Right Back at it Again

A few months ago one of my coworkers had mentioned that she wanted to see A Day to Remember during their new tour, and I told her if they came to Cleveland I would love to go with her and she could crash at my apartment. They ended up not coming to Cleveland, but she was so invested in my going that she bought me a ticket (actually, the VIP package, but we'll get to that) if I would just drive home so we could go to Pittsburgh together. The timing was pretty convenient-- I had to skip my first rock climbing class, but I was going to have to come home for Easter break, so it made plenty of sense to go.

Opening was Chunk! No Captain Chunk and of Mice and Men, which are pretty heavy metal. ADtR gets kind of scream-y, but I wouldn't label them as being metal. If you've never heard of them before, this is one of their more popular softer songs.

So, since we had VIP passes, we got to go in a few hours early and get pictures with the band and have them sign things-- I regret not bringing something cooler to get signed, but the VIP pass seemed appropriate. I also didn't do any fun pose for my picture, but they were totally prepared to do all sorts of goofy things for their fans. They were cool guys.

They had all the VIP people take a group picture (we all got tshirts) and then the band played their new song that hasn't been released yet. So besides all the other VIP people from the cities before us, we were the first to hear it!

The concert was an experience. Chunk! No Captain Chunk! was cute, and a good way for me to get used to the shoving and trampling in the crowd without it getting too out of control. I held on to the bar for dear life, but I didn't make it through the whole concert. My ribs are still bruised from everyone trying to shove their way to the front. No one knew who they were, and you can't really understand a lot while they're screaming, but then after the first few songs when the singer introduced the band we realized we were listening to a french metal band. Then they threw light up styrofoam baguettes at us, and screamed some more, and we all fell in love. Here's a short clip of him talking about their new album "Pardon my French".
(No, really. I'm not kidding. That's what it's called.) 

I don't listen to of Mice and Men, but it was definitely the hardcore metal experience that I needed for my bucketlist. During their set I was baptized with water the guitarist kept spitting at us, twisted into a pretzal, was soaked in strangers' sweat, avoided getting kicked in the back of the head, and had so much alcohol spilled on me it should have constituted as serving a minor. Not really my scene, but I was still able to get into it and have fun. I was also able to shed some dainty flower points, which is a challenge I'll always accept.

Also, it was at this point I made friends with the guy standing beside me who kept trying to shove me out of the way. The other girls we had met up with started yelling, and then he started yelling back, and that got us nowhere, which is why yelling isn't really my style to begin with. I batted my eyelashes at him and suggested if we were going to be so close to each other, we should at least know each other's names. The result was a burly boy probably a foot taller than me that helped me with crowd surfers.



But then A Day to Remember comes on, and this 5'4'' dainty flower had no chance of holding her spot, so I moved to the back where I would be able to see them. They put on an awesome show, even though they haven't released a new album in forever and they still play songs that are over 7 years old. I'll put some videos up in another blog, but it was crazy.

We made it back to Franklin a little after 1, and I had the awesome realization that I hadn't even considered being nervous about driving through Pittsburgh. It was a little tricky getting out of the ctiy, but once we found 279 it was 5-by-5.

This was after I moved to the back balcony.

I believe in crossing off the bucket list, and stepping out of your comfort zone.