You "Blink" and It's Over Already

I woke up a bit later than I probably should have. That's the story of my life. I woke up a few minutes after noon, and did a quick internet check of my messages, etc., looked up some directions and copied a few photos in case I need some memory space.

I had lots to do today around the house, but it wasn't to be.

At 1:10 p.m., I was scheduled to go with my daughter to my granddaughter's doctor's appointment. We've seen a lot of him lately. Avalyn is a little small and was still not back to birth weight on Friday, so he wanted to see her Monday. I was rather nervous about the whole thing. As it turns out, she is fine, and she managed to make it from 5 lbs. 6 ozs. to 5 lbs 9 ozs. This is a milestone and I know I'm relieved. I'm pretty sure my daughter is as well. She's still pretty small and still fitting into premie clothes. It's possible that she will be out of them soon.

After the appointment we headed over to Walmart to pick up some preemie diapers and a few other items, and then to Walgreen to pick up Avalyn's prescription (for reflux.) It wasn't ready, so we went to Wendy's to get some lunch. It was 3:30 p.m., and I needed to be in Orem (about an hour and 15 minute drive) for the Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday concert. Doors were to open at 5:30 and a local band I know (Allred) won a contest to open. John had said that he was supposed to play at 5:45 sharp. I cut it way closer than I like to and arrived about 5 p.m.. IN fact, when I saw the lines, I was really concerned that I might not make it in time. I wasn't originally planning to go, and I had the Dr. appt. to attend, so I was in the seating rather than on the floor as usual. The $80 fee was a bit steep for me right now since I was recently furloughed from work, and also just purchased tickets for Trans-Siberian Orchestra in November which weren't so inexpensive, either,so my ticket was only about $45 in the seats. At any rate, I finally found the will call booth and picked up my ticket. Then I found the shortest line at one of three entrances. I chatted with a couple of gals until I'm sure they just wanted me to shut up, and then asked if they'd hold my place in line just in case. It was 5:43, and the line wasn't going all that quickly yet, so I was pretty nervous that I would miss John's set, so I asked someone up closer if I could cut in line. They didn't seem to care. I made it inside in plenty of time, and it was probably closer to 6 p.m. when John performed. Phew!!! So, I didn't miss Allred's set, and they all sounded great. I meant to tell Nate, I really loved the drums on their set last night, too. :) I am used to seeing John Allred play acoustic sets, and it has been a while since I've heard the whole band. Their set was short, but I loved it.

Then I went out to see if they were out and about and John wasn't around, so I did the ladies room thing and went back to my seat. Shortly after, the next band played, Chester French. He was interesting, not bad, not astounding, but o.k. The funny thing to me was that the song I thought was done the best was a 60's song by the Shangri Las. LOL It was actually pretty good.

I got up again just as that song was playing and looked around a bit again I ran into Dave (guitar) and chatted for a quick minute, and then went back to my seat.
Nate (drummer) was coming up the stairs and sat a row or two behind me for a short bit before he left again. I talked to him a little before he left.

Then it was time for Taking Back Sunday. I enjoyed their set. The first couple of songs were a tad rough vocally, but really weren't too bad. A few people on line mentioned that Adams vocals weren't the best live, so they were much better than I expected. It's amazing how much expectations matter. LOL Anyway, I was pretty impressed with Adam's microphone twirling. I've seen a few people toss the mike's around before, but I think he was one of the best in that regard.

Then there was a long set up time and again I walked about and ran into Dave. He said he wanted to see if he could go backstage and get the schedule. LOL (Later I did see him and he didn't have it yet and was going to get it. Then I saw him and found out that he was successful.) :)

Finally Blink 182 hit the stage. The lighting was awesome, and the backdrop was really interesting. I kept thinking Jacob might like it because there were some interesting visual things going on. The music was really very good. I thought Travis was pretty amazing on the drums, actually. The vocals and harmonies were outstanding, which I always love. The only thing that was kind of weird about the music was that there were a few times when I'm sure I heard keyboards, and there is no keyboard. It was probably a track of some sort. I guess that's o.k., I just wish it wasn't so obvious. LOL Blink 182 has a pretty good stage presence as well. The only drawback was that Tom can be pretty vulgar at times. The language was not for the faint at heart. He also kept turning his behind to the audience and I kept thinking that it looked like he was passing gas. LOL At one point Tom said he was going to strip naked and crowd surf. I actually was a bit worried he might. Some things are better left to the imagination. :) At the end of Blink's set, they took a long break while the crowd went crazy, and then came back with a vengeance. The encore started off with the drums raising up and moving across the stage and then doing a spin ala Newsboys style. That's always fun. Then they proceeded to play a very long encore.

At the end of the show, I kept watching the set lists and no one seemed to even be trying to get them at that point. I finally went for broke and headed over to the side of the stage, second level. Tom's set list was still there (the one he messed up on reading for one of the songs and started to play the wrong one) so I was a little bit more hopeful. I asked a guy at the side of the stage. He couldn't hear. Finally he told me to go around front. I was sure security wouldn't let me all the way to the floor, but I went down part way closer to the front and it was gone. A guy in front of me had the set list so I asked if he could take a pic of it and e-mail it to me later, so he said he would. :) (Security told me twice, no cameras allowed, so I put mine back in my car. There were cameras everywhere. Figures.)

Anyway, on the way out, people saw Blink out by the buses, so a crowd formed around the cement wall and people tried to catch a glimpse of the band. I just went back to my car and grabbed my point and shoot. I tried to get a shot of the buses and trucks lined up, but I couldn't really get close enough for the flash. So I went back to my car and got the SLR with my fastest lens. I set it at the highest ISO
(3200) and managed to get a couple of passable snapshots just so I'd have something, and I wanted to wait for traffic to die down anyway.

About the time I was trying to get the last shot, the police came and told everyone to leave or they might arrest people (yea, overly dramatic overkill, as I was about to leave anyway, and there really were only about 30-40 people left.) So, obviously, I headed for my car. Traffic had finally died down a bit, so the timing was about right. I got a good view of the sign and it still listed the show, so I turned back around, parked and took a few pics of the sign, and then headed for home.

The trip home was uneventful, which is really a good thing for trips home. :)
I arrived home about 12:30 a.m. It was early yet.

It's 5:49 a.m. now... I should sleep. :)

Sweet dreams.