CHAOTICBLACK'S DEVIANTART JOURNAL
WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG JOURNAL!
Note: The first part is just a giant rant about what I think of the band, From First to Last. If you just want to read my bullshit on Warped Tour, skip down to the first bar line.
From First to Last… ever heard of them? Yes? No? Maybe so? It doesn’t matter since I’m going to write a nice long rant about them below. Mwah ha ha ha…
Where shall I begin? Let me take you to the retarded setting of my living room.
I recorded the 4 hour episode of Warped Wednesday on Fuse featuring The Used. There I was… staring mindlessly at the T.V. screen while Bert and Jeph say what they think of Warped Tour and shit and playing random videos from artists that have been on or will be on Warped Tour. About halfway through it they play the video for “Ride the Wings of Pestilence” by “From First to Last”…
The
VIDEO freaked me out the first time I saw it since there was blood, Sonny drooling on the ground, and other… stuff… <.< My first of impression of them was something along the lines of “Mini Satanist Band!” due to Travis wearing a shirt with the Satanic star and the video story. Of course… I started listening to the song more and ignored the video story and what do you know… I FALL IN LOVE WITH THE SONG! Seriously… about the 3rd time after I watched the video, I completely obsess over the song and call ~
LinkinParkFrog1 over to my house to listen to the song. I don’t concentrate on anything besides the band’s performance and the song anymore. It’s a great song to listen to and a great video to watch while you’re working out. You know, you’re all sweaty and you start screaming, “DEAR DIARY MY TEEN ANGST BULLSHIT HAS A BODY COUNT!!!!!!!!!” Let’s just hope nobody was watching…
Next day, I go look up the lyrics. I admit they WERE a wee bit… err… disturbing… for example…
I've been dreaming about you
In a pool of your own blood
With your eyes gouged out
By the work of my thumbs
The scent of your insides
From under the floor boards
The perfect perfume
For settling a score
But I got over it. Truly an amazing song...
I didn’t think they were going to be on Warped Tour since I was careless when I looked up the line up for the show. So I sat there… rotting my brain away as I watched that video over and over and over again.
I went on the internet so I could begin step 1 of obsessing over a band (yes, I do it quite often) and began memorizing the names of the band members and their positions. Their official website wasn’t working very well and Google was being mean so I only figured out that the lead singer’s name was Sonny. I was like, “Oh crap… how do you pronounce that?! Is it like “Sunny” or is it with a long “o” or short “o”?”
So that was pretty sad. Other than that… I just got snatches of information like their full-length album was called “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Body Count” (took me 10 minutes before I memorized that). I was wondering if I would find any more information about FFTL on the Fuse Message Board when I came across this:
”… and Sonny wants everyone to make shirts that say MINION. So get a plain shirt at like, Kmart and go to a fabric store and get iron letters, or fabric markers and work on those shirts.
I thought that was pretty interesting. I said to myself, “If I ever go to a FFTL concert, I’ll do that…”
After that, I went to the official Warped Tour website so I could check on the list of bands that would be playing at which stage. That’s when I saw this:
SMART PUNK
Emery
Boys Night Out
Hopesfall
Yesterday's Rising
FFTL
Armor For Sleep
Greeley Estates
This Providence
I didn’t recognize From First to Last’s acronym (is that what they’re called?) the first time I looked. So when I DID find out, I nearly exploded with incredible joy. I was so excited… creepy adrenaline rush. XD
Did I mention ~
LinkinParkFrog1 was going with me to Warped Tour (and her sister
)? Well… anyway… I called her and started babbling about it as fast as I could. The problem was… she wanted (very badly) to go see Avenged Sevenfold after reading about them in the magazine, “Revolver”, and if the bands were playing in the order listed on the website, Avenged Sevenfold and FFTL were playing at the same time. So ~
LinkinParkFrog1 had to spend some time deciding who she wanted to see, but in the end, she wanted Avenged Sevenfold after getting their albums. Tut tut… I asked my mother if I could buy “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Body Count” but she had a reaction that was something like,”What?! Another CD?” and I didn’t get it until 2 days before Warped Tour. 2 DAYS I had to memorize the songs and the lyrics. I didn’t get it all done, but when they performed I knew all the songs pretty well. I’ll have more on that later.
So… after a couple days of studying FFTL I’ve memorized the band member’s names and positions (Sonny Moore – Lead Vocals / Matt Good – Lead Guitar, Vocals / Travis Richter – Guitar, Vocals / Derek Bloom – Drums / Jon Weisberg – Bass), learned that Sonny is only 17 (he has such a nice voice at such a young age), and other stuff… yeah. If a FFTL fan sees something wrong in this, you have permission to smack me.
A couple days later, I went and bought “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Body Count”. Even though I’m like, a year late, it’s an AMAZING album… really… though there are some songs on there that… uh… freak me out a bit. I gotta admit, I’ve never really come across an album that I couldn’t put an exact opinion on… until now, of course. They’ve sorta disrupted my favorite band system, so from now on, on my favorite band of musician thing, I’m just going to put the band(s) that I’m listening to the most now. It makes my life considerably easier.
Hmm… when I think about, From First to Last are a bit harder than what I usually listen to. But I guess it’s good to expand my music taste a bit. I read in some interviews that they are going to get a lot heavier. Well, if they get so hard that I can’t take it, I’ll probably lose interest in them, sadly. OR I could just be one of their fans that’ll go, “I liked their old stuff better”, or something. But I respect a band’s right to experiment you know. Fans won’t always like what their favorite bands will do and stuff. They said they haven’t found their “sound” yet, so I believe in them to do more and stuff. I may not like their new stuff, but I guess I’ll still support the band… we’ll see.
Ok, sorry. I had to let that all out. I know you probably clicked on this journal to read about Warped Tour (or to see if I’m still alive), so I’ll get to that shortly.
________________________________________ ___________
WARPED TOUR ‘05
I thought it would be much more difficult to convince my parents to let me go to Warped Tour. They said that during summer I wouldn’t always have to study and stuff, so they were pretty easy on me. Wow… I guess I’ll have to keep up my grades and effort in other stuff if I’m going to keep this up. I wonder if it’s possible to be a smart nerd and a music junkie at the same time. Hmm… I guess I can try.
Anyhow, my cousin, Tanny, was the one who took us to Warped Tour since it was close to where she lived. We would be staying at her apartment. She had some of her friends come with us so they could protect us from the mosh pits. They were our…“bodyguards”. Tickets were only $26.00, a good price for such a priceless experience. We arrived at Tanny’s city a day before Warped Tour so we could prepare for it and get a good night’s rest. Before we went to bed, we went to the mall and bought some shit. ~
LinkinParkFrog1 (Shirley) bought a creepy Avenged Sevenfold shirt and A7X’s (short for “Avenged Sevenfold”) “City of Evil” while I bought a plain white shirt and wrote “Minion” on the front and “From First to Last” on the back with a black permanent marker. I DO have some shots of that shirt though… I can post them at the end of this journal. After that, we went to Olive Garden to eat, went for a dip in a pool, and I took some more pictures of Tanny’s apartment. Shirley and I didn’t go to sleep for some time since we just stayed up and babbled about music into the night.
THE NEXT DAY… we woke up, rather tired. Shirley and her sister (Tina) fought over who got to use the shower first. I wore my Minion shirt while Shirley wore her newly bought A7X shirt. We ate a small breakfast (eggs, bacon, and hash browns) and got directions from Mapquest. The place wasn’t very hard to find. There were signs all over the freeway pointing the way. Tanny had told us that WT started at 10:00 A.M. but actually, it started at noon. So we got there about 2 hours early… WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A VERY GOOD IDEA. By 11:30 the line was
insanely long. Near the gates I saw a sign that said, “No cameras”, so I couldn’t take any pictures in WT. It also said “No Beverages” so we had to take the Gatorade we brought with us back to the car. When I look at the majority of the other people attending Warped Tour, I feel so terribly… small. Most of them looked around their teen years and wore black and/or band t-shirts. I’m pretty sure you have a typical idea of what they look like. You know… dyed black hair and what punks would wear. While we were standing their waiting in line, random people would ask us if they would listen to their band’s music so they could spread the word about their band and stuff. They were selling their albums for a pretty cheap price, but I preferred to save my money for whatever merchandise and shit they were selling during Warped Tour. Erin (or Aaron, I don’t know how to spell his name), one of our bodyguards, was saying how the bands would probably get more attention if they walked around saying stuff like,”My band sucks. Do you want to listen to them?” We stood in line for, like, 2 hours. The heat was intense, but I think sitting through a 3 hour Stanford Graduation with no sunscreen on burned away my nerve cells, so I hardly felt the sweat trickle down my face and back. And I HAD sunscreen on this time (and I wasn’t wearing black). XD To avoid dying of boredom, I looked around at the other band shirts people were wearing. I saw MANY A7X shirts and about 1 or 2 people wearing a From First to Last shirt, and I actually saw another person wearing a “Minion” shirt. Finally, around 12:15, they started letting people in. Thank god we got there earlier or we would’ve been stuck in the line for probably about an hour.
Security wasn’t too bad. It only took about 15 seconds for me to get checked and go through the gates. Once through I spotted the “Battle of the Bands” stage where some band there was playing. A few people were listening to them but most of the people were just walking through the gates and continuing straight to the tents or the main stage. When the majority of the flow of people started making their way away from the “Battle of the Bands” stage, we started to hear stuff like, ”Hey! You losers come back and listen to us.” Crazy weirdos…
A giant balloon billboard in the middle of the field showed which bands were playing at what times. We shuffled over and wrote down the times of the bands we wanted to see on a piece of paper we found on the ground. So, first on our list was Hawthorne Heights on the main stage. The main stage was right smack at the edge of the field. Due to the cheapness of my state, bands would take turn playing on the left and right sides of the stage which were called the “Bishop” and “Mike” stage. Hawthorne Heights were playing on the “Bishop” stage (left). Since Shirley was saying that she wanted to save her ears for A7X we just stood at the back by the sound barrier and watched them from there. I knew every single damn word but I thought I would look stupid just standing in the back and jumping up and down like a nimrod. So yeah… JT (the lead singer) was saying how they would do a signing at their merch tent after they played. Overall, they weren’t too bad. We sort of got bored about halfway through their set so I decided to look for the Epitaph tent to see if I could pick up any more information about FFTL. Unfortunately, all I learned was that they were playing at 7:00 (6 hours later XO). Well, we each picked up a copy of the program of Warped Tour by Alternative Press and went inside the amphitheater to by some water (it was REALLY hot). And Jesus, it cost $2.75 per bottle! They sell CDs and shit pretty cheaply, but when it comes to the most vital things, they’re insanely expensive! @_@ Plus they take the caps off… stupid assholes.
After we bought the insanely expensive water, we went and sat on the right hill for awhile so we could watch Matchbook Romance. I wasn’t terribly interested in them (but they weren’t bad) so I decided to go look out over the mass of tents and see if I could spot the FFTL tent. But instead of spotting the FFTL tent I saw the death bat and spotted the A7X tent, at which point I pointed that out to Shirley and she freaked out. Then Tina decided that she wanted Hawthorne Height’s signatures so we made our way down to the bunch of tents. Once we got down there it wasn’t hard to spot the long line forming from the Hawthorne Heights tent. We would’ve gotten in line if I hadn’t spotted the FFTL tent and freaked out and Shirley spotted the A7X tent and freaked out. The A7X tent and the FFTL tent were almost right across from each other so Shirley went to admire the merch the A7X tent had while I went and wondered if I should buy a FFTL shirt. But I didn’t think about that for too long before my mind started wondering, “Is that Derek selling the merch?” (Please note that I still had trouble identifying the band members of FFTL at this point). So I leaned back on the pole of the FFTL tent and pondered that amusing thought. Then I started reading the writing scribbled all over the merch table in permanent marker. I read stuff like:
”Don’t be a dick! Tip me and you MIGHT get something free.”
Then I saw a picture of the guy selling merch with his eyes crossed out glued on the table with the caption “Tip this guy” (or something like that). That brought back a memory of something I had read on the internet. I think someone said to give Ricky a BIG tip if you had bought merch at their live show. “So that dude selling merch at their tent is Ricky!” I concluded mentally. Yes… it took me about 10 minutes took figure out that that was Ricky, the dude who sells FFTL’s merch. Pathetic, isn’t it? It took me awhile, but I finally gathered up the courage to go ask him if I could buy one of their shirts. The main stage was so damn loud that I had to lean across the table and scream my words so I could be heard. In the end, I bought a FFTL shirt that I thought would scare my parents the least. Then I put $3 in the tip jar and Ricky gave me a poster of FFTL.
Shirley bought another A7X shirt and right before we started making our way back up the hill, I stopped and stared at the members of Hawthorne Heights for a few seconds. I was only about 15 feet away from JT when my mind started being retarded and thought, “Wow… JT’s rather chubby isn’t he?” @_@
Back to the hill! While Matchbook Romance was finishing up, I skimmed through the Warped Tour program. They were doing interviews with some of the bands of Warped Tour and asking them if they were a superhero what kind of powers they would have and stuff. Interesting stuff…
After Matchbook Romance was finished with their set, we set off to look for the Smartpunk since FFTL were playing there and it was no where in sight. So there we were, wandering around aimlessly. We occasionally we stopped by a random tent to pick up free stuff. After descending one hill, ascending another one, refilling our water bottles, and walking through another large crowd I spotted the Smartpunk stage. When I got closer I discovered THAT JESUS, THAT STAGE IS PUNY!!!! Compared to the main stage, holy shit, how do they expect a band (especially FFTL) to perform on such a small stage? We walked past the stage to see what other stuff was there. A laser tag tent caught our attention. So while Tanny, Tina, and Steven took up guns and attempted to blow each other’s brains out Shirley, Aaron, and I leaned back and observed. When they were finished (Tanny won) we noticed a bright orange tent with Cingular logos all over it. The dude by the entrance said that this was a VIP tent and only people owning Samsung cell phones could enter. Only Aaron had a Samsung cell phone but the dude said we could all enter as long as Aaron was with us. He gave us all stickers to put on our clothes somewhere to use as passes. When we entered everything seemed orange-tinted. There were seats all across the sides of the tent and a fan to cool the room so it was very relaxing. We didn’t stay too long since Shirley wanted to get to A7X’s stage earlier. Satisfied with the knowledge of where the Smartpunk stage was at, we walked all the way back to the hills surrounding the main stage and sat down on the left one. We watched a couple more bands perform, and then Shirley, Aaron, and I made our way down to the floor by the main stage to see Avenged Sevenfold. Relient K was still about halfway through their set, so Shirley’s patience quickly drained away. I suppose that’s the only reason she dislikes Relient K now. <.< But I thought they were pretty good! I mean, they sounded pretty good and stuff! Aaron said they were rather “wimpy” but you know, they are a Christian rock band. But does that necessarily make you “wimpy”? Maybe it was just the lack of swearing… XD
Finally, Avenged Sevenfold came on stage with smoke billowing out from the front. And… what the hell? Matt (the lead singer) was wearing a white shirt! That looked so terribly out of place, that all I could do was stare at him for the first few minutes. “GET THOSE FUCKING FISTS UP IN THE AIR!” Matt Shadows was screaming. Even though I knew none of their songs, I was still able to enjoy their performance. About 15 minutes into their set, we had to leave the floor and get back to the hill for some reason. I think it was due to the heavy moshing in front of us, but I’m still not sure. So we watched the remainder of the A7X show from the hill. When I looked at the stage again from the hill I noticed that Matt had taken off his white shirt to reveal a black one that showed off his muscles. Thank god… I think it looked more “natural” on him. Overall, they were pretty good live to me. After I heard the first part of the chorus of the song “Bat Country” it got stuck in my head. -_- They were also doing a signing after the show, and we would definitely go this time no matter how long the line. (Shirley will love Avenged Sevenfold forever now.)
It was near the end of their show when I spotted someone trotting down the hill about 10 feet away that looked familiar. When I looked at his face more closely, there was absolutely no mistaking it.
SONNY MOORE WAS WALKING DOWN THE HILL ONLY ABOUT 10 FEET AWAY FROM ME
I sat there immobilized by complete shock as realization started dawning on me. I was so dumbfounded that the prospect of asking him to sign my shirt never occurred to me. I hesitated, hardly daring to believe my eyes. Only when I saw him reach the bottom of the hill and someone stopped him for a picture when I started coming back to my senses. I tapped Shirley frantically on the shoulder and pointed him out. I stood up and tried to keep my eyes on him when A7X’s set ended. So I lost sight of him as we walked back down the hill and joined the crowd of people and tents.
By then, I was almost totally consumed by rage at myself for not going up to him. I stood there in line by the A7X tent, continuously muttering random curses at myself. Not even the snow cone Steven bought for me could bring me out of my fury. About 10 minutes before the line started moving; a guy started walking by the line passing out A7X posters. It showed the cover of “City of Evil”. So after about 20 more mundane minutes of waiting in line, we finally arrived at the tent at which point I handed them the poster so they could sign it and I shook hands with Johnny Christ.
I noticed that Matt Shadows was missing from the tent, and wondered where could he possibly be. I told Johnny that they performed amazingly and he seemed to smile and say “thank you”. Of course, it was so damn loud that you couldn’t make out anything they said. When I got all four of them to sign my poster I walked past the tent and waited for Tina to finish getting her poster signed. Shirley looked like her dreams had come true. Apparently the Reverend (drummer) had shaken her hand. After that, we walked back up the hill, feeling much happier since we were privileged with meeting such a great band.
At this point, I had realized that the marker I had brought with me was dried out. That brought up the horrible idea of what would have happened if I HAD gone up to Sonny with a dried out marker. I would have been embarrassed as fuck. >.>
I’m not exactly sure what happened between the time of watching and A7X and FFTL, but I remember going back to the hill. I remember No Use for a Name playing then and then Fall Out Boy. And sometime after that, I paid Steven to go buy some food for us. About 20 minutes later, he came back with hotdogs, onion rings, fried chicken, and other various food items. It was insanely hot so I didn’t really feel like eating. I ate a little, but quickly stopped since we were short on water. I think sometime after we ate, we traveled back across to the amphitheater to use the restroom. I sort of have a… a… well… a porta-potty paranoia problem so I didn’t use the porta-potties. Heck, I have a high disliking for any dirty bathrooms. T_T Anyhow, I was sweating so badly that I probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference if I had peed my pants. The bathrooms were at least decent. I had nearly mastered the art of breathing through the mouth to block out the evil smells so I didn’t have too much problems. Basically the only problem was pulling my pants up and down cause I was covered in so much sweat.
When we walked out of the amphitheater, MXPX were playing. Tanny wanted to see them and thought they were playing at a later time. Turns out they had already started so we quickly took a seat on the right hill and watched them. I didn’t really pay attention to them but instead found myself staring at the pit that was forming in the crowd. It wasn’t really a mosh pit since people were running around the edges in a circular formation. They would slow down or speed up depending on the song and there was lots of pushing. I remember Sonny saying something about “bringing the circles pits back” during an interview. So, those must be circle pits. They don’t look as intense as mosh pits but I prefer to stay away from both. I heard if you’re wearing glasses while in a mosh pit they’ll get knocked off if in no time.
After MXPX we sort of just sat there, wondering where we should go next. It was still an hour before FFTL were going to play. Eventually, we decided to wander back to the Smartpunk stage area. So… we walk back through the hills and the mass of people and end up going back to the VIP tent. We sat there for some time reading our magazines and stuff. About 25 minutes till 7:00 we walked out and saw Armor for Sleep. They were ending their song “Car Underwater”. I sort of stood there at the back of the crowd watching them with mild curiosity. After they finished that song I think the lead singer said something along the lines of, “If you see us walking around, don’t be afraid to walk up to us and say “hi”. We’re not weird or anything.” Of course, my devious mind thought, if you say you’re not weird you ARE weird. XD After that I heard, “Our good friends, From First to Last, are playing next so you guys be sure to stick around for them”. “Good”, I thought. They played one more song then the band walked off the stage.
After they walked off stage, I tried to get as close as possible. Since the people who were watching Armor for Sleep at the front stayed there, I couldn’t get to the barrier. Of course, I was only 6 feet away from the stage. Yay! Since Tina was so terribly short, she had to sit on Steven’s shoulders to see. Heck, it was even a bit difficult to see. I occasionally stood on my toes for a few seconds to get a better look on what was going on the stage. A little while later the drummer (I think) of Armor for Sleep walked back on stage and started setting up FFTL’s equipment. And then, who should appear but RICKY!
He had his shirt off and writing over his chest (wtf). I couldn’t make out what the writing said though. Ricky appeared to be testing the guitars and stuff. I think even Derek came on stage and started testing his drums (though I was so stupid I didn’t recognize him). While all the testing occurred the speakers were playing random songs from artists like Korn. They even started to play “Ride the Wings of Pestilence” but quickly stopped since FFTL WERE going to play next. There was a loud “ahh…” of disappointment from the crowd. How stupid… A couple minutes before the band came on stage, I heard the girls in front of me squeal, “Look! There he is!” and then scream that awful high-pitched girly screaming. I immediately think, “They’ve spotted Sonny” and stand on my toes so I could get a better view. Sure enough, there he was on the far right of the stage. He looked rather irritated. Hmm…
Finally, after waiting for this moment for about a week, THE BAND MEMBERS RUN ON STAGE! They started out with the song, “The One-Armed Boxer VS the Flying Guillotine”, which I was expecting. Look at the lyrics:
Kill the lights!
Hello ladies and gentlemen
I’m glad you’ve graced me with your presence
You’re in time to see me wrestling my conscience
staring into silence
Then I noticed something else; Sonny wasn’t there. “What?” my brain automatically thinks. “Did he get sick or something?” But I quickly crushed that thought and said to myself, “Stupid. Sonny doesn’t sing at this part yet. Besides, we would’ve known if he’d gotten sick”. Sure enough, after a loud
”KILL THE LIGHTS!!!!” from Travis, and maybe even Jon and Derek, Sonny came running on stage and began the verse. I noticed something else. Sonny seemed to have a large dark ring around his left eye. Was it make-up or a black eye? I didn’t have time to dwindle on that thought for very long because the entire band was so energetic and kept the crowd going! And then Sonny SPIT something out of his mouth. I thought it was a piece of white gum at first. It turned out to be a spit wad but I didn’t figure that out till later. They sang and played EXTREMELY well so far, and I tried to jump up and down as much as my body would let me. I probably would’ve done it more if the people around me did. I felt a little… stupid if I was the only one jumping up and down and raising my fist. T_T I knew most of the lyrics to that song and could sing along fairly well even though I have only had the album for 2 days.
After “The One Armed Boxer VS the Flying Guillotine”, Sonny said (or screamed, rather), “WE ARE FROM FIRST TO LAST!!!!”
*loud cheering/screaming* (what little moisture was left in my throat)
Sonny: … Let’s try that again.
WE ARE FROM FIRST TO LAST!!!!!!!!!
*LOUD
ER cheering/screaming*
That seemed to satisfy him. I had to swallow a bunch of saliva so I could still sing. Then he said something like, “I think I see a few familiar faces… we’ve always enjoyed playing at Boise. Oh, “hi” to the little one on the shoulders.”
Most of the crowd turned around to stare at Tina for a split second before focusing their attention back on the band. I didn’t show it very much outwardly, but inside I was seething with incredible jealously. I only thought about for a couple minutes before they began their next song.
The horrible thing was… I didn’t know what song they were playing! I was like, “Oh shit, what is this song?” I had to rely on “instinct” so I could follow along on what they were singing. -_-
After that they either played, “Secrets Don’t Make Friends” or “Kiss Me, I’m Contagious”. I think it was “Secrets Don’t Make Friends” but I’m not sure. I knew the lyrics to Secrets pretty well and had a lot of fun singing a long. When they started on “Kiss Me, I’m Contagious”, Sonny switched the mic with Travis and took up the guitar. So Travis did the singing (or screaming, excuse me) since the majority of the vocals of that song is basically screaming. And damn, his screaming is GOOD! I was amazed at how well controlled it was, and I’m not even a usual fan of screaming. While Travis was screaming like a maniac Sonny, Matt, and Jon were jumping up and down and spinning around like hell with guitars/bass. A lot of people had their fists in the air shaped like a gun. That was definitely one of the most entertaining/fun things I have ever seen in my life. I would’ve preferred it if Sonny joined in on the “Bang! Bang! Guns go bang!” part in the chorus though. “Kiss Me, I’m Contagious” is just so good live… wow.
“We’re going to play 2 more songs. This next song is a very special song. We just shot a video for it and it’ll be out in a couple weeks. This song is called “Note to Self”.
I’m pretty sure Sonny said something like that before “Note to Self”. My memory is sort of screwed on what exactly he said, but it’s close enough. I knew they would HAVE to play “Ride the Wings of Pestilence” after “Note to Self” (it also was very well played). If they didn’t play “Ride the Wings of Pestilence” then I would have been completely shocked and disappointed. It’s the only song they’ve released.
After “Note to Self”, sure enough, I heard a loud “RIDE THE WINGS OF FUCKING PESTILENCE!!!!” from Sonny (or was it “Ride the Fucking Wings of Pestilence?). Already seconds into the song, the crowd began jumping up and down like mad. When Sonny hit certain lyrics the crowd would react with movements from their fingers and hands. Like when he said, “… by the work of my thumbs…” the crowd would raise their thumbs or when he said, “… straight through your heart…” the crowd would make hearts with their fingers. Some of the people standing by me tried to start a mosh pit and Tanny and her “bodyguards” had to stand next to me so I could wouldn’t get dragged in or punched. I got pushed a bit before that, but it didn’t matter since I was so caught up in FFTL’s performance. Near the end, a slight wind picked up and started blowing dust over the crowd. I coughed a bit and had to wave all that damn dust and dirt away. Well… other than that,
FFTL WERE INCREDIBLY AMAZING!!! I thought they were the best act in Warped Tour. I didn’t see a lot of bands play, but they definitely have a special spot in me.
After FFTL finished their set, I walked away in a rather dreamy state. I discussed them with Shirley and the guys. We headed back over to the FFTL merch tent to see if they would be doing a signing.
After waiting for about 10 minutes, I asked Ricky if the band members were going to be here. He shrugged and said he had no idea. I also seemed to sense that he was getting rather annoyed. I walked back to my group and told them what Ricky had told me. Tanny asked me if I wanted to go back to their stage to see if they were around their. After a couple seconds of thinking, I decided to just go anyway. But just in case, Tanny asked Ricky first if it was possible that the band members might be wandering around the stage area. He seemed to be even more annoyed and told her that he, again, had no idea and was trying call them but they weren’t responding. So we walked all the way back to the stage and looked around. I didn’t see any of the band members, but Tanny went to go ask the security people there anyway. They had no idea either. Then we walk all the way back to the merch booth again. For some reason, I felt rather bothersome by doing all this. I mean, I DO want to meet FFTL and what not but I DO respect their privacy and shit. I don’t want to go and pester people just so I can meet FFTL. So I felt pretty bad about that when we got to the merch booth. We leaned on a metal dividing bar a couple feet away from the tent and just stood there waiting. Ricky was apparently trying to call someone on his cell phone. But from the look at his face, he wasn’t having much success. It suddenly occurred to me how much I felt sorry for the poor guy. He must have so many people come up to him to ask about FFTL. I asked Shirley if I should just go up to him and tip him more for trying so hard but she said he might get pissed off so I stayed where I was. I turned around so I wouldn’t have to face the tent and stood there telling myself over and over about how it wasn’t my fault if Ricky was pissed. I can start to feel guilty really easily for the most retarded reasons, you know. I was contemplating whether I should’ve bought another shirt so I could have an excuse to tip Ricky when Shirley poked me and pointed.
Ricky was standing there telling us that Matt and Travis were taking showers and the other band members were probably wandering around. He apologized and walked back over to the merch tent. After hearing this, we got together and debated on what to do next. I told them we could just go somewhere and wait from My Chemical Romance to come on stage (8:45). We paid another visit to the indoor bathrooms in the amphitheater but I didn’t need to go. So I just refilled our water bottle with the sink water. We walked out and sat down on the right hill to wait for MCR to begin playing. I was in my gloomy mood then not because I couldn’t get any of my shit signed, but because I felt like an annoying bitch by harassing Ricky. I know there was a possibility that Ricky was irritated for another reason but I couldn’t help feeling stupid anyway. Then The Offspring came on stage.
I could recognize Dexter immediately. Right after their first song, he was like, “What a great crowd! We have guys! And we have girls! WHAT A GREAT COMBINATION!!!!” Shirley and I looked at each other and snickered slightly. But when they began their next song and I took a look at the crowd, holy crap! They had an INSANE amount of crowd surfers and the mosh pit that broke out was HUGE. I poked Shirley and pointed at it. She also was like “holy shit”.
I didn’t know any of songs The Offspring played except for “Can’t Repeat”. I was hoping they’d play “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” but they didn’t, sadly. But the songs they played sounded really good. I give them credit for being able to put on a good live show.
I think 1 or 2 more bands played before My Chemical Romance came on stage. But it was obvious when they did, though I could hardly believe that was Gerard (lead singer). It was signaled by a loud voice shrieking over the entire field.
“THE SUN HAS SET! YOU PEOPLE ON THE HILL GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! YOU’VE HAD A BREAK ALL DAY!”
Though several people were already down on the floor, very few people on the hill bothered to heed Gerard’s command (including us). They started out with the song, “I’m Not OK (I Promise)”. Well… they’re not bad performers. I’m not really a fan of what Gerard does on stage, but I like the rest of the guys. Their performance was pretty good until Gerard started saying things that freaked me out a bit.
“ARE THESE JEANS TOO TIGHT?!”
“SHOW ME THOSE MIDDLE FINGERS! NOW I WANT ALL OF YOU GUYS TO SAY FUCK YEAH!”
“TO ALL THE LADIES OUT THERE: YOU WILL ONE DAY HAVE A ROCK BAND ASK YOU TO SHOW THEM YOUR TITS!”
That sort of just… crossed my line. I really don’t like it when a rock band shows their… well… perverted side. I guess that’s how I could define it.
But other than those freakish statements, the performance wasn’t bad. They ended it with the song, “Helena”. I just couldn’t believe that was Gerard though. He was so calm and sweet in interviews. But yeah… I understand that a band will act completely different for their live act.
Once MCR finished nearly 1/3 of the people at Warped Tour started making their way toward the exit (including us, again). But right before we came to the exit, we saw this lady selling the 2005 Warped Tour Compilation for only $5. Heck, 50 bands for $5, why not buy it? So Shirley, Tina, and I left with a the compilation and feeling like we had just taken a giant step in life.
THE END (of Warped Tour)
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AFTERMATH
This is just random discussion about what happened after Warped Tour and stuff.
If you’ve managed to read all that to this point, know that I am extremely proud of you.
Now, back in the car! While we were back in the car, we talked even more about Warped Tour. Tina asked if she could put the Warped Tour Compilation in the CD drive. Tanny said she thought she had enough of Warped Tour for one day. “WHAT?!” I screamed loudly at once.
We eventually ended up discussing FFTL’s performance, and it turned out that the Sonny’s spit wad HAD LANDED ON TANNY’S SHIRT! XD Rather gross, but funny at the same time. Shirley and I made a stupid joke of how we should sell the shirt on eBay. There was some talk of Sonny’s black eye and how he got it. “Mosh pit, probably…” Shirley thought. I learned later that it was just his make up (the admin of a FFTL message board was screaming at people for assuming it was a black eye). And Shirley agreed with me that Travis’s screaming was insanely good. Mwah ha ha…
Shirley showed me the picture of A7X in the Warped Tour program and was making a big deal out of Synyster Gate’s hat. She says it made him “depressed”. “I mean,” she said, “he didn’t even look up while he signed our posters!” Apparently he didn’t wear that hat during A7X’s earlier years and she said that he looked more aggressive without it. I told her she should’ve stolen his hat while we were at the signing booth. “Yeah! I should’ve done that!” Shirley exclaimed. Then Tina started bragging about how she had shook the hands of
2 of the members of A7X. Shirley looked like she wanted to throttle her.
When we got back to Tanny’s apartment, I laid out some of my merchandise and took some shots of it with my digital camera. I’ll post them at the end of the journal and I’ll see if I should post actual pictures of myself. Hmm…
Since we couldn’t sleep for a long time, Shirley and I spend the earlier parts of the night babbling about Warped Tour and what might have happened if we had done things differently. We came up with a retarded theory of how Synyster and his hat might be like Frosty the Snowman. When you put his hat on, he becomes depressed and when you take it off he becomes angry. XD
I was also thinking of the FFTL signing thing. I admit I AM a bit disappointed that I didn’t get any of my shit signed, but hey, they have their privacy too. I mean, I don’t need Travis and Matt running out in towels just so they can sign my shit. Scary thoughts… eek. I just hope I’ll have the opportunity to meet them one day.
The next day… was both fun and annoying as hell. Mainly because of
TINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SHE WOULD NOT STOP GLOATING!!!! Seriously, I could not go 10 minutes without hearing “Sonny said “hi” to me!” and Shirley would always hear “I got to shake 2 members’ hands!” We both were ready to strangle her and kept on restraining ourselves from punching her. Grr…
But other than that, that day was a lot fun. I wore a Fall Out Boy shirt while Shirley wore her A7X shirt she got at Warped Tour. We ate lunch at Chucky Cheeses. If I was 3 years younger, I would have loved it there. But now… that place just seems… so oddly childish. I mean, I’m not saying I’m a “grown-up” (god, I hate that word) or anything but still, I felt so out of place being there. >.>
One week after Warped Tour Shirley calls me.
“TAMMY!!!!”
“What?”
“HAPPY ONE-WEEK ANNIVERSARY!”
“…”
XD
That’s basically all the interesting things that happened after Warped Tour. I made a noticeable mark on the calendar showing my love for Warped Tour. FFTL’s live performance was really the thing that cemented me as a fan. I have their poster and sticker stuck on my wall now. I even hung up the signed A7X poster even though I’m not an A7X fan. I just felt that item was special since it was actually SIGNED by the band.
Yep. That’s it. I freak out every time a Warped Tour commercial comes on Fuse now, and Shirley asked me if I could record the episode of Steven’s Untitled Rock Show with Avenged Sevenfold.
Truly, Warped Tour was an amazing experience. But now, I have to focus my attention back on my academic achievement and art. I realize that I’ve been getting rather lazy with studying during summer so I’ll have to pick up the pace.
… but not studying is so fun…
Yeah, there’s always the future looming up in my face. I’ll be in junior high school which will be more difficult. Then I’ll be in high school and write college applications and so and so on. T_T
I have a lot to look forward to.
Oh boy.
Due to DeviantART being very nice, they have allowed me the one week subscription thing. So... I'll be able to post the pictures here!
Once again, I am DEEPLY sorry for not being able to get pictures at Warped Tour. It makes me furious that I only have shots of my merchandise and shit.
[link]
hotoAlbum
MISCELLANIOUS CRAP
Art in Progress
Messed Up Phoenix Coloring: 1%
Water Fight: 54%
POTS Coloring: 15%
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My Friends
The Deviants I Stalk
The Clubs I've Joined
I'm still alive! ... I think...
I was relieved that my parents agreed to let me go. This'll be my 2nd concert. After looking back at my behavior on my first concert (WHICH WAS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE...) I swore to myself I wouldn't do anything stupid. I hope I can bring a camera to share some pictures with you guys. 
