MCR (May 7th, Electric Factory, Philly PA)
Mikey (not)meetings, Toro fangirling, and most-probably drunken conversations await below. And yes, it's totally not as awesome as it sounds. Mostly self-indulgent rememberance for the future. :)
mlkcartonmurder is kind of awesome and kidnapped me to go to the MCR concert with her! So we both somehow, coincidentally, had an appointment of some sort that we most definitely had to go to before lunch. And we then decided to skip our urgent appointments to get into her dad's car? Yeah.
Sooo there isn't much to talk about before we actually reached Philly. It was entirely uneventful, stopped only by visits to the Long John Silver's/A&W and convenience stores. But after four hours, we finally get to the city of our desiniation, and realize the line is not totally going to kill us!
However, when Shriek (mlkcartonmurder) goes to get out of her car, the parking lot lady is like "NO CAMERAS." so we're all "wtf!" but leave them there anyway. We go hang out on the sidewalk for a while while her dad ventured away to buy us water, making minimal amounts of chitchat, and kind of eavesdropping on other conversations while we died of thirst. Her dad came back the second time, finally victorious in his quest for h2o, and her dad kind of said something to her that I couldn't quite catch. Shriek runs down to me and is all "WHO HAS BULLDOGS?" and what, Frank? and she goes on to say that her dad saw someone walking dogs around the parking lot and we kind of freaked out a little. We debated on whether to go check it out and eventually decide on MFY, and when we get there I realize, hey, tourbus, which automatically made me feel really uber guilty.
So we're out there for a little while, talking with the other fans while I bitch about how horrible I feel (but I'm not going to leave about Shriek, because then she'd come back with her shirt signed and be like, YEAH I MET THE WHOLE BAND). A note before we proceed: I was standing around the entrance to the fence, to the side. And then, apparently Shriek started beating on my arm (I totally didn't notice) and then she just FLAILS and someone screams "MIKEY!" and I whip around and notice MIKEY JUST WALKED PAST. INCHES AWAY FROM ME. Mikeyway was just inches away from me. And everyone kind of screams and Mikey turned around and waved at one point, even though his expression was kind of like ":D??? (omgfangirls, help help HELP)", but my face was just kind of stuck like "O_________O" the entire time. Shriek was stuck in HOLYSHIT and HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE mode, and, um, it's probably good I didn't notice or else I would've ended up flailing and smacking him in the face.
AND THEN THE LINE MOVED.
So we sprint like fucking hell to get back to our spot, and we realize, hey, we've stopped. At this point, I felt fucking guilty-er, and with a combination of nerves and that my hands were SHAKING and I couldn't get circulation in my fingertips. And then we realize we were waiting even more, and we were kind of fucking bored, and thankfully these girls in line turned around and were like "you wanna play a game?" So we hung out with them for a while, and played a few games and kidnapped some other people. We played "cold shoulder", one of those "I'm going on a picnic and bringing...", and "two up, one up/one down, and two down" in case anyone knows those. Also, at one point, a car drove past, honking, and some dude leaned out and screamed 'MCR SUCKS!' and of course everyone shouted back, and one of the girls we were with shouted 'YOUR MOM SUCKS!' and then there was this lull... and out of the blue, Shriek screamed 'FUCK YOU!' It was awesome. And thank fucking god, the line started moving again and--
HOLY SHIT WE WERE GOING TO SEE MCR SOON.
And, well, they stole all of Shriek's sharpies that I had to make my shirt, as well as mine, which sucked lots. But we were inside! And only in the seventh row of people in the pit! It was awkward and squished, and we had to wait about half an hour and then MUSIKS. It wasn't very crazy, just a little hand waving and bouncing, and I forget the band name, so sorry! D: But then we met up with these two girls, who were really into it as well. So we hung out around them for a while, and we held up throughout the rest of the set. It was interesting-- there were these two girls, and one had this disgusted face on anytime someone jostled her. If you're going to be in the pit, you should have some expectations.
So we talked to those girls after the set, and they told us about the other times they've seen MCR, and how they put on a great show. It's obvious that they loved the music, even if they most probably were a lot a little drunk. They were very surprised about our ages and implored us about it like... five times. o.O They also had this huge pep talk thing going on about how we should go for our dreams in being in a band! Don't go to college! If you suck but have fun, keep going anyway! It was pretty awesome, and they said that Taking Back Sunday would be playing next and we were like, pfft, no... but then...
THEY WERE.
I don't know much about TBS, but there was definitely some pumped people in the crowd. And pretty soon, the crowd started SHIFTING, a giant wave of the first few rows pushing up, and us pushing back, and the people at the ends pushing towards the center, and us pushing them back as well. Eventually we kind of got separated from those girls, but, holy shit, the music. It was so so raw feeling, and the bass player was kind of crazy and amazing, and there was some awesome crowd interaction.
There was something vaguely like this, (him: HOW ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT, PHILLY? crowd: *SCREAMS* him: I noticed that whenever you say something to a crowd, it's always like 'AAAAAA!' it's never, 'YEAHHHH!' or anything, just 'AAAAAA!' crowd: ...*SCREAMS*)
By this time, we had pretty much managed to push our way up until the fourth row, and everyone was sardined together. I had someone grind against my ass once, which was pretty. Um. Really awkward. By the time TBS was finished, the crowd was still energized and pushing and shoving, and people started handing out cups of water and splashing water on the crowd. At one point, some person just tipped a glass of water directly on my chest, but then I got a faceful, which was awesome. >____>
And, wow, it's kind of impossible to describe what the crowd was like. We were so restless, and chanted 'MCR! MCR! MCR!' although there was this one girl who was like 'who is this? Is this Boys Like Girls? Is this Paramore?' and finally, FINALLY they were on.
I can't. Even. *flails* I, just, it's so amazing. I still can't really believe it. I know it sounds a little over-the-top, but I've been waiting for this. Frank got his hair short recently, and I love how it's styled-- and Bob still has his lumberjack hair, which my friend describes as 'ragged muffin'. Gerard and Frank were also wearing the Revenge-era clothes.
But, moreso, was just-- it's My Chemical Fucking Romance. I just tried to absorb everything, to jump and flail and hand-wave and everything, even though I was completely exhausted. Eventually, we were pushed back to about the middle, but that was fine with me because it was a really good view, and I didn't have to deal with this asshole who was clutching a bigger guy and obnoxiously shoving all around like he fucking owned the place, and I didn't have to have my head bent over as my hair was trapped between peoples' arms. I knew I should've gotten it cut short before. :P
The music was so amazing. I know I've said this, but it's impossible to describe what it felt like. And to see them play, too. Ray is just as amazing as expected, and everyone was so so into it, even if there wasn't really room to spazz around due to really fucking tiny stage. I'm really bad with song lists, so you don't get one. They didn't play anything from Bullets though, but they played a good amound of The Black Parade and about half of Three Cheers. It was just. *flailed* They pretty much got my favorites. I almost cried so many times. The Black Parade, I'm Not Okay, Famous Last Words, Cancer, The Desert Song. Seriously, The Desert Song. And even Cancer! It's an excellent song, and I heard it was amazing live, but I never got really super invested in the song while listening-- but hearing it live, with Gerard so earnest, and him not being able to sing "never marry" and leaving it to us instead, and everything, really.
And, okay, Ray Toro. You're kind of my favorite. He kind of inspired me for the whole 'hey, playing music would be awesome, so would guitar!' thing, even though I'm into the bass now. But recently, I've kind of been more, 'yeah, okay' about the whole thing, but seeing him live, and seeing him during the fucking solos was so inspiring it was like the beginning all over again. I screamed so much during his solo on Famous Last Words. :> He was also kind of a dork, like he was pointing in the crowd at one point, but couldn't get it right so he'd be like *pointpoint, grins like 'hey, you're awesome!'* *shakes head* *POINTPOINT* and he smiled a lot. Because his band is also full of dorks.
I'm also so happy about how invested Mikey's been recently, and how into it he's been! And Bob and Frank, and yeah, everyone.
However, one thing I'm kind of disappointed in? There wasn't that much banter. Sure, there was some, but it was just. Kind of. I think they're really relieved that this is over. We were the second-to-last song, and I'm pretty sure they're mostly burnt out. But at one point, Frank led a rousing chorus of The Prince of Bel-Air, even though I kind of didn't catch most of it but it was still AWESOME. And Gerard talked about how adorable he was? I thought he asked Ray if he was adorable, but Shriek says he said Frank was adorable. Ray giggled regardless. Also, there was this dude there who was apparently touring with them at 15, which, jealousy, what? D: But Gerard was like 'He's on the road, at 15... and he's a virgin!' pshhh.
So yeah, the Way Sr. was there, and there was these two girls? I don't know who they were or anything but the show was kind of dedicated to them, and Gerard was so achingly earnest while talking about him. It's almost painfully obvious how much he wants to be a father.
But, yeah. I am so breath-takingly amazed by this whole experience. I also bought a shirt that said 'MIKEY FUCKIN WAY' even though I'll never be able to show it to my parents or wear it around here, and it was kind of a super impulse buy and I kind of am not as thrilled over it anymore. I also have one that says 'I survived THE BLACK PARADE', and the shirts make some pretty awesome car pillows. Because I was so exhaused and damp and shit that I kind of slept almost the entire ride, except for intervals where Shriek's dad was like 'hey, who's that wild crazy-haired metal guitar player? who was to the right... well... stage left' and be like 'THAT IS RAY TORO.' all in caps. just like that.
So, I'm kind of flaily from talking about the whole thing, and I'm probably missing hours worth of stuff, but fuck. Best day ever, even if I was sardined and uncomfortable and awkward most of the show, and got random bruises all over the place. Because, hey, it's MCR.
Also, Shriek, thanks for cutting skewlz today, even if we did get back at three. :( Fucking awesome. That's totally cheating!
mlkcartonmurder is kind of awesome and kidnapped me to go to the MCR concert with her! So we both somehow, coincidentally, had an appointment of some sort that we most definitely had to go to before lunch. And we then decided to skip our urgent appointments to get into her dad's car? Yeah.
Sooo there isn't much to talk about before we actually reached Philly. It was entirely uneventful, stopped only by visits to the Long John Silver's/A&W and convenience stores. But after four hours, we finally get to the city of our desiniation, and realize the line is not totally going to kill us!
However, when Shriek (mlkcartonmurder) goes to get out of her car, the parking lot lady is like "NO CAMERAS." so we're all "wtf!" but leave them there anyway. We go hang out on the sidewalk for a while while her dad ventured away to buy us water, making minimal amounts of chitchat, and kind of eavesdropping on other conversations while we died of thirst. Her dad came back the second time, finally victorious in his quest for h2o, and her dad kind of said something to her that I couldn't quite catch. Shriek runs down to me and is all "WHO HAS BULLDOGS?" and what, Frank? and she goes on to say that her dad saw someone walking dogs around the parking lot and we kind of freaked out a little. We debated on whether to go check it out and eventually decide on MFY, and when we get there I realize, hey, tourbus, which automatically made me feel really uber guilty.
So we're out there for a little while, talking with the other fans while I bitch about how horrible I feel (but I'm not going to leave about Shriek, because then she'd come back with her shirt signed and be like, YEAH I MET THE WHOLE BAND). A note before we proceed: I was standing around the entrance to the fence, to the side. And then, apparently Shriek started beating on my arm (I totally didn't notice) and then she just FLAILS and someone screams "MIKEY!" and I whip around and notice MIKEY JUST WALKED PAST. INCHES AWAY FROM ME. Mikeyway was just inches away from me. And everyone kind of screams and Mikey turned around and waved at one point, even though his expression was kind of like ":D??? (omgfangirls, help help HELP)", but my face was just kind of stuck like "O_________O" the entire time. Shriek was stuck in HOLYSHIT and HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE mode, and, um, it's probably good I didn't notice or else I would've ended up flailing and smacking him in the face.
AND THEN THE LINE MOVED.
So we sprint like fucking hell to get back to our spot, and we realize, hey, we've stopped. At this point, I felt fucking guilty-er, and with a combination of nerves and that my hands were SHAKING and I couldn't get circulation in my fingertips. And then we realize we were waiting even more, and we were kind of fucking bored, and thankfully these girls in line turned around and were like "you wanna play a game?" So we hung out with them for a while, and played a few games and kidnapped some other people. We played "cold shoulder", one of those "I'm going on a picnic and bringing...", and "two up, one up/one down, and two down" in case anyone knows those. Also, at one point, a car drove past, honking, and some dude leaned out and screamed 'MCR SUCKS!' and of course everyone shouted back, and one of the girls we were with shouted 'YOUR MOM SUCKS!' and then there was this lull... and out of the blue, Shriek screamed 'FUCK YOU!' It was awesome. And thank fucking god, the line started moving again and--
HOLY SHIT WE WERE GOING TO SEE MCR SOON.
And, well, they stole all of Shriek's sharpies that I had to make my shirt, as well as mine, which sucked lots. But we were inside! And only in the seventh row of people in the pit! It was awkward and squished, and we had to wait about half an hour and then MUSIKS. It wasn't very crazy, just a little hand waving and bouncing, and I forget the band name, so sorry! D: But then we met up with these two girls, who were really into it as well. So we hung out around them for a while, and we held up throughout the rest of the set. It was interesting-- there were these two girls, and one had this disgusted face on anytime someone jostled her. If you're going to be in the pit, you should have some expectations.
So we talked to those girls after the set, and they told us about the other times they've seen MCR, and how they put on a great show. It's obvious that they loved the music, even if they most probably were a lot a little drunk. They were very surprised about our ages and implored us about it like... five times. o.O They also had this huge pep talk thing going on about how we should go for our dreams in being in a band! Don't go to college! If you suck but have fun, keep going anyway! It was pretty awesome, and they said that Taking Back Sunday would be playing next and we were like, pfft, no... but then...
THEY WERE.
I don't know much about TBS, but there was definitely some pumped people in the crowd. And pretty soon, the crowd started SHIFTING, a giant wave of the first few rows pushing up, and us pushing back, and the people at the ends pushing towards the center, and us pushing them back as well. Eventually we kind of got separated from those girls, but, holy shit, the music. It was so so raw feeling, and the bass player was kind of crazy and amazing, and there was some awesome crowd interaction.
There was something vaguely like this, (him: HOW ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT, PHILLY? crowd: *SCREAMS* him: I noticed that whenever you say something to a crowd, it's always like 'AAAAAA!' it's never, 'YEAHHHH!' or anything, just 'AAAAAA!' crowd: ...*SCREAMS*)
By this time, we had pretty much managed to push our way up until the fourth row, and everyone was sardined together. I had someone grind against my ass once, which was pretty. Um. Really awkward. By the time TBS was finished, the crowd was still energized and pushing and shoving, and people started handing out cups of water and splashing water on the crowd. At one point, some person just tipped a glass of water directly on my chest, but then I got a faceful, which was awesome. >____>
And, wow, it's kind of impossible to describe what the crowd was like. We were so restless, and chanted 'MCR! MCR! MCR!' although there was this one girl who was like 'who is this? Is this Boys Like Girls? Is this Paramore?' and finally, FINALLY they were on.
I can't. Even. *flails* I, just, it's so amazing. I still can't really believe it. I know it sounds a little over-the-top, but I've been waiting for this. Frank got his hair short recently, and I love how it's styled-- and Bob still has his lumberjack hair, which my friend describes as 'ragged muffin'. Gerard and Frank were also wearing the Revenge-era clothes.
But, moreso, was just-- it's My Chemical Fucking Romance. I just tried to absorb everything, to jump and flail and hand-wave and everything, even though I was completely exhausted. Eventually, we were pushed back to about the middle, but that was fine with me because it was a really good view, and I didn't have to deal with this asshole who was clutching a bigger guy and obnoxiously shoving all around like he fucking owned the place, and I didn't have to have my head bent over as my hair was trapped between peoples' arms. I knew I should've gotten it cut short before. :P
The music was so amazing. I know I've said this, but it's impossible to describe what it felt like. And to see them play, too. Ray is just as amazing as expected, and everyone was so so into it, even if there wasn't really room to spazz around due to really fucking tiny stage. I'm really bad with song lists, so you don't get one. They didn't play anything from Bullets though, but they played a good amound of The Black Parade and about half of Three Cheers. It was just. *flailed* They pretty much got my favorites. I almost cried so many times. The Black Parade, I'm Not Okay, Famous Last Words, Cancer, The Desert Song. Seriously, The Desert Song. And even Cancer! It's an excellent song, and I heard it was amazing live, but I never got really super invested in the song while listening-- but hearing it live, with Gerard so earnest, and him not being able to sing "never marry" and leaving it to us instead, and everything, really.
And, okay, Ray Toro. You're kind of my favorite. He kind of inspired me for the whole 'hey, playing music would be awesome, so would guitar!' thing, even though I'm into the bass now. But recently, I've kind of been more, 'yeah, okay' about the whole thing, but seeing him live, and seeing him during the fucking solos was so inspiring it was like the beginning all over again. I screamed so much during his solo on Famous Last Words. :> He was also kind of a dork, like he was pointing in the crowd at one point, but couldn't get it right so he'd be like *pointpoint, grins like 'hey, you're awesome!'* *shakes head* *POINTPOINT* and he smiled a lot. Because his band is also full of dorks.
I'm also so happy about how invested Mikey's been recently, and how into it he's been! And Bob and Frank, and yeah, everyone.
However, one thing I'm kind of disappointed in? There wasn't that much banter. Sure, there was some, but it was just. Kind of. I think they're really relieved that this is over. We were the second-to-last song, and I'm pretty sure they're mostly burnt out. But at one point, Frank led a rousing chorus of The Prince of Bel-Air, even though I kind of didn't catch most of it but it was still AWESOME. And Gerard talked about how adorable he was? I thought he asked Ray if he was adorable, but Shriek says he said Frank was adorable. Ray giggled regardless. Also, there was this dude there who was apparently touring with them at 15, which, jealousy, what? D: But Gerard was like 'He's on the road, at 15... and he's a virgin!' pshhh.
So yeah, the Way Sr. was there, and there was these two girls? I don't know who they were or anything but the show was kind of dedicated to them, and Gerard was so achingly earnest while talking about him. It's almost painfully obvious how much he wants to be a father.
But, yeah. I am so breath-takingly amazed by this whole experience. I also bought a shirt that said 'MIKEY FUCKIN WAY' even though I'll never be able to show it to my parents or wear it around here, and it was kind of a super impulse buy and I kind of am not as thrilled over it anymore. I also have one that says 'I survived THE BLACK PARADE', and the shirts make some pretty awesome car pillows. Because I was so exhaused and damp and shit that I kind of slept almost the entire ride, except for intervals where Shriek's dad was like 'hey, who's that wild crazy-haired metal guitar player? who was to the right... well... stage left' and be like 'THAT IS RAY TORO.' all in caps. just like that.
So, I'm kind of flaily from talking about the whole thing, and I'm probably missing hours worth of stuff, but fuck. Best day ever, even if I was sardined and uncomfortable and awkward most of the show, and got random bruises all over the place. Because, hey, it's MCR.
Also, Shriek, thanks for cutting skewlz today, even if we did get back at three. :( Fucking awesome. That's totally cheating!