Favorite concerts: Pt. 1 - work in progress

Seeing those old Panic! and TAI... vids made me wanna write about some of my favorite shows that I've gone to.
I guess I'll start with the oldest shows and work my way forward.
If I've blogged about a show on Myspace, I won't blog about it here too.
You'll just have to read through the old blogs for all the show-goodness.
(Why do I start blogs at 1:30 AM?)

Warped Tour 2002 - Jax Raceway = MUD MUD and more MUD
I find it hard to believe that I've been going to Warped Tour longer than most people who are older than me.
My Mom dropped me, Becky, and Jessica off at the raceway.
My job was to text Mom every now and then to let her know I wasn't dead.
They didn't open the gates until 12 (even though the tickets said gates at 11) because they were busy putting down hay.
The raceway was a giant mud pit because in the days before, it had rained a lot.
They actually thought putting down hay was going to make the mud....cleaner?
Hardly.
This show was the first time I ever met a band member.
Jeez, I met Good Charlotte.
I had been so excited for Warped Tour. I had listened to all these compilations in the weeks before, and I found myself consistently liking songs by a band called Autopilot Off.
I was excited because Autopilot Off was going to be at Warped Tour.
I watched them from the front row.
I couldn't stop watching their hands play the guitars.
This was probably the moment I decided that I wanted to go to shows for the rest of my life.
The sad thing is, we had to leave early (Freshman orientation was the same day).
We went to orientation, and we were probably the muddiest, most sunburned people there.
But damn, it was great.

Thanksgiving 2002 - Marquee Theater - The Ataris, Sugarcult, Rufio, Autopilot Off
My first non-Warped Tour rock show.
It was cold. We decided to go get hot chocolate at the gas station around the corner from the venue. We were standing in line outside, and from behind the parked bus walks Marko72 from Sugarcult. He started chatting with us, like he was just a normal guy. We offered him hot chocolate : )
This was my first experience with being in a huge crowd, and experiencing a crowd surge.
I almost got knocked to the ground, but my friends kept me standing.
I was there for the opening band, and I was the only one who knew the words to the songs.
I remember seeing people from Rufio hanging out in the crowd, like they were normal people.
I didn't go to another show until Warped Tour the next summer, but this experience definitely got me hooked on indoor shows.

Warped Tour 2003
First experience with getting pulled over the barricade by security.
Who knew the crowd for The Starting Line could be so intense?!
I was about third row. The crowd surge was so intense that my cheek was pressed against the back of the person in front of me. There was absolutely no concept of personal space anymore.
Have I told you that I'm claustrophobic? I can handle small spaces just fine, but when people crowd around me, hover over me, get squished all around me, I freak out.
I was panicking, and I couldn't breathe. By that point, I had been kicked in the FACE by a crowdsurfer, and I had a lovely cut on the bridge of my nose from where my glasses had dug in.
The guy beside me could tell I was not enjoying being there anymore, and he got security's attention. He got the people in front of me to scoot aside so I could get up to the barricade. The security guard grabbed me and pulled me over (not without my bare knees slamming down onto the metal, two more bruises for the books). The security guard standing at the end of the barricade stopped me and asked me if I was okay. I told him I was fine, I just couldn't catch my breath. He directed me to a chair set up in the grass behind a fence and beside the stage. I went and sat down, trying to breathe. Someone from backstage whistled and got my attention, and when I turned around, they threw me a can of water. I still have that can. It's sitting on top of my stereo.
That security guard that "looked out for me" per se, still works shows in town. He is by far my favorite security guard, because of the extra effort he put into making sure I was okay that day.

April 30, 2004 - De Real Ting Cafe - Rufio, Senses Fail, Don't Look Down, Autopilot Off
The most abnormal venue EVER.
A reggae cafe in a basement in downtown Jacksonville. Yeah.
It has a checkerboard dance floor.
I rest my case.
There was a rail on each side of the dance floor, so everyone who was watching the bands had to cram into this small square space. When the floor got full, people just started moving upward. I swear the crowd was about three people high.
Buddy from Senses Fail told everyone to go download the new cd, because at that point, no one thought Let It Enfold You would EVER come out.
(You get brownie points if you were a SF fan before that CD came out!)
The crowd stacked three high resulted in me getting some feet to the face. Surprise, surprise.
Mom and I went into the bathroom so she could try and fix my hair (which had been mangled by crowdsurfers) and SF started playing "187". I ran back out there and got right into the thick of the crowd just in time to throw my arm in the air and yell "Shot through my heart!"
I find it odd that, come to find out, people I know today were at that show.

June 2004 - Eclate - Yellowcard acoustic show
We heard an announcement on the radio that Yellowcard was going to be playing a surprise acoustic show at a jazz club downtown called Eclate. The first hundred or so people would get in, and then they would cut the line off.
We got in. They cut the line off a couple of people behind us.
This is what some would call luck.
People were crowded inside, standing or sitting where ever there was room.
Most of the family members of the YC guys were there. There was a lady sitting barefoot on top of a....ledge? I don't even know what it was, but anywho, Ryan told everyone she was Aunt Stephanie...the very same Aunt Stephanie they sing about in "Rockstar Land".
Ryan and Sean drank so much wine it wasn't even funny.
They played a ton of cover songs.
It was one of those shows where you just knew there would never be another show like it ever again.

Warped Tour 2004 - Jax Fairgrounds - (It seems like i'm listing every concert doesn't it?)
My first experience with throwing up at a concert.
I chugged an entire bottle of Dasani, then I went and stood in the 100+ degree heat, in direct sunlight, and waited for Flogging Molly to finish playing and for Yellowcard to come on.
As soon as YC came out, the pit erupted, and I was in the middle of it.
Lots of elbows to the stomach. Not a good thing.
Then I got to experience a little thing we like to call "Heat Exhaustion".
I'll spare you the details.
As if throwing up wasn't bad enough...
The crowd for YC was SO BIG, that I couldn't just walk back up the hill to where my Mom was sitting... The crowd was blocking the entire path. I had to walk down a long line of merch tents, around the corner, and back up another row of merch tents, to get to where she was. I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion by the time I got back to her.

October 15, 2004 - House Of Blues Orlando - Senses Fail, Silverstein, Name Taken, Madison
I just wanted to point out the fact that I've seen Name Taken : D
Did I mention Panic! At The Disco is named for a lyric in one of their songs?
I demand they reunite and play a show that isn't in California!

October 28, 2004 - Plush - Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Matchbook Romance
First time I ever saw Fall Out Boy.
Self-explanatory.
But WTF...they opened for TBS!
That's the only time I ever saw FOB open for another band.
Now they pretty much rule the world (not to mention my soul!)

October 30, 2004 - Thee Imperial - The Casualties
My first punk-punk-PUNK show.
They played "This Is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

November 8, 2004 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Story Of The Year, Letter Kills, Autopilot Off
First time seeing MCR. I just remember thinking "Oh my God. They are real!" Yeah, it was that surreal. Even then, you could tell they were going to be HUGE.
I have this thing, where, I KNOW I like a band if I hear them play songs at a show, and I remember those songs later when I hear them on cd.
I remembered.
They played "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" and I had never heard it before. When we eventually tracked down their old cd I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (and trust me when I say "tracked down", you couldn't find the damn CD ANYWHERE! It's so easy for you kids to go buy that CD nowadays!), I heard the song and remembered them playing it live.
I also bought my first band hoodie at this show. Whoop whoop!

November 14, 2004 - Plush - Yellowcard, The Starting Line, The Matches, Hey Mike
First time seeing The Matches. We had heard some of their songs on compilations, and weren't impressed. We saw them live, and we became believers.
They played two nights in a row thanks to a last minute venue fall-through, and we went the first day.
On the second day, (based on an account from one of my friends that went) YC played one song, and then the power went out (thanks to a car wreck + telephone pole). YC promised they would make the show up to everyone there. They promised they would be back in a few months, and would honor the tickets of the people there.
YC didn't come back to play a local show in Jacksonville for almost 2 years.
YC turned their backs on Jacksonville. It was bad enough that they claimed Ventura, CA as their hometown, but this, I think, was the last straw.
When YC came back in 2006, they couldn't even sell out a show at Freebird.

Wow, I kind of am practically listing every show. Oh well, It's my blog : D

December 5, 2004 - Clearwater - Next Big Thing - My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Story Of The Year, Taking Back Sunday, Lostprophets, Coheed and Cambria, The Used, Lit
This is kind of a long story. Long meaning, it covered a long period of time....
This was the first time that we ever drove a long distance to go to a show. We drove 4 hours so we could see MCR. When we got there, rumors were flying that MCR wasn't playing.
Turns out, Gerard had "blown out" (whatever that means) his vocal cords the night before, and was en route to Jersey to see a doctor.
When it came time for MCR's set, the rest of the band came out and apologized, saying they wouldn't be playing their set.
They did, however, play one song.
They played "I'm Not Okay", and Adam Lazzara sang.
There's video of this floating around out there, but we saw it with our own eyes.
Can you say you've ever seen Adam Lazzara fill in for Gerard Way?
*does Boo-Yah dance*
But anywho...back to the long part of the story... MCR promised they would play a make up show in Tampa to make up for not playing a full set at Next Big Thing... They scheduled this "make-up" show on the same day that Taste Of Chaos started in Orlando. MCR was slated to be on Taste Of Chaos. We went to Orlando because we wanted to see MCR at Taste Of Chaos. We got screwed over by MCR because we were at Taste Of Chaos in Orlando, and they were in Tampa making up a show that we had been screwed out of...we were screwed X 2.

Christmas 2004 - Jack Rabbit's - Inspection 12
A Christmas tradition. If you're lucky, you'll see most of the guys from Yellowcard at one of these shows. It's nice to see them as normal people, hanging out with friends and family on Christmas, in a town where they can be normal people and not just "rock stars".
Because the Jacksonville music scene is kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name : )

February 18, 2005 - Orlando - Taste of Chaos (The first night EVER! EVER EVER EVER!) - (MCR...NOT!), The Used, Underoath, Killswitch Engage, Senses Fail, A Static Lullaby
This one's a DOOZY!
You think of TOC and you think "big venue" right? WRONG.
TOC was in a parking lot for a club in downtown Orlando. A parking lot that was covered in mulch, with trees everywhere. A parking lot roughly the size of my driveway.
If I was being sarcastic, this would be funny, but alas, I am NOT being sarcastic.
We were already cynical about the fact that MCR bailed and was playing a "make-up" show in Tampa (and no one cared to tell everyone beforehand!).
This is where I talk about how much Underoath FAILED AT LIFE that night.
They BROKE THE LIGHTS. Like, as in, the entire lighting system was broken, by them.
As in, they used a giant flood light and pointed it at the stage for the rest of the night, just so we could see the other bands.
Underoath FAILS!
Did I also mention it was cold as shit outside?!?!?!?!?!
I'm talking bone-numbing cold. I don't think I've ever been that cold.
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was frickin FREEZING!
Sympathy for Senses Fail because I don't think they've ever sounded worse than they did this night.
The Used had somebody get married on stage in the middle of their set. WTF right?
Everyone in attendance blew black dirt out of their nose for a week.
If you weren't there, you can be grossed out, but if you were there, you're agreeing with me right now.

February 27, 2005 - Freebird - Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, From First To Last
First time seeing FFTL, and all I can remember thinking is "Where the Hell did this little dude come from?!?!"

April 8, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
First RJA show.
This is where I recall hearing the audience chanting "Hey! Hey! Hey!" before they came out, and me thinking "What? Do these people think they're at a Ramones show?" and then soon after realizing that this "Hey! Hey! Hey!" business was part of the song "Ass Shaker"

April 14, 2005 - Freebird - Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes
Fueled By Ramen's golden children, all touring together!!!!
GCH made me actually like rap for a half hour.
TAI... was amazing, but I kept having to tell Mom "They are NOT EMO!" (I still have to tell her that!)
FOB.... *sigh* Trohmania almost unplugged the sound board with his hyper-spazzing (not a good idea), and Wentz laid on the ground and just... jutted his hips in the air.
Did I mention we were on the second floor, looking down on this?
Pete laying on the ground is no big deal, but seeing it from the second floor?!?!
*dies*
If you look in the dictionary under the word "Bliss", you will see an image of Pete from our viewpoint that night
: D

April 16, 2005 - Orlando - TD Waterhouse - Green Day, My Chemical Romance
DUDE. GREEN DAY. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. DUDE!
For my birthday, I got tickets to see MCR and Green Day in Orlando and Jacksonville.
I did not know they could physically jam that much rock into one arena!

May 29, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Marky Ramone
I passed up The All American Rejects (who were playing at The Social the very same night) to see Marky Ramone.
Good decision. Very good decision.

May 30, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - From First To Last, Emanuel, Halifax, He Is Legend
There was a wall of people. I'm not kidding. It was a wall about six people tall. It was more like a wave of people. It was pure insanity.

June 7, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy (MTV Taping)
Dude. Fall Out Boy. And MTV was taping the show for their Hard Rock Live series. Dude.
Second row in front of P. Wentz? Yup yup.
Mom almost getting in a fight? True story.

June 21, 2005 - St. Louis Missouri - Warped Tour
First out of state Warped Tour. Why did we go to St. Louis? All the good bands were playing there, but not in Florida. Like who?
The Matches, The Explosion, Tsunami Bomb, Hidden In Plain View, From First To Last (we got there and found out their van/bus/whatever they were in had broken down, and they didn't make it to the show), The All American Rejects, Underoath, etc.
Did I mention MCR and FOB were there too?
P.S. It is possible to drive from Middleburg to St. Louis in one day : D

June 27, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance (MTV Taping), Flyleaf
Dude. We stood in line outside, in the rain, and feared we would be electrocuted. We were soaked to the bone. We went inside where the crowd was so packed, that the wetness our clothes were drenched with changed immediately from rain to sweat. Flyleaf opened the show. I jumped on the "I Hate Flyleaf" bandwagon before you. tehehe. The crowd for MCR was so energetic, you could pick your feet up off the ground, and the crowd surge would just carry you.
We went to eat at Steak N Shake on our way home, and our clothes were still soaked with rain/sweat/other people's sweat. I can't even imagine how we smelled
X D

July 22, 2005 - Freebird - Evergreen Terrace, Shadow Agency
Only at Evergreen Terrace shows can you see 8 fights in one night. We watched from the second floor and made bets on who would get in a fight next. Highly entertaining.

July 23, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
Joey and Jon's first show with the band
: D

July 29, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Audition, The Junior Varsity, Aiden, The Hurt Process
I've blogged about this on myspace, so I won't say everything again.
First time seeing Aiden and The Audition.
The beginning of our random friendship with Danny Stevens.

October 11, 2005 - House of Blues Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, Reggie and the Full Effect
Hadn't seen MCR since June, and we were jonesin'.
They played "Astro Zombies". WIN!
They played "Disenchanted"... I remembered the song title and used the word in my college application essay : P

October 18, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out
Nowadays, FOB crowds are pre-teen girls (with the exception of MUAH! LOL), so the pit is not intense.
But back in this day, the crowd was certifiably insane. The crowd surge was squeezing the air out of my lungs. Mom almost lost a shoe. I couldn't even hold myself up. I bailed and headed for the high road.
It's a good thing I bailed, because I totally met Brendon Urie. He was just walking around.
WIN!
: D
First time seeing P!ATD. This was 3 weeks after their CD came out.
Yeah, I was a fan before the video for "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" BISH.
: P

October 19, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Adicts, Cynic Society
Violins and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

October 21, 2005 - UNF - The Matches, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs
For the set list story, refer to my Myspace blog entitled The Musical Time Capsule.

Ahhhhhhh it's 4:08 am, I'm seeing RJA tomorrow, and my tummy is grumbling.
FOB is playing in my ears, and I think it's time to stop writing...
: D
XMeganX