that one time when I sang Nine In The Afternoon in front of Panic! at the Disco and I DIDN'T DIE
Okay, so this is my recap of yesterday's karaoke "auditions" for the Panic show last night.
I'm sure you all know that Zack tweeted asking fans to meet him about a possible karaoke thing since Brendon couldn't be there. I was there with my sister, so we found Zack, and there were a few other girls there. Please note that I'm not a singer, I hate my voice, and I only sing at home when I can turn the radio up loud enough to drown myself out. I do not know what possessed me to try out for potentially singing in front of four thousand people, but there you go. Zack asked each of us what song we thought we could sing, and whether we knew all the words.
I told him Nine in the Afternoon because it's the only one I know I can remember all the lyrics to, and Zack said, "Okay, then sing for me. Go." Can I just tell you how nerve-wracking that was? Because oh my god, it was terrifying. Zack's pretty intimidating all by himself, and he was just standing there with his arms crossed, staring at me while I tried to sing. I nearly peed my pants. I was the only one who did NITA - four other girls(including my sister) sang I Write Sins, and two other girls plus one guy that showed up sang The Only Difference. Mostly Zack was just making sure we could remember the words, and seeing if we could sing without freezing up.
Once he'd collected us all, he told us we were going to sing in front of Spencer, Dallon, and Ian. He said "If you can't sing in front of them, there's no way you'll be able to sing in front of four thousand people." We discussed Brendon's health a bit, when someone mentioned Brendon's malaria tweet, Zack said they'd only tested for malaria, until they get test results back, they're treating it like the flu. He'd been checking in with the guys on his radio/walkie talkie periodically this whole time, making sure they were all doing okay and not wandering off. At one point he asked Dallon if he had internet, I think to find lyrics and print them off.
Anyway, after he'd radioed and made sure the boys were all in the right place, Zack led us into the building, down an elevator, and into a little garage-type room. He brought us all water bottles and then told us he was going to take us, one at a time, to go sing in front of the guys. He gave a little speech telling us to take the "fan" part of ourselves and put it aside for the moment, because "you'll never be able to sing in front of them if you're starstruck." He told us it was okay to be nervous, he said we had balls for even doing this, and he also said to make sure our cell phones were on silent and not to take any pictures.
After checking in with the boys again(I guess Ian had wandered off, Zack had to call him back)he asked who wanted to go first, one girl volunteered, and then he led her away. They were gone for maybe 3-5 minutes, but I can't be sure. While they were gone, all the rest of us started singing I Write Sins together, just to keep from having a MASSIVE FREAK OUT(and to practice). Every time Zack came back with one girl and took another away, we'd just start the song again, switching off between I Write Sins and The Only Difference, because those were the two that everyone else was singing. If any of you ladies are reading this, you all were AWESOME, and I was so glad to meet you all and hang out with you and flail with you. It was a great time.
I was one of the last to go sing. Zack led me down a hallway and into a tiny room with a stool and two couches along the left and back walls. Ian was on the stool to my right, Spencer on the back couch, and Dallon on the couch to my left. They each introduced themselves and shook my hand, and Zack told them what song I was going to sing. Ian had an acoustic guitar, Spencer was tapping out a rhythm against his knee, and Dallon counted me in(and sang a little bit with me). I sang Nine in the Afternoon from the beginning through the second chorus, then Zack said that was enough. The boys all thanked me, and Zack took me back to the room with the everyone else. He said I "sounded groovy," which was probably code for "you fucked up the chorus" but whatever. (Also, singing for the boys? WAY less terrifying than singing for Zack.)
Once everyone had sung, Zack took us back outside. He made sure to tell us all that we sounded great, but he said that in order for us to actually perform, he'd need to find click tracks for us, to help us stay in sync with everyone else on stage. He told us to stay close, because he was going to see if he could round some up, and he'd be back out to let us know. While he was gone, a lot of us went to use the bathroom, and a few of us ran over to the merch booth to get Panic shirts (I bought the blue Panic! hoodie, and it is so soft omg I LOVE IT). Zack came back after about an hour, and said that unfortunately he couldn't get his hands on any, so we wouldn't be able to sing. He apologized and thanked us all again for trying out, and told us to enjoy the rest of the festival. He said they would probably get Tyler from Neon Trees to sing a few songs, and have Dallon do another couple(which is what ended up happening).
I'm a little disappointed that things didn't work out, but in all honesty, I'm kind of relieved. I would have freaked out up on that stage. And I still got to meet the band, which was awesome, especially because they ended up cancelling their signing while they scrambled to come up with a set.
I might post a recap of the actual show later, but I wanted to get this one up.