I may have flown from Singapore, fought with a cabbie about paying his credit card fee, took a 20 minute nap, picked up my friend from the bus station, gotten dinner, then went to this concert. In fact, going to Singapore, I knew I could survive 36+ hours of being awake knowing I could get to see this band live. And too my luck, they decided to film this concert live. And the DVD comes out today!!
And voila....my favorite All Time Low song.....Coffeeshop Soundtrack from my concert!
I know for a fact that one of the most faithful readers of my blog is my Grandpa. And today, as I was cutting up my Vidalia onion, I realized that the majority of my posts lately have probably been a foreign language to him. I mean, on occasion, I still get teased about Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage (Which was music I listened to back in 7th grade.....so!), but I figured it was about time for a blog post for all.
Anyway, as I was cutting up my Vidalia Onion for my tuna float for dinner, I had a flashback to the beginning of elementary school when I was first introduced to onions. My grandpa and grandma were visiting, and I wanted lunch one day. So Grandpa Roger introduced me to the onion sandwich. We had two slices of bread, buttered them, cut a slab off the onion and placed it in the middle. This was an onion sandwich. I ate quite a few growing up. While I've dropped the sandwich part, I'd say virtually every meal I eat has an onion involved. So thank you Grandpa! One other habit I haven't dropped from elementary school is volunteering. I enjoy it. Frequently, I think of how selfish I am while volunteering. I have such a good time giving my time to help someone else. Whether it's delivering meals to the home bound or sewing, I have so much fun that I want to go back for both the people I'm helping and myself. Anyways, I recently finsihed a sock monkey. I do this every other Monday night. I get to take my time to sew, finish profits, and help out a nonprofit. Monday, I finished one of these. Then I chose to purchase it, so someone special out there is getting a surprise gift. If it's not you, sorry! Anyway, here's my monkey. I like to name them characters from a certain book series, so I believe we're on Esme.
And now for the conclusion of 6-days-of-live-music-in-a-row week:
I'm not going to lie, I checked the weather at least twice a day all week, praying for warm weather and sun. So, my friend and I planned out our bands and we were joined by one of the girls I sat with all week @ the Hanson shows.
Wrap up of Bamboozle:
-The Pretty Reckless: Little J doesn't know how to put on much clothing in real life. Might be the next Lindsay Lohan.
-Reliant K. Did not play the two songs I wanted to hear. Seriously, No Khaki pants?!
-I had an extra ticket, so one of my concert lovin' friends called after Reliant K. I ducked out of my 5th row position to go find her and get her a ticket so she could enjoy Hanson too.
-Assuming a back-of-the-crowd position for Hanson was smart. I could see. However, they did NOT play MMM Bop. Strategic on their part? I think so. But the only old school Hanson song was Penny and Me. Good thing I love 'em and saw them the previous 4 days!
-The Maine was next. I'm pretty sure they were still hung over. I was very unimpressed with their inability to sing their own songs. A little too much crowd participation for my choice, but I'm not going to lie, their set was everything I wanted it to be and more. And I may have bought tickets to see them play the Gramecy in August. I just hope THEY sing their songs this time.
-Something Corporate had a lot of buzz surrounding them, and the second I discovered the song Punk Rock Princess, I knew they were going to be one of the best bands at the show. And they were! Band of Bamboozle Award from JP. Punk Rock Princess, Hurricane, If You C Jordan AND I Woke Up in A Car = Win.
-Then major break with lots of rap crap before Paramore. Drake (aka Jimmy from Degrassi) decided to play an extra hour (punk, no one wanted to see you.....It's all about PARAMORE!) So this was dinner and strategically assume position to get out of Bamboozle on time time. Then Paramore played. I couldn't see a thing. And Hayley's mike wasn't turned up high enough. Then magically all of the tall dudes LEFT and I could see and hear!! Hayley Williams can sing. And sing she did some of the top songs on my iPod: Misery Business, Crush Crush Crush, Ignorance, Careful, Decode, That's What You Get, For a Pessimist covers just some of it. Then we had to get home. I believe I rolled in around 1:30 AM. Forced myself to shower, and hit the hay.
Day 2 began at 10AM. I had a few issues rolling out of bed, but then remembered I got to go to a 6th straight day of live music and hopped out of bed!
Highlights: -We got to Bamboozle just in time to see Fun. My friend was super stoked about this.
-OK Go was next. Not too shabby.
-We left Say Anything in order to get great seats for MuteMath, as they were my friend's Band To See of the weekend. And was that a GREAT IDEA. Need a great show to see? MuteMath. Any time. They were OUT OF CONTROL (And they sang Spotlight from Twilight...aka Mr. Cullen walking through the parking lot with Bella the first time!). See out of control awesomeness:
-Matt and Kim were good. Very entertaining. Also when I discovered I hadn't eaten chocolate in 3 days.
-MGMT. So boring live. Hipsters from Brooklyn who look really bored playing their music. So unenthusiastic they're not getting a YouTube Video.
-Weezer! I mean what more could you ask for than Hashpipe to open the show and Buddy Holly to end it, with The Sweater Song, I Want You, and Pork and Beans smashed in between??
Moral of the story: So the next time when someone asks you to go to a music festival and there are 3 or 4 bands you'd see there anyway, you pay to go. Because they're what will cover the bill to see about 10+ bands you'd never chalk up the $15+ to see. And they'll be worth your extra money. The porter potties, public transpiration, trash, overpriced food and water, scantily clad teens, and screamo bands are all just minor details in what will make it one of the most colorful highlights of your live music adventures in NYC!
Props to Bryan and Mallory for every minute we stood in that Jersey Parking lot :) That was some tough work!
(Took me a while to finish this post.....I started it a while ago!)
You know when you're standing in a parking lot on a Sunday evening watching the sunset as Kim of Matt and Kim stand up during her set and scream and you realize you can't remember the last time you had chocolate that it must have been one fantastic weekend. But not just a weekend. Six straight days of live music. Five of which included Hanson.
Realizations from 4 straight days Hanson Album Concerts:
After nearly hyperventilating when I heard about this 5-of-5 deal, I told myself I was only going to two shows. I had just purchased plane tickets to see a friend in London, so I was a little on the broke side. So I picked This Time Around and Underneath. Well.....saying no to Hanson concerts is not something that's easily done, so I may have ended up going two extra nights (on the spur of the moment!). Will I ever regret purchasing these extra tickets? NOPE!
Alas, highlights of 4 straight days of Hanson:
-Swapping Hanson stories in a line full of girls that have followed them for 13 years is way too much fun
-Tuesday: This Time Around. My FAVORITE ALBUM with top songs including If Only, Runaway Run and Save Me. Hand in Hand was AWESOME live. I was also fortunate enough to have 4 awesome girls line up right behind me this day! I spent the rest of the Hanson week with them. Except for The Walk, where they lined up at 3AM to get 3rd row standing seats.
- Wednesday: Underneath. It's a beautiful CD. While slow in the Middle, Penny and Me and Lost Without Each other were the highlights of my evening. Highlight: Taylor and Isaac playing the guitar during Dancing in the Wind. Also adorable was Taylor dedicating Penny and Me to his little girl (named Penny) who was in the crowd that night. Random part of the evening: My friend shouted "Inappropriate!" at the beginning. Funny and VERY TRUE.
-I HATE (Thursday) The Walk. I went to see Georgia live. It was worth it. Zack G, funny guy from The Hangover walked right past me while I was waiting in line. I would LOVE to know what he thought of the line that was 3 city blocks long for people waiting to get into a Hanson concert.
-I had NO intention of going to the (Friday)Shout It Out show. After all, I'm a poor New Yorker who has a concert ticket buying problem. But when you get a text while at the post office (to mail a dress back to your best friend) from the girls you've been standing in line with and they offer you a not badly priced ticket to your favorite bands NEW CD live, there's no saying no. And it is SO good. Highlight of the night: Taylor trying to dance during the best song on the CD. (To be featured in the Bamboozle post, but the dancing was just not the same!)
Then came the two days I'd been looking forward to since Thanksgiving weekend: BAMBOOZLE. Part 2 to follow shortly!
