i can make up my own verse.

This is super delayed, but somehow i never found the time to sit down and finish off my concert posts. Life get in the way (this line reminds me of an episode of modern family, where Phil goes "Life gets in the way", and then he asks Luke "Did i say 'life' or 'wife?" to which Luke responds "Nah you're fine, dad", it's a funny scene, i'm just not explaining it properly)  despite my thinking that i would have heaps of spare time. Okay so on Thursday 1st March, the A Rocket to The Moon w/The Summer Set and The Dangerous Summer and The ready set sidewave was on at the Hi Fi. Monisha over at her blog also wrote a post about this day here and is probably more entertaining and succinct than mine is, so feel free to navigate there. This day was extra special because Chris from Dashboard Confessional had a special intimate acoustic concert at Fitzroy park, he announced the day before at his concert, which made me super eager. He said it was going to be in the afternoon which is a pretty vague time frame and i had things to do in the morning so i couldn't spend all day waiting. Firstly I visited my Monash Pharm crew, whom i haven't seen in a while or been at that place for ages. The cafeteria place has totally changed with all this new and modern furniture. It was cool to spend some time with Van, because I hardly ever get to see her, and it was fun listening in to some lectures and imagining this could have been me if I didn't make the decision to move to Latrobe. The whole time at Monash, I was pretty anxious because I was scared that Chris would have already done the concert and I missed it. I thought I was pretty smart by searching the live twitter search for key words such as fitzroy park and dashboard confessional, and constantly refreshing the results. It was sad to leave Monash but i wanted to get a head start on lining up for the ARTTM concert. I think i got to the Hi Fi at around 2.30, and there was only a group ahead of me. I didn't like them so much because they littered and seemed a little rude. Then a girl came up to line behind me and her name was Katrina, and we talked for a bit about the other side shows she's been to, and luckily the conversations wasn't so awkward at all. But I'm somewhat guarded when it comes to meeting new people, but then again, everyone is, so yeah i'm not anything special. The girls in front spotted Justin and Halvo across the road, although i couldn't see them, at that time i was alone so i didn't want to move in case I lose my spot. Then when we spotted Nick from ARTTM across the road, I had Kat with me, and we asked the girl in front of us to look after our spot. There were some girls who were in front of us talking to Nick too. Well i basically said a line and it was something along the lines of a zoo. But yeah i just liked being close to him and taking in his aura, i can't he's a couple years older but seems so much wiser and mature. We took some photos and went back in line.

Damn those girls for intentionally photo-bombing, how rude! They were also the girls who were in front of me. 

As soon as Monisha came, I rushed off to Fitzroy Gardens hoping that I didn't miss the acoustic concert. When i got there, i had walked past the Hilton and saw Bert from The Used outside smoking with a group of friends. They looked quite intimidating so I was so scared to go up to them, apparently i've heard that Bert is a really nice person. And I also found out that YMAS were staying there but unfortunately didn't get a chance to see them. When I got to the gardens, i saw some people who looked like they were waiting for Chris as well, so that gave me hope. To stall time, I walked around the gardens because i've never been and always had the intention of going. It is a stunning garden, very scenic and tranquil, i wished i had my dslr on me. After some time, finally Chris came out and i rushed over to him along with the other people. We sat on the ground, and it was so perfect. This was such an amazing experience, and again Chris was so commanding, genuine and fricking awesome. Again he took song requests, oh my it was so wonderful to hear his voice and backing guitar with no interruptions or distortions, and boy is his voice so perfect. He played for an over an hour, which was more than I could ask for. I didn't like being by myself, but i sort of knew some one who was a mutual friend, but she also had her own group of friends as well. She tool a photo for me and I got my album signed. He wrote my name and doubled check the spelling, I told him it ended in 'y' and because i was pretty nervous i kinda said it unconvincingly. He was like, are you sure? you don't sound sure, and he laughed. Yes not much of a conversation, and i couldn't express how much he means to me, but every moment of interaction with him is special and important to me. 

Well I got pretty flustered and euphoric after that, trying to hurry myself back to the Hi Fi. I was pretty awesome walking in the vicinity of the hotel where a lot of the bands were staying at, I knew the guys were band guys but I didn't recognize them, which was a shame. Susan and Monisha were waiting in line when i arrived, Monisha told me that she met Halvo and Justin, John, Joey and Dave, from ARTTM, The Summer Set and The Cab respectively. I was pretty happy for her but a little sad that i didn't get a chance to see them too, however Chris was worth it. I had some of Susan's bread which was nice, and because i haven't eaten much all day. They gave me a little keepsake scrapbook they had put together, and it was so funny and nostalgic looking back at the photos, and all the weird things we do. Sadly when doors opened Susan had to leave, and it would be the last time that i would ever see her, just kidding, but it feels like ages since I've seen her. There weren't that many people in line and when we got into the venue it was so empty compared to previous to other concerts we have been to, i think the management made a mistake by making it over 18, they would have sold a lot more tickets with the under 18 crowd. It was good for us because we got barrier and we had space to breath, not having people invading our personal space. I just hoped the bands didn't think too much about it.
The first band that came on was The Dangerous Summer, at first we weren't sure who they were, I thought they were Australian but then they didn't sound much like one. They were pretty good even though i didn't know any of their songs. I'm glad they had some fans supporting them, and i was trying to look as interested as I could. The small crowd didn't distract from putting on a good set, and I felt sorry for them because they pretty knew that a lot of people were there for TSS or ARTTM or TRS. I liked watching the drummer, he looked like he was having a blast! Sorry about the bad photos, i will never stop complaining about the red lights in concerts, always ruins your photos.

During one of their sets, Chris Lilley came backstage with some of the TSS, which was pretty random. It was pretty cool to see him though, i loved his tv shows. 

Next up was The Summer Set, I always wanted to see Jess, the drummer from TSS, in person because she looks so pretty. Indeed in real life she is really pretty and a killer with the drums as well. John was weird with his cork hat and Hawaiian shirt, but that's what make us like him even more. Brian's voice sounded so much better live, more tolerable if you like. They were awesome live, and at least i knew some of the songs that sang.

While waiting for ARTTM to set up, Blake and Sierra from Versaemerge came into the venue at the back, with fear of losing our spots, we didn't want to leave and ask for a photo. Jess also came out and talked with them and some fans. It felt so awesome to have all these band people under one roof, when else would we get this opportunity being so far from America.

While the tech guys were setting up for The Ready Set, I mistakenly thought that one of the tech guys was the main guy of The Ready Set. I thought he changed his hair and looked a lot better, turns out it wasn't him. How embarrassing. Albeit the tech guy was pretty good looking and i think a halfie. I also haven't heard any of TRS's songs, but damn his songs are so fricken catchy! I liked his energy and movement around the stage.

Finally it was time for ARTTM, and boy it was really anticipated! They were amazing live, I love their songs! As usual, i just laughed at everything they were saying. There was a guy who kept shouting "Dakota" which is one of their songs, and Nick would always reply, we'll get there. It was pretty funny but Nick might have gotten annoyed. For one of their songs, Brian, John and Stephen came to help them sing. They were so cute up there together and acting all friendly and whatnot. I love how the bands so close and get along so well. It was wonderful seeing them perform, and I was happy during their set, until Nick said they had time for one more song, at this point the set would have been 30 mins long. I was so shocked at their short set and frankly a little disappointed, but if you're going to headline, at least make a set list longer than your supporting bands. But obviously I couldn't be too mad at them, they finally played Dakota which sounded so good and worth waiting till the last song!

So yeah the concert was pretty good, and afterwards I really wanted to rush over to Billboards to see if we could see the guys in KIGH. I felt pretty high and happy afterwards, and plus I love walking around the city at night, it's best feeling! Unfortunately we didn't see anyone, well I admit i didn't specifically know what they look like, but we did see some band guys but we couldn't recognize them. We made our way back to the Hi Fi, and we spotted Nick and Justin (?) standing outside, and we were about to go and ask for a photo, but the rest of the band and TSS and some other girls were joining them, which meant we lost our window of opportunity. Unsure of what to do next, we let them walk past us, while trying to remain as calm as possible. And then we proceeded to follow them at a distance. To not seem so freaky, I pretended to be on the phone with Susan, coming up with a whole fake conversation. We followed to the rooftop bar, we were outside for a couple of minutes contemplating our next move. when we saw some girls who went to the concert follow them in, we went in too. First we went to this weird dark restaurants with little booths, and it was very scary in there. After a round of the place with no signs of them, we left to this dance room where there was a lot of smoke everywhere. At this stage i was feeling very scared and so very out of place. We made our way up the stairs into another bar but they weren't there either and the further we went up the stairs. We got to one of the landings when we heard some voices, it was Jess from TSS and someone else, we quickly pretended to be looking at the rooftop cinema poster. There was also an ad for burgers and we were pretty hungry. So to justify our stalking, we are just innocent people looking for food. When we made to the roof top bar, sure enough they were there. And we were continually feeling more out of place. we let down our hair in the hopes of looking different. Then we tried to find the burger place but weren't successful. This guy comes up to us, and says if we needed any help because we looked a little lost. We told him we were looking for the burger place but he didn't know either, he was from brisbane and covering Soundwave for a music magazine, i thought that was a pretty cool job. He said to maybe ask the security guard, and to join him later (yeah he was a little drunk) but he seemed cool, and easy to talk to so there wasn't much awkwardness. Every time moments like that happens, I feel a little accomplished. So we asked the security guard, and he said it closed 3 hours, by this time it was 12, and we felt so betrayed by the poster, because it said opened til late, and 9pm is not late at all. We settled on lemon, lime and bitters drink, and found a table so we could see the band people. It felt awesome to be in their presence, as much as I wanted to go up to them and be a part of the group, i know that in a million years that wouldn't happen. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable time hanging out and chatting with Monisha, almost forgetting that they were there. In the end, most of them started leaving, and we thought we should leave too. On the way down, we wrote lies on the burger place poster where it said opened til late, that made us laugh so much! When we were outside, we saw Nick and this other girl, and yes followed them again, they got to Bourke street where they met some tech guys, and then Nick made his way back to his hotel. We walked to the town hall where we got picked up by my dad.

So that was the Thursday, Monisha did a much better job at writing about the day, and my memory is getting fuzzy, it's the old age, i hate to admit.

Love Squealer.