup looking for the jug or the juice guy. He finally found the jug next to the drums and showed us all. RIDICULOUS. :D
After Give Em Hell, before Summertime, he wanted everyone to calm down, shushed us a bit, like everyone needed a rest. He said there'll be more fucking later... "We're going to punish-fuck you some more later but right now I want to just feel you, I want to feel your bodies..."
And then before Scarecrow he made a little speech too. I can't remember the three things he said but it was "Three things: [something], God, and Love, and one of those things doesn't kill people. This song is about that thing." The first thing might've been "people". I can't find a video or anything of it, I wish I could. Maybe Shine can remember what he said...?
Cancer was beautiful. G was absolutely, I don't know, beside himself with emotion or exhaustion or something because all through it he was twitching and moving every inch of himself. It was like every word was a struggle but he just had to get it out through his whole self. It was really different from when he does it so very still, but I was blown away by the intensity of his almost agonised body.
I LOVED that they finished with Famous Last Words.. another one of my 6 million favourites... and also my 7yo's favourite so it made me think of her and how pleased she'd be to hear about it. :) And when it ended I was half-expecting the words "The Black Parade is dead!" because that's the version of it I mostly listen to. lol.
(But really, this time it's Danger Days that's finished! Not dead I don't think, death is for Black Parade, but Danger Days is over, can you believe it?)
A pretty good video of Famous Last Words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwOb4mE1aWE&feature=related When G comes over near Ray & puts his foot up, and when he does the "asleep" actions for us, he was right in front of me there.
And then that was IT. :) I backed off and let the teenies at the picks and things that were being thrown by roadies, and Shine found me. She'd given up on the pit a few songs in and had watched from further back & wanted to check I was alive. :D I was, but I was disgusting. Completely saturated from water spray and sweat, and very much in need of the bathroom. I sorted myself out & Shine got her bag from cloakroom & then I found her chatting up a venue security guy. ;) (not really... but kinda!)
We followed the hundreds of people already waiting at the back gates to try and spot the guys. There was an 8yo boy dressed as Kobra Kid, complete with helmet, sitting on someone's shoulders so he could be seen over the fence. A guy who I THINK is the band manager, or tour manager, spoke to him and took his little Kobra Kid bear/toy thing & got Mikey to sign it. When he returned and gave it to Little Mikey the whole crowd cheered and Little Mikey cried. It was really cool. We didn't expect the guys to come over & sign or anything, but we just hoped we'd see them and get a wave maybe. We saw Dewees get into a van, and then a woman I didn't recognise. But, as the load out was going on the crew got one of the truck drivers to park right in front of us. people down the way who could see around the truck squealed and we headed that way but all we saw was the shuttle van leaving with about 7 people in it. SIGH. Big meanies. :/ (Some ridiculous people tried to chase the van & I thought ffs, no wonder they don't come & say hi, we're all insane.)
Okay. My camera died a few songs in so I didn't get many photos, and it was way too hard to get decent shots anyway, but for what it's worth...
His FACE, his beautiful FACE. <333
On the 27th, shinetheway had to go help her mom with some shopping, so I headed into the city on my lonesome to stake out the line at the Hordern. I got there at around 12ish and there were at least 50, maybe 100 people already lined up. Many had camped out overnight. I went to where I thought the end of the line was, but it was actually the beginning of four lines (it was a weird set-up), but the line was running out of room so the girls at the front suggested I start a new line. It was a bit awkward so I hovered around for a while. A venue/security guy came along and announced partway back that there were still two empty lines and we should move down the front. So we did. And ended up making new lines right next to the people who'd been there all night. They weren't happy.
I parked myself amongst a couple of groups of girls, feeling old and awkward and lonely, and tried to be friendly. I wasn't sure what would happen when Shine arrived because people weren't real friendly... but then the group I was kind of chatting to had a friend arrive and let him join them so I figured I'd be able to too. Shine arrived at about 4 and she was way better than me at chatting with people and making friends n stuff. We all talked about how we'd been accidentally put in the front of the line and kind of giggled nervously about the evil glares we were getting from the girls in the first lines. Some of the teenies were really quite rude and mean about other fans. The next couple of days I saw pics on tumblr of a few of these girls meeting Frank & felt like, ugh, it's always the selfish mean ones that get the good stuff. :/
ANYWAY. Coming up to 7.30, the security people came to see what was going on, the manager woman looked at what had happened with the extra 2 lines and said "Oh fuck!" and everyone started getting a little nervous. They checked who'd been there longest, shuffled barriers a little, sorted it out and finally opened the gate...uh, the roller door. There was much frantic shoving, I got through fairly quickly past the ticket scanners and then we had to go through a courtyard area, into the actual venue where there was another barrier in front of the doors. People were pissed off. The girls who'd been there all night were basically losing their spot & others were trying to push the barrier, I and other randoms were caught up in the melee. I'd totally lost Shine. The security guys on the doors were trying to communicate with each other and open both doors at the same time but some people on my side just kept pushing, until the barrier actually fell over and we all got shoved forward. A few girls got through the door before they got it shut and yelled for everyone to stop. It was fucking ridiculous. After a few moments everyone calmed down, they got the door open again and everyone bolted through & ran for the front. I wound up 2nd row, just about in front of Ray, although throughout all the shoving and rearranging during the wait & the opener, I ended up further in towards the middle. It was a pretty good spot.
The pit was pretty damn insane. People had no qualms just shoving each other out of the way trying to get through. Around where I was we all kind of tried to work together but there was a lot of really hard shoving from further back. Shine found me from a few rows back but it was too packed for her to get through and nobody was going to give an inch of space.
I'm rambling bigtime, sorry!
Once again I was amongst groups of girls all felt a bit old and lonely but at least everyone round me was nice. The opening band was Closure in Moscow, who were pretty good. The lead singer is very attractive, reminded me of Russell Brand, and I loved the way he was dressed... but the only thing I really noticed about the music was the over-use of stop-start moments and tricky tempo changes which got kind of annoying after a couple of songs. They had about 10 big fans in the crowd, all of whom were grouped directly behind me, so I huddled down and just admired the lead guy.
[Ahem, TMI coming up, be warned...
In the break between them and MCR coming on.... my period started. I know, what the FUCK. I had a pad in my bag but there was no way I could get to it or do anything at all about it. I stood there trying to figure out a way to deal with it & the only sensible solution would have been to back out of the crowd & go to the toilets. But, sensible solution be fucked. I just stayed put. Praise all the gods in heaven for my very strong pelvic floor, that is all I have to say. I could've shot myself in the uterus right then. :| ]
SO.
Gerard came out in a great mood again, Ray and Mikey seemed really smiley too, and this time I could hardly see Frank but he was apparently much livelier than the day before too. First song was, of course, Na Na, and it rocked so hard with crazy wild energy. And then into Venom which is one of my favourites, and then Planetary which is pretty much my favourite ever. I was SO GLAD I got to be there for Planetary twice. AWESOME.
Edit: I forgot to mention the glitter balloons! During Planetary people at the front and sides threw out all these colourful balloons which the crowd threw around and when they bounced up on stage Gerard had a little sharp something that he burst them with, and they were filled with glitter! It was so beautiful and fun! :D ( You can kind of see in this video, but it's very flashy & bouncy and hard to watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sdcJLUB41E&feature=related )
This was the set:
Gerard started getting concerned for the crowd pretty early on, and made a few appeals for everyone to look out for each other, made us all yell out to promise we'd pick people up and look after them. Ray also looked pretty worried a few times, looking at the surging of the crowd a way back from where I was. But he smiled at us a lot too, and I spent probably an unhealthy amount of time just grinning straight at him while he grinned back. :D I hope he remembers the tall non-teeny crazily-grinning person who wouldn't stop staring at him... :P
I was also thrilled that they did Summertime, which they didn't do at bdo, and Scarecrow was surprisingly AMAZING live, too. My only disappointment, songwise, was no SING. But there was Only Hope For Me... so I did get heaps of my favourites. :D Mama is also really really fun live. And the call & response bit before Helena was fun too. Oh and Sleep! OH FUCK IT'S ALL AMAZING OKAY.
Edit: Here's a video of Helena that was taken from very close behind me I think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sV2MNwwEIc Not great quality but just for the record.
Gerard got really excited about his orange juice this time. He went on for an hilarious amount of time about it. He said how he was going to just drink it from the jug (which was a bottle, not a jug, but I guess americans call that kind of large bottle a jug...) but he'd decided to be "a bit more classy" and use a cup. :D So then he was all "you wanna see the jug? Where's the jug?" and roaming around stage with his cup looking for the jug or the juice guy. He finally found the jug next to the drums and showed us all. RIDICULOUS. :D
After Give Em Hell, before Summertime, he wanted everyone to calm down, shushed us a bit, like everyone needed a rest. He said there'll be more fucking later... "We're going to punish-fuck you some more later but right now I want to just feel you, I want to feel your bodies..."
And then before Scarecrow he made a little speech too. I can't remember the three things he said but it was "Three things: [something], God, and Love, and one of those things doesn't kill people. This song is about that thing." The first thing might've been "people". I can't find a video or anything of it, I wish I could. Maybe Shine can remember what he said...?
Cancer was beautiful. G was absolutely, I don't know, beside himself with emotion or exhaustion or something because all through it he was twitching and moving every inch of himself. It was like every word was a struggle but he just had to get it out through his whole self. It was really different from when he does it so very still, but I was blown away by the intensity of his almost agonised body.
I LOVED that they finished with Famous Last Words.. another one of my 6 million favourites... and also my 7yo's favourite so it made me think of her and how pleased she'd be to hear about it. :) And when it ended I was half-expecting the words "The Black Parade is dead!" because that's the version of it I mostly listen to. lol.
(But really, this time it's Danger Days that's finished! Not dead I don't think, death is for Black Parade, but Danger Days is over, can you believe it?)
A pretty good video of Famous Last Words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwOb4mE1aWE&feature=related When G comes over near Ray & puts his foot up, and when he does the "asleep" actions for us, he was right in front of me there.
And then that was IT. :) I backed off and let the teenies at the picks and things that were being thrown by roadies, and Shine found me. She'd given up on the pit a few songs in and had watched from further back & wanted to check I was alive. :D I was, but I was disgusting. Completely saturated from water spray and sweat, and very much in need of the bathroom. I sorted myself out & Shine got her bag from cloakroom & then I found her chatting up a venue security guy. ;) (not really... but kinda!)
We followed the hundreds of people already waiting at the back gates to try and spot the guys. There was an 8yo boy dressed as Kobra Kid, complete with helmet, sitting on someone's shoulders so he could be seen over the fence. A guy who I THINK is the band manager, or tour manager, spoke to him and took his little Kobra Kid bear/toy thing & got Mikey to sign it. When he returned and gave it to Little Mikey the whole crowd cheered and Little Mikey cried. It was really cool. We didn't expect the guys to come over & sign or anything, but we just hoped we'd see them and get a wave maybe. We saw Dewees get into a van, and then a woman I didn't recognise. But, as the load out was going on the crew got one of the truck drivers to park right in front of us. people down the way who could see around the truck squealed and we headed that way but all we saw was the shuttle van leaving with about 7 people in it. SIGH. Big meanies. :/ (Some ridiculous people tried to chase the van & I thought ffs, no wonder they don't come & say hi, we're all insane.)
Okay. My camera died a few songs in so I didn't get many photos, and it was way too hard to get decent shots anyway, but for what it's worth...
His FACE, his beautiful FACE. <333