Whee, shows!
I have a lot of really good pictures - we were close enough to the stage that my flash was actually working, which was kind of fucking amazing.
I met up with
bexone, who is completely fantastic, and got to the Hard Rock about four. We started seeing people with wristbands walking around, so we figured we'd head to the will call since they were giving them out early - and it's good we did, because bexone's meet and greet turned out to be at 4:45. I got into the ridiculously unorganized early entry line and hung out with lots of OCKs in scary matching green shirts.
We filed in at about 6:15-20, and I ended up on almost the very end of the barricade, almost directly in front of Joe. To give you the size of the stage, only about half of early entry managed barricade. The Joint holds something like 1500 people, so it was a pretty small stage, and the barricade was actually really, really close to it.
The crowd was... weirdly unenergetic for most of the night. There were a couple of places where the crowd got a lot more into it, but I have lots of very clear, in focus pictures of GCH and FOB because there was almost no pushing at all. I felt really bad for CiWWAF and PWT because the crowd was really lackluster for them - it didn't start to pick up until GCH, and even then it was kind of... eh. Not a single person got pulled out before FOB, and this is a standing room only venue. It was to the point where I was trying to be even more enthusiastic than I normally am at shows, just because I felt so bad that the crowd was so ucky.
Doug was nice and I enjoyed him, but you could tell that most of the crowd was pretty much going "what the shit is this?", and they were basically not responding pretty much at all.
CiWWAF was... eh. Kind of musically boring, and about what I expected. Their frontman was really into it though, I'll give them that. And the guitarist that was in front of me was completely hamming it up and posing for some guy taking pictures sidestage, which was kind of hilarious.
They were the only band that really got pranked. About halfway through their set, some techs made a makeshit table in the middle of the stage and started playing a poker game.
They even had a "waitress" come out and bring them beers.
And then, halfway through the last song, the techs started taking down CiWWAF's equipment. By the end of the song, I think the drummer had his bass drum and a cymbol.
And then the techs carried off the singer. The pranks obviously entertained me rather a bit more than the music did.
PWTs was... PWTs. They were fine, I suppose, but I really have no interest in looking for more of their music. Actually, I spent most of their set starting at the visible skin of their singer going "...okay, hon, a guy as skinny as you should not have a muffin top. Go up a size." I didn't get any pictures of them, because, well. Yeah. And I think they may have lost their click track at one point.
The brief thing was Tyga was fine, though the main thing I remember about it was how he hopped down onto the floor and leaned into the crowd standing on the barrier right in front of me. To the point where his giant necklace was slapping me in the face.
Then came GCH, which was the point where the crowd started picking up a bit more. Though, not all that much, and Travis looked really frustrated - and I don't blame him. The only time when he really got the crowd going was when they played a little bit of Jump and Travis told the crowd to start jumping - and the whole crowd got really into that.
Oh, and, that costumed person in the back? Ashlee. And this means they didn't rent the teletubby costume, they bought it. Oh, Pete and Ashlee, I love you and your kinky costume play.
You could see her hair from the back - it was definitely Ashlee. Which I think is kind of fantastic, to be honest.
About halfway through Cupid's Chokehold, Travis stopped the song and brought out a guy talking about how Cupid really had a chokehold on this guy. And then he called out for this girl, and they brought her up onto the stage, and the guy proposed. It was kind of adorably sweet, actually.
Afterwards, the couple stood way in the back almost sidestage and rocked out to GCH. They were really kind of adorable.
Okay, this one kind of freaks me out a little because it kind of looks like Travis is staring right at my camera.
This is called "attempting to get a picture of Matt."
Hand porn!
Travis took down his hair for about half the set. Which, if I hadn't been in public, I would've phsyically gone \o/ about.
Disashi's shirt, for the record, glowed in the dark.
Another attempt at Matt that ended up being a picture of Disashi's crotch. ...oh well. I'm not complaining.
I pretty much failed in my quest to get a good picture of Matt, but look, he's smiling in this one?
When Disashi was power-soloing right in front of me. Which, um. Disashi, do that more.
Patrick's ass! ...damn, Patrick is a fast little bugger.
Man I wish the lighting was better on this one. Damnit.
PATRICK MOTHERFUCKING STUMP.
Seriously, how does someone that little move that fast?
Probably one of the worst pictures of the night, but... damnit, it's Patrick.
And, okay, I love Disashi's multitude of pretty guitars.
EEE
Okay, this is, um. Well, one, that's the crowd, and that sign in the back is the bar in the back of the venue, to show you how small this place was. But, okay, this guy? Was apparently the bodyguard of a 14-ish blonde girl. According to the scuttlebutt around me, she was the daughter the guy who owns the Bellagio. And this bodyguard pushed his way all the way to the second row right behind us because this girl wanted barrier. About six of us on barrier and in the second row went "oh, fuck no." and she was thwarted. But man, seriously, if you need a bodyguard, maybe you shouldn't be on the floor of a rock concert.
And then came FOB. I... think the techs kind of pranked them, in that they played the HCT opening instead of the YWT one, but I'm honestly not quite sure. Pretty sure, but. And then they false-started about three times, as they seemed a bit confused by the Thriller opening, before they finally shook it off and started playing Sugar.
Pete was a little off most of the night - even his canned spiel was a little lackluster. But Pete apparently missed the meet & greet because he was at the doctor for his foot, so. God knows what was up. He did keep grinning at somebody sidestage, though - I assume either Ryan or Ashlee, but it wasn't the side of the stage I could see, so.
And god, Joe is utterly fantastic to watch. He gets so incredibly into it, and just man, wow. ...also, he spit on me. Twice. Which was kind of "...thanks?"
...I admit it, I really, really love Joe's hair.
Also, his sleeve.
Really weird angle, but I... kind of like it?
PATRICK PATRICK PATRICK (...I'm not biased, really.)
Since the stage and the venue were so small, we didn't get any of the YWT set at all. No pyro, no backscreen, no ramps, etc. I think it made for a better show, honestly.
Watching Joetroh rock out may possibly be the best thing ever.
Sadly, Andy was too far back for my flash to work on him and the lights weren't bright enough, so I don't have any really good ones of him.
When the PWT dude came out.
Clomping around in his boot, oh Pete.
Brendon came out to sing along during Sixteen Candles. The crowd predictably went nuts (as there's not only the Panic thing, there's the local boy thing). And yes, he appeared to be wearing a conductor's hat. I don't even know.
Seriously. WTF conductor hat, Brendon.
Joe kind of stole this one. Good lord, look at his neck.
As Brendon was going off, he hugged Pete, Patrick, and Joe, and went back did... something to Andy, I don't remember what. I'm kind of amazingly sad I didn't manage to get the Pete/Brendon or Patrick/Brendon ones, but hopefully someone else did.
Joe=Medusa?
We did not get Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner.
We got Yule Shoot Your Eye Out. I kind of squealed a lot. I have about a minute and a half of it on video - the guards were being very, very anal about stopping anyone they thought was shooting video, to the point of screaming at people who held their cameras up for too long, which is why I don't have the whole thing and why it dips down a couple of times. But it has really clear audio!
More hand porn!
Probably my favorite picture of the night. Holy fuck, Patrick Stump.
ARMS
During Dance, Dance, Gabe came out and, well. Danced around the stage for about 20 seconds. The crowd went insane.
Pete during Saturday. The confetti didn't work - it was obviously up there, as a few stragglers came down throughout the whole show, but there was an obvious malfunction at the end - Pete kept looking up at the ceiling in confusion.
All in all, despite the lack of energy in the crowd, it was a really, really good night. (I also have a video of the kiss, but i honestly couldn't tell if Pete even actually did anything, because he did with his back to my side, so I couldn't see. Which means the video is shitty.)
There were apparently hijinks in the club and the hotel afterwards, but I wasn't dressed to go clubbing, and, well. Honestly, I was falling asleep, so I didn't stay. I kind of regret that, but oh well. The show itself was amazing enough on its own.
I met up with
bexone, who is completely fantastic, and got to the Hard Rock about four. We started seeing people with wristbands walking around, so we figured we'd head to the will call since they were giving them out early - and it's good we did, because bexone's meet and greet turned out to be at 4:45. I got into the ridiculously unorganized early entry line and hung out with lots of OCKs in scary matching green shirts.We filed in at about 6:15-20, and I ended up on almost the very end of the barricade, almost directly in front of Joe. To give you the size of the stage, only about half of early entry managed barricade. The Joint holds something like 1500 people, so it was a pretty small stage, and the barricade was actually really, really close to it.
The crowd was... weirdly unenergetic for most of the night. There were a couple of places where the crowd got a lot more into it, but I have lots of very clear, in focus pictures of GCH and FOB because there was almost no pushing at all. I felt really bad for CiWWAF and PWT because the crowd was really lackluster for them - it didn't start to pick up until GCH, and even then it was kind of... eh. Not a single person got pulled out before FOB, and this is a standing room only venue. It was to the point where I was trying to be even more enthusiastic than I normally am at shows, just because I felt so bad that the crowd was so ucky.
Doug was nice and I enjoyed him, but you could tell that most of the crowd was pretty much going "what the shit is this?", and they were basically not responding pretty much at all.
CiWWAF was... eh. Kind of musically boring, and about what I expected. Their frontman was really into it though, I'll give them that. And the guitarist that was in front of me was completely hamming it up and posing for some guy taking pictures sidestage, which was kind of hilarious.
They were the only band that really got pranked. About halfway through their set, some techs made a makeshit table in the middle of the stage and started playing a poker game.
They even had a "waitress" come out and bring them beers.
And then, halfway through the last song, the techs started taking down CiWWAF's equipment. By the end of the song, I think the drummer had his bass drum and a cymbol.
And then the techs carried off the singer. The pranks obviously entertained me rather a bit more than the music did.
PWTs was... PWTs. They were fine, I suppose, but I really have no interest in looking for more of their music. Actually, I spent most of their set starting at the visible skin of their singer going "...okay, hon, a guy as skinny as you should not have a muffin top. Go up a size." I didn't get any pictures of them, because, well. Yeah. And I think they may have lost their click track at one point.
The brief thing was Tyga was fine, though the main thing I remember about it was how he hopped down onto the floor and leaned into the crowd standing on the barrier right in front of me. To the point where his giant necklace was slapping me in the face.
Then came GCH, which was the point where the crowd started picking up a bit more. Though, not all that much, and Travis looked really frustrated - and I don't blame him. The only time when he really got the crowd going was when they played a little bit of Jump and Travis told the crowd to start jumping - and the whole crowd got really into that.
Oh, and, that costumed person in the back? Ashlee. And this means they didn't rent the teletubby costume, they bought it. Oh, Pete and Ashlee, I love you and your kinky costume play.
You could see her hair from the back - it was definitely Ashlee. Which I think is kind of fantastic, to be honest.
About halfway through Cupid's Chokehold, Travis stopped the song and brought out a guy talking about how Cupid really had a chokehold on this guy. And then he called out for this girl, and they brought her up onto the stage, and the guy proposed. It was kind of adorably sweet, actually.
Afterwards, the couple stood way in the back almost sidestage and rocked out to GCH. They were really kind of adorable.
Okay, this one kind of freaks me out a little because it kind of looks like Travis is staring right at my camera.
This is called "attempting to get a picture of Matt."
Hand porn!
Travis took down his hair for about half the set. Which, if I hadn't been in public, I would've phsyically gone \o/ about.
Disashi's shirt, for the record, glowed in the dark.
Another attempt at Matt that ended up being a picture of Disashi's crotch. ...oh well. I'm not complaining.
I pretty much failed in my quest to get a good picture of Matt, but look, he's smiling in this one?
When Disashi was power-soloing right in front of me. Which, um. Disashi, do that more.
Patrick's ass! ...damn, Patrick is a fast little bugger.
Man I wish the lighting was better on this one. Damnit.
PATRICK MOTHERFUCKING STUMP.
Seriously, how does someone that little move that fast?
Probably one of the worst pictures of the night, but... damnit, it's Patrick.
And, okay, I love Disashi's multitude of pretty guitars.
EEE
Okay, this is, um. Well, one, that's the crowd, and that sign in the back is the bar in the back of the venue, to show you how small this place was. But, okay, this guy? Was apparently the bodyguard of a 14-ish blonde girl. According to the scuttlebutt around me, she was the daughter the guy who owns the Bellagio. And this bodyguard pushed his way all the way to the second row right behind us because this girl wanted barrier. About six of us on barrier and in the second row went "oh, fuck no." and she was thwarted. But man, seriously, if you need a bodyguard, maybe you shouldn't be on the floor of a rock concert.
And then came FOB. I... think the techs kind of pranked them, in that they played the HCT opening instead of the YWT one, but I'm honestly not quite sure. Pretty sure, but. And then they false-started about three times, as they seemed a bit confused by the Thriller opening, before they finally shook it off and started playing Sugar.
Pete was a little off most of the night - even his canned spiel was a little lackluster. But Pete apparently missed the meet & greet because he was at the doctor for his foot, so. God knows what was up. He did keep grinning at somebody sidestage, though - I assume either Ryan or Ashlee, but it wasn't the side of the stage I could see, so.
And god, Joe is utterly fantastic to watch. He gets so incredibly into it, and just man, wow. ...also, he spit on me. Twice. Which was kind of "...thanks?"
...I admit it, I really, really love Joe's hair.
Also, his sleeve.
Really weird angle, but I... kind of like it?
PATRICK PATRICK PATRICK (...I'm not biased, really.)
Since the stage and the venue were so small, we didn't get any of the YWT set at all. No pyro, no backscreen, no ramps, etc. I think it made for a better show, honestly.
Watching Joetroh rock out may possibly be the best thing ever.
Sadly, Andy was too far back for my flash to work on him and the lights weren't bright enough, so I don't have any really good ones of him.
When the PWT dude came out.
Clomping around in his boot, oh Pete.
Brendon came out to sing along during Sixteen Candles. The crowd predictably went nuts (as there's not only the Panic thing, there's the local boy thing). And yes, he appeared to be wearing a conductor's hat. I don't even know.
Seriously. WTF conductor hat, Brendon.
Joe kind of stole this one. Good lord, look at his neck.
As Brendon was going off, he hugged Pete, Patrick, and Joe, and went back did... something to Andy, I don't remember what. I'm kind of amazingly sad I didn't manage to get the Pete/Brendon or Patrick/Brendon ones, but hopefully someone else did.
Joe=Medusa?
We did not get Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner.
We got Yule Shoot Your Eye Out. I kind of squealed a lot. I have about a minute and a half of it on video - the guards were being very, very anal about stopping anyone they thought was shooting video, to the point of screaming at people who held their cameras up for too long, which is why I don't have the whole thing and why it dips down a couple of times. But it has really clear audio!
More hand porn!
Probably my favorite picture of the night. Holy fuck, Patrick Stump.
ARMS
During Dance, Dance, Gabe came out and, well. Danced around the stage for about 20 seconds. The crowd went insane.
Pete during Saturday. The confetti didn't work - it was obviously up there, as a few stragglers came down throughout the whole show, but there was an obvious malfunction at the end - Pete kept looking up at the ceiling in confusion.
All in all, despite the lack of energy in the crowd, it was a really, really good night. (I also have a video of the kiss, but i honestly couldn't tell if Pete even actually did anything, because he did with his back to my side, so I couldn't see. Which means the video is shitty.)
There were apparently hijinks in the club and the hotel afterwards, but I wasn't dressed to go clubbing, and, well. Honestly, I was falling asleep, so I didn't stay. I kind of regret that, but oh well. The show itself was amazing enough on its own.