one more miracle

I have arrived home from the AP Fall Ball pretty much intact! My stomach is reeeally unhappy with the no real food + two beers + a cigarette + a lot of jumping and sweating and singing thing, but other than that I'm content.

I got Meet & Greet with the Academy boys! Well, sorta - angel726 bought our tickets and got M&G cause she's in Santi's Little Helpers, but I did not because I am not. We did not realize this in advance. Naomi, Chiz's lovely wife, was giving out the M&G wristbands and we explained our situations, and she said she'd see, so we stood around and looked sad until she gave me a wristband. Score! Second time I have totally mooched off a friend to get into M&G (last time was Panic, hee). Yay!

The boys were SO LOVELY. We talked to Carden first, who I must say is looking damn fine with his short locks. He gave us hugs hello because it was the first day of tour, haha. I told him I was going to grad school in Ann Arbor and he asked what school was there, and when I said UM he said "Wolverines, right?" and when I laughed and said yes he said "It's like a pop quiz!" Hee. Then we found Butcher wandering aorund without anyone to talk to (?!) and he was lovely and sweet and talked about how he spends his free time on tour (painting or not doing anything, generally) and how they were going to play 40 Steps with the full band for the first time (:D!).

Thennn we got ourselves a BILL BECKETT OMG. How is he real? HOW IS HE REAL? I don't really comprehend this beanpole of a person who leans down and gazes intently at you as you speak! He's sort of stoic and pleasant and a little odd and I adore him, sigh sigh sigh. He has the most ridiculous and ridiculously ADORABLE new haircut, please see photo behind the cut. We commented on it and he said something about it being like time travel, and we ran with it like it was back to the 50s or something, and he was like "But it's not like going back in time. It's going forward, to the future. This is what you're gonna see in a few decades." And I was just like lololol Billiam! <333 I mentioned that the first time I saw them play was with Cobras and FOB on the HCT, and that I had no idea who they were but after that they became the soundtrack of my summer, yadda yadda, and then I asked if they were going to tour again with Cobras! And he said, you know, we've toured with them a *lot*, and we kind of needed a break. So I said "Too much Gabe?" And he replied, "You can never have too much Gabe." HEEEEEE. (omgnotsosekritbandomOTPlskdjflskdjf) And then he went on to say that he's got an "itch" to tour with them again so THAT BETTER HAPPEN. Eeeee omg. &hisfaaace;

Then we found ourselves a Sisky, and he liked my shirt because "I like guns!" Oh Siskybiz! <3 His hair is longer than it's been in a while, but apparently it was longer while he was recovering from his tragic hand injury, like he had a full on hobo beard and hair, but he cut it off, sad. I asked if he's going to grow the full on afro back and he said he's thinking about it. He was adorable and everything I expected of Sisky. Then we chatted with Chiz, who is lovely and Aussie and informed me (when I told him I'm getting my PhD basically in medical research) that someone published a vaccine for HIV today? Idk, I have to go look that up! But he, too, was lovely. All of them are excited to be back on tour! It was really nice to get to chat with them one on one in a really relaxed situation, I like that setup a whole lot. That was definitely my favorite part of the evening!

I have photos with all of them, so I'm gonna share them here. You have to look at Bill's haircut, omg. ♥

( The Academy Is adorable! )

So after M&G we got in before doors and got barrier. However, we ended up next to these girls who were bitches before anyone else even arrived. They were shoving and trying to get all of them squeezed onto barrier. You Me At Six started up after a little while and they were British and quite entertaining! Buuut the bitchy girls were being horrible, one in particular, and just SHOVING, really fucking hard. I tried to hang on to the barrier (I had gotten turned so only one arm was on there) but one particularly vicious push dislodged me. It was disconcertingly like being washed out to sea. I ended up 4-5 people back, and it was actually better without that horrible, horrible person leaping on my back. (I actually, trufax hate her. She is a selfish obnoxious tool of the worst kind and I kind of hope she dies in a moshpit one day. Ahem.) I had a good time in there for the rest of that set, but it's just... not my thing to be mushed in a sea of people, *especially* by myself, so I escaped without further ado and hung out at the bar to the side, hilariously between two pairs of parents. The bartender was hot and funny and I had fun flirting with him a little, and also buying beers and bumming a cigarette from him just so he'd light it (yeah, I'm SO SUBTLE), so I passed the time with that and texting with Tabby (♥!). Some other bands played? Idk. The Secret Handshake was energetic but way too electronica for me (I happened to meet the singer guy afterwards - he's REALLY FREAKING HOT, too bad I didn't like your music dude!) and Every Avenue was decent, whatever.

Then it was ACADEMY TIME!!! They opened with Crowded Room, which, random! But then was BLACK MAMBA EEE, and Classifieds and MIDTOWN and BIG MESS OMG and About a Girl and Forever Young and I'm Yours Tonight (which is really good live!) and 40 STEPS (with the WHOLE BAND, I have a video!) and they closed with SLOW DOWN which is William and Gabe's song, omg my heart. <3 It felt really really short, and I didn't have the best view, but I danced my heart out and I adore them.

( Just two photos... )

I'm watching a bit of my videos and they sound MUCH better then they actually did live! My camera magically filters out all the loud vibratey stuff and just carries through the actual music, which is amazing. The sound at this venue suuuucked - you felt the music more than heard it. But yes, I have great videos and will be sure to share!

And I think that's all the recapping I have energy for. I'm exhausted! I'm so behind on my flist AND TV (no spoilers for Supernatural, Dollhouse, Bones, OR Glee please - holy crap, need to catch up) but I am just drained. I also may be getting sick (come on body, fight it off!). So it's bed time, already way too late.

Yay bandboys! *flops*

*FLOPS*

Home again, but not drunk this time! Instead exhausted and sore and satisfied :D We The Kings and The Academy Is... ROCKED MY FACE OFF!!!! I don't care what anyone says, I ADORE WTK and their music ridiiiiiculous amounts. They may be "just another pop rock band," but they are a massive cut above most generic stuff. They have so much energy and catchiness! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Travis's voice. And his red hair <3 (He has decided to make preserving the redheads a personal cause, since apparently they'll be extinct in some number of years? They're selling tshirts that say I LOVE RED HEADS, and I wanted one so bad (three of my best friends are red heads!) but uh, I also want to be able to buy food.)

ANYWAY.

I didn't know Hunter was a great singer too! He sang several parts and I was all ♥__♥. I was hearteyesing at him a lot anyway, just cause he's so exuberant and awesome! He goes and gets all up in Travis's space, and Drew's - it makes me lol how different he and his brother (Drew) are, cause Drew's all "I'm a ninja, you can't see me even though I'm on stage with spotlights pointed at me. See, you won't even see my face through the curtain of hair!" Tis adorable. And one time Hunter FLUNG HIS GUITAR AROUND HIS NECK, FRANK IERO STYLE. I almost died <33333 In short, I LOVE WE THE KINGS A LOT. &theirfaces;

And of course Academyyyyyyy!! Billiam is just made for the stage, you all know this! Their set felt like INFINITY LONG, I think it was actually an hour and a half! They played anything and everything - Neighbors, ALMOST HERE, Down and Out, Phrase That Pays, Big Mess, Forever Young, His Girl Friday, About a Girl, RUMORED NIGHTS <333, Beware Cougar, Automatic Eyes, Midtown Show, Checkmarks, Slow Down, Seed, probably a couple I'm forgetting, and a NEW acoustic song that Bill said they wrote last week! IT WAS REALLY PRETTY! <3 I have video of it and so does chaneen, though I bet it's on the internet already cause I don't think tonight was the first time they played it. The whole show was awesome awesome and I had a TOTAL BLAST.

And I briefly met Jack the Camera Guy, HEE! Laura and I were standing on a set of stairs right behind the sound booth (PERFECT spot, no one blocking our view, and no suffering through the pit), and Jack hung out in the booth to take some photos of the stage, and when he turned to leave I reached out and touched his arm and said HI! and he smiled and leaned in and I think I said something retarded like "how are you?" (ahaha) but he couldn't really hear and just gave me a huge smile (he's so CUTE!) and a thumbs up, so I gave a thumbs up back. HOW SO PRECIOUS JACK THE CAMERA GUY????

So yeah, that was my night! There was an apocalyptic rainstorm for half of my drive there, and it drizzled/rained for the rest of the day, but! I got there in one piece, got home (after getting lost for a while - Starland Ballroom is kiiinda out in the middle of nowhere), and am now exhausted but a happy Anne! I do so love bandboys <3333333

I am experiencing SUCH a ridiculous surge of love and affection for the Academy boys. I have listened to all of the available tracks like a thousand times today, and now LOOK!!!! The new music video!!!!



I actually got up and ran in circles when it ended. I ADORE IT. ( Spoilery squealing! )

:D :D :D :D!

Now... tour dates plz!

This is my overdue Warped report! I won't be too rambly, I hope, but there are a few highlights and impressions I'd like to get down. So without further ado:

Warped Tour 2008: Scranton, PA


I made the two and a half hour drive by myself and met up with enoughoflove and chaneen at Warped around noon. They were both awesome and I was so glad to have fangirls with me! \o/ We first caught the very tail end of Against Me! They were very good, I wish I had seen the whole set. Then we wandered around looking at the merch stands and stuff. chaneen said she had spotted an Alex Suarez at the Cobra tent on her way to meet us, but we didn't see him again, alas!

( Wandering about photos )

So then I wanted to see Anberlin. I had about 6 songs of theirs on my iPod and I really liked them, so I hoped seeing them live would fully convert me. It did! It was a fun, energetic set, and they seemed like really sweet guys. I was particularly fond of the bassist, flopping his hair about all adorably! We were at the back/side of the crowd, for which I was grateful as the crowd surfers became quite frequent. We even saw a full bottle of Gatorade or something hurtle through the air over the crowd, open. Yuck. I later bought Anberlin's second album at their merch tent, the only money I spent all day except on a bottle of water (I know, right? Restraint and a massive thunderstorm will do that!)

( A couple shots of Anberlin )

I forget how, but we managed to kill about an hour then waiting for TAI... and Cobras. But just as we were heading to the stage to get spots for TAI, this guy got on stage and told us that the sky was about to open up on us, and that we could find shelter or our cars. Sure enough, about five minutes later the apocalypse began! Gigantic, freezing drops of rain, with huge flashes of lightning, rolling thunder, and soon marble-sized chunks of hail. Luckily, the brilliant enoughoflove had brought garbage bags, so we were able to put our stuff in them and it didn't get wet \o/ You rock, Loey. But we didn't find shelter soon enough and were immediately soaked and freezing. We found sort of shelter under the corner of a very crowded merch tent, but mostly it saved my head from the hail. There was about two inches of water flowing across the ground, it was that intense. I actually thought it was a really cool experience, going through that kind of thing with a heck of a lot of strangers. I'm not sure how many people actually left then, but it wasn't everyone! It was still quite crowded later.

Before the rain completely stopped, we ventured out and back towards the Academy stage to see if they were still going to play. There was a small crowd that had stuck out the rain (!!) but we joined the back of that and that's how we got three from barrier! \o/ Everyone looked like drowned rats but were still amazingly in good spirits! Soon, the TAI crew started setting up, including TONY, who is ridiculously hot. I took some creepy stalker photos of him, haha. While we were waiting for TAI, Relient K played on the stage next door, and they were very good!

THEN THE ACADEMY IS... STARTED!!! They were SO fucking on. William's voice was resonant and powerful, and he had his hips and long self working to the max, and it was just so so so much fun. It was my VERY FIRST PIT, you guys. I was a pit virgin! This one was fine, though I could have done without the crowdsurfers (I have irrational rage where they're concerned - I consider it a VERY selfish thing to do, ruining other peoples' fun and risking injury to them just to have a few seconds of fun. ANYWAY.). They played so many of my favorites, even though their set had to be abbreviated for the rain. The setlist, as far as I can remember from the videos I took, was Neighbors, Slow Down, We've Got A Big Mess, The Phrase That Pays, Checkmarks, and About a Girl. I might be missing one or two in there, but suffice to say it was FABULOUS. William is a force that has to be seen to be believed. He really WORKS the crowd. He has a penchant for tugging his shirt up, and playing with microphone stands. enoughoflove didn't know anything about TAI going in (Laura and I were giving her a crash course in who played what instrument beforehand) but she came out awed of William and his charisma. Whee! \o/ I really hope I like the upcoming album, and I can't wait for them to go on tour this fall!

( The Academy Is... photos. Lots of Billiam! )

Okay, THE SEX EYES. During The Phrase That Pays, William sauntered his way over to our side of the stage, out on the wing. While he was singing, he caught my eyes, smiled adorably, and then proceeded to give me the sexiest "come hither" eyes/gesture I have EVER SEEEEEEN. My knees went to jelly, and as soon as he pranced away, I turned to Laura and Loey and went OMGGGGGGGGG. Amazingly, I found VIDEO of it on youtube!!!


At 00:14, just as he says "sick somehow" he gives this blinding smile and then the come hither look. HE'S LOOKING AT ME. Dead dead dead dead. :D :D :D The rest of the video is great too, and is a very good approximation of what my view was.

YAY ACADEMY.

The Cobras were IMMEDIATELY afterwards on the stage next door, and of COURSE the whole TAI crowd wanted to see them too, so as soon as TAI stopped we all sort of shoved over en masse. We didn't get very far as there was already a crowd for Cobras, but we got far enough. However, after one song, Gabe gave a shout out to TAI and all of us that had watched them, and then told us to make our way into the middle of the Cobra crowd because we fucking well deserved it. (He loves Academy so much omg) So as one, we all moved in one big PUSH and I got much closer. Not as close as I was for Academy, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Cobras were fabulous. I'll admit that I'm less fond of their music than most, but they played most of my favorites as well! City Is At War, Church of Hot Addiction, Smile for the Paparazzi, Bring It, Guilty Pleasure, and probably one or two more. They were adorable and engaging and super fun, of course. Gabe on stage is magnetic. He said that "Scranton puts the PA in party!!" and Ryland added that "Until now, we were purtying. But now we're fucking PARTYING." I have no idea, but it was hilarious. VickyT looked lovely in her dress, and Alex Suavez is a hotass, of course. I totally did the dance during Guilty Pleasure, as did Mr Gabriel! Bring It was marvelously adorable, with Bill and Gabe slapping hands when Bill came on stage and generally being really cute. For the rap, Gabe brought a girl from the crowd on stage, and she was damn good! Got every word and loud too! Go girl! \o/ While Gabe was working that out, Bill had adorable pow wows with Alex and Ryland. SIGH THESE BANDS. I hope they do a real tour together at some point when I can make it!

( Cobra pics! Not as many and not as good, but hey. Cobra! )

So that was my first Warped experience! YAY! I really loved it, despite the hiccups. A++ would sweat again! :D

One of the things that never fail to make me happy in this fandom is pictures of boys from different bands together. Performing together, goofing off together, making out... I'm not picky :D So I decided to make a big spam of all my favorite bandsmush pictures. It's not really the most enormous spam ever (~50 pictures) but this took me forever, so I hope you'll forgive! ENJOY! :D



( One big happy family! )