Sep 14, 2013

Chicago Diner again?? Yes. This time we parked right down the street from the diner since we saw so much parking yesterday. Found an all-day free spot within a mile of the park. I got the country fried steak and potatoes. Need a hearty meal if you're going to be watching music all day. It was amazing but huge. I took half of it with me.

I couldn't leave without getting the peanut butter cookie dough milkshake. It's one of those things that makes you make sounds as soon as you taste it. It is probably the best thing I have ever had. Really. If I wouldn't get sick and fat I would have like 30 of them. We went next door to Revolution Brewing so I could get a few beers and download things with their WiFi. We spent some time hanging out there until Joanna was ready to go down to the show. There were no bands I wanted to see for another 4-5 hours so I stayed behind and hung out in the car catching up on shows, trying not to fall asleep, and taking walks around the neighborhood.

Time really moved slowly while I waited, but I'm sure I could have found more interesting and useful things to do with my time that would have helped that. Eventually it was time to head down to the park so I got a slice of pizza to go from the bar we parked across from and walked swiftly down the street. I got into the gates just as Rancid was starting to play their first song. Those guys kick some ass. They played sooooo much from And Out Come the Wolves. I was quite happy. They seemed to have the crowds full attention as well, so that was nice. Great way to kick off the night.

I ran over to the Rise Stage to see Taking Back Sunday. They are consistently one of my favorite bands to see live. They are so much fun and they play a great selection of songs since they got the original lineup back.

There is a giant riser/VIP area about 100 feet from the stage directly in the middle of everything, which blocks the view of anyone behind it from almost all directions. This leads people to flood the sides of the stage, one of which is situated on a hill with a large curb on the edge. This is not a good thing to be underfoot in a crowd of thousands. One person trip and goes down the hill, taking a bunch of other people with them. It kept happening so I got away from it as best I could. I ended up on the side, down the hill, and right up front. It was still a decent view, but there was a very drunk girl that kept trying to get me to push forward and I kept telling her to go bother someone else.

During the last song we ran away to the Riot Stage to see Blink come on. They played basically the same set from the Starland show, but it was a good set so I can't complain. I was right up front for a bit, but I never tend to like that so I dropped back to where the pit was and had fun with all of my peoples. In usual Blink fashion, they sprayed the crowd with confetti at the end of the set and Mark stayed on stage awkwardly long trying to be funny (read: being funny) and the power went out right before his single-bass-note punchline.

I waited for a long while in the dark for Joanna at the merch area, but she finally appeared and we took our long-ish walk back to the car. It was nice to get out of there faster this time. We headed back to our spot at the hotel and made our car bed for the night.

Sep 10, 2013

I didn't get a job for the day, even though I wasn't really expecting one. I went to the Vineland Board of Ed to pick up my paperwork for employment. I called their suggested doctor's office to make an appointment for a physical to find out that I'd have to wait a full month before I could get in. That was after reminding the receptionist that I couldn't get a TB test done on a Friday if it needed to be checked two days later. So I came home and decided I'd make something out of all the vegetable I had in my fridge. I used asparagus, peppers, onions, and then whatever else I could find to make a very spicy stir-fry something. It was quite good.

Later I picked up Dave and then Tyler and headed up to Starland for the Blink show. We waited at the car and had a few beers before going in. When we did go in I noticed Eddie Reyes from Taking Back Sunday in the crowd and casually pointed him out, exciting Tyler enough to ask him for a picture.

Blink came out and played through a great set of old and new songs. The crowd was into it the whole time, and it was surprisingly not bad for a smaller venue. It was great that during the renovation they moved that annoying soundboard back to give the crowd more room in front of the stage and get rid of the exit bottleneck.

One of the best things was that when they were talking about this show being charity for NJ after Hurricane Sandy, Mark said, "Hurricane Sandy can suck our dicks... actually, wait. I don't know if that's such a good idea, having a hurricane suck your dick. Scratch that." I was dying. They were funny and played really well. It was great hearing some new songs that they hadn't played before including "Wishing Well" and "Dogs Eating Dogs." We were all very sweaty and happy after the show. Dave and Tyler passed out in the car shortly after leaving so I was driving home alone.

Sep 17, 2011

I went to the Silver Run trail for a run after I got up. The weather was nice for most of the time but it started to get overcast and rained a little bit toward the end so I cut it a little short. Still a good run.

I got ready and headed up to Rowan to meet up with a client who I'm doing engagement photos for to meet her and her fiance. They were both really nice people and had some great ideas that got me excited to start working with them.

I met Christy over at Nick's for lunch. I got this giant eggplant parm sandwich. I was full before I finished one half of it so I took the rest home for later.

I met up with Dave, we picked up Joanna, and then we headed to Camden and parked in the big parking lot near the Susquehanna Bank Center and turned up the music.

Dave and I spent an hour drinking and listening to music alongside other people doing the same while we waited for the show to get started inside. We brought beer with us and Dave brought some white wine that he made.

We got into the show just as My Chemical Romance was going on. They played a lot of stuff of "Danger Days" but mixed in some older stuff.

They did play some really good songs from "Three Cheers" but not nearly enough. Nothing from their first album, of course. Some strange choices from "Black Parade" too. I was underwhelmed.

Of course, after the MCR came the main attraction. Blink-182 took the stage with "Feeling This" and kept it alive for the rest of the night. They were so good. They played four new songs that were all great and a lot of fun to be in the crowd for.

There were also some surprises like "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" and "Fuck a Dog." Yep, always high class fun with Blink! They were so much fun though. And Mark always seems like he's having the time of his life. I love it.

The encore began with Travis's flying drum kit. No spinning upside down this time, just out and over the crowd with the world's most powerful touring laser pointed at him, according to Tom. They finished with the classics of course, ending with "Dammit."

We sat on the car for a while listening to the new album while we waited for Joanna to get back out and for the traffic to move. Once we got into though, we still sat in park for an hour before getting out of the lot. Great, great show. Too bad we only get to go to one this time.

Oct 4, 2009

It was a beautiful day for some tennis so Ryan and I played a game in the morning. I didn't win but I felt like I played better and we had fun. I need to look into lessons like a little rich girl.

In the afternoon, Katie and I drove up to Newark Penn Station to go to Manhattan. We had to wait for a while for the next train so we got some food. I got more pizza than I really wanted to eat and she got some kind of potato thing. Then we went to our platform past the police trying to calm an irate man in very colorful clothing.

We got to NY Penn and walked around the block to the other side of the building and were directed to a secret back door entrance for pit ticket holders. We navigated the maze of Madison Square Garden and found our way to the floor area right in front of the stage. It was a really small area. After a short wait, Fall Out Boy came out opening with "Sugar.."

They played a great set of old and new songs. The new stuff works really well in the set. This is a picture of Pete with his hair...

Right before their last song, Pete said that he told Mark Hoppus that he would do anything to be on the Blink tour, including shaving his head. Right as he said it, they brought out a chair and Mark came out with a razor and shaved his head while the band played "Saturday." He called it "death of the emo haircut."

He finished his haircut in time to get into the crowd for the very end of the song and say that it was their last show for a really long time. I'm glad I got to see it.

Katie and I waited somewhat patiently between sets, while Katie worried about how crazy the crowd would get during Blink.

Blink came out as energetic as always and played through a very similar set to the rest of the shows I had seen them.

Travis got to do his drum solo flying above the crowd again and it was great. Everyone goes crazy for this part.

Closing with "Dammit," of course, confetti exploded from the stage and they said goodbye to New York and the main part of their first tour back. Another awesome show! Until next time!

We caught a train as soon as we got to Penn Station and made it back quickly. The drive wasn't bad besides the bad driver in the parking lot in Newark. I got home relatively early so I could get some sleep before work.

Oct 3, 2009

I slept in, sort of, even though I didn't get to bed until very late so it was a normal amount of sleep. I wanted to get out and do something so I went and played nine holes of disc golf before it rained a little bit. I was still tired in the afternoon so I had a nap before we had to leave for AC.

Chuck and I arrived at the Borgata as the sun was going down and with two hours to spare before the Blink show started.

We stumbled upon at Fatburger in the food court and got veggie burgers. They were alright. It's funny that it's the same Boca burgers that you can get anywhere, they just put it on a whole wheat roll and throw some lettuce on it and it's nine bucks. I guess the same could be said about a lot of things though. Oh well.

To kill some time we played the two-cent slots. We're high rollers, everyone knows us in Atlantic City. I guess none of our entourage was working tonight because every time I tried to get the attention of the waitress/drink girl, she would run away.

Blink came out after a short wait with Dumpweed, of course.

We met up with Dave inside and got close to the front when they started playing.

They were really good and energetic. Tom didn't seem as drunk this time. They played the same basic set as the last times we saw them but it was still just as good.

They did a "stay on stage" encore instead of walking off and coming back.

It was a really fun concert, it let me zone out for a while and enjoy the music while not thinking about anything.

Aug 27, 2009

I had the morning and early afternoon to kill so I decided to take a bike ride.. ya know, for something a little different. After dropping off some important documents, I headed down 47 South until I got to the Mauricetown bridge area and I went over it.

I decided to stop at the waterfront area by the old bridge to rest for a little while since I was about midway through the ride. I found a nice shaded spot and sat down to have some water before getting back on the bike and heading back home. The trip ended up at 23 miles.

After having some lunch, I met Dave at his house to get ready to go to the show. Once our ride finally showed up we headed to Philly on what was to be a frightening ride. I dubbed this station wagon the "PSA Car." That's as much detail as I'll go into on here... I got out as soon as we got close and found my ebay buyer to give my extra ticket to and then we hung out in the lot.

Some of the girls we came with had their amateur tattoos on and they were actually really good.

I had one drink of Gatorade and vodka while Dave clearly had the rest of bottle...

This is the group of girls that I don't know that brought us to the show. There's Sara, Kate, Megan and that's all I remember. Sorry, ladies. I try.

My main mode of transportation in the parking lot was two mini skateboards that I used like roller skates. I almost fell a few times but I amused myself for a while.

Once Jamie got there we all headed in. Unfortunately, Chester French opened this show as well but their set wasn't long. Taking Back Sunday was up next and they were pretty disappointing. They played a few songs I wanted to hear but in general I was not thrilled with their set.

Weezer came out next in all white track suits and got right into their set. This was my first time seeing them and I didn't know what to expect but I was very impressed.

Rivers was crazy and energetic; he has a real stage presence. He can't dance, but that makes it fun (thanks for the pic, Jamie!) They played most (or all) of their singles but still left room for a bunch of others, mostly from the Blue album. They played My Name is Jonas and The Good Life, my two favorite Weezer songs. Totally awesome set.

Jamie and I were watching each others' backs in the pit because of all the crazies. One really tall drunk guy was just arching his back constantly... he looked drunk and possibly possessed. Can't say for sure.

It was finally time for the main event, Blink 182! They came out to Dumpweed again and played another good mix of new and old songs. I thought they were great. Tom was drunk and talking too much as usual but this time the video screens behind the band had an animation of the Blink bunny holding a sign that said "Shut Up Tom!" It was hilarious.

One highlight from this show that we didn't get in Vegas was Travis Barker's flying drum solo. He was elevated and tilted 90 degrees and still rocking the hell out of the drums. The man is amazing. He played in the air, hovering and spinning, for about five minutes before Mark and Tom came back out to finish the show.

At the end of Dammit, the crowd was showered in confetti to mark the end of another amazing night of Blink 182.

Mark didn't want to give up the stage, however, singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" to the crowd as everyone shuffled out. Tom just posed next to him... and then danced around a bit before finally leaving the stage.

The show was awesome, Dave managed to not get into a fight even though he tried really hard to and I came home walking rather than limping so I can't complain! I rode home with Jamie and we listened to 104.5 play a complete hour of just Blink and Weezer. We stopped at Wawa for cold beverages and I got some tasty Mac and Cheese. What a good night it was! Two down, two to go!