adventures in chicago and wisconsin
Oct. 22nd, 2007 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violaceaThe weekend review!
Friday:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sister_wolf and I left work early, and stopped in Madison to have dinner with lovelokest and fairestcat. I'd actually met them before - they stayed at our house in March - but, as March 2007 wasn't my most fabulous month ever (to put it mildly), I was pretty much a complete antisocial hermit at the time. So, it was nice to meet them again, in a better headspace! :) We stayed talking fannish things for a bit longer than we intended, so we got into Illinois fairly late.
Saturday: Up early-ish, as we were meeting folks for lunch at noon near the arena, and we were 30 miles or so away. Spent a few hours sitting at Chili's withmoryssa, fairestcat, and shrift, talking various geeky things. Eventually, the latter two left to join the ever-growing GA floor line at the arena, while the rest of us spent a leisurely afternoon at Coldstone Creamery and IHOP. Around six, moryssa left us, and sister_wolf and I headed over to the arena to check out our seats. Which were actually pretty awesome - I would have liked to be a little closer to the opposite side of the section, as we mostly had a back view of everyone (we were about parallel with Andy's drum riser). But, back views aren't always a bad thing. :) Also, we were about thirty feet from the stage, with a view only obstructed by a couple of speakers and cables. Also, we were behind the speakers, which I suspect helped with the sound. I was happy with it, anyway!
Cute Is What We Aim For: … meh. Inoffensive, nothing memorable.
Plain White T’s: I liked them! I recognized more of their songs than I thought I would. I may have to listen to their album more before I see them again, because they’re the kind of band I’d like to be able to sing along to. Possibly a band I would spring to see on their own. Final decision pending another show.
Gym Class Heroes: I wasn’t sure they were going to be my thing, but I’ll be damned if they don’t put on a hell of a live show! I’m not sure I needed to know that much about Travis’s foot fetish, however. Heh. Patrick joined them on stage for “Clothes Off”, which I half expected, but was still a fun surprise somehow!
Aside: there are stages to being a Fall Out Boy fangirl. There’s a spectrum that runs from “Pete Wentz is an untalented ass” to “Oh, Pete, I really love your stupid face”. There’s also a somewhat parallel spectrum that runs from “Patrick’s voice is unbelievable, it’s just too bad he’s not that attractive” all the way to a stage that involves inaudible squeaking and hand-flailing the minute he walks on stage. I’m not sure I quite realized how far I was to the latter end of that scale until “Clothes Off”.
Aside: they were running one of those text message deals on the jumbotron in between sets – you know, text a message to a certain number, see it appear on the screen? Most of the messages were pretty lame, shout outs to friends in the building, random “ILU PETE!!!1!1!”, that kind of thing. At one point, though, I looked up just in time to see “Pete Wentz is a furry. Trufax” scrolling past. I laughed for five minutes. I probably should have thought to blameshrift and fairestcat for this, but didn’t until they mentioned it after the show. Hee.
Aside: during the GCH set, a group of people came out from backstage to watch at the side of the stage, right underneath our seats. I glanced down there at one point to see a blonde girl in a hat standing almost directly beneath me. Another glance – yep, hi Ashlee.
Fall Out Boy: random things, in no semblance of order.
- Everyone was dressed in black, it seemed. This was all right by me, as everyone was looking particularly fine. Except, I’m not quite sure about Pete’s leather look, skinny jeans and leather jacket and scarf around his neck. I called it gay biker.sister_wolf called it Purple Rain era Prince. Either way, it was very flamboyantly rock star. Meanwhile, though, thumbs way, way up for Patrick’s snazzy vest and shiny pants combination. I vote yes. Joe kept it simple in jeans and a t-shirt, and I could barely see Andy behind the drums, though I’m told he was actually wearing a shirt for most of the show.
- Pete’s first order of business was to make everyone on the floor take a step back to alleviate the pressure on the girls on the barrier. This included a taunt to a guy who gave him the finger, something about wanting to bring the homoeroticism by pressing close in with his buddies. Oh, Pete.
- Joe Trohman. When did he get so hot? I’m not sure, but he’s one of the few guys that wild hair and a beard works on. Hello, Joe. I found myself watching him more than Pete, when they were both bouncing around the stage.
- During the encore, Pete came out and said happy birthday to someone named Alisa (Elisa?). He then looked at Patrick and said “dude, maybe you should be the one doing that.” Patrick looked at him, then explained that tomorrow (Sunday) was his girlfriend’s birthday, and made the audience help him sing “Happy Birthday”. Afterwards, he apologized (to her, I guess) because “’Happy Birthday’ is the one song I can’t fucking sing!” Never one to let anyone else have the last word, Pete: “I can’t believe you have a girlfriend! I can’t be a fan of yours any more!” Oh, boys.
- The two song acoustic set was really awesome – Patrick came out and sang “Golden” by himself, and then the other three came back out to play “Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner”. Audio for both is in the last post, check it out! I would actually love to see a show where they do more acoustic songs.
- One and a half cover songs? They did “Mr. Brightside”, and then a small snippet of a Kanye West song, the one about mothers since Pete dedicated it to theirs.
- Pete had a rambling rant somewhere in there about how, if you meet them on the street, you shouldn't just scream at them, but maybe try talking to them like normal human beings? Methinks someone had his eardrums pierced at his store opening. This is why I didn't go anywhere near it.
I’m sure there was more I meant to mention, but it’s gone now. We met back up with folks after the show - plus one more person, who I think is an LJ type, but I didn't catch her name - and sat at IHOP with about a hundred other people who were waiting out the traffic.
Sunday: Lunch. And then home, but not before I managed to run over the mailbox. ::facepalm:: I'm a good driver, I swear. Also, note to self: if you go through Wisconsin again in the near future, think about taking 90 all the way, rather than 94, because that one-lane stretch near Eau Claire SUCKS ASS.
So! That was our weekend. I can't wait to see the show again in Cedar Rapids. It probably won't have the same energy as a hometown crowd, but there will be the bonus of seeing it from the front. :D And now, I am dead, and need another weekend to recover from my weekend. Please?
Friday:
sister_wolf and I left work early, and stopped in Madison to have dinner with lovelokest and fairestcat. I'd actually met them before - they stayed at our house in March - but, as March 2007 wasn't my most fabulous month ever (to put it mildly), I was pretty much a complete antisocial hermit at the time. So, it was nice to meet them again, in a better headspace! :) We stayed talking fannish things for a bit longer than we intended, so we got into Illinois fairly late. Saturday: Up early-ish, as we were meeting folks for lunch at noon near the arena, and we were 30 miles or so away. Spent a few hours sitting at Chili's with
moryssa, fairestcat, and shrift, talking various geeky things. Eventually, the latter two left to join the ever-growing GA floor line at the arena, while the rest of us spent a leisurely afternoon at Coldstone Creamery and IHOP. Around six, moryssa left us, and sister_wolf and I headed over to the arena to check out our seats. Which were actually pretty awesome - I would have liked to be a little closer to the opposite side of the section, as we mostly had a back view of everyone (we were about parallel with Andy's drum riser). But, back views aren't always a bad thing. :) Also, we were about thirty feet from the stage, with a view only obstructed by a couple of speakers and cables. Also, we were behind the speakers, which I suspect helped with the sound. I was happy with it, anyway! Cute Is What We Aim For: … meh. Inoffensive, nothing memorable.
Plain White T’s: I liked them! I recognized more of their songs than I thought I would. I may have to listen to their album more before I see them again, because they’re the kind of band I’d like to be able to sing along to. Possibly a band I would spring to see on their own. Final decision pending another show.
Gym Class Heroes: I wasn’t sure they were going to be my thing, but I’ll be damned if they don’t put on a hell of a live show! I’m not sure I needed to know that much about Travis’s foot fetish, however. Heh. Patrick joined them on stage for “Clothes Off”, which I half expected, but was still a fun surprise somehow!
Aside: there are stages to being a Fall Out Boy fangirl. There’s a spectrum that runs from “Pete Wentz is an untalented ass” to “Oh, Pete, I really love your stupid face”. There’s also a somewhat parallel spectrum that runs from “Patrick’s voice is unbelievable, it’s just too bad he’s not that attractive” all the way to a stage that involves inaudible squeaking and hand-flailing the minute he walks on stage. I’m not sure I quite realized how far I was to the latter end of that scale until “Clothes Off”.
Aside: they were running one of those text message deals on the jumbotron in between sets – you know, text a message to a certain number, see it appear on the screen? Most of the messages were pretty lame, shout outs to friends in the building, random “ILU PETE!!!1!1!”, that kind of thing. At one point, though, I looked up just in time to see “Pete Wentz is a furry. Trufax” scrolling past. I laughed for five minutes. I probably should have thought to blame
shrift and fairestcat for this, but didn’t until they mentioned it after the show. Hee.Aside: during the GCH set, a group of people came out from backstage to watch at the side of the stage, right underneath our seats. I glanced down there at one point to see a blonde girl in a hat standing almost directly beneath me. Another glance – yep, hi Ashlee.
Fall Out Boy: random things, in no semblance of order.
- Everyone was dressed in black, it seemed. This was all right by me, as everyone was looking particularly fine. Except, I’m not quite sure about Pete’s leather look, skinny jeans and leather jacket and scarf around his neck. I called it gay biker.
sister_wolf called it Purple Rain era Prince. Either way, it was very flamboyantly rock star. Meanwhile, though, thumbs way, way up for Patrick’s snazzy vest and shiny pants combination. I vote yes. Joe kept it simple in jeans and a t-shirt, and I could barely see Andy behind the drums, though I’m told he was actually wearing a shirt for most of the show.- Pete’s first order of business was to make everyone on the floor take a step back to alleviate the pressure on the girls on the barrier. This included a taunt to a guy who gave him the finger, something about wanting to bring the homoeroticism by pressing close in with his buddies. Oh, Pete.
- Joe Trohman. When did he get so hot? I’m not sure, but he’s one of the few guys that wild hair and a beard works on. Hello, Joe. I found myself watching him more than Pete, when they were both bouncing around the stage.
- During the encore, Pete came out and said happy birthday to someone named Alisa (Elisa?). He then looked at Patrick and said “dude, maybe you should be the one doing that.” Patrick looked at him, then explained that tomorrow (Sunday) was his girlfriend’s birthday, and made the audience help him sing “Happy Birthday”. Afterwards, he apologized (to her, I guess) because “’Happy Birthday’ is the one song I can’t fucking sing!” Never one to let anyone else have the last word, Pete: “I can’t believe you have a girlfriend! I can’t be a fan of yours any more!” Oh, boys.
- The two song acoustic set was really awesome – Patrick came out and sang “Golden” by himself, and then the other three came back out to play “Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner”. Audio for both is in the last post, check it out! I would actually love to see a show where they do more acoustic songs.
- One and a half cover songs? They did “Mr. Brightside”, and then a small snippet of a Kanye West song, the one about mothers since Pete dedicated it to theirs.
- Pete had a rambling rant somewhere in there about how, if you meet them on the street, you shouldn't just scream at them, but maybe try talking to them like normal human beings? Methinks someone had his eardrums pierced at his store opening. This is why I didn't go anywhere near it.
I’m sure there was more I meant to mention, but it’s gone now. We met back up with folks after the show - plus one more person, who I think is an LJ type, but I didn't catch her name - and sat at IHOP with about a hundred other people who were waiting out the traffic.
Sunday: Lunch. And then home, but not before I managed to run over the mailbox. ::facepalm:: I'm a good driver, I swear. Also, note to self: if you go through Wisconsin again in the near future, think about taking 90 all the way, rather than 94, because that one-lane stretch near Eau Claire SUCKS ASS.
So! That was our weekend. I can't wait to see the show again in Cedar Rapids. It probably won't have the same energy as a hometown crowd, but there will be the bonus of seeing it from the front. :D And now, I am dead, and need another weekend to recover from my weekend. Please?
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Date: 2007-10-23 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 02:40 am (UTC)