InsaneJournal

Current mood:	hungry
Current music:	Phantom Planet - "Can't Take It"

Did you say something? I'm sorry; I apologize.
I think seeing Phantom Planet last night may have caused permanent damage to my eardrums. The unfortunate part is, I don't think they did it. Fucking opening bands...

Anyway!

Since last time we arrived well after the doors opened (oops), my cousin Nicole and I decided to arrive as early as possible. We showed up around 5:15, and ended up standing around outside until 6:00. It started raining again because I have literally never gone to a concert on a night where it doesn't rain, but this time it was just a drizzle. They let us in at 6, they checked my purse (& I probably very nearly had my camera taken away, whoops), and then we walked down a long set of stairs in near darkness. I always get nauseated before concerts so I was already shaking so I was walking really slowly and actually grabbing on to the railings. This is why when we actually reached the basement, the only free part of the barricade was stage left right fucking in front of the speakers. I was fine with not being right in front of Alex like we were (albeit three or six rows back) last time because Sam is not-so-secretly my favorite, but I truly am worried that I have done permanent damage to myself.

We stood around talking for a while, and I am still singing "Portions for Foxes" by Rilo Kiley because it played twice. We spotted Darren a few times since we could see right off to the side of the stage, where there were some stashed instruments and then an exit. I think we actually saw Jeff a few times, too, but we didn't recognize him because neither of us are used to the new haircut.

The first band started before 7, and they were called the Morning Light. They had some story about how their band broke down in New Mexico (I think?) so the other half of their band was still taking care of that, and so the remaining two guys played an acoustic set with bass help from the guy from the second band. One guy just sang while the other one sang, played piano, and played guitar. Had I not been standing right there, I would have mistaken the first guy's voice for a woman's more than a few times. I liked the other guy's voice, but I only liked about every other song. A couple songs, the ones about "Virginia" and "Carolina," sounded like shit from the sixties. The other songs all sounded reaaaally similar. In fact, when they played the first few lines from their last song, my cousin and I turned to each other at the exact same time to ask if that wasn't the song they had already played in the beginning.

But I like acoustic. Even when it's boring, like that guy who opened for Bright Eyes, it's still a hundred times easier to tolerate than -

Well, than the Secret Handshake.

Oh my god. I hated this band. I hated them. There was not one single moment when I thought to myself "Well, I know I won't buy their CD, but they're really not bad." THEY WERE GOD AWFUL. First of all, they took forever to set up what eventually included a keyboard that seemed near collapse and a drum machine (you suck!). They already had the drums, and the bass player still had his guitar. And the actual instruments were unnecessary, because it took until at least the fourth song to be able to hear ANY kind of keyboard over the NOISE.

I don't even know what to call this type of music. It was just shit. It was, like, the drum machine, and a lot of robotic vocals. Every time he hit any chorus, the singer would start bobbing his head around in the artistic interpretation of a seizure. Even when he SAT DOWN to play keyboard, he actually moved the set around the stage because he could not fucking sit still. The enthusiasm is nice, but you suck. The only songs I remember are "Saturday," because I leaned over to ask my cousin, "Isn't it Wednesday?" and "Everyone Knows Everyone" (or some equivalent) because the chorus was "I caaaaan't staaaand how everyone knows everyone" and if it would've worked in text message form, I would've written a meaner version to Nicole.

THIS BAND WAS SO AWFUL. I try to give every band a chance, honestly I do, but by the third song I wasn't looking at the stage. I just put my head in my hands and stared at the floor, and occasionally looked around for Darren and Sam.

Secret Handshake ended around 7:30 or so, and Phantom Planet started setting up right away. Except they kept disappearing. One of them could not come on stage without someone else running off, and everyone kept joking that Alex was hiding somewhere. And then Alex walked RIGHT PAST US through the barricades, and we didn't realize it until he got on stage because we were too busy wondering where Sam went. Ahaha.

I think last time they stuck really closely to what they were supposed to; I remember they started playing so quickly that I didn't even realize it, but this time they played around doing little jams before almost every song. They started off with "Do the Panic" and people sang along at the top of their lungs. Luckily the two people on my left were there for Phantom Planet, too; I hate being surrounded by people who don't care. The first two bands each asked the crowd once, "How many of you have heard of us?" and got two or three "Yeahs!" Alex asked the crowd, "Okay, how many of you have never heard of us? That's one," he said after one person shouted. Haha, awesome. He went on to introduce the band anyway. "Well, we're a band from California called Phantom Planet," he said, and he mentioned how they were back to doing opening shows. It made me kind of sad, actually, but Alex is so good-natured. It's kind of tragic that he is SO ridiculously gorgeous, because he is so hilarious and endearing (and occasionally terrifying). I mean, I was vaguely attracted to him before "Raise the Dead" came out, but it was all the nonsense Youtube videos that made me like him as much as I do.

Anyway, they played "Ship Lost at Sea," and "Anthem," and then Alex asked for requests but my ears were already SO blown out that I didn't hear him. I'm not even sure what I would've asked for; probably "Knowitall." But I think someone shouted a cover song, because then Alex went into this one cover song. I took video of it but I am a RETARD and I accidentally deleted it last night when I was sorting through pictures. Arrrrrrgh. I could only hear the music from it, anyway, but I am so fucking mad to have discovered that just now. Arrrrgh.

Before they introduced the next song, Alex apparently offered free guitar picks to whoever could name the single from their last album. I didn't hear what he said and there was a LOT of shouting, so Alex eventually gave up and just threw stuff randomly. "Well, it was "Big Brat,"" he said, and then they started the song, and that was all kinds of fucking awesome. They brought out the bassist from the Secret Handshake, & he and Sam did lots of adorable chorus-shouting. Alex moved all over the stage, and then jumped down by the barricades. He ran around and touched all of our sweaty hands and I'm kind of still grinning about it now. Um. Then he climbed back on stage right and got ready to dive, first asking, "Will you guys catch me?" And I was like um come over here and I'LL catch you because the man is tiny, but the surfing lasted like three seconds because there were maybe 250 people in the building total. After that song, Darren turned to Alex and asked, "Do you want to tell them what you said to me during the song?" And Alex grinned and said, "I don't know if it's appropriate. There are a lot of children in the audience." He asked us, "Do you guys want to hear what I said?" And we all shouted yes, and Darren said, "Alex came over here and told me he was going to fuck my mother." Alex said, "It was the heat of the moment! I had to say something." "He's lucky I have a sense of humor," Darren says. "Hopefully you guys do, too." I think this is a picture of Darren's reaction shot midst-playing.

Then they spent a looooong time jamming before they started "Dropped," and everyone around us shouted the chorus, so that was pretty fucking awesome. "I think those of you who don't know us will probably know the next song," Alex said, and then the bassist for Secret Handshake came out to help with "California." It was, as usual, pretty epic.

As soon as they finished my cousin kind of pushed us to the left so we could get out; she had to get up at 6 the next morning, so I suppose that's understandable, although I think she mostly thought we'd see Alex again. She might be more in love with him than I am now. OOPS. Anyway, we went to the merch counter and they really weren't selling very much, but when I see a good show I feel like my life is not complete if I do not SHOVE money at the band(s) I like, so we both bought the black "Raise the Dead" shirt with the neon letters & Phantom Planet at the bottom. There were also some purple Raise the Dead guitar picks sitting under a "Free" sign and I was like, what the fuck, people have passed by these and not taken them? So we each grabbed one because, fine, I don't currently play guitar, but it's PURPLE. Uh. Then we stood for a few minutes in case any of the guys decided to show up, got some water, had to stand in front of the exit to finish our water, and left. I started this entry at 10AM, took a 9 hour break, and now that I'm posting it my ears have FINALLY stopped ringing, but oh, god, I cannot stop listening to this band.