I went with my friend Rebecca. At one point we were talking about concerts and everything she had been too (which was only three) was in some way related to American Idol, including a Daughtry concert, and then I think maybe there was something that was country music.
I told her at the time that was no good, and that she needed to go to a real concert, and that between my sisters and I, we would make it happen. So I asked her, and it turns out that she loves AAR, and she wasn’t sure if she could go, because when you have a husband and children your schedule is not quite as free, but she decided that she could and tickets were bought.
The doors opened at 7, so we got downtown at about 6:40. It was at the Crystal Ballroom, and there was a line snaking around the building. We started going to our place in line, and we were passing tour buses, and suddenly Mike Kennerty (guitar) walked right by us. If I had been thinking I should have taken out my camera, but I didn’t want to be a pain, and no one else was paying any attention to him, and he was gone really quickly. Still, that made me all the more alert.
As we took our place in line, shortly afterwards I saw someone walking a dog, and I know the dog was Dexter (dog), and so I am pretty sure that it was Nick Wheeler (guitar) walking him, but he was wearing a hoodie. So this was getting kind of exciting already, and I am pretty sure that I saw people from the others bands because they looked like they were in bands, and then seemed familiar later when they took the stage. (Especially one of the guys in Sunderland, who has really curly hair and stands out because of that.)
So, we will get to all of this later assuming no global catastrophe happens Friday, but In Passing came up while we were in line, Sunderland was playing when we got upstairs, and then Parachute played after that. I was surprised that the Rejects were not going last (that was Boys Like Girls), but it ended up working out well.
Anyway, it was finally time for the All-American Rejects. So, set-up is going on, and we are impatiently waiting, and it seems to be mainly roadies, but one of them has scary face makeup (kind of white with an upside down cross on his forehead), making me think that he is actually a musician, and it was in fact Scott Chesak (keyboards). There is one roadie who looks a lot like Chris Gaylor (drums) (at least I think the other guy is a roadie), and one other person setting up, and finally, the lights go dark.
Now at this point, normally the band takes the stage and starts playing, but it turns out that they were getting a lot more into Halloween than I was expecting, so the first thing that happened was that with an empty stage and darkness they started playing “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, I promise you have heard it. It is dark, foreboding music, very dramatic, and it gets used in a lot of movies and movie trailers.
Finally they come on, and Scott is not the only one with his face made up. Tyson Ritter (lead vocals) has skull makeup, Mike and Matt Rubano (bass) both had red makeup on their faces, but it looked completely different. Matt’s was more demonic, and Tyson described Mike as, “apparently the man who ate a baby”. Nick and Chris did not have any makeup that I could see, so it was not fair that Tyson picked on us for not celebrating Halloween, but seriously, it never occurred to me to wear a costume. Apparently several people at the show the night before in Seattle had been, but it was the Saturday night before Halloween for them, so maybe it made sense.
They did post pictures from their Halloween show in San Francisco, and they went all out. Nick is Dracula, Chris is a mad scientist, Tyson is a mummy, Mike is a skeleton, Matt is a wolfman, and Scott is a clown. They’re pretty impressive.
Anyway, it was a really good show. I thought it would be more about promoting the most recent album, Kids in the Street, but actually they played a mix from all four records, focusing mainly on singles. That may be somewhat of a ten year anniversary thing.
On the plus side, earlier in the week Nick had tweeted asking if there were any older songs fans wanted to hear, and I replied with three, one from each previous album. I did not feel at all creative—I didn’t ask for anything really obscure—but nonetheless, they played all of them! They not only played Swing, Swing, Tyson talked about writing it. They played Dirty Little Secret. And then, Tyson seemed to be goofing off, and just flirting with the audience, and then as he started saying “I wanna touch you” I realized I was getting my final wish, and they played I Wanna. That’s one of my singing practice songs, and I was out of the loop when it came out, so I have no idea how big it was or anything about it, and it was the one I least expected, but they played it!
The downside of the more retrospective nature of the show is that there were two songs from the current album that I was really looking forward to that did not get played: I For You and Fast and Slow. I really love both of those songs. However, I have to say that the title track performance was really great. It was not an elaborate lighting setup, but they did set a different mood with “Kids in the Street”, one which I think the song kind of demands, and it really worked.
The most amazing thing is how different an experience it is to see a band play live. You get one sense of appreciation from listening to the music, and even from watching the music videos. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know that Tyson was totally spastic before watching him own the stage, and then climb the windows, and spend time in the audience—no, I knew.
I also already had a lot of affection for the individual band members from the tweets. Actually, even with Chris not tweeting I have an affection for him, and this made me feel differently about the tweeting. I had already felt like he is just more private, and would not enjoy tweeting, which I respected. After the show, I feel more protective towards him, and I want him to have that privacy, and don’t want anyone to pressure him to do something he doesn’t want to do, even if we would like hearing from him. (And he totally looks like he can handle himself, and needs no protection, so it is nonsensical, but there you are.)
Actually the Rejects in general are pretty good about giving fans access. They do video diaries of the tours, and release behind the scenes photos pretty regularly, so you get to see different sides, which is nice, but still, I like them so much better seeing them live! It just reveals something. Maybe it’s because they seem to be having such a good time, and I love that about watching musicians. They put their heart out there, and they have a lot of fun doing it, and they do it for us. How can you not love that?
Also, and this is getting outside of the concert experience, but I want to go back and reference something I wrote in October:
“I guess what I am trying to say is that even though it sounds like a polished album, it also seems to be experimental, and maybe what this means is that they are growing into a new phase, and developing a new sound, It’s not a refutation of the previous sound, but it is a maturation of the band. What I feel like is that they can be around for a long time and they will keep being interesting.”
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-love-albums.html
That part was specifically about the album Kids in the Street, and there was more in there about that album, and other albums, but if nothing else, just this: I keep loving them more and I believe that will continue, because the the trajectory they have been on. And it was a really good show.
I’m pretty sure we left at the right time because as I was heading down the stairs, suddenly, right it front of me again, is Mike Kennerty. I stopped, and Rebecca asked “What’s wrong?”, and he was talking to someone but he looked at me. I said “I just wanted to say Great show’, and he thanked me, and I shook his hand.
Actually that was awkward, and I later realized I think he thought I was going to hug him, and that it would have been okay, so I blew that one, but I’m just not that forward. And yes, it would have been smart to whip out my camera then, but I felt like that is too intrusive. So the moral of that story is just that I am awkward, which we knew, and frankly, I think if that was going to go away it would have done so by now. Fortunately, most people are pretty nice about it. It probably helps that, based on the number of people who ask me for the time and directions, I apparently look harmless. My gifts are not the most impressive ones, but they work out.
(Also, that so many people need to ask time/directions shows that I am not the only smart phone holdout.)
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