This is the best day ever. Or, at least, March 11th was. ;]

ladyangst — 2007-03-18T20:18:04Z

Or, you know, something to that effect. XD

Note that there is random info about my day that you probably don't care about, so when you see the *** further down the page, that's where the actual concert stuff starts.

Okay.

I went to the March 11th show with three of my friends, and since we had pit tickets, we (a) naturally got there four hours early to wait in line, and (b) all had the same shirts; you know the ones that Hot Topic gave out - only we were much cooler and we altered out shirts (you can take a gander over at my gallery thing). My brother was awesome and drove us there, dropped us off, and went to hang out with his friend for the remaining time so that we could hold the places in line for ourselves, him, and my friend's boyfriend. So, once we got in line, we hung out for about...mmh, probably and hour or so and then KROQ starts announcing from their little set-up stand that they've got Guitar Hero 1 and 2 set up. Naturally, my friends and I rejoiced. So my friend Julie and I go over to play, she beats me hands down (41,000 to...17,000 I believe. >_<), and we get back in line. As we slowly snake our way to eth front, we saw multiple people with MCR tattoos, making me decide that that's the kind of tattoo I'm first going to get once I turn 18, plus a rather amusing picture on the ground (again, see gallery).

Finally we were able to get in though, although not without complications: my brother and my friend's boyfriend, not being on time when the purple wristbands of entrance were being given out, had to go to the back of the line with my friend holding their place and tickets. Not cool at all. So I was left with my two remaining friends: Julie and Rebecca. Somehow we managed to get through, and get inside.

I swear to God: walking inside that pit was like walking into Heaven. Just knowing what was going to occur in less than three hours, I nearly DIED.

Anyways. Julie, Rebecca, and I all found places that were about three people back from the barrier, but then I remembered that Crystal gave me money, so I went in search of the merch stand. And I was greatly pleased. Not only was the girl standing in front of me one of my friends from elementary (quite an awesome thing here), but I managed to buy two shirts (the concert one with the dates on the back and the one with the skeletal dancing girls) and a scarf (although I didn't bring enough to buy the freaking armband that I wanted...>_<) plus I bought Crystal the tour shirt that she wanted.

So I went back in, squeezed through a couple people, and stood back at the spot that Julie and Rebecca had saved me for about 20 minutes or so until I felt sharp nails digging into my back. I turned and saw Crystal, my brother, and Crystal's boyfriend smiling at me from a few people back, so all was cool. XD And so the waiting began. And finally, FINALLY, at 7:30, Rise Against came on. I'd only heard their new CD a few times, so I was a completely eager virgin when it came to their live music.

I was not disappointed at all.

Starting out with the first three songs on "The Sufferer and the Witness," ("Chamber the Cartridge", "Injection", and "Ready to Fall"), Rise Against played non-stop and perfectly. Among other songs that I can't perfectly remember since it's been a week, they also played "Dancing For Rain" and "The Good Left Undone", which I didn't remember from the album until the chorus was sung, and everyone around me was just JUMPING. It was beautiful, sweaty, and completely divine. Having never been in the pit before, I'd say that my first experience in one was pretty ri-goddamned-diculously AWESOME, especially since I didn't have freaking evil people behind me trying to bash my skull in or anything (in fact, the guy behind me let me lean all up on him and kind of sheltered me from the tide as we got shoved. XD)

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and I must say, even though I went to the concert to see My Chem, I was really sad when Rise Against left the stage. I'm seriously buying pit tickets to their next gig around here. While I pondered this, teh break was going on, and despite the fact that the pit would sometimes undulate as a sea of ansty people, it was rather nice to take a breather. Although somehow, by the time MCR came out, I was about 8, 10 people back from the front of the stage. I still don't know how that happened.

***

But when Gerard was rolled out on the gurney, I could have been sitting in the stands, and it wouldn't have mattered. I screamed, alreayd feeling my throat becomign raw since I was yelling so much during Rise Against, and everyone sang along as "The End" began. Soon I felt hands on my waist, and I freaked, spinnign around, but I relaxed once I saw it was my brother, so I continued yelling out "TAKE ME" and screaming rather fangirlishly as the beginning of "Dead!" blared across the speakers. Quickly I turned to Crystal and grinned, for we'd been singing this song for WEEKS on end at school.

Throughout the night, though, I've gotta say that the best parts were the interactions between the band members with each other and Gerard with the crowd. Phrases such as "Le Black Parade...Le Black Parade...yeah, that's right...you like fake French, dontcha?" and "We're gonna play a little song for you now called...Le Disenchanted..." tumbled from Gee's lips and were etched in my mind. Or when Ray went over to Frank, pointed at something on the ceiling, which caused Frank to look all the way up, craning his neck, and Ray merely scratched the top of Franks head, walking away, giggling, leaving Frank laughing as well. Or when Gerard was talking about the additioinal drummer, and Bob flicked him off with a laugh. Or when we all sang happy birthday to the keyboardist. Or when we all yelled, "Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah, Tommy!" to a friend of the band's who came onstage at Gee's prompting. Or when someone in the crowd flicked Gerard off, and Gerard paused looked at them, and said, "Fuck you. FUCK YOU." and spat on them. And them promptly turned to the rest of us, saying, "That's my new favorite person over there," and then blew them a kiss. Certain nuances of that concert will never be forgotten

Oh, and the crowning moment was when I turned around to hand my bag to my brotehr since he offered to hold it for me since my arms were DYING, and suddenly I felt icy water on my back (made easy accessible since I was wearing a halter.) and saw a water bottle hit my brother square in the solar plexus. I grabbed it immediately since I was thirsty as all get out, and as I passed the bottle to Julie, she looked at it in awe and goes, "You...do know that Mikey Way threw us this bottle, don't you?" Needless to say, the fangirl inside me completely pissed herself (thankfully, I did not.). That bottle suddenly became SACRED, and is currently sitting in a black urn-thing in my room. Oh, yeah. I'm never letting that go.

Favorite song of the Black Parade set was probably "House of Wolves" and "Cancer." HoW for the wonderful dance-effect that it has on any and all who hear it, and Cancer because it was beautifully tragic and reduced me to a sobbing mess. Literally. My mum had it, my Gram had it, and my dog recently died becasue of it. Needless to say, it's a very personal song for me, and the whole band did it justice, doing a better version, I think, than is on the CD.

However, I think there might have even been more energy from the crowd during the Revenge-era set. Playing old favorites is certainly a way to win the crowd over, and the band rightly did, especially with "I'm Not Okay," "Prison," "Cemetary Drive," and "Helena." Words cannot describe how perfect the moment was during "Helena," it being the very last song of the night.

And so while I didn't manage to score a drumstick (a thought that haunts and angers me to this day since I all but drool whenever Bob Bryar is mentioned - and even when he's not and I'm only thinking about him), I did have the best fucking night of my life with some of my best friends. I couldn't stop hugging Julie, even when we went to 7-11 afterwards to grab some Gatorade for my bro, water and a doughnut for me, Moutain Dew and a cookie for Julie, and iced tea for Rebecca. Nor did it stop me from reveling in my chemphoria (http://community.livejournal.com/mcr_dict/120277.html) all week. On Monday, I wore the tour shirt and scarf. On Tuesday, I wore the skeletal dancer girls shirt and the scarf. On Wednesday, I wore the whtie MCR shirt where Death is carrying one of the dummerboys, only since my friends and I have an unhealty addiction to altering T-shirts, this one's back was cut and re-sewn to look like a skeletal ribcage-spinal chord thing, and a black tank was layered beneath. Really awesome. Then Thursday was the black "Parade" shirt. But by Friday I'd run out of (relatively clean) MCR shirts. So I did what anyone else in my position would do.

I coerced one of my friends (Crystal, to be exact) into being my partner in crime, and the two of us dressed up as Revenge-era Gerard (me) and Frank (Crystal).

Oh yes. This MCR-lovin' is quite a possessing force. See my album for pics. XD

I hope everyone had a great time at the concerts they've gone to, and if you haven't gone yet...ooh! I know how it feels to be locked in anticipation. Don't worry, piggies. It's all worth it.

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This is the best day ever. Or, at least, March 11th was. ;]