Post by HereIsGone on Feb 20, 2011 13:41:15 GMT -5
Figured I should write one of these up since I surprised the whole lot of you here on one bit of info I...conveniently omitted. But before I start, in all seriousness, the reason I didn't say anything about the M&G, and this was before we learned John was sick at Ottawa, was because I generally don't take good pictures and I didn't feel like making a huge deal out of it. Not that it would escape you all, but I don't know...
Can we chalk it up to me being weird...especially considering I also went as far as walking into another room when MSN e-mail notifications would automatically pop up after starting my computer?
...So yeeeeah, we're gonna do that.
This was the first time I ever took someone to a GGD show with me (...who isn't my brother -- he doesn't count) and it was rather fun having someone to chat with on the way there. What can I say? I generally like to keep the knowledge of me being a fairly vested GGD fan separate from real life so I don't run the risk of looking like a loon. But my friend Amanda's cool and she wanted to see them but couldn't join me on my fun-fun-random decision to go to Salamanca at the last minute so we made plans to go to this show together. And it just so happens that Nicole ended up being our seat neighbour. ;D
The ride there was uneventful aside from a few asshole drivers and a bit of pesky wind. Considering I'd previously taken a test run to Hamilton Place in December and I had the area in my head (and since this was on the weekend after shops were closed), it was really easy to get to. That surprised me. Then again, I strangely have it in my head that everything must be ridiculously hard to get to (I can now totally relate to Robby requiring death-defying elements on tour).
So after we got there at 6, I picked up my M&G stuffs and decided to walk around to find something to kill time with. Luckily, we bumped into Nicole and we were also awesome enough to locate a Tim Hortons so that was that! (And if you're not familiar with Canada, we've got a bajillion Tim Hortons everywhere so I was being sarcastic.)
Killing about an hour that way, we walked back to the venue and waited around the merch stand because that's where I was supposed to be to be whisked away to M&G-land. Nicole couldn't help but notice medics floating around in godawful orange wind-breakers around and kept on saying they're there to prop John up for this concert. I was telling her I don't need to hear that, but she did not care.
So after Nicole and Amanda were good enough sports to stick around until Security Mike showed up, they went to go seat themselves at the concert and I followed Security Mike around the corner past one of the bars of the place and we waited in line -- I was the second person in line -- for a little while. I talked to some nice people for a bit who were understandably nervous. I was slightly nervous, but nothing too too major. It was the kind of nervous that you can deal with and not worry about not being able to talk as long as you had something in mind to say ahead of time -- and that I had, considering I was determined not to make an ass out of myself.
The woman in front of me had bought Mike and Robby books about Hamilton and some throat lozenges and a rosary for John (if you'll notice he's wearing it in my pics and videos). She had a LLI-era picture of them as the background of her phone and said that she had most of her CDs by them signed but because John was sick, she couldn't get the rest of them done tonight after the show (turns out however that they were gonna sign them after everyone was done their M&Gs which was really nice of them).
Where we were was a long, not-too-wide corridor so when they came out, and John walked along it to say hi and stuff to people in line, he wasn't that far away. His voice was muffled a bit but he seemed to be in a good mood so...yay for not having some kind of plague and being deathly ill!
He also wasn't wearing the puffy blue coat, which was Nicole's fear, but a nice leather jacket. Strange how it looks so much nicer up close. And aw hell, not gonna lie, it was kinda strange seeing him up close even though I've been super close at concerts before. I can't put my finger on why that is. All I know is that he looks more wiry and I couldn't look away from his hair when he was saying hi and stuff. (I'm officially a dork.)
Anyway, getting back to some semblance of order instead of random asides, after John goes back to where Mike and Robby are just ahead of us, the first girl goes up, gives them their books and stuff -- John made the comment about how they could get away with changing the name to Buffalo on the Hamilton history book because the pictures on it look the same -- she talks a bit to them and shows her the phone and John comments on how her phone is nice, I believe Mike pulled out his phone then too to show her his, and says something to the effect of, 'Who are those assholes on there?' I laughed and then after Security Mike gestures for her to wrap it up and she takes her picture, it's yours truly's turn.
As you can gather from the picture, from left to right it was Mike, John and Robby so because the line was to the right of them, I got to talk to Robby first. I shook his hand and without making an ass out of myself, I told him that I was the one he talked to for the auction phone call and he said that it was nice to see me in person. Being the Canadian I am, for some reason I apologized for making him run into his mic in Buffalo but ah well.
I didn't plan anything to say to the other two so I was gonna just shake their hands and say hi [insert name]. Of course when I was about to go shake John's hand he said he was sick so he had his hand raised and balled up in a fist to presumably fist bump it instead. So I did and oddly enough, he punched me in the right shoulder right after as if I was a guy or something. Then he angled his right arm a bit so I assumed he wanted me to do it to him in kind so I did.
After that, I said 'Hi Mike' to Mike and promptly turned went in between him and John for the picture. Strangely enough, I didn't register John's hand there as I was more pre-occupied with what to do with my arms (I never know what to do with my arms). And quite frankly, I wasn't expecting great things from this picture because it's me and I had a sneaking suspicion John'd have a weird look on his face. But whatever, I'm used to bad pictures and I didn't make an ass out of myself so I accomplished what little I set out to do.
And as if that wasn't weird enough, after the picture was snapped, John jokingly pushed me away and said something to the effect of, 'move outta here woman!' All I remember for sure was that he said the word woman. And I'm not gonna lie, this M&G was amusing as much as it was confusing.
So after that, I quickly found my way to my seat as Steven Page was playing Jane and luckily enough for me, I'd only missed one song (A New Shore, I believe?). Steven was funny as hell during his set, cracking jokes in between most of his songs. I'd never laughed so much during a show before. He made fun of Buffalo, some people awkwardly trying to get into their seats during the middle of his set (later on in the set, the band was like, 'yay, new people!' when more came in. Literally.), jokingly saying that yes he was indeed drinking President's Choice Grey Goose vodka after someone shouted the word vodka as he was drinking out of his water bottle (President's Choice is just a no-name brand we have here) and that he didn't feel right singing The Old Apartment without an old lady with no teeth in front of him. Anyway, I got my video of It's All Been Done so I'm happy. Mainly because I got to see both Steven and Ed sing this.
After his set was done I finally got to tell Nicole and Amanda what happened at the M&G and instead of sending the original tweet I was planning to do which was a tongue-in-cheek, 'OMG John infected me with his germs,' I ripped off Mean Girls and wrote a still tongue-in-cheek, 'John punched me and it was awesome.'
In case you don't know the reference, it's this:
Anyway, after that Nicole wandered a few steps over to eye the set-list (same as usual) and weirdly enough, security was really strict about taking pictures of the set-list. The one on our right was explaining it to someone else but I didn't bother to listen in properly so whatever reason's lost on me. I still think it's weird.
So the plan for tonight had been to at least get Here Is Gone and possibly Dizzy since I wanted to get a good version of the former after my weird Buffalo video and of the latter because well, it's awesome. But because it was standard list, I thought, fuck it and recorded a lot more and dared to get Big Machine to kick things off because I refuse to not enjoy them live while charging on stage for Sweetest Lie. I mostly recorded things I didn't have before but I couldn't resist getting yet another Notbroken and As I Am because I fucking heart them live.
John was in a generally good mood (Nicole's got footage of him admitting he was pretty hopped up on flu meds) so that was a plus since I was worried we were gonna have him cranky on top of a standard set list (this was why I was mainly harassing you the other day Ronnie). At one point he mentioned that he didn't want to wait so long for writing the next record (I like how this topic is turning up so much as of late even if I should know better than to believe him).
In general, he was extra finger pointing-ery too which was amusing (so was him mentioning that he didn't get screeched in but he wasn't going to do it if he didn't get his ass paddled). Robby is well adorable as usual and for the life of me, I could not see Mike's head because of his cymbals getting in the way. He was wearing his Clownvis shirt though. Also, I think John and Robby are in love with the left side of the stage (our right). They keep on coming over here. They were so friggin close to us so many times it's just surreal. I think I would have died if this were my first show.
So that's pretty much all I gots for you all. My friend really enjoyed herself and to my surprise, she told me she really likes Robby's voice. Not that Robby isn't awesome, but I'm aware that to most, he's an acquired taste vocally. So that was cool.
Well, that and the fact that I got home so fast and without incident. That....usually never happens...
So anyway, I know I posted these elsewhere but I'm just gonna repost where you can find my videos and pics from the night.
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331116&id=736677999
Can we chalk it up to me being weird...especially considering I also went as far as walking into another room when MSN e-mail notifications would automatically pop up after starting my computer?
...So yeeeeah, we're gonna do that.
This was the first time I ever took someone to a GGD show with me (...who isn't my brother -- he doesn't count) and it was rather fun having someone to chat with on the way there. What can I say? I generally like to keep the knowledge of me being a fairly vested GGD fan separate from real life so I don't run the risk of looking like a loon. But my friend Amanda's cool and she wanted to see them but couldn't join me on my fun-fun-random decision to go to Salamanca at the last minute so we made plans to go to this show together. And it just so happens that Nicole ended up being our seat neighbour. ;D
The ride there was uneventful aside from a few asshole drivers and a bit of pesky wind. Considering I'd previously taken a test run to Hamilton Place in December and I had the area in my head (and since this was on the weekend after shops were closed), it was really easy to get to. That surprised me. Then again, I strangely have it in my head that everything must be ridiculously hard to get to (I can now totally relate to Robby requiring death-defying elements on tour).
So after we got there at 6, I picked up my M&G stuffs and decided to walk around to find something to kill time with. Luckily, we bumped into Nicole and we were also awesome enough to locate a Tim Hortons so that was that! (And if you're not familiar with Canada, we've got a bajillion Tim Hortons everywhere so I was being sarcastic.)
Killing about an hour that way, we walked back to the venue and waited around the merch stand because that's where I was supposed to be to be whisked away to M&G-land. Nicole couldn't help but notice medics floating around in godawful orange wind-breakers around and kept on saying they're there to prop John up for this concert. I was telling her I don't need to hear that, but she did not care.
So after Nicole and Amanda were good enough sports to stick around until Security Mike showed up, they went to go seat themselves at the concert and I followed Security Mike around the corner past one of the bars of the place and we waited in line -- I was the second person in line -- for a little while. I talked to some nice people for a bit who were understandably nervous. I was slightly nervous, but nothing too too major. It was the kind of nervous that you can deal with and not worry about not being able to talk as long as you had something in mind to say ahead of time -- and that I had, considering I was determined not to make an ass out of myself.
The woman in front of me had bought Mike and Robby books about Hamilton and some throat lozenges and a rosary for John (if you'll notice he's wearing it in my pics and videos). She had a LLI-era picture of them as the background of her phone and said that she had most of her CDs by them signed but because John was sick, she couldn't get the rest of them done tonight after the show (turns out however that they were gonna sign them after everyone was done their M&Gs which was really nice of them).
Where we were was a long, not-too-wide corridor so when they came out, and John walked along it to say hi and stuff to people in line, he wasn't that far away. His voice was muffled a bit but he seemed to be in a good mood so...yay for not having some kind of plague and being deathly ill!
He also wasn't wearing the puffy blue coat, which was Nicole's fear, but a nice leather jacket. Strange how it looks so much nicer up close. And aw hell, not gonna lie, it was kinda strange seeing him up close even though I've been super close at concerts before. I can't put my finger on why that is. All I know is that he looks more wiry and I couldn't look away from his hair when he was saying hi and stuff. (I'm officially a dork.)
Anyway, getting back to some semblance of order instead of random asides, after John goes back to where Mike and Robby are just ahead of us, the first girl goes up, gives them their books and stuff -- John made the comment about how they could get away with changing the name to Buffalo on the Hamilton history book because the pictures on it look the same -- she talks a bit to them and shows her the phone and John comments on how her phone is nice, I believe Mike pulled out his phone then too to show her his, and says something to the effect of, 'Who are those assholes on there?' I laughed and then after Security Mike gestures for her to wrap it up and she takes her picture, it's yours truly's turn.
As you can gather from the picture, from left to right it was Mike, John and Robby so because the line was to the right of them, I got to talk to Robby first. I shook his hand and without making an ass out of myself, I told him that I was the one he talked to for the auction phone call and he said that it was nice to see me in person. Being the Canadian I am, for some reason I apologized for making him run into his mic in Buffalo but ah well.
I didn't plan anything to say to the other two so I was gonna just shake their hands and say hi [insert name]. Of course when I was about to go shake John's hand he said he was sick so he had his hand raised and balled up in a fist to presumably fist bump it instead. So I did and oddly enough, he punched me in the right shoulder right after as if I was a guy or something. Then he angled his right arm a bit so I assumed he wanted me to do it to him in kind so I did.
After that, I said 'Hi Mike' to Mike and promptly turned went in between him and John for the picture. Strangely enough, I didn't register John's hand there as I was more pre-occupied with what to do with my arms (I never know what to do with my arms). And quite frankly, I wasn't expecting great things from this picture because it's me and I had a sneaking suspicion John'd have a weird look on his face. But whatever, I'm used to bad pictures and I didn't make an ass out of myself so I accomplished what little I set out to do.
And as if that wasn't weird enough, after the picture was snapped, John jokingly pushed me away and said something to the effect of, 'move outta here woman!' All I remember for sure was that he said the word woman. And I'm not gonna lie, this M&G was amusing as much as it was confusing.
So after that, I quickly found my way to my seat as Steven Page was playing Jane and luckily enough for me, I'd only missed one song (A New Shore, I believe?). Steven was funny as hell during his set, cracking jokes in between most of his songs. I'd never laughed so much during a show before. He made fun of Buffalo, some people awkwardly trying to get into their seats during the middle of his set (later on in the set, the band was like, 'yay, new people!' when more came in. Literally.), jokingly saying that yes he was indeed drinking President's Choice Grey Goose vodka after someone shouted the word vodka as he was drinking out of his water bottle (President's Choice is just a no-name brand we have here) and that he didn't feel right singing The Old Apartment without an old lady with no teeth in front of him. Anyway, I got my video of It's All Been Done so I'm happy. Mainly because I got to see both Steven and Ed sing this.
After his set was done I finally got to tell Nicole and Amanda what happened at the M&G and instead of sending the original tweet I was planning to do which was a tongue-in-cheek, 'OMG John infected me with his germs,' I ripped off Mean Girls and wrote a still tongue-in-cheek, 'John punched me and it was awesome.'
In case you don't know the reference, it's this:
Anyway, after that Nicole wandered a few steps over to eye the set-list (same as usual) and weirdly enough, security was really strict about taking pictures of the set-list. The one on our right was explaining it to someone else but I didn't bother to listen in properly so whatever reason's lost on me. I still think it's weird.
So the plan for tonight had been to at least get Here Is Gone and possibly Dizzy since I wanted to get a good version of the former after my weird Buffalo video and of the latter because well, it's awesome. But because it was standard list, I thought, fuck it and recorded a lot more and dared to get Big Machine to kick things off because I refuse to not enjoy them live while charging on stage for Sweetest Lie. I mostly recorded things I didn't have before but I couldn't resist getting yet another Notbroken and As I Am because I fucking heart them live.
John was in a generally good mood (Nicole's got footage of him admitting he was pretty hopped up on flu meds) so that was a plus since I was worried we were gonna have him cranky on top of a standard set list (this was why I was mainly harassing you the other day Ronnie). At one point he mentioned that he didn't want to wait so long for writing the next record (I like how this topic is turning up so much as of late even if I should know better than to believe him).
In general, he was extra finger pointing-ery too which was amusing (so was him mentioning that he didn't get screeched in but he wasn't going to do it if he didn't get his ass paddled). Robby is well adorable as usual and for the life of me, I could not see Mike's head because of his cymbals getting in the way. He was wearing his Clownvis shirt though. Also, I think John and Robby are in love with the left side of the stage (our right). They keep on coming over here. They were so friggin close to us so many times it's just surreal. I think I would have died if this were my first show.
So that's pretty much all I gots for you all. My friend really enjoyed herself and to my surprise, she told me she really likes Robby's voice. Not that Robby isn't awesome, but I'm aware that to most, he's an acquired taste vocally. So that was cool.
Well, that and the fact that I got home so fast and without incident. That....usually never happens...
So anyway, I know I posted these elsewhere but I'm just gonna repost where you can find my videos and pics from the night.
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331116&id=736677999
u people get me so excited for when i will someday go to a goo concert ;D good review 
