Wow, what a night :)
Okay so my big day started out by getting out of school with Natasha and Matt after second period, at about 10:35am. Maggie didn't even bother going to school that day. So we all go back to Natasha's house and make ourselves pretty for the concert. We checked and double checked our tickets and everything else of course, and then we were on our way by 11:30am! :)
We had no trouble at all getting to the venue and when we got there, there were only about 10-12 people in front of us, but we knew there were multiple entrances. Maggie and Matt had to immediately hunt for food, so Natasha and I sat like hens at our place in line. We got talking to some very nice girls, one of whom was in the Despair Faction. Her name is Nora, she's really cool :) I can't remember any of the other girls' names though. Nora and I started to walk to the mall to go to the bathroom, but then we heard AFI start to soundcheck...so we quickly turned around and ran back. We listened to the soundcheck joyously for a while, and then finally went to the mall to relieve ourselves.
We sat in line for what seemed like a very long time, and then they opened the gates, but wouldn't allow anyone in. Everyone was getting pretty anxious and excited. Finally, they started to admit people and it was a mad dash. Everyone was sprinting all over the place to try and get to the front of the stage, since the gates were a little far from the stage itself. We had to run past people and such, but we got where we wanted to be, front and center :)
It was about 4:45 pm at this time, and the music wasn't scheduled to start until 6 pm. Fortunately, Asher Roth was unable to play because he broke his jaw or something. I am not necesarily happy he broke his jaw, but I am overjoyed that he didn't play. However, they still wouldn't put Kid Cudi on until the time he was origianally scheduled for. So until 6:30 pm we had to put up with some lame-ass DJ doing bad song mash-ups and seeming horrified that no one was interested. It was a RELIEF when Kid Cudi came on.
In all honesty, I don't care about his music in any way at all, but he seemed to be having a great time on stage and he had a huge smile on his face the whole time, so I give him credit. I recognized a couple of his songs thanks to Mackenzie, but I wouldn't call myself a fan or anything.
He played maybe 5 songs, and after he left they started to set up for Dead By Sunrise, Chester Beddington's (of Linkin Park) other band. The crowd seemed much more excited about this band, and several people near me were devoted Linkin Park fans who had come to see them. I thought this band was okay to listen to, but not anything I would ever go out of my way to see. We all agreed that mostly everything about them had already been done a thousand times over. Chester sounded pretty good though, and he has a great scream. However, the rest of his band was terrifying. They all looked like drag queen mannequins or something, which is why I didn't take any photos of them. However, here is Chester singing.
With his throbbing neck veins.
They played a good sized set, and then said their farewells. Then, they judged the costume contest. A giant yeti on stilts that did provocative dancing came out victorious in the end. Sadly, I have no photos of this yeti. :(
We knew at this time they were starting to set up for AFI, though Smith was slacking and was nowhere to be seen. Finally he appeared, but I had great difficulty seeing him because THIS was in my way:
You be the judge.
NOT OKAY. When I was finally able to see Smith, it was noted that he was wearing a shirt that said "If assholes could fly, this place would be an AIRPORT!"...lovely. Not that long after, the lights began to dim and I could feel lots of excitement in the room. Then I could hear the beginning sounds of Torch Song, and the band came on stage. Adam, followed by Hunter, then Jade, and then Davey.
Can you say "Excitement"?! I was jumping up and down and I actually shouted so loudly that I strained my side, and Maggie was also yelling a lot. Matt and Natasha were somewhere behind us, also yelling. Everyone was looking faaaaaabulous. Hunter, Jade, and Adam were all looking lovely, and Davey was wearing his most horrid gold suit for the cameras. They were so, so energetic, you could hardly tell Davey had just been very sick. They played a couple of songs and then Davey did the "How are you guys? It's great to be here, thanks for coming!" type of greeting. His was a little different though, Davey said "Wow, we are so happy to be here, we had to cancel a show the other day because I WAS TOO BUSY DYING ON THE HOSPITAL FLOOR." Which isn't entirely untrue, either...
So Adam is drumming his heart out, Jade and Hunter are leaping around like the mountain goats that they are, and Davey is putting on his gold jacket, taking it off, putting it on, taking it off etc. Then he just decides to leave it off and make everyone scream by lifting up his shirt in a sensual stripping manner.
Obviously the best photo opportunity of the night. ♥
I know Matt was really excited to hear The Leaving Song Part 2, it's one of his favorites. The crowd was not very bad, but it was considerably more "violent" than it had been. Let's just say there were lots of 12 year old girls there to see Paramore, looking like they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. The whole band was generally flipping out and going all over the place when they were playing Dancing Through Sunday, so it was a good time.
Then, Death of Seasons came on, which was a surprise to me. Davey sounded okay most of the time, but towards the end of the song, he lept up on to the big bass amp and started screaming in a folded up fetal position, and he kind of sounded like he was dying.
Climbing the amps, per usual.
Somehow, Davey made it through the ending of the song, but he did look like he was in physical pain and dried his face with a towel for an especially long period of time afterwards, before starting Beautiful Thieves. During the beginning of this song, I suppose Maggie had a revelation because she turns to me and yells, "I CAN SEE HIS PENIS." I just said, "Yes." and acknowledged that it had been quite visible the entire time. Davey, it's okay to wear underwear, your pants aren't painted on anymore. Please, wear underwear. Now everyone who tunes into Ulalume on Friday can see EVERYTHING that Davey Havok has to offer :/
Towards the end of the song, Davey lept off the stage and made several hand gestures trying to signal that he was jumping into the crowd. And so he did. He walked right into the crowd and the whole crowd surged in his direction, he was maybe 8 feet to my right. Smith didn't seem to like this idea though, because he kept tugging on the microphone chord Davey had wrapped around his body in an effort to pull him back. I so wish I had a photo of this.
They played Kill Cautic after that, which was another pleasant surprise. Maggie and I noticed at this time that we were being filmed a LOT. It's probably because we were acting like complete maniacs and seemed much more excited than everyone around us. Except for maybe Natasha who was somewhere behind us crying because she kept making eye contact with Davey :) Then, they played Medicate and Jade executed his solo very nicely.
They rounded out the show with lots of singles, which was a good thing because everyone in the audience knew those songs. After they finished with Miss Murder, I thought they were probably done. However, then I hear a bunch of weird sounds and realized Silver and Cold was starting. If you're reading this, and you have never heard Silver and Cold, you should realize it's a very powerful song. It's lovely and full of raw emotion. So much so, that I was almost moved to tears. That's what AFI is about to me, power and emotion...and I could feel it big time. It was a beautiful way to close the night. After that, AFI said their thank yous and goodbyes, and even blew many many kisses, and exited the stage.
Here is the full setlist:
Torch Song
Girl's Not Grey
The Leaving Song Pt. II
Too Shy To Scream
Veronica Sawyer Smokes
Dancing Through Sunday
Death of Seasons
Beautiful Thieves
Kill Caustic
Medicate
Love Like Winter
Miss Murder
Silver and Cold
At this time, we all chose to exit the event. So not worth staying there for Paramore. I despise them SO much. We were all sore, tired, and Matt was of course hungry :) So we got some drinks, and then left the Pavillion and drove to Burger King. Matt and Maggie ate, and Natasha and I looked through my pictures.
We all had such an amazing time, it was one of my favorite experiences ever. Hope you enjoyed reading this <3
