TBS concert!
May. 6th, 2008 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_belle_laideI can't say enough about last night's concert. But those of you who know me, know that I will try anyway. ^_^
First I want to apologize for the quality of the pictures and videos. As for the pictures, my camera is a tiny little CyberShot and it's not really made for this kind of setting. Everything is blurry and too dark, with or without flash. Or possibly I just suck. As far as the videos go, keep in mind that they are taken as I hold the camera above my head while dancing, often in the pit. So the view that you get on the videos is very much what it looks like to be, well, yeah. Dancing around in or at the edge of the pit. Sorry, I know there are much better quality videos out there where you can actually see the band, but I can't seem to stop dancing long enough to get that sort of video. My bad!
Anyway, here's how it went.
After getting Meg from school, we went back to Mom and Dad's and had some pizza. I was ready to get going to the Crazy Donkey even before I finished my las slice. We left the house around 4:30, 4:45 or so, listening to TBS all the way there. I have to say, I was and am a huge fan of Fred Mashcerino. I decided in the car that I was going to sing along with all of Fred's vocal parts for the duration of the trip. ^_^ I admit that I was kind of skeptical that I would be into his replacement, but was willing to give him a chance. I love the band, and music is music and if it's good music then that's all you can ask for, you know?
So we got there at around 5:30 and the doors opened at 6. We parked right behind the bus and the vans; it was the only parking space left in the lot by that time. As we were waiting on line, we started joking around like we normally do, singing songs to pass the time and stuff like that. We noticed that Matt Rubano (the bass guitarist for TBS,) was just kind of standing there pretty much right next to us, chilling out and talking to the kids from Envy On The Coast and God Fires Man, the two opening bands. (Yup, they are kids to me. How odd is that?) Then, as we were getting closer to the door, Eddie Reyes, (the guitarist and founder of the band, for any of you reading this who aren't familiar with them,) peeked out over the top of the fence from inside the venue. We all waved to him and he waved back, but I have to tell you my fangirlish heart skipped a beat. I just heart Eddie Reyes, like, ridiculously. He did an interview once and he spoke, as he often does, about Long Island and how much he loves it. That just makes me all warm and fuzzy. Plus he founded this band that I love. I just give him total props and I fanpoodle over Eddie Reyes, so I was all jittery after that.
Also while we were waiting, this guy went by who looked so much like Jepha Howard from the band The Used that I did a double-take. I poked my Mom and Meg in the ribs and said, "Hey you guys, look. Fake Jepha." More on that later. ^_^
Finally we got inside the venue and I said that we should look around for a good place to chill until the bands came on. I didn't want to be standing up the whole night. We went into the bathroom which was right beside the stage, and right outside of it were these boxes next to the stage, nearly to the side of it. So we sat there for a while and listened to whatever the DJ put on. At one point he played "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and we all got a laugh out of that. Oh, while sitting there I saw a girl up against the barrier in front of the stage and she was wearing a SKELETON CREW t shirt! I got her attention and told her that her shirt was rad, and that it was so cool to support Skeleton Crew.
So then we got bored and decided to move on. There is a nice little outdoor lounge at the Crazy Donkey so we went out there to sit for a while. And behold, there was Matt Rubano standing around, chilling, and talking to anyone who wanted a word. Lots of people were taking pictures with him and he was entirely gracious. He never once looked put-upon, bored, or whatever. It was so sweet of him. Then he was going past me and I said, "Hey Matt, may I ask you something?" He leaned in (the music was pretty loud by now) and I asked him if they still were looking for someone to interview the new guitarist. He told me that they had done that earlier, like first thing in the afternoon. Ah well! Then I told him, "I don't want a picture or anything, but I do want to thank you, all of you guys, for coming out and doing this small venue for us." (Again, for anyone who is not familiar with the band: They are playing Madison Square Garden on Friday with My Chemical Romance, so for them to do this tiny show for their hometown is amazing.) He said that it was their pleasure and then he asked my name. I introduced myself and then I introduced Mom and Meg, and he shook their hands. Meg had the biggest grin, it was awesome. Then I said to him, "The new guy must be so nervous right now, I'll bet you he's just crapping his pants already!" (My brain: "WILL YOU STFU, STOP TALKING, DO NOT SAY INAPPROPRIATE THINGS!") He just laughed and said, "Yeah, he's probably a little nervous" and I said, "Well, no worries because it's going to be fabulous." He thanked me and might I mention here, totally not in a fangirlish way but just as an observation, that this dude has one gorgeous set of sky blue eyes.
Then we went inside, and Matt went inside, and then Eddie Reyes walked by and I got a little, "OMG OMG" for a second. Then I just tapped him on the shoulder and said, like I had said to Matt, "Just want to thank you for playing this venue," and I also introduced him to my Mom and Meg, and he shook both their hands, too. I was so thrilled. My Mom told him it was nice to be here and he thanked her and said to us, "I hope you guys have fun tonight." I assured him that we would. He was completely nice, and it was so delightful that they were just walking around, chilling and talking to people. These are the guys whose videos you see all over MTV (if you get MTV which I don't think I do,) and in magazines and whatnot, and they were completely unaffected by any of this. I think that's the way to act if you find yourself surrounded by fans. The cool thing is that no one was trying to mob them for autographs or pictures. A few people went up to them to say "what's up" and that was the extent of it.
I admit that I didn't hear much of God Fires Man, but from what I did hear, they were very gracious and they gave away an autographed poster of Taking Back Sunday to the best dancer in the mosh pit. Also they were clearly having a really good time up there.
Just as Envy On The Coast came on, (I'll get to them in a sec,) Mark O'Connell, TBS's drummer, stood next to me. I wanted to say hi to him too, so I tugged on the sleeve of his blue hoodie and said, "Hey listen, like I said to the other guys. I just would like to thank you for doing this." And he goes, "Doing what?" I had to laugh because he was so sincere. I told him, "For doing this show for all of us; you guys are homeboys and it means a lot to us." He said, "Oh man, it's our pleasure, we're so psyched!" I told him, probably not as psyched as we were! Which, actually now that I'm thinking of it, they probably were just as psyched as we were. ^_^
Right after that, I looked out of the little lounge thing, over the fence, and saw Adam Lazzara (for those who don't know: he's the singer,) walking around the parking lot, again just chilling and completely NOT acting all rock starry and hiding out. No one bugged him or anything. I did notice though that he has a nice new haircut and his hair is lighter. I liked it long and dark, but I like this, too. :)
The other thing that happened was that Fake Jepha was hanging around, too. I stared and stared because it was uncanny how much he looked like him, yet it didn't seem possible that it was him, because The Used is on tour, too. Finally I just went up to him and said, "I'm sorry to bother you and I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but you look so much like Jepha Howard that it's unreal." He laughed and said, "No! That's the first time I've ever heard that before. I think I look just like the guy who used to sing in Taking Back Sunday." (Referring to John Nolan.) His girlfriend was there and at first she said, "Oh, he gets that all the time," and then after he teased me she said, "oh yeah, in fact he is the guy who used to sing for TBS!" I just laughed along with her but I was like, "Dude, seriously, it's uncanny." I had actually begun to think it was him, but then I saw some of his tattoos and they didn't match up. Still, he was a complete dead ringer.
Anyway by then Envy On The Coast was on. I have never heard this guys before but I have heard a lot about them. Well, they were so much fun. They are so freaking young, they looked like little kids up there, all thrashing around and throwing themselves everywhere. Such a baby band and so adorable. They sounded really awesome; I think I'll go to their MySpace and give them another listen. During the beginning of their set, the guitarist suddenly lost feeling in his right hand, which was worrisome. I wonder what the outcome of that was. He shook his hand out for a while and then he continued playing but I would have that checked out if I were him. Anyway, I found myself dancing along to some of their songs, which were very catchy. The crowd opened up a circle pit about halfway through their set, and we could see it from our vantage point by the snack bar on the right side. It was the first time my Mom had ever seen a circle pit and she thought it looked really cool. Meg liked watching it but didn't want to get any closer.
There was a lot of crowd surfing during their set, and I always love to watch that. One thing I should mention about this club is that the ceilings were very low. (So low that I despaired of seeing Adam swing his mic around--he's known for it and he does it with great skill--but more on that later.) One of the guys who was crowd surfing got thrown ass-over head so high that his sneaker hit one of the lights hanging from the ceiling. The security guys were very nice about all of this, catching the surfers as they were tossed to the front by the barrier, setting them on their feet and hauling them out.
At one point, the singer of Envy On The Coast went into the crowd, sort of like Jared Leto does, letting them hold him up. It was really cool.
I have to admit though, that the highest point of their set was when Adam Lazzara came out on stage and sang with them for a few minutes. HELLO, SURPRISE! I videotaped some of that.
Wow, that was really awesome!
Then Envy's set was over and it was time for us to move up closer to the stage for TBS. By now the crowd had started to get kind of rough. Also it was around 9 PM or close to it, and people had been drinking pretty steadily all night. They were sloppy, rude and drunk by this point. We found a spot where Meg could see the stage (so far,) next to the snack bar on stage right, on Eddie's side of the stage. Then we waited it out. While we were waiting, my awesome and lovely friend from work, Scooter, came bouncing up to us. She was fresh otuof the pit, soaked, and a little bit tired from all the moshing. She decided to hang with us for a while, and we inched our way up closer to the stage (everyone was; it was a slow surge,) till we were next to the bathroom doors. This was a mistake because it was a heavy traffic area, not only with people going to and from the bathrooms, but with people pretending that they were going to the bathrooms but then just standing in front of us to get closer to the stage.
The DJ started playing some really awesome songs while we were waiting, and he would stop the music and let us all sing along. The best ones he did were The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars (they played THE KILL which made me just about wet my pants,) and then Helena by My Chemical Romance. It made me really miss MCR kinda bad. The entire audience sang every word, as if it were a MyChem concert. I videotaped that moment, but I don't think I need to upload it. It was kinda beautiful. I love when entire crowds sing.
Then, of course, what always happens whenever you go to see a show? THE BROS come along. You know, The Bros. That bunch of drunken retarded frat boys who all high five each other and say "HEY BRO! WHADDUP BRO! HOW'S IT GOING BRO?" Then the really tall one stands in front of you.Well, the dude who stood in front of us was around 6'6" or so, and he thought it was funny to balance his beer bottle on top of his head. Then he started jumping up and down and yelling "TBS! TBS! TBS!" He was, however, the only one doing it. Then when no one joined him he started chanting, "ADAM SUCKS! ADAM SUCKS! ADAM SUCKS!" To which Meg replied, quite loudly behind him in a chant of her own, "STFU! STFU! STFU!" She pretty much won the entire concert at that point. The guy started shoving, and he stood right in front of my Mom and shoved backwards towards her. She pushed him back and told him, "Hey, be careful! There are smaller people around!" His stupid friend told him, "Bro, you're getting yelled at." It didn't stop them of course, but the guy said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to stand here the whole time." (He didn't. He eventually went into the crowd and tried to crowd surf over the unwilling. WTF is wrong with people?) Anyway, that whole thing made Scooter say that my Mom was the coolest Mom in the world.
Right before TBS went on stage, they changed the music to Tom Jones and Frank Sinatra, which gave my Mom a giggle. She was singing along to The Kill and Helena, and then she was singing along to those songs, too. ^_^
Then, finally, it was time for TBS to come on and do their first show with The New Guy. I was excited and nervous (and getting squished, and trying to prevent my Mom and Meg from getting squished, which was only going to get worse once the rush to the stage began.)
The first one I saw on stage was Eddie Reyes, and he just looked so ready, and so psyched to be there. I started taping it because I knew we were going to hear the name of the new guitarist as soon as possible and I didn't want to miss that moment! And surely enough, before they even began to play their first song, Adam gave it up: Matthew Fazzi. Here is the introduction and the beginning of the first song:
It was cute, when Adam first introduced him he did this little happy dance and the Hawaiian shaka sign. Hang Loose! I recognized it and I was like, "WTF, why is homeboy doing a shaka?" It was cute though. Honestly, he did look a little hesitant. Not nervous so much as a little unsure maybe? Which kind of endeared him to me actually. If he'd gone up there all cocky and "I AM THE NEW FRED" I would have been a little put off. But the dude just looked like he wanted to have a good time, and then he actually did seem to have a good time.
Their first song was You Know How I Do, which surprised me because when I saw them at PR they opened with "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?" but I wasn't complaining. I love the crap out of that song. All of their songs, really. Anyway, so I was trying to dance, and I could see that so was Meg, and my Mom was happily singing along, but at the same time people kept shoving us and I wondered how long we were going to last right on the very edge of the pit, and right next to the men's room, no less.
Before I get into the details of the show, let me tell you the set list before I forget it. I'm sure I've left a song out, I just can't place which one it is. And this is not in any kind of order. I wish I could remember the order they played things, but I don't. Anyway, these are the songs:
You Know How I Do, You're So Last Summer, One Eighty By Summer, Error: Operator, Set Phasers To Stun, Miami, Spin, Up Against, Cute Without The E, Bonus Mosh, What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost, Liar, MakeDamnSure, and of course they also played a new song in the middle of the set!
Right, so here are some details of the show overall. First let me tell everyone who doesn't know anything about Taking Back Sunday: they are an awesome live band. Not only because of the music but because of their general vibe, the energy, how they treat the audience etc. Adam is very chatty. He doesn't do the whole "LET'S HEAR IT YOU MOTHER EFFERS! EFF YOU ALLLLL!!!" kind of thing. As Meg put it, "He's actually kinda, I dunno. Gentle." And he kind of is in a way. He talks to the audience as if he's talking one on one with very little separation between us and him. He likes to tell stories, and it's delightful the way he interrupts himself, gets tangential, and has to start over. He often says, "I'm talking because I'm out of breath!" And why wouldn't he be, because the live performance is anything but gentle! He's known for his crazy mic-swinging tricks. This guy could never go cordless. He throws the mic as high as the ceiling will allow, falls to the floor, catches the mic, twirls the cord three times around his neck and then goes back to singing without missing a lyric. It's kind of incredible. He spins the cord all around himself, around the rafters, he throws it out like a fishing line then snaps it back in, and he doesn't miss a note. Once he hit Matt in the head with it during a show, causing him to require a bunch of stitches. But Matt went right back on stage and kept playing with a concussion. I'm glad I wasn't there for that show, you know? But either way it's incredible to watch!
He also does this thing where he gets down really low to the first row and sings to different people. He is not only engaging, but incredibly compelling as he seems to mean every word he sings. He looks like a madman up there sometimes, gesturing randomly with his hands and making exaggerated motions with his eyes. He's just so freaking much fun to watch.
A few things that Adam shared with us: "Miami" is his favorite song. I thought that was so ironic because if I had to pick a least favorite by them, I would pick Miami! (My favorites are two that they did not play last night: My Blue Heaven [that song is like, god transposed to music,] and The Ballad of Sal Villanueva, which is a B side that I've never heard them play.) He goes on a lot about how he thinks he's out of shape and "fat" and OMG STFU ADAM. The dude is nowhere near fat and to be honest, I like him so much better this way than I did when he was a rack of bones. Personal opinion there. He talked about Youtube and watching his favorite bands on there, but he said that he preferred it if we didn't tape the song they were about to do (it was right before "Bonus Mosh") because he didn't want anyone to experience it through a camera; he wanted everyone living it in the moment. And you know what, he is exactly right. I have this obsession with remembering everything and taping things and taking photographs, but I remarked last year after the 30STM concert that I went to, that watching something through a viewfinder takes you out of the moment. Adam talked about his shirt, about the shirt of someone in the front row, and he talked for a while about Long Island.
I pee my pants with joy everytime they talk about Long Island. He also mentioned "Everything is bigger in Texas," and my Mom and I had to laugh because that's sort of this inside joke on this one Mystery Blog that I go to. (S'up BlogBelieve?)
While introducing "One Eighty By Summer" he said that it was about a bet he and the rest of the band had with Eddie Reyes that he would weigh 180 by summer. O_o
While on the subject of that song, I should mention that it had one of my favorite Fred moments, and I decided to tape that one part to see if The New Guy was going to do it. (I have/had/have two Best Fred Moments, and one of them is in that song and the other is in Bonus Mosh. In that one, while Adam is Singing, Fred just lets loose with this incredible scream. No words, just a sound. It just blew my mind.) Anyway, in 180, there is this part where Adam is singing the verse (it's an amazing build up to a huge, climactic part of the song,) and in the background Fred would sing the line, "I need you defenseless, dependent, and alone," and on the last "alone" his voice would just soar.
The New Guy did that part, and I was so glad. I didn't go in there expecting Fred, and he didn't come out pretending to be him, and he sounded good. Here is my favorite part of that song:
Adam took a question about The New Guy from the audience, and someone asked how old he was. Adam at first joked that he was 37 and then revealed that he is actually only nineteen! Also that he is part Italian and part Hawaiian, and that's when I had the "AHA" moment. ^_^ He also said he was from North Carolina (I think it was North--I'm fairly sure that's where Adam is also from originally) (Hold the press, another fan says it could be north California; I might have misheard. ^_^) and he used to play in a band called "Facing New York." I could have the band name wrong, too though. I'd also like to add that while I do think Matthew (The New Guy) plays guitar wonderfully, I felt that his mic was very low and sometimes I couldn't hear him song. I would have liked to hear more, but I guess we'll hear plenty on the new album. At least I hope we do, because one thing I really love about this band is the dueling vocals. I absolutely adore the way the two vocal lines cross, separate, then rise to meet each other for these tremendous, epic choruses. TBS is known for this and it wouldn't be the same if they didn't do that anymore. So I hope that they continue with that.
One of the funniest parts was with the sombrero. yesterday was, of course, Cinco de Mayo so someone had brought a sombrero that they wanted Adam to wear. I managed to get this little exchange on tape; it was very funny and brought the LOLz:
Also, Matt is doing some singing now. Adam made a point of teasing him about the height of his mic stand and they took a few minutes to joke about it; Matt saying that he might be short, but he makes up for it with a huge Napoleon complex. Which is too funny because there's no way that's true. It was just very cute. So anyway, we got to hear Matt singing and he was good, too; I enjoyed hearing him very much.
One other funny / annoying thing was how the audience messed up my favorite part to one of the best songs, Error Operator. There is this really intense part where the words go, "Murder, oh murder, oh where have you been?" and the way Adam sings it, it's very hard to describe unless you've heard it. It's through one of those neat voice-phaser thingies though, and I understand that it's a little bit muddled and unclear (I suspect that's the point,) but for goodness sakes, those are the most compelling lyrics in the song! And everyone tried to sing along and instead of the right lyrics everyone was singing, "Where are you, where are you, where have you been?!" I was like, "OMG, FAIL! STOP RUINING IT!"
Of course, as I had expected, they played a new song! I liked it right away from what I could manage to hear last night, and I can't wait to hear it, and hear more new stuff, down the road. I taped it and am putting it here in my LJ. I imagine they're going to be playing it live on Friday so lots of people will hear it then, too. It's very cool, people.
I should also mention that somewhere during "Miami" and right before "Spin," our little spot between the pit and the bathroom got really unruly, to the point where Meg couldn't enjoy the music. Even the security guys were shoving to get by. She was getting squished and she couldn't enjoy the music with someone pushing her every few minutes, so we bailed to the back of the club. She found a clear view behind the sound board thingamajig and watched the rest from there. But then they played SPIN which is absolutely one of my favorite songs by them pretty much ever. I told Mom and Meg that I was going to just go back up there for that one song. I went into the pit where it was okay to just throw yourself around and scream, which is precisely what I did.
Then I made my way back to the back of the club and watched the rest from there, where it was not really okay to dance around like a fool and sing out loud, because that's where everyone is all chill, kind of nodding their heads along to the music and mouthing the words, but I did it anyway.
The last few songs were Liar, A Decade Under The Influence (Adam changed the lyrics and added his own during this song: "You must not know about me...." instead of "coming over but it never was enough...."), What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost, and then Adam said that they weren't going to do an encore ("It's 2008!" he said, "We need to think of something else!") and they were true to his word. They did MakeDamnSure to close it out. Once again, me, trying to tape it--because I love when an entire crowd sings along with a song--all while trying to dance, mosh, and sing along at the same time. So as with most of my videos, you get the viewpoint of me actually at the concert (and you can hear me singing along--sorry!) but for once the sound on my camera wasn't so bad, and you can hear how well they played the song.
None of my pics came out AT ALL, but some of the ones my Mom took did. The trick, I guess, was to not have it on zoom, which makes it look much farther than it actually was, but a lot clearer. These pictures don't represent how close we were when we were by the edge of the pit for that while, because we were really pretty close! But at least you can see that it's a concert, and not some impressionist painting.
Here's the three of us, and this was taken by some nice lady with a TBS shirt and red hair. If you are reading this from the community or whatever, thank you!
These are my Mom's pics:
Oh, I did take these two, though:
(Though blurry and dark, that's the one pic that is indicative of our place in the crowd.)
(I just thought that one was neat.)
We caught up with Scooter again before we left. She had been in the pit the whole time, good for her! Go Scooter! Then we went outside into the chilly night air and waited a while till the parking lot cleared out a bit before leaving. (Plus we were parked around by the bus, and, you never know!) The people in the parking lot were crazy as they were trying to get out, it was madness.
And, yeah, that was it! We drove Meg home and got her home by around 1 AM. All the way back we listened to 3 Cheers nd The Black Parade by MyChem. I really do miss that band something fierce and it was nostalgic listening to them.
Meg and my Mom both had a great time and of course, so did I. I almost want to say that I can't believe how lucky we were to be the first to see Matthew Fazzi and to hear
the new song, and in such a teeny venue as well, but it has less to do with luck and more to do with the generousity of the band involved. It was one of the best shows I've seen--even if the club itself didn't offer much in the way of good viewing--and I am so, so glad that we got to go. The guys in the band that we met were way nicer than they had to be and as always, they put on one hell of a concert. I totally cannot wait for them to go back out on tour. ^_^
First I want to apologize for the quality of the pictures and videos. As for the pictures, my camera is a tiny little CyberShot and it's not really made for this kind of setting. Everything is blurry and too dark, with or without flash. Or possibly I just suck. As far as the videos go, keep in mind that they are taken as I hold the camera above my head while dancing, often in the pit. So the view that you get on the videos is very much what it looks like to be, well, yeah. Dancing around in or at the edge of the pit. Sorry, I know there are much better quality videos out there where you can actually see the band, but I can't seem to stop dancing long enough to get that sort of video. My bad!
Anyway, here's how it went.
After getting Meg from school, we went back to Mom and Dad's and had some pizza. I was ready to get going to the Crazy Donkey even before I finished my las slice. We left the house around 4:30, 4:45 or so, listening to TBS all the way there. I have to say, I was and am a huge fan of Fred Mashcerino. I decided in the car that I was going to sing along with all of Fred's vocal parts for the duration of the trip. ^_^ I admit that I was kind of skeptical that I would be into his replacement, but was willing to give him a chance. I love the band, and music is music and if it's good music then that's all you can ask for, you know?
So we got there at around 5:30 and the doors opened at 6. We parked right behind the bus and the vans; it was the only parking space left in the lot by that time. As we were waiting on line, we started joking around like we normally do, singing songs to pass the time and stuff like that. We noticed that Matt Rubano (the bass guitarist for TBS,) was just kind of standing there pretty much right next to us, chilling out and talking to the kids from Envy On The Coast and God Fires Man, the two opening bands. (Yup, they are kids to me. How odd is that?) Then, as we were getting closer to the door, Eddie Reyes, (the guitarist and founder of the band, for any of you reading this who aren't familiar with them,) peeked out over the top of the fence from inside the venue. We all waved to him and he waved back, but I have to tell you my fangirlish heart skipped a beat. I just heart Eddie Reyes, like, ridiculously. He did an interview once and he spoke, as he often does, about Long Island and how much he loves it. That just makes me all warm and fuzzy. Plus he founded this band that I love. I just give him total props and I fanpoodle over Eddie Reyes, so I was all jittery after that.
Also while we were waiting, this guy went by who looked so much like Jepha Howard from the band The Used that I did a double-take. I poked my Mom and Meg in the ribs and said, "Hey you guys, look. Fake Jepha." More on that later. ^_^
Finally we got inside the venue and I said that we should look around for a good place to chill until the bands came on. I didn't want to be standing up the whole night. We went into the bathroom which was right beside the stage, and right outside of it were these boxes next to the stage, nearly to the side of it. So we sat there for a while and listened to whatever the DJ put on. At one point he played "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and we all got a laugh out of that. Oh, while sitting there I saw a girl up against the barrier in front of the stage and she was wearing a SKELETON CREW t shirt! I got her attention and told her that her shirt was rad, and that it was so cool to support Skeleton Crew.
So then we got bored and decided to move on. There is a nice little outdoor lounge at the Crazy Donkey so we went out there to sit for a while. And behold, there was Matt Rubano standing around, chilling, and talking to anyone who wanted a word. Lots of people were taking pictures with him and he was entirely gracious. He never once looked put-upon, bored, or whatever. It was so sweet of him. Then he was going past me and I said, "Hey Matt, may I ask you something?" He leaned in (the music was pretty loud by now) and I asked him if they still were looking for someone to interview the new guitarist. He told me that they had done that earlier, like first thing in the afternoon. Ah well! Then I told him, "I don't want a picture or anything, but I do want to thank you, all of you guys, for coming out and doing this small venue for us." (Again, for anyone who is not familiar with the band: They are playing Madison Square Garden on Friday with My Chemical Romance, so for them to do this tiny show for their hometown is amazing.) He said that it was their pleasure and then he asked my name. I introduced myself and then I introduced Mom and Meg, and he shook their hands. Meg had the biggest grin, it was awesome. Then I said to him, "The new guy must be so nervous right now, I'll bet you he's just crapping his pants already!" (My brain: "WILL YOU STFU, STOP TALKING, DO NOT SAY INAPPROPRIATE THINGS!") He just laughed and said, "Yeah, he's probably a little nervous" and I said, "Well, no worries because it's going to be fabulous." He thanked me and might I mention here, totally not in a fangirlish way but just as an observation, that this dude has one gorgeous set of sky blue eyes.
Then we went inside, and Matt went inside, and then Eddie Reyes walked by and I got a little, "OMG OMG" for a second. Then I just tapped him on the shoulder and said, like I had said to Matt, "Just want to thank you for playing this venue," and I also introduced him to my Mom and Meg, and he shook both their hands, too. I was so thrilled. My Mom told him it was nice to be here and he thanked her and said to us, "I hope you guys have fun tonight." I assured him that we would. He was completely nice, and it was so delightful that they were just walking around, chilling and talking to people. These are the guys whose videos you see all over MTV (if you get MTV which I don't think I do,) and in magazines and whatnot, and they were completely unaffected by any of this. I think that's the way to act if you find yourself surrounded by fans. The cool thing is that no one was trying to mob them for autographs or pictures. A few people went up to them to say "what's up" and that was the extent of it.
I admit that I didn't hear much of God Fires Man, but from what I did hear, they were very gracious and they gave away an autographed poster of Taking Back Sunday to the best dancer in the mosh pit. Also they were clearly having a really good time up there.
Just as Envy On The Coast came on, (I'll get to them in a sec,) Mark O'Connell, TBS's drummer, stood next to me. I wanted to say hi to him too, so I tugged on the sleeve of his blue hoodie and said, "Hey listen, like I said to the other guys. I just would like to thank you for doing this." And he goes, "Doing what?" I had to laugh because he was so sincere. I told him, "For doing this show for all of us; you guys are homeboys and it means a lot to us." He said, "Oh man, it's our pleasure, we're so psyched!" I told him, probably not as psyched as we were! Which, actually now that I'm thinking of it, they probably were just as psyched as we were. ^_^
Right after that, I looked out of the little lounge thing, over the fence, and saw Adam Lazzara (for those who don't know: he's the singer,) walking around the parking lot, again just chilling and completely NOT acting all rock starry and hiding out. No one bugged him or anything. I did notice though that he has a nice new haircut and his hair is lighter. I liked it long and dark, but I like this, too. :)
The other thing that happened was that Fake Jepha was hanging around, too. I stared and stared because it was uncanny how much he looked like him, yet it didn't seem possible that it was him, because The Used is on tour, too. Finally I just went up to him and said, "I'm sorry to bother you and I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but you look so much like Jepha Howard that it's unreal." He laughed and said, "No! That's the first time I've ever heard that before. I think I look just like the guy who used to sing in Taking Back Sunday." (Referring to John Nolan.) His girlfriend was there and at first she said, "Oh, he gets that all the time," and then after he teased me she said, "oh yeah, in fact he is the guy who used to sing for TBS!" I just laughed along with her but I was like, "Dude, seriously, it's uncanny." I had actually begun to think it was him, but then I saw some of his tattoos and they didn't match up. Still, he was a complete dead ringer.
Anyway by then Envy On The Coast was on. I have never heard this guys before but I have heard a lot about them. Well, they were so much fun. They are so freaking young, they looked like little kids up there, all thrashing around and throwing themselves everywhere. Such a baby band and so adorable. They sounded really awesome; I think I'll go to their MySpace and give them another listen. During the beginning of their set, the guitarist suddenly lost feeling in his right hand, which was worrisome. I wonder what the outcome of that was. He shook his hand out for a while and then he continued playing but I would have that checked out if I were him. Anyway, I found myself dancing along to some of their songs, which were very catchy. The crowd opened up a circle pit about halfway through their set, and we could see it from our vantage point by the snack bar on the right side. It was the first time my Mom had ever seen a circle pit and she thought it looked really cool. Meg liked watching it but didn't want to get any closer.
There was a lot of crowd surfing during their set, and I always love to watch that. One thing I should mention about this club is that the ceilings were very low. (So low that I despaired of seeing Adam swing his mic around--he's known for it and he does it with great skill--but more on that later.) One of the guys who was crowd surfing got thrown ass-over head so high that his sneaker hit one of the lights hanging from the ceiling. The security guys were very nice about all of this, catching the surfers as they were tossed to the front by the barrier, setting them on their feet and hauling them out.
At one point, the singer of Envy On The Coast went into the crowd, sort of like Jared Leto does, letting them hold him up. It was really cool.
I have to admit though, that the highest point of their set was when Adam Lazzara came out on stage and sang with them for a few minutes. HELLO, SURPRISE! I videotaped some of that.
Wow, that was really awesome!
Then Envy's set was over and it was time for us to move up closer to the stage for TBS. By now the crowd had started to get kind of rough. Also it was around 9 PM or close to it, and people had been drinking pretty steadily all night. They were sloppy, rude and drunk by this point. We found a spot where Meg could see the stage (so far,) next to the snack bar on stage right, on Eddie's side of the stage. Then we waited it out. While we were waiting, my awesome and lovely friend from work, Scooter, came bouncing up to us. She was fresh otuof the pit, soaked, and a little bit tired from all the moshing. She decided to hang with us for a while, and we inched our way up closer to the stage (everyone was; it was a slow surge,) till we were next to the bathroom doors. This was a mistake because it was a heavy traffic area, not only with people going to and from the bathrooms, but with people pretending that they were going to the bathrooms but then just standing in front of us to get closer to the stage.
The DJ started playing some really awesome songs while we were waiting, and he would stop the music and let us all sing along. The best ones he did were The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars (they played THE KILL which made me just about wet my pants,) and then Helena by My Chemical Romance. It made me really miss MCR kinda bad. The entire audience sang every word, as if it were a MyChem concert. I videotaped that moment, but I don't think I need to upload it. It was kinda beautiful. I love when entire crowds sing.
Then, of course, what always happens whenever you go to see a show? THE BROS come along. You know, The Bros. That bunch of drunken retarded frat boys who all high five each other and say "HEY BRO! WHADDUP BRO! HOW'S IT GOING BRO?" Then the really tall one stands in front of you.Well, the dude who stood in front of us was around 6'6" or so, and he thought it was funny to balance his beer bottle on top of his head. Then he started jumping up and down and yelling "TBS! TBS! TBS!" He was, however, the only one doing it. Then when no one joined him he started chanting, "ADAM SUCKS! ADAM SUCKS! ADAM SUCKS!" To which Meg replied, quite loudly behind him in a chant of her own, "STFU! STFU! STFU!" She pretty much won the entire concert at that point. The guy started shoving, and he stood right in front of my Mom and shoved backwards towards her. She pushed him back and told him, "Hey, be careful! There are smaller people around!" His stupid friend told him, "Bro, you're getting yelled at." It didn't stop them of course, but the guy said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to stand here the whole time." (He didn't. He eventually went into the crowd and tried to crowd surf over the unwilling. WTF is wrong with people?) Anyway, that whole thing made Scooter say that my Mom was the coolest Mom in the world.
Right before TBS went on stage, they changed the music to Tom Jones and Frank Sinatra, which gave my Mom a giggle. She was singing along to The Kill and Helena, and then she was singing along to those songs, too. ^_^
Then, finally, it was time for TBS to come on and do their first show with The New Guy. I was excited and nervous (and getting squished, and trying to prevent my Mom and Meg from getting squished, which was only going to get worse once the rush to the stage began.)
The first one I saw on stage was Eddie Reyes, and he just looked so ready, and so psyched to be there. I started taping it because I knew we were going to hear the name of the new guitarist as soon as possible and I didn't want to miss that moment! And surely enough, before they even began to play their first song, Adam gave it up: Matthew Fazzi. Here is the introduction and the beginning of the first song:
It was cute, when Adam first introduced him he did this little happy dance and the Hawaiian shaka sign. Hang Loose! I recognized it and I was like, "WTF, why is homeboy doing a shaka?" It was cute though. Honestly, he did look a little hesitant. Not nervous so much as a little unsure maybe? Which kind of endeared him to me actually. If he'd gone up there all cocky and "I AM THE NEW FRED" I would have been a little put off. But the dude just looked like he wanted to have a good time, and then he actually did seem to have a good time.
Their first song was You Know How I Do, which surprised me because when I saw them at PR they opened with "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?" but I wasn't complaining. I love the crap out of that song. All of their songs, really. Anyway, so I was trying to dance, and I could see that so was Meg, and my Mom was happily singing along, but at the same time people kept shoving us and I wondered how long we were going to last right on the very edge of the pit, and right next to the men's room, no less.
Before I get into the details of the show, let me tell you the set list before I forget it. I'm sure I've left a song out, I just can't place which one it is. And this is not in any kind of order. I wish I could remember the order they played things, but I don't. Anyway, these are the songs:
You Know How I Do, You're So Last Summer, One Eighty By Summer, Error: Operator, Set Phasers To Stun, Miami, Spin, Up Against, Cute Without The E, Bonus Mosh, What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost, Liar, MakeDamnSure, and of course they also played a new song in the middle of the set!
Right, so here are some details of the show overall. First let me tell everyone who doesn't know anything about Taking Back Sunday: they are an awesome live band. Not only because of the music but because of their general vibe, the energy, how they treat the audience etc. Adam is very chatty. He doesn't do the whole "LET'S HEAR IT YOU MOTHER EFFERS! EFF YOU ALLLLL!!!" kind of thing. As Meg put it, "He's actually kinda, I dunno. Gentle." And he kind of is in a way. He talks to the audience as if he's talking one on one with very little separation between us and him. He likes to tell stories, and it's delightful the way he interrupts himself, gets tangential, and has to start over. He often says, "I'm talking because I'm out of breath!" And why wouldn't he be, because the live performance is anything but gentle! He's known for his crazy mic-swinging tricks. This guy could never go cordless. He throws the mic as high as the ceiling will allow, falls to the floor, catches the mic, twirls the cord three times around his neck and then goes back to singing without missing a lyric. It's kind of incredible. He spins the cord all around himself, around the rafters, he throws it out like a fishing line then snaps it back in, and he doesn't miss a note. Once he hit Matt in the head with it during a show, causing him to require a bunch of stitches. But Matt went right back on stage and kept playing with a concussion. I'm glad I wasn't there for that show, you know? But either way it's incredible to watch!
He also does this thing where he gets down really low to the first row and sings to different people. He is not only engaging, but incredibly compelling as he seems to mean every word he sings. He looks like a madman up there sometimes, gesturing randomly with his hands and making exaggerated motions with his eyes. He's just so freaking much fun to watch.
A few things that Adam shared with us: "Miami" is his favorite song. I thought that was so ironic because if I had to pick a least favorite by them, I would pick Miami! (My favorites are two that they did not play last night: My Blue Heaven [that song is like, god transposed to music,] and The Ballad of Sal Villanueva, which is a B side that I've never heard them play.) He goes on a lot about how he thinks he's out of shape and "fat" and OMG STFU ADAM. The dude is nowhere near fat and to be honest, I like him so much better this way than I did when he was a rack of bones. Personal opinion there. He talked about Youtube and watching his favorite bands on there, but he said that he preferred it if we didn't tape the song they were about to do (it was right before "Bonus Mosh") because he didn't want anyone to experience it through a camera; he wanted everyone living it in the moment. And you know what, he is exactly right. I have this obsession with remembering everything and taping things and taking photographs, but I remarked last year after the 30STM concert that I went to, that watching something through a viewfinder takes you out of the moment. Adam talked about his shirt, about the shirt of someone in the front row, and he talked for a while about Long Island.
I pee my pants with joy everytime they talk about Long Island. He also mentioned "Everything is bigger in Texas," and my Mom and I had to laugh because that's sort of this inside joke on this one Mystery Blog that I go to. (S'up BlogBelieve?)
While introducing "One Eighty By Summer" he said that it was about a bet he and the rest of the band had with Eddie Reyes that he would weigh 180 by summer. O_o
While on the subject of that song, I should mention that it had one of my favorite Fred moments, and I decided to tape that one part to see if The New Guy was going to do it. (I have/had/have two Best Fred Moments, and one of them is in that song and the other is in Bonus Mosh. In that one, while Adam is Singing, Fred just lets loose with this incredible scream. No words, just a sound. It just blew my mind.) Anyway, in 180, there is this part where Adam is singing the verse (it's an amazing build up to a huge, climactic part of the song,) and in the background Fred would sing the line, "I need you defenseless, dependent, and alone," and on the last "alone" his voice would just soar.
The New Guy did that part, and I was so glad. I didn't go in there expecting Fred, and he didn't come out pretending to be him, and he sounded good. Here is my favorite part of that song:
Adam took a question about The New Guy from the audience, and someone asked how old he was. Adam at first joked that he was 37 and then revealed that he is actually only nineteen! Also that he is part Italian and part Hawaiian, and that's when I had the "AHA" moment. ^_^ He also said he was from North Carolina (I think it was North--I'm fairly sure that's where Adam is also from originally) (Hold the press, another fan says it could be north California; I might have misheard. ^_^) and he used to play in a band called "Facing New York." I could have the band name wrong, too though. I'd also like to add that while I do think Matthew (The New Guy) plays guitar wonderfully, I felt that his mic was very low and sometimes I couldn't hear him song. I would have liked to hear more, but I guess we'll hear plenty on the new album. At least I hope we do, because one thing I really love about this band is the dueling vocals. I absolutely adore the way the two vocal lines cross, separate, then rise to meet each other for these tremendous, epic choruses. TBS is known for this and it wouldn't be the same if they didn't do that anymore. So I hope that they continue with that.
One of the funniest parts was with the sombrero. yesterday was, of course, Cinco de Mayo so someone had brought a sombrero that they wanted Adam to wear. I managed to get this little exchange on tape; it was very funny and brought the LOLz:
Also, Matt is doing some singing now. Adam made a point of teasing him about the height of his mic stand and they took a few minutes to joke about it; Matt saying that he might be short, but he makes up for it with a huge Napoleon complex. Which is too funny because there's no way that's true. It was just very cute. So anyway, we got to hear Matt singing and he was good, too; I enjoyed hearing him very much.
One other funny / annoying thing was how the audience messed up my favorite part to one of the best songs, Error Operator. There is this really intense part where the words go, "Murder, oh murder, oh where have you been?" and the way Adam sings it, it's very hard to describe unless you've heard it. It's through one of those neat voice-phaser thingies though, and I understand that it's a little bit muddled and unclear (I suspect that's the point,) but for goodness sakes, those are the most compelling lyrics in the song! And everyone tried to sing along and instead of the right lyrics everyone was singing, "Where are you, where are you, where have you been?!" I was like, "OMG, FAIL! STOP RUINING IT!"
Of course, as I had expected, they played a new song! I liked it right away from what I could manage to hear last night, and I can't wait to hear it, and hear more new stuff, down the road. I taped it and am putting it here in my LJ. I imagine they're going to be playing it live on Friday so lots of people will hear it then, too. It's very cool, people.
I should also mention that somewhere during "Miami" and right before "Spin," our little spot between the pit and the bathroom got really unruly, to the point where Meg couldn't enjoy the music. Even the security guys were shoving to get by. She was getting squished and she couldn't enjoy the music with someone pushing her every few minutes, so we bailed to the back of the club. She found a clear view behind the sound board thingamajig and watched the rest from there. But then they played SPIN which is absolutely one of my favorite songs by them pretty much ever. I told Mom and Meg that I was going to just go back up there for that one song. I went into the pit where it was okay to just throw yourself around and scream, which is precisely what I did.
Then I made my way back to the back of the club and watched the rest from there, where it was not really okay to dance around like a fool and sing out loud, because that's where everyone is all chill, kind of nodding their heads along to the music and mouthing the words, but I did it anyway.
The last few songs were Liar, A Decade Under The Influence (Adam changed the lyrics and added his own during this song: "You must not know about me...." instead of "coming over but it never was enough...."), What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost, and then Adam said that they weren't going to do an encore ("It's 2008!" he said, "We need to think of something else!") and they were true to his word. They did MakeDamnSure to close it out. Once again, me, trying to tape it--because I love when an entire crowd sings along with a song--all while trying to dance, mosh, and sing along at the same time. So as with most of my videos, you get the viewpoint of me actually at the concert (and you can hear me singing along--sorry!) but for once the sound on my camera wasn't so bad, and you can hear how well they played the song.
None of my pics came out AT ALL, but some of the ones my Mom took did. The trick, I guess, was to not have it on zoom, which makes it look much farther than it actually was, but a lot clearer. These pictures don't represent how close we were when we were by the edge of the pit for that while, because we were really pretty close! But at least you can see that it's a concert, and not some impressionist painting.
Here's the three of us, and this was taken by some nice lady with a TBS shirt and red hair. If you are reading this from the community or whatever, thank you!
These are my Mom's pics:
Oh, I did take these two, though:
(Though blurry and dark, that's the one pic that is indicative of our place in the crowd.)
(I just thought that one was neat.)
We caught up with Scooter again before we left. She had been in the pit the whole time, good for her! Go Scooter! Then we went outside into the chilly night air and waited a while till the parking lot cleared out a bit before leaving. (Plus we were parked around by the bus, and, you never know!) The people in the parking lot were crazy as they were trying to get out, it was madness.
And, yeah, that was it! We drove Meg home and got her home by around 1 AM. All the way back we listened to 3 Cheers nd The Black Parade by MyChem. I really do miss that band something fierce and it was nostalgic listening to them.
Meg and my Mom both had a great time and of course, so did I. I almost want to say that I can't believe how lucky we were to be the first to see Matthew Fazzi and to hear
the new song, and in such a teeny venue as well, but it has less to do with luck and more to do with the generousity of the band involved. It was one of the best shows I've seen--even if the club itself didn't offer much in the way of good viewing--and I am so, so glad that we got to go. The guys in the band that we met were way nicer than they had to be and as always, they put on one hell of a concert. I totally cannot wait for them to go back out on tour. ^_^
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Date: 2008-05-06 09:42 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing everything!
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Date: 2008-05-06 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 02:43 am (UTC)Yes, I'm psyched for anything new from TBS, I can't wait to hear what they will come up with next. I wish them luck with this. I just don't want the music to ever end. :)
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Date: 2008-05-07 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 02:24 pm (UTC)Oh, if you were near that bathroom, then you must've seen THE BROS too. O_o
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Date: 2008-05-07 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 09:26 pm (UTC)I guess I got it in my head that I wanted to hear Last Summer so I thought I did. ;)
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Date: 2008-05-07 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-08 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 07:58 am (UTC)(& the show where matt got hit by adam's mic was immense! adam looked so guiltyyyy)
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Date: 2008-05-07 02:24 pm (UTC)I know, I so cannot wait for another show! :D
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Date: 2008-05-07 08:47 pm (UTC)You should have recorded the other new song!
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Date: 2008-05-07 09:25 pm (UTC)thanks
Date: 2008-05-07 10:36 pm (UTC)Re: thanks
Date: 2008-05-08 01:32 am (UTC)wow
Date: 2008-05-09 01:34 am (UTC)not entirely sure of how I stumbled upon this, but just gotta say that that was one of the best reviews i've read, for any concert... I am on the other side of the world and you managed to put me right there in the heart of it!!
thanks, love it & well done
:)
Re: wow
Date: 2008-05-09 03:01 am (UTC)Re: wow
Date: 2008-05-09 01:14 pm (UTC)keep 'em coming as i'm not in a part of the world with so much excitement, so i have to live thru yours :)
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Date: 2008-05-13 02:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 03:01 am (UTC)