I meant to blog sooner about my concert whirlwind weekend with Daphne Loves Derby on Friday plus Dear & the Headlights, Paramore & Jimmy Eat World's concert on Saturday.
I managed to get off work around 7:30 and head out to Weber State to see Daphne Loves Derby at the Shephard Student Union Building. I got to Weber State before 8 p.m. At 8:45 I finally found the building. LOL Good thing I left way before 10:30. I paid for my wristband to the show, and headed upstairs. I found DLD's merch table and looked around. I ran into Sam who was promoting the Paramore show in Orem. (Wishing I could go to that one, too. LOL) Then I asked a few people about DLD. Finally I ran into someone who figured I just wanted merch and went to get someone. Then I bought a tee and gave the merch guy (I think Scott, but I have a bad memory for names lately) something for David and told him I would be back shortly as I was going to get my camera. I worried about finding my car, though. As it turned out, I had taken the scenic route to find the building and my car was pretty much a straight route and not at all difficult to find. I made it back to the building and ran into Stu or was that before I left to get my camera? Anyway, suffice it to say I did finally meet up with everyone, and then they went to set up. I took my place in front of the stage to the left. The audience was smallish, but enthusiastic. :) I nabbed the set list which says, "Bedroom, Hammers, Middle, Cue the Sun, Rebels War, Waking Up, Write the Ending, Simple, Closing Down." A number of the songs were new. The sound was really good, and I could hear the vocal harmonies, which I love. Afterwards, we chatted, hugged, took pics, and laughed. Everyone was waiting for David outside and Kenny decided he wanted to throw a football. I threw it once... kinda. I'm not a good football thrower. It's kinda hard to do that with a Canon 20D around your neck. LOL
Anyway, DLD piled in the van to head for WA and I headed for my car and prepared to make the 2 hour drive to Pocatello. I think I drove off around midnight. Yahoo maps said that the drive was about 2 hours, and it pretty much was about a 2 hour drive. I didn't see much scenery, and I was pretty excited to finally reach the motel, The Rodeway Inn. I really thought of staying at the Hampton, but I was liking the price at The Rodeway, and the directions showed it was pretty close to the venue, so I went with it. The guy at the desk was really nice and gave me discounts because it was so late. I like discounts. LOL
There was a computer in the office, and I asked if it was too late to use it and he said, "no", so I checked in and Bri had left me her number so I jotted it down and a few other things and headed for my room for about another 4 hrs. of sleep. I planned to get up at 8:15 and try to shower and be to the venue around 9 ish. I asked for a wake up call, and set my cell phone alarm and settled in to sleep. At 8 a.m. Bri called. She thought people might be starting to arrive and the buses were there (turned out to be a crew bus, and I think Jimmy Eat World's bus, although they were likely at the hotel.) So, I hopped in the shower, dressed, grabbed four mini muffins from the hotel, and headed for the venue, realized I still needed directions, went back and got directions and left for another big adventure. LOL I arrived about 8:45 ish, so I made pretty good time. I found Bri and her mom and we connected, figured out where to go and got in "line". Within 15 minutes, there were 4 or 5 others in line with us. After that people started lining up slowly. It was freezing cold in front of the entrances, but nice and sunny and warm behind the building. The people behind us were all bundled in blankets in chairs and not anxious to move, so they watched our belongings a lot while we headed to the back to catch some sun and so Bri could "bus watch". The view behind the arena was beautiful, and actually the name of the building was on that side, so I took pics of both. We chatted with the two guys watching the buses a few times. We directed Jim of Jimmy Eat World to the door (real exciting... we think it's over there.) LOL
view looking out at the back of the venue
Waiting in line on the cold side.
Probably Paramore's bus since they kicked us out when it pulled up.At one point someone came up to us and asked who were big Jimmy Eat World fans and could answer trivia. I said, I like their music, but I didn't know them well enough yet. He gave away two meet/greets. I had intended to listen to their new cd on the way up, but didn't end up having time to look for it. I'd been listening on my Zune, so I never paid attention to the tracks, and the cd always comes up showing Futures in big letters instead of the cd title. (BTW, love that song.) LOL If I had remembered the title or known how many tracks on the cd, I'd have been there. If I had listened to the cd on the way up, I would have known how many tracks. But it was cool that the one guy got to go because he was obviously a fan.
Anyway, after a very long wait, visits from Bri's mom with Subway reinforcements, etc., getting kicked out of the sunny spot around 3:30-4 p.m. because Paramore's bus was arriving, seeing Haley zip by into the catering area with her cute hat, listening to sound check, and after several trips to and from the car to rid myself of belongings not allowed in the arena (like purses and camera cases), we finally were let in the door about 6:15 or so. At 6 a few people seemed ready to storm the door, but fortunately that didn't happen. I was handed my purple paper bracelet and told to put it on by the time I got to the stairs. I couldn't, but kept moving, so I pretended to wrap it around and headed for the front of the barricade, nearly center. It worked. It was a pretty good spot for the most part. There was a lot of security, which was good and bad (only bad because sometimes they were hard to see around, especially during Paramore's set.) They were all pretty nice for the most part. Bri's mom tried the floor and made it for the first few songs of Dear & the Headlights set and decided it was enough. She was a real trooper! :)
I enjoyed Dear & the Headlights, and hoped took a lot of photos. I had to adjust the camera settings a lot because of all the hotspots, so some of the pics are a tad overexposed on faces. :( But I still got some decent photos. I looked for a set list, but it didn't look like they played with one. I hoped they would hang around the whole show so I could catch them later at their merch table.
Then it was time for Paramore, and the crowd got very tight, so I anchored myself in for the long haul. I took pics of the stage tech and waited. Finally Paramore took the stage. I tried to snap some pics, but the security guard was between Haley & I. We played peek a boo all night like that. LOL He was really a good guy, though. He was going to try and get me a set list, but unfortunately some of the crowd surfers were still coming late and he had to work. By the time I got his attention, one set list had been wadded up, and the others were gone. Paramore's set was amazing. Haley was all over the place and very energetic. The softer set came at a perfect time and calmed things down a bit just at the right time. They did most of the songs I really love except "We Are Broken" which I don't think I've seen them do live yet, so I wasn't surprised. The applause after their set was deafening, and chants ensued. They came back for an encore, of course. :) When Paramore left the stage, I was still singing. :)
After a bit of a wait for set up. Bri decided to see Jimmy Eat World from another vantage point. She was mainly there for Paramore. I like both bands. Jimmy Eat World played a good set. Just as it is on the cd, the music is really tight, the vocals and vocal harmonies were really good. They played Big Casino, Sweetness, Crush, Work, Always Be, Dizzy, Blister, Here it Goes, Let It Happen, Praise Chorus, Polaris, Get It Faster, New Aesthetic, Just Tonight, Bleed American, Pain, and then exited the stage to raucous applause. I was still waiting to hear Futures. I like that song quite a lot. Anyway, they did come back on stage and the set list says they played, "Hear You From Me, Futures and Middle." I laughed because there is a Middle on DLD's set list and on this one. I loved Futures! I was able to nab the set list this time. The security guard that missed the list for me for Paramore was nice enough to try to get this one for me. He had to direct another security guy to get it, and he almost kept it. So I was trying to get tell him where another one was and he finally gave it to me. I thought he was teasing at first, but then I really thought he was going to keep it. I don't think he was teasing. LOL
I headed over to Dear & the Headlights merch table, chatted with them, bought their cd, had it autographed, had a pic taken with D&TH and the drummer's banana, and headed for my car. It took a while to rearrange my belongings, but I finally headed for some place to eat, to get some gas at home. I know the freeway entrance wasn't far, but it was poorly labeled so I drove in circles a bit (like 1/2 hour) before finally heading down the road. The drive home seemed the longest, but I made it home a little before 2:30 a.m. The last 20 minutes or so I wasn't sure I'd make it, but I did. Yea!!!
Anyway, I uploaded a few pics, let the dogs in, put them in their crate pretty quickly because Daisy couldn't settle down, and headed for sleep.
It was a good time, but I was really tired, I had a headache, and I was pretty sunburned. I never thought about sunscreen or the sun we were using to keep warm. LOL
Another great concert adventure bites the dust.
Kudos to you if you read this whole thing! LOL
Peace out,
Melanie
