It was really hectic in there. People were everywhere. My mom and I got tickets (the males take longer to search). I had this huge rush, because I was so afraid and worried that there wouldn't be any tickets left. It was like a euphoric rush. Then I went to the bathroom (I had needed to BEFORE the Max and BEFORE the 5 block walk from the Max to Roseland). I noticed the grudgyness of it all (like I expected a club bathroom to be) and the lack of graffiti on the stalls, but the waste bucket thing on the stall wall said "Wash your hands!" with i's dotted with hearts and everything. I was also surprised that there was no one else in there. It was semi-big, and the main room was way too crowded.... But then as I got out, about 4 girls (all with each other) were going to go in.
My dad came over to me after my mom gave me the tickets then went to the bathroom herself. After she came back (and a few more stares at me... I didn't care because I'd think "And... HOW many people stared at YOU so far today?") I heard music going on upstairs. I rushed my parents up stairs, gave the lady my ticket (so she'd rip off the side), then the guy put a stamp on my left forearm (why there, I've no clue) of a bouquet of roses. Mine's still on. So then we went upstairs, and I felt like I got hit in the head. The music was SO LOUD. I leaned against the railing (as I could hear my hearing go away) "in the back" (If I had fallen backwards, I would've gone down the stairs). The place was small, but I love that. It gives one a higher chance to meet Kill Hannah. At that time, there weren't very many people there.
The band on the stage had 4 people. I KNEW it wasn't Kill Hannah, because the singer was a girl, the guitarist had possibly the HUGEST afro I've ever seen, and the bassist had emo glasses, and sort of a fro, but it was just his long, curly hair. I didn't get to see the drummer very well (He did stand up after one of the songs for a second). After that song had finished, the bassist introduced the band. Schoolyard Heroes. I then realized that the "banner" behind them was theirs (on top of Kill Hannah's), but it was so cheap that the light behind it only made "Kill Hannah" be seen clearly. This band so SO loud (as I said before). You could quite clearly hear everything BUT the vocals. I could hardly even understand every other word. When the instruments were quieter, you could tell she had a great voice, you just couldn't HEAR it. I blame the bass for making it so that even my nostrils wouldn't function properly. And whenever the singer screamed, chills would go up my spine.
I went unto the "dance floor" (wooden flooring), because my mom claimed we were in the walk way. I found a perfect spot where I could see over everyone else. I figured this band's goals were to either deafen you or to disable your hearing so much that it made them sound like nothing you've ever heard of. That second one is the only one I can really say is true. Between one of the songs, I
Schoolyard Heroes was finally done (cause whenever I though that they were done... even with a song, they'd keep going). The lights went on, their banner got taken down so you could see Kill Hannah's "background". People were talking to each other. I knew that they were talking loudly or yelling like I was, but to me, it sounded like whispering. You know, those loud whispers where it's just quieter. The merch place behind us had nice big lines (like 6 people each at least). I was just watching people when I heard what sounded like somebody falling behind me. I looked and saw a girl taking a pic of the SYH's bassist who was holding a makeshift sign that said "GREG" (with the quotation marks). It looked like he was smiling as big as he could (with his eyes opened, making him look insane). He was really tall... I'd say no more than 7 foot (I'm 5 foot, remember?), though.
EVENTUALLY, Kill Hannah came on. Mat's voice could be heard, talking, like an introduction, but it sounded like it was about the future, or something. It wasn't loud enough. Then they all came out. I could only see Dan and Greg's guitars (well Greg has a bass... whatever) and they had a light on the end (you'll see it in the picture). They just played. No vocals. And compared to SYH's raw sound, this sounded... holy. After a few minutes of that, Mat's voice cut through introducing the band "Hey, we're Kill Hannah, and we're from Chicago." With their first actual song (it was either this song or the song after this that was "Lips Like Morphine"), I could hear Mat's voice PERFECTLY, then later, I couldn't. I figured it was my ears, but I later found out (from my dad) that there was a guy tweaking the sound.
It was so awesome. I even found this NEW perfect spot (leaning on a pole), where I could see everyone, and the music vibrated through it intensifying the feeling of it all. And I was really ALONE there, even though I tripped like... two people. Before one song, Mat said that either they don't usually... or they've never (most likely never)... "played this song outside of Chicago. It's called 'Welcome to Chicago, Motherfucker.'" Then there were these two songs that were dedicated to 2 people (One of the dedicated songs was "Rebel Yell"... can't remember the other one). Apparently they already knew them, because after the first dedicated song, Mat got 2 waterbottles and threw them at the people it was dedicated to (he pointed to them earlier). I took SOOO many pics that my battery went low. Then Mat said that they were going to do their last song. I crossed my fingers, mouthing "Kennedy". "It's called 'I Wanna Be A Kennedy'." The crowd went wild. I did my "dancing" in one spot thing. It was a much better experience that I actually KNEW the words to this song, so I was mouthing the words and filling in the spots where I couldn't even hear Mat's voice. It was such an awesome finale. He put so much heart and lung into "I'D NEVER LET YOU GO" that listening to the recorded one just doesn't cut it. It's like an insult. That maybe I should just relive it in my head until another live performance. Never listen to such low-rate stuff again.
Kill Hannah's performance didn't last long enough. I mean, it was longer than SYH's alright, but I could've lasted more. I WANTED more. While waiting for MSI, there was a few times when the crowd chanted "MSI! MSI! MSI!..." I kept looking to see if Kill Hannah would come out, like Greg had (the one from SYH). My mom noted that it'd be awhile till MSI would come out (she said she just felt it), so we went downstairs to get food. We stood in line (there was 2 people in front of us). There was this guy standing to the side looking at ice cream. Just from the fro I knew it was the guitarist from SYH. I also noticed a presence behind me. I glanced to see it was a guy with black hair and dark clothes (and how many others of those people were there? But you could actually tell people apart... well, from what I saw... "Oh that other girl I saw had that neon green skirt".... I've never seen a skirt like that in my entire life. Oh and there was this INSANE mohawk couple... it was freaky). He wasn't looking at me when I looked at him, but he was a few inches behind me... he could've been 2 feet behind me, and there would hardly be any other soul that would cut in front of him. I tried not to notice. The guitarist put a dollar in the lady's tip jar before she came back with our Coke and bottle of water, then as we were turning to leave, I saw her give the guitarist the two alfredo meals that my mom and I were talking about ("Doesn't that look good?" "No. Not really."). We sat down for a few glorious minutes, until I decided to go back up (I didn't want to miss their beginning).
I noticed the merch line was practically non-existant. So my parents gave me $40 (and my dad said he wanted change back. They didn't know how much $20 would get me). There were 3 people there. There was somebody already looking at SYH shirts with the SYH singer, so I went to one of the guys. The guys were talking to each other, so I looked around, deciding what to get. I decided and made it look like I was still decided as they were still talking. I looked at the counter at the button, pins, patches, and stickers and such. Then when they were done, the guy said something about my hand (the one with KH on it, K backward), I couldn't quite hear him over the people. I wasn't sure if he interpreted it wrong or not. I turned it correctly (for him) and said "Yeah, KH. Uh, anyway, I'd like to get that shirt." I pointed. He couldn't tell. I had the hardest time describing it: "Uh... the black one... uh...", so I tried pointing again. He leaned over the counter and put his head next to mine, saw where I was pointing, and went over to it. "This one?" "Yeah." "Small?" I thought for a few seconds, "Medium." He got one out of a tub and gave it to me. I handed him a $20 (the shirt was $15). Then I realized that I was going to get the 2 Kill Hannah pins. So I went "Oh, and these, " and pointed (I have a thing about pointing, don't I?" at them on the counter. So he handed me $3, then got the pins. "Yay!" I said, then went off.
*Okay... I wrote most of all that you read on paper first, so I added and took away lesser parts. When he first showed enthusiasm for the writing on my hand, I realized he looked like Greg in Kill Hannah, but the hair wasn't quite right... but then I think back now, and... I don't know. They both had the gelled (or however they do it) mohawk. I can claim that I met the Kill Hannah bassist... even though I'm not sure myself if I had or not. That's just plain sad. The only time I was embarrassed with the "merch guy" was when I couldn't describe the shirt I wanted. I had laughed at myself at that. In front of him. In a way, I'm kinda flattered that he 'suggested' I'd get a small... but then it's like "You're really short..." but I like the first one better.*
*End Part 1. Begin Part 2*
Eventually, MSI came on, making most of the people scream their freaking lungs out. They did "Shut Me Up" FIRST (the song I most wanted to hear/see), so that kinda disappointed me. I blanked with the lyrics, but it was fun to watch because Jimmy (the vocalist) kept punching himself and falling down (you kinda have to see the music video to fully get it. Clicky HERE (link opens in new window)). Yeah, MSI is INSANE. I'll get to more on that throughout the rest of this post. Oh, and I think it was before their first song that they said that they were changing our restriction rules, or something it was not longer "150 feet", but now 3 feet. Apparently there were really strict rules that if someone came in arms length of a security guy, they'd get pushed back (this was because of SYH and KH's lack of stage space, I think. From the 21+ balcony, my parents said that Kill Hannah looked really cramped in their spot. Surrounded).
Before their second song, Jimmy said, "We are the new Pokemon!" - crowd goes wild - "You have to catch us ALL!", then in the song, I could hear "pika". Their sound was better tamed, I think. I could hear Jimmy better than the singer of Schoolyard Heroes, for example. Oh! And Jimmy had this jacket on that said on the back "SHIT EATS PEE", but he took it off after the 2nd or 3rd song. It was quite funny actually. He was swinging it around after he took it off, then it looked like he was going to throw it underhand into the crowd, but he let go of it so that it landed on the stage, and his hand came up with his middle finger up, and he looked at it "confused" as he sang.
Either before the 3rd or 4th song (after he took the jacket off), Jimmy complained that he stunk really bad and that a girl should go through her purse and get him some deodorant. It wasn't long before I saw something fly up into the air and Jimmy "skillfully" caught it (no, I don't know what I meant by that. I should've video-taped it (on my camera), cause it looked cool). It was a spray deodorant, or whatever, so he sprayed it on himself and on Lin Z (the bassist) and said to her "Now you smell goooooood." He did also spray it on the crowd now and then (he'd put it somewhere until he "needed" it again).
Later, he claimed he needed "more guy liner." I don't know where he got it from, but it looked like (from where I was) black lipstick, and he put it under one eye (sort of like a football player), then said "How does that look?" I was laughing. After cheers from the audience, he said "Wait," and did it on the other side. I tried my best to get a pic of it, but either it came out bad or you couldn't see it. I should've brought Matt's camera, it has zoom at least. Yeah, "my" camera sucks ass.
There was this other time where Jimmy told the light guy to turn the lights on, so they did, blinding me. "Are there any mascots here? Nobody? Nobody dressed like a cow or a banana? What's fucking wrong with you people?" I wouldn't be surprised if the song they went RIGHT into after that was about mascots, or whatever.
Before another song he said, "Now it's time to play Dance, Dance Revolution!" Crowd went wild. He grabbed a DDR mat, and put it down saying "Damnit, it's the PS2 version. I'm gonna have to do Easy because I suck at this." He made it look like he was actually going to play DDR as he was stepping on the mat and looking up as if he was going through the menu screen. "Well, I don't want to do Britney Spears, so I'll have to go with ----" (I forgot what the song's name was) After they finished that song, Jimmy went back to the mat and said "I'm gonna erase that one. That sucked."
That last thing reminded me of this other time when someone threw something to Jimmy (for him to keep, obviously), but he threw it back saying that whoever threw it was being "too nice." - crowd cheers - "That's a bad thing!" he screamed as whatever it was, was thrown back at Jimmy. Then he said something (it's vague now) about that it was probably a/the person listening to their Fall Out Boy album (honestly, I don't like them), and he quietly sung a bit from one of their songs with an innocent look on his face. Then he looked at someone in the crowd (by the pole in the middle of the floor) and said, "Oh! I'm sorry. Panic! At The Disco is completely different. I'm not going to even GO there!" (I don't like them either).
Before another song, Jimmy yelled, "It's time to play Family Feud! The Balcony (well, it was for them, but I can't remember what he called them) versus the General Admission!" It consisted of the crowds yelling out things. But then Jimmy said, "Is the answer 'Animal'?" followed by the Family Feud's beeping sound, then went into the song which did have the beeping in it.
I think someone gave Jimmy a stuffed animal that made sounds, or he already had it, but he pressed it's belly and put the mic to it so you could hear it. Couldn't understand it, though. Then he said, laughing, "She's gonna fucking kill you!"
This was towards the beginning, but between two songs, Lin Z pointed at some guy in the audience and said "Call me." There was more (talking), but it's really vague in my mind. Also, before one of the songs, I heard the guitarist (can't remember his name) said, "Could you put your boobs away? They're disturbing me." This was followed by Jimmy saying (to someone around that area) "What's that you're wearing? What are you wearing? What the fuck are you wearing?! Is it 1994? Did your mother dress you? Is it from 1991?" Then they sang the song "1989".
For one song, Jimmy had a stuffed wolf. I didn't understand the lyrics. But he was carrying around that wolf, swinging it around... putting it's mouth...... you know where....
Jimmy lit at least one cigarette... even though no smoking was permitted up there (didn't stop this one couple. The girl was tan, had piercings, skimpy clothes. Her boyfriend was white, but in gangster clothes... they were high. (My dad: "No kiddin? What was your first clue?") They were seriously humping with their clothes on, and the guy could NOT dance. His "dance" looked like he was trying to step on one of his shoes then jump up and down...). So anyway, I left the BEST FOR LAST!!!! Jimmy brought out the fairy wings. He put them on and said, "I'm a fairy princess," with a femininy (sp?) voice. I was laughing so hard. During the song, he was running around the stage, and towards the end of the song, he went on top of a speaker. I DID take a pic of it... so it's all good. Can't see the wings well, but they're there. At the end of the song, he took off the wings saying that he was now mature enough that he didn't need them (or something like that).
People did get on the stage. 2 (I believe) when MSI was on. The first one (which I didn't see), was this girl ran up on the stage and put sunglasses on Lin Z. I only saw Lin Z with her back to the audience with a security guy next to her (I had thought at the time that she had gotten ambushed by someone). The other one, I did see. It was a guy with dirty blonde long hair. He looked a lot like one of the staff guys, so at first I thought it was him. He ran to Jimmy, put his arm around him, and they twirled around for a few seconds until the security came in (a big guy and a big lady). It made me think that he was really nice to the people who were about to be punished by the staff.
I remember it was before MSI came on, that I saw a guy either come up the stairs or come to the "floor" from the merch place. He looked familiar. It was that he looked so much like Skyler that made him look familiar. Black mid-length hair. Black clothes, and he had... either 1 or 2 piercings. Either eyebrow, lip, or both. I only got a glance at him, and it's been 2 days. But I knew it wasn't Skyler because of the nose. It just wasn't quite right. And then, at the beginning of MSI... or... Kill Hannah, this girl wrapped an arm behind my neck and said "I like your shirt", it was my "I'll try to be nicer if you'll stop being an idiot" shirt. I said thanks, smiling. She had mid-length blonde hair. Can't remember if she had streaks or not. Didn't see her face well, so couldn't tell if I knew her or not. She was wearing a black shirt with some red design in the front, and black with some red skirt, and black fishnets. That's all I really remember. Her skirt might've been plaid... I dunno.
We left early. My parents didn't want to walk in the thunderstorm when it hit (Matt had called), and they didn't want to get caught with everyone else as they left. At first, I didn't want to go. I loved the place, then. I never wanted to leave, besides, I wanted to meet Kill Hannah. Then I realized that they had been here 2 months ago... when were they gonna be here again? By then I'd have heard more of their songs, memorized more, sing to more they sang. Know more of the bands past. Know all of their last names (not just Mat's... his is easy to memorize... Mat Devine...). When I realized that, it became clear to me what the music had been covering up... like a drug. My back was KILLING me, I had a headache, my legs and feet hurt (I had been standing up for just about 3 1/2 hrs STRAIGHT (well expect for after we got drinks, and when I went to the bathroom)), and I had barely even ATE at all that day (I was way too nervous). Suddenly, I couldn't wait to get home.
Outside of Roseland, I could understand what Jimmy was saying, I knew the building was shaking from the bass. I could hear everything but the audience. I took a pic of Roseland from where I could still hear Jimmy... I just didn't understand every other word.
Finally, 5 blocks under our belts. Finally got to sit on the bench as we waited for the Max. I noted how my headache wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it'd be. We talked about random things. I noticed only my left ear was throbbing. Finally, the Max came. On there... it was like it signaled for me to feel nauseous. And my headache got worse. Back in the truck, I took Excedrin and tried laying down. I don't think either of them really helped. At Wendy's I didn't get anything. My parents didn't seem to get the fact that I wasn't feeling good. I had to motion throwing up and pointed at the Wendy's bag since I was afraid of opening my mouth. I hoped that having the bag there would help me feel better, but I know that the smell of fries didn't.
I got home, ran to the bathroom to lean over the toilet (as my parents went down to Napa, because they forgot to split up and bring the Blazer back). Then, when I felt that I'd only throw up if some food or foul smell was thrown at me, I went to bed....
So how did your July 3rd go?
