(I'm sorry this isn't an easy read. It looks like a huge clump)
No, no I did not die. Sorry to disappoint.
I WAS planning on making an epic return with a shitty little crayon drawing of a dinosaur blowing bubbles, but I decided that I'll make my return now, with a journal entry. (btw, I'm missing Wall-E to write this, you better believe I fucking love you all)
Last night I went to the AP Fall Ball Tour and O.M.F.G. it was amazing. My brother and I got in late during You Me At Six's set and during that time they played the only 4 songs I know by them. They were so good, though. They had a black and pink polkadotted bra hanging on their drumset, which can only make me think that earlier someone had thrown it onstage. They were so cute with their British accents and all. They did a Poker Face cover that was good.
The Secret Handshake came next, and he did pretty good. He actually like jumped into the crowd and was crowd surfing until the pissy stage-bouncer-carrier (what are those guys called??) pulled him back onstage. His second song was his I Wish cover and he ended with a Party in The USA cover.
Next was Set Your Goals, and let's be honest. I don't know any Set Your Goals songs. I tried to educate myself before I went, but it didn't work. Even though I didn't even know one song, they were much better than I thought they were going to be. During this set I saw a girl I knew so we talked and then when their set was over we waited for Mayday Parade to steal the stage.
Now, up until then, all the bands were great. But then Mayday Parade took the stage. And they were fucking awesome. Holy shit. They opened with Jamie All Over. They played The Silence, Kids In Love, Anywhere But Here, When I Get Home You're So Dead, 3 Cheers for 5 Years, Miserable At Best. And then they played Black Cat. OMG. I love Black Cat and then for the guitar solo all these guys, like 20 of them, come out onstage with guitars and are like all over the place. I think like half of them were roadies, cause there is no way that there were THAT many guitar players on tour. And then they ended with Jersey.
So after that I was like, "Holy crap, let's hope TAI does just as good." Well, I had heard this had been happening on tour, but I was shocked at how many people left after Mayday Parade. So my brother and I had been standing behind this kinda barracade, but it was basically the border between where the serious action was and where the normal action was. We were like right behind the border because the normal area is like raised 3 or so feet and it was easier to see, I wasn't getting shit dropped on me, I wasn't falling over, so on, so forth. But seeing how many people had left, we went to the back of where the action was. And honestly, we were pretty damn close to the stage anyways. Closer than I was for BND tour. And there wasn't anyone tall in my way, either. Like at all. So then TAI comes on, opening with Almost Here. During the course of the night they played Sputter, Classifieds (my fave!), About A Girl, Rumoured Nights, We Got A Big Mess On Our Hands, Neighbors (yay! another fave!), and Checkmarks. They also played a brand new song that I've never heard before (not even on Lost In Pacific Time.). They closed with Slow Down. They were the shizz. If you left that show before them, you missed out. They were the best of the night. And any guys out there, if you can't turn a girl on, take her to a The Academy Is concert. Seriously, if they aren't turned on by William Beckett, they cannot be turned on, end of story. He was a total sex bomb. He was so cute, too. Someone threw a stuffed lion onstage and when there was a singing break in whatever song it was, he placed it on Sisky's (I think it was him at least. Fuzzzzy memory) shoulder and said, "Look! It's Simba!" And then during a song break he mentioned the Butcher being from Cleveland and something about him and LeBron James. And then William's like, "You guys know who LeBron James is, right?" (No shit we do!) and only like half the people screamed and so he's like, "Ho.ly. Shit. You guys don't know who LeBron James is? Well when this next song comes on I want you guys to act like LeBron." and sure enough, I can't remember what song it was, but he yelled in the middle, "LEBRON JAMES!" and motioned for everyone to start jumping. It was so sick.
I came away from that show with a TAI shirt with cupcakes on it, a MP shirt with a dinosaur being shot (twas the only shirt between TAI and MP with tour dates; Tai's tour date shirt was already sold out.), a TAI bracelet that says, "I'm yours tonight," and a huge smile. That show was so damn good.
So you're probably wondering why I'm writing every detail I can remember. The reason is this: reference. I have an awful memory. I really do. I can barely remember anything from the BND Tour and I WANT to remember. So maybe this time, if I write it all down, I'll remember. It feels like I will. So, yeah. If you're in Pittsburg today for the last show, you're in for something special (plus, I hear a suprise guest is opening, so get there early).
Loves,
Alicia.