I was supposed to post this earlier but here
I missed The Maine’s in store signing because I had to stay
home and help out with things. HOW FRUSTRATING!
I ended up getting to the venue around 5:30 and found Jenny about 4 or 5 groups
from the front of the line. She went off to get food so I waited. While waiting
I saw Masketta Fall arrive at the venue and they were all hanging outside
talking to their fans. Sean from This Century walked past but it was too quick
and no one stopped him so he went into the venue. Ruyi or Alex I should say but
I’m so used to calling her Ruyi so I forget arrived at the venue around 6 with
her friend Pearl. I recognised the girl standing in front of us as the girl
from the arttm/tss/trs/tds show (we talked in line while waiting for the show).
Jenny came back and I saw Bill Beckett so I started dying internally, a group
of people went up to him to take photos and Jenny kept pushing me to go up to
him until I finally stood near him but he told people around him that he had to
go inside so he left and there was my missed opportunity. Julia then got there
and then Jenny and I started talking to the girl in front of us. I then saw all
the Maine guys walk out and Alex was telling me to go up to them so I went I
will and next thing I know, she pushed me and I tripped over Julia’s bag but
luckily did not fall. She then yelled at me to go talk to them so Jenny and I
started following them. It got to the point where it would have been weird to
stop them so we followed them into Nandos and ordered the cheapest thing off
the menu even though we weren’t hungry.
They were all sitting on a table with their tech people and Sean and FANS.
There were 5 of them and I have no idea how those fans got to sit at a table
with them but I was crazy jealous. Pat actually retweeted a photo of them all
together so I went on the girls twitter and she sounded like a fangirl so I
really don’t understand how it happened. Jenny and I sat on a table on the same
side and ate our chips while casually glancing at them from time to time. It was nearing 7:30 so we left and stood back
in line, now more people joined our group, there was Stephanie, Maria and Jean
(I think that was all), then Susan came and she was only going to come in for
Anberlin so she stood in line until we went inside. It was cool because it was
like a reunion from the Anberlin show two years ago.
Jenny and I got barrier on the right hand side, and then Stephanie and Jean
joined us. The others were all behind.
Masketta Fall were up first and I hadn’t seen them perform
before but I liked them. They played a few songs and did a cover of Teenage
Dirtbag. I liked their song Parachute, it was really catchy. The lead singer
said they had one last song to play but then realised their time was up so they
left.
BILL BECKETT WAS UP NEXT. He started setting up his stuff which was just two
guitars and his laptop and I started taking photos but got told off by security
which was annoying because everyone else was doing it too. I swear I always get
told off.
The one photo I took
He started with Hanging on a Honeymoon (I think), then talked about how all
these bands have cool intros and that he wanted an intro so could we all
pretend that he hasn’t come on stage yet. The stage went dark and the final
countdown started playing while he walked on and everyone started cheering. He
played a couple more songs and would talk in between the songs and he’s just so
great with the crowd. The way he interacts with everyone and how he jokes about
things, if you didn’t like him before that night, I’m pretty sure you would
have fallen for him after seeing him on stage. He’s such a lovely person; I
could gush about him for ages. He sang the line “there was a barber and his
wife” from Sweeney Todd which made me laugh and he talked about getting a song
stuck in your head and how he had one currently stuck in his head, for the love
of me I can’t remember the song but everyone sang the chorus to it and he talked
about how no one knows the words to the verse. Before playing the next song, he
said that he wrote it about his sister Courtney and he talked about how she
used to get bullied a lot in school and the song is about how even if things
seem terrible right now, it’ll eventually get better (I’m paraphrasing here but
that was the general idea). It was my first time hearing the song because it’s
a B-side on the new album and god I can’t explain how wonderful it was.
Everyone was quiet while he played and it was just him and it was beautiful.
Now I’ve been to a few shows right and I’ve seen a few bands but this was the
first time I ever cried while watching someone perform. I don’t know what it
was but I couldn’t hold it in. I guess it was a mix of what the song was about,
everything I’ve been going through lately and getting to see Bill Beckett
perform again.
Between the end of year 12 and the start of first year uni, I went through a
really rough patch and it was the first time things had gotten so bad. One of the biggest
thing that helped me get through this was TAI. Their music and even their
stupid (but awesome) tai tv episodes helped me more than I can say and I just
can’t be thankful enough. I know I’ve probably said this a hundred times but
TAI and their music mean so much to me and I just have so many feelings and
emotions about them that I can’t express properly because I’m terrible with
words.
Back to the show, so yes seeing Bill signing brought out everything including
the tears. Bill finished his set with Benny & Joon which got the crowd
going again and then it was over. Even though all the songs he played were from
his new album (I was really hoping he would play Scarlett because he played it
in the other cities) I just feel so incredibly lucky to have seen him perform
again. I can’t believe the last time I saw him was four years ago. He was
always my favourite performer to see on stage because when he was with TAI, he
wouldn’t play any instruments on stage so he would move around a lot and use the
mic stand and I just loved the way he moved. Now even though it was just him on
stage with a guitar, he’s still got one of the greatest stage presences I’ve
seen.
The Maine were up next and it was so good seeing them play
again. I always seem to have Kennedy in front of me no matter what side I stand
on but I’m not complaining. He’s so adorable to watch because he’s smiling the
entire time. Garrett was wearing a polka dot shirt which was cute. John had a
grungy look going on and it was really cool getting to see Sean on stage for
the first time. They played a good mix of songs from all their albums and it
was great getting to hear the new songs. They played Kennedy Curse which is
such a downer of a song (still a great song) but it’s got great instrumentals
in it so it sounded great live. Happy and Love and Drugs sounded really good
too but John’s vocals weren’t that loud at times because the instruments would
be louder. He didn’t talk much because he said something about talking too much
the night before and getting told off but he kept asking if everyone was okay
and if we needed anything. He was talking to this guy from stage and asked him
if the girl next to him was his girlfriend (she was) so he went “Nice”. He did
this to a few other people then went “I wish I had a girlfriend or boyfriend”.
Garrett made strange sounds into the microphone at one point, I can’t remember
if they talked about anything else. They finished off with Like We Did then it
was time for Anberlin.
At this point people moved in closer but it was still really
comfortable compared to other shows, there was hardly any pushing which was
wonderful.
Anberlin started with The Resistance and had a pretty great setlist. They
played some of my favourites like Never Take Friendship Personal and hearing
the new songs was great too. Although the album has been out for over a year
now, I only recently started listening to it because I’m terrible with
listening to new stuff and it’s such a great album. I was so happy they played
Little Tyrants which is probably my favourite off the latest album. Anberlin as
such an amazing live band, they get the crowd all pumped up and they sound so
great live. Christian was directly in front of us and he did the intense looks
which I remember from last time where he’ll just look into your eyes while you
sing and it’s so great. I love seeing their faces when they get to crowd to
sign because they just look so happy. Stephen didn’t do a lot of talking but he
talked about how they’ve been here so many times and he remembers their first
tour and playing in a backwards city, they went on to play Adelaide. I love how
Stephen makes fun of Adelaide all the time.
They went off stage then Stephen came back alone and sat at the keyboard. He
played an acoustic version of Dismantle Repair and oh my god I can’t explain
how beautiful it was. He was mesmerising, the crowd were completely into it and
it was just such a beautiful moment. As I didn’t take any photos or videos at
the show, I felt like I took in a lot more. The rest of the band then came out
and they played Fin to end the night. I love that song so much and it’s always
such a great song to end the set with.
We walked towards the merch table and saw Susan who then
left. We then saw Garrett so we went over to him and said hi. I told him they
were awesome and he thanked us. He recognised Jenny from the signing earlier
because of her cat jumper and he started calling her cat lady which was funny.
He said he would remember her now because of the jumper. He looked at me and
said “you weren’t at the signing were you?” “No, I couldn’t come” “Yeah I would
have recognised you”. That’s nice to think, he recognised me last time which
was cool. Jenny told him she was also at the Gold Coast and Brisbane shows but
he couldn’t remember so he apologised for that. I told him I liked his shirt
that he wore on stage and he went “really?”. He told us he took it off because
it was all sweaty. We got photos with him then left to talk to Pat.
When we got to Pat, security started kicking us out so we
followed Pat out. While walking behind him, I pretended to stroke his hair and
jacket which we found really funny for some reason (and we wonder why we don’t
get invited to dinner with them). We were near the entrance so we talked to Pat and we got
photos then got kicked out of the building.
We walked up to Jared but then security made us move
completely away from the building. Jenny asked Jared if they had any plans for
the next day because they had a day off so he asked if we had any suggestions
and we had a total mind blank and couldn’t think of anything. We talked to him for a bit and got photos
Went up to John and asked if he could write ‘’we all have
been degraded, we all will be the greatest” and he said yes. While he was
writing
Jenny: “woah your writing is so small”
Me: “yeah but it’s nice/pretty” (I don’t remember which I said
“...I’m sorry, that was really
weird of us”
Because we were both basically on our toes looking at him writing
He did this smirk/smile/laugh which was unbelievably attractive.
It was my first time being so close to him while he wasn’t wearing his
sunglasses and oh lord his eyes are so nice and his whole face is so nice and
he’s so tall. Also he was wearing different clothes to what he wore on stage so
he looked really nice.
I thanked him for signing my birthday card (Jenny got me a card signed by all
the guys and bill beckett) so he said happy birthday to me (even though my
birthday was almost a month ago, it was still awesome). I can’t remember what
else we said; I may have been too distracted by the way he looked. When I went to take a photo with him and I put my arm around him and just, that's all? Where's the rest of his body? He's so skinny!
We went over to Kennedy and I stole Jenny’s question of what
their plans were the next day (again I’m sorry Jenny), he said sleeping in and
he talked about how little sleep they’ve had on the tour because the shows all
end late and they’ve had shows on every night. I don’t remember what else was
said. Again, may have been distracted by his face.
We stood around for a bit then Jenny said to try and see if
Garrett would recognise her without the cat jumper, so she took it off. He was
about to leave but then Jenny went up to him and said awesome show; he looked
confused and said thanks. She asked if he recognised her and he said yeah cat
lady. Jenny said we were trying a social experiment. He told her she should
have come back with a wig and different clothes. Jenny then said you looked
like you were about to leave so we’ll let you go and he moon walked away from
us.
The rest of the time we stood around and I half listened to
other people’s conversations. After a while all the guys left. We waited around
for a while, there were only a few people left at this point. After quite a bit
of waiting Nate and Joey came out. Nate looked funny because he had his shoes
on him and a bag full of groceries and coles milk. We got photos with them then
they left.
Damn the photo came out blurry
We waited a while longer but then it was obvious everyone else had
already left. I was majorly bummed I didn’t get to meet Bill but hey there’s
always a next time right?
Overall it was an amazing show and I’m so happy I got to go. Getting to see two of my favourite bands and one of my favourite signers on the same night was incredible. I always forget how good it feels to go to concerts.
