Sep 13, 2013

We picked up where we left off in Ohio and finished the long drive to Chicago into the afternoon. Once we found the train station we wanted to park at and figured out which tickets to buy we got on the train and headed into the city. Our first stop was Chicago Diner for some delicious vegan food. I had to go with the reuben to start. It had been too long. It was wonderful. After we were stuffed we walked the mile to Humboldt Park, passing empty parking spaces all along the way. I guess we should have driven in.

We got to the entrance to Riot Fest at the park and there was no line to get in, so that was nice. We wandered around inside for a bit, getting a feel for the layout. It had been quite a while since I was at a festival. We watched a video at the FARM truck and they gave us a fresh dollar bill and talked to us about vegan living for a while. We watched a little of the Smoking Popes before we went to the Riot Stage to see Yellowcard. I never know how the first band at a fest will be, especially in the daytime with a cold crowd that just showed up. Yellowcard killed it and really kicked the weekend off right. They played an awesome set; so much better than the last time I saw them. Everyone was super enthusiastic and Sean even did two backflips! Fantastic.

Bad Religion was up next on the Roots Stage and that was quite a change in atmosphere. Older crowd, big mohawks, kilts, and a real mosh pit like they used to have back in the day. It was pretty sweet being in that crowd. I felt slightly more at home even if I'm not as into the faster punk music anymore. Regardless of my general leaning, I do love Bad Religion, and they played a kick-ass set. They blaze through songs like a chainsaw through butter. They must have played about 30 songs in their hour slot, including "Atomic Garden," "21st Century (Digital Boy)," and "I Wanna Conquer the World" back to back. It was pretty insane. They still know how to rock a crowd.

After Bad Religion I wandered for a while, watching GWAR for about a minute before I realized I didn't want to watch them. I met Joanna in the intersection and we went over to see Masked Intruder play the small stage. They were actually really fun and entertaining. Definitely a band I'd like to see live, but can't imagine getting into otherwise. The park looked pretty cool lit up at night. We didn't take advantage of any of the rides, but I guess we probably should have.

The crowd was huge already for Fall Out Boy. No surprise, but I squeezed up about halfway as they started the set. It was a very similar set to the show they played in Philly, but it was mostly enjoyable. A lot of songs from the new album again, so I felt like that slowed things down a little, but I was into while I was there. Once the last screams of "Saturday" were finished we filtered slowly out and I went to our meeting place by the merch booths which turned out to be a lot of other people's meeting place as well.

It seemed like a very long walk to the car, and once we found the Metro station, it seemed like a long train ride back to the car. Being tired didn't help. We got to the car and had a bit of drive ahead of us to the hotel where Joanna stayed when she was on tour in Chicago. This time she had to sleep in the back of the car with me though instead of having a nice bed. At least we had a safe, free parking spot.

Sep 8, 2013

After successfully finding a ticket for the Fall Out Boy show for a good price, I had to go to Philly early to meet the guy at the box office. I met the guy I talked to and his daughter, who was very upset about not being able to go to the show. I was happy to get a ticket though. I went over to the nearby Whole Foods to get food from their bar for lunch and ate most of it before going out for a game at Sedgley by myself. I had a good game and the course played really fast.

 I went to The Abbaye for a couple of beers, the Anchor BigLeaf Maple which was pretty tasty and the Terrapin Tree Hugger which was refreshing. It got pretty boring sitting at a table by myself so I walked over to The Foodery and constructed myself a four pack of beers with generous ABVs. I parked my car a block from the Liacouras Center and poured my Wawa cup full of the Cape of Good Hope and turned up the Less Than Jake. This year's batch is amazing. It was a little awkward since Broad Street is really busy at that area, but I was enjoying myself. Darkness fell and I was texting people inside to find out when I should finish my last beer and head in.

There was a little bit of a line at the door so I ended up missing Panic's first song or two. It was unfortunate that I found out later that they played my favorite song first. They were really good, and I was surprised to know more of the songs they played than I thought I would. Even the newer ones they played were ones I had heard or was familiar with. It was a fun set, but the crowd was filled with jerks and people that just wanted to stand still. I wasn't having any of that.

After a long wait with people pushing on me intentionally and making friends with people nearby as I talked about what assholes the others were being, Fall Out Boy finally came out. They opened with "The Phoenix," which is a great opener and then went into a great selection of songs. They played quite a few new songs, which I got into during the show, but I wished they played more older stuff of course. Patrick played a piano acoustic version of "What a Catch, Donnie" and then segued into "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" with Brendan Urie. That was a cool moment.

They went out to a small stage in the center of the GA section to play a small acoustic set of "Lawyer" and "Grand Theft Autumn," which I would very much rather hear electric. After that they finished the regular set and started the encore with "Save Rock and Roll," so I was pleased with that choice. They finished strong with "Saturday" as always and the crowd slowly filed up the steps and back out to the street. I was really glad that I parked on the street because the parking garages were a mess. I was literally in my house before Kate told me her and Jon were finally getting on the bridge.

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.

Dec 16, 2008

I got up in the morning and had to sort through the semester's worth of drawings to get them all back together for Rachel. She wanted to see almost everything we had done. It was a lot when I hung it up. I had to run through the lines of bs with her about how I've improved and whatnot.. just hoping to talk my way into a better grade.

After that final critique, I continued blocking off the hallway with giant pieces of cardboard. You could still get through, I just made it harder.

It was my final installation for 3D Design. I had to make a 3D piece or installation in the style of an artist that I studied. The guy I did, Richard Serra, did huge steel structures that people could walk through, so I adapted that idea and used the hallway as part of my piece.

It was fun to walk through and everyone seemed to enjoy it mostly. Colleen is overly critical but I think she even liked it. I played Nathan's music for the Don & Chuck theme while people wandered through.

We took off right after my critique to New York. I had a surprise for Katie. She didn't know what we were doing at all until we got right about where this picture was taken.

It was snowing pretty crazy the whole time we were outside walking from Penn Station to the Nokia Theater.

Where Fall Out Boy was playing an actual show this time.

Tyga opened the show. He wasn't bad, he's got a lot of energy on stage too.

Fall Out Boy played a lot of old stuff and I was surprised not a lot of new songs.

Joe "Frohman" Trohman. The band had a lot of crazy stuff going on including dancers dressed like bears. It was pretty fun to watch.

They also busted out the light up guitars for "I Don't Care" and another song. Overall it was a good show, just not what their shows used to be. Blame the fans, not the band.

Another long drive home. But it was a fun night. Snow in New York is always good.

Dec 15, 2008

After I convinced Katie it would be wise to skip our final exam and go to New York, we went and got on the subway. She's still not sure if it was a good idea.

A crowd had gathered at Washington Square Park where a "secret" performance was to be held.

The guys in Fall Out Boy showed up only to be told by the police that they'd be sorry if they played any music. They were visibly upset about it but they couldn't do anything. They were trying to have a small performance without any permits but it got too big.

Patrick still graced the crowd with a solo version of "Grand Theft Autumn." Everyone sang along loudly. It was great of him and pretty cool to see.

Shortly after the song, Pete told the crowd he was sorry and passed out some copies of the new cd before security rushed them off.

We went to Jamba Juice and got some Pomegranate Paradise.

Then we found Whole Foods and got dinner.

We had some time to kill before the next covert meeting, so we walked around, went to Barnes and Noble to read for a while and got falafel shortly before midnight.

At midnight, Pete showed up at the Virgin Megastore and walked past the significantly smaller crowd into the store and picked up a box of their new album. He took about thirty discs over to the register and had the clerk ring them up.

Then he turned and started handing them out after signing them. I told him we skipped our final to come out and he signed a disc and told me to hand that in to my teacher instead.

He eventually got up on the counter to hand them out. He also had about six one-of-a-kind artwork discs to hand out and I got one of those too.

After he left and the mob dispersed, we took our subway back to the PATH and headed back home.

Sure, we missed a final and didn't get much more out of it than a sing-along in the park and a few free CDs but I still had a good time.