Spontaneous Concert Enthusiasm

Yesterday morning I woke up and was like, "You know what? I'm gonna go see Relient K tonight." I had more or less resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to miss them this time, but a girl on student news was looking for a ride, so I got my heart set on going and I couldn't give it up when she found another ride. So I started calling people, and I found two that wanted to come: Eva, who did La Vida with me in June of '07, and Eli, famous among Gordonites for his hearty laughter and enthusiastic hugs.

Worcester is a long drive from Gordon. It took us an hour and a half to get there. It was well worth it, and not even a particularly stressful drive considering how bad I thought it would be to drive on the Mass Pike. The only bad thing, really, was having to pay $1.10 to get off the highway. Eli is a fantastic co-pilot, and I am very grateful for that. I'm pretty good at taking wrong turns. Even when someone is directing me.

We parked on a street behind the lot so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. Then we more or less went straight in. We didn't have tickets so it seemed silly to wait in line with all the ticket holders. I've never gotten into the Palladium faster; I shall have to remember this in the future. I stopped at the merch tables to see if there was anything good/anything I could afford and happened to find out that House of Heroes would be hanging out there by the end of This Providence's set. Good to know =). Then we found a whole bunch of Gordon people, which was such a relief after the wave of babies at Cobra last weekend.

But we were standing behind these three kids - a guy who was probs like 14, 15 if we're generous, and these two girls who were probably around 12 and 13. And the two girls were just hanging all over the guy, schneckling and nuzzling him. It was so strange. And really sad for the younger girl, who was obviously not as loved. And just plain awkward if the old lady standing next to them was the younger girl's mother, which we suspected she was since they looked a lot alike. We tried to be really awkward about it by imitating them behind their backs, but they were too absorbed in their own PDA-fest to notice us. We affectionately dubbed them "the Mormon triplets" and made plans to start a mosh pit as soon as possible to disrupt their shmooze-a-thon.

House of Heroes played first, and they were truly the reason I'd wanted to go. I've seen Relient K like 8 times, and their shows are fantastic, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I missed one, you know? But House of Heroes just put out a new CD, The End Is Not The End, and it's the most brilliant thing I've heard in years. Needless to say, I went totally nuts the whole time. It was awkward because no one else knew the music well enough to be as into it as I was, and I can't say that HoH has mastered the art of getting a crowd going, so it was just me and Eli dancing our brains out. They played "If," "Lose Control," "Leave You Now," "In the Valley of the Dying Sun," "Code Name Raven," and "Faces" off the new album, plus a couple older ones, but I forget which. At the end of their set, they threw out t-shirts into the crowd and one landed near us. Eli got it and gave it to me since I love them so much. It was old school, from when "Say No More" was new.

Then This Providence played. I don't know much by them, but I have an album Bryce gave me last year so I recognized a few of their songs. They played my favorite, "My Beautiful Rescue." As their set was ending, Eva and I went back to the merch table to see House of Heroes. Tim was there and I was the first to talk to him. I said the new album was the best thing I'd heard in years, and he asked since what, but I couldn't think of an answer until later.

He asked if we were from nearby and I said we went to Gordon. He said, "Oh, Gordon!"
And we were both surprised he'd heard of it, so then he admitted he had no idea what Gordon was and said, "Go... bears?"
"Actually, it's Fighting Scots," I told him. "For some reason we're Scottish."
"You're Scottish?"
"Well uh.... our founder was, anyway."

Then I went all hyper-fangirlish and asked to take a picture with him. He was such a good sport, trying to get us in the right light so we'd show up on Eva's cell phone. We must've tried four times to get a good one, and I was totally okay with that since it meant he put his arm around me four times. XD And then I went all out and got him to sign the shirt Eli had given me earlier. "Sorry that I'm being such a hyper little fan," I said. "It probably gets really old." But Tim said he understood completely. He told me they'd toured with Silverchair recently, and I guess that band was heroes of his, so even though they were working together, he still had to go up to them and say, "....will you sign this...?"

Then we went back to hear Ludo, and I'm glad I didn't cut out on their set to talk more to Tim and the guys because they were actually really awesome. They were the only band playing that I hadn't heard of. But I was sold when they introduced their rock opera, saying that it was about a guy whose wife died in 1989 so he built a time machine to go back and save her but ended up in the Jurassic Period, swarmed by pterodactyls. Then they played one about going on vacation with your two friends, only to have your two friends get eaten by the lake monster. By the time they closed with "Ghostbusters," I was kind of in love. The old lady near us apparently was, too, since she got pretty into that one. She and the Mormon triplets left when Ludo did. Thank goodness. But sad day that we didn't get to smash their schnecklerama. I'm having so much fun inventing words to describe the sketchiness.....

And then I was reminded just how fulfilling a concert can be. There is nothing, nothing, nothing that could have made last night better, except perhaps a single hug from Matty T. But I was 100% content without it; the music just left me with such a high, and the audience was terrific once they got going! We got really close to the front, but that changed as soon as the moshing started. Ohhhh mannn, what a FAN-FRICKEN-FABULOUS pit! How can I even describe it? It opened up for the chorus and died down on the verses; so it was exhausting, but at least we got to breathe in between. I always think it's sort of funny in circle pits, because I'm usually one of maybe three girls involved. It's sort of amazing I'm still alive, actually. I've got some sweeeet bruises from this one.

Relient K came out wearing black and purple, with dark make-up around their eyes so they looked sunken in like Gerard Way's. There was a huge tarantula on the drum set and some skulls and candles on top of the piano and amps. Matty T came out wearing a vampire cape. Psh, forget that dude from Twilight. I'll take Matty T over him ANY day.

They played Mood Rings, which I've never heard them play live. That was what started the moshing; I think all the die-hard fans like me just couldn't contain themselves anymore. We all sang happy birthday to Ethan Luck, the new drummer (I miss Daaaaave D'=). That makes two concerts in a row that I've gotten to sing happy birthday. Then Hoopes and Warne spanked him 30 times with their guitars while T-sun counted hits by hitting the cymbal. He said it was the first time he'd ever played drums on stage in front of an audience. How special =D.

For the encore, they played Deathbed off of "Five Score," and for the first time in my life, I was at a Relient K show and completely unable to sing along. I'll confess that I was never a fan of that song. I listened to it when the album came out and then sort of dismissed it and forgot its existence. It was great, though; really epic. The other bands came out to help and there were trumpets.

When everything was over and most of the crowd had dispersed, I found one of the picks that Matty T had thrown into the audience. I don't believe people can catch picks because they're so tiny. Luckily, this one was bright orange and easy to spot once the people were gone. I knew it was Matt's because it had his signature printed on it (sadly, it's not autographed by hand, but I'll take what I can get.)

On the way out, we saw House of Heroes again. This time I saw the whole band and got them all to sign my shirt, which I was wearing at that point even though it was too small.

I told them "The End" was the best thing I'd heard since Dream Theater's "Octavarium," and they were shocked that anybody would think they were that good. I talked to Tim for a few more minutes while Eli got Ludo's CD signed. As we were leaving, Tim called me back and asked, "What was your mascot again?" "Fighting Scots," I reminded him. So he shouted, "GO FIGHTING SCOTS!" and all the Gordon people there were like w00t...!...?

After the show, we picked up my friend Molly who goes to school in Worcester and we all went to Wendy's. I was famished, so I got pretty much the only two things on the menu I can still eat: fries and a Frosty. They were delicious. (WHY can't I use that word without thinking of Guy Ripley?!) Then we finally headed home. I don't know about anyone else, but as for me, that's the happiest I've been in a while.

I'm still giddy. =D