Fast forward a few months. I was staying after school to help put up posters for Freedom week (or something like that. Patriotic week at my high school). One of my peers who I had started to develop a friendship with was playing his iPod on speakers, and I recognized one of the songs on there as one from this band I had recently discovered and liked. I asked him if he had the CD cause I was interested in hearing more of this group. He said he did. A couple of weeks after, I had the CD, and I loved it. This was my first time really getting into a band and knowing more than just a couple of their songs.
Now, 6 years later, I'm a huge band/concert junkie. My music taste has evolved into things a lot heavier than Boys Like Girls. I still have them on my iPod, but I would usually just skip over the songs if they came on shuffle unless I was really in the mood to listen to a song like "Thunder" or "Two Is Better Than One". Through Facebook, I'd found out that the band had recently come off of hiatus and was ready to release new music. I found this interesting, but didn't really care all that much. As previously stated, my taste in music had evolved. My sister Debora had taken an interest in this new development for the band, and would tell me when they released new music and such. I watched an interview with them and they played one of their songs. Once again, it was good, but I still felt meh.
I caught word that they were going on tour, and they were coming to our town. While I wasn't as interested in them as I once was, I felt a sort of loyalty to where I really wanted to see them. Another main reason I wanted to go is because I'm a concert junkie, and I love going to concerts with my sister and I felt like this was one I could convince her to go to. It took a while, but tickets for our venue FINALLY went up for sale, and we quickly got ours.
Couple months later it's the day of the concert. I got my work scheduled so I could leave early, and my sister worked her schedule so we'd be able to go at an ideal time. I wasn't terribly excited to see the bands, it was more of a tribute to my early band years in high school. Mostly, I was just excited to share another concert experience with my sister.
I was late getting ready so we didn't arrive at the venue as early as we had liked. I reasonably sized crowd had formed in anticipation of the doors opening. I was somewhat disappointed because I was hoping to get a spot near the stage for this concert, but judging by the size of the crowd in front of us, that probably wouldn't happen.
Finally the doors open, and it's a mad dash to get inside. Me and Debs get our wristbands from the guys at the door, and run as fast as we can to the entrance to the General Admission Floor. There were about 3 rows of people already formed around the stage by the time we got there. Though a bit discouraged by this position, I was somewhat optimistic from my past concert experience. i have a knack for sneaking in front of people in large crowds. Through some opportunism and lack of aggression on the part of the people in front of me, I weaseled our way to the second row of people. I figured this was as good as we were gonna get since it's pretty freaking difficult to separate people from the barrier at the front of the first row.While waiting I started up a conversation with a guy in front of us by commenting on his tattoos. While he was cordial, it was clear he wasn't really interested in talking to us, so I let the conversation die and we went back to standing and waiting for the opening act. Right before the local opener came out, the tattooed man turned and said he was going to leave and asked if we wanted his spot. Excitedly, I responded with an enthusiastic yes! We made room for him to get out, and I hurried and shoved Debora into his recently vacated spot at the barrier in order to prevent the girls next to us from taking it (give them props for the effort though haha). The local opener came out soon after, me and Debs excited about our new spot right near the band.
Chasing Chance was the first band to perform. They didn't get much attention as they were a local band, but they were talented and had good energy to them. Early into their set me and Debora saw the band looking over into our direction a lot, so me and Debs decided that whenever they would look over in our direction, we'd make a face at them. We did this several times throughout the performance, a couple times making times making the singer lose his composure and start to laugh in the middle of a song. It was great fun.
After Chasing Chance finished their set and the people began to set up for Parachute's set, we got to know the people we were packed next to and became concert friends. I love comradery, especially with the people you're going to be smashed next to for the next few hours.
Finally, Parachute got on and played their set. They were good, but it's really not my style of music so I wasn't really into it that much. The great thing about Parachute's set is that it was the time where an opportunity presented itself to join Debora right up against the barrier, and I became an elite member of the front row, right in front of the center of the stage.
After Parachute played, the crowd became more and more antsy in anticipation of All American Rejects who were up next. I ended up spending the next hour trying to fend off some girl who had decided she wanted to put her arm right in front of me. I can't imagine it was too comfortable for her having her arm smashed between my new concert buddy on the left (Colton) and my chest on the right. She had a death grip on the barrier right in front of me, and since she was so intent on keeping her arm/hand there, I didn't shy away at all from making her as uncomfortable as possible whenever I could.
Finally All American Rejects come on stage and begin to play. They were better than I had expected. I have to qualify that statement though by saying that my expectations were quite low (I'd had quite a few friends tell me that AAR are terrible live). While their musical performance was better than what I had anticipated, their behavior was definitely sub par. I was honestly quite disgusted with the behavior of lead singer Tyson Ritter. From the very beginning it was pretty obvious that he was drunk, high, or a combination of the two. Throughout the performance he was lewd and profane. You could tell he was picking up displeased vibes from the crowd because after one song he commented on how he could tell people were uncomfortable and tried to qualify it by saying "hey, we're a rock and roll band, that's just what we do". That honestly didn't do it for me. I have seen over 15 bands in concert, and I've never seen behavior like that. Plus, they're not even rock and roll. They're a very pop-rock band so I don't see why they think that counts, but I digress...
At one point during AAR's set, Tyson was going on about having his heart broken and stuff (I get the vibe that he recently got out of a relationship or somethen cause boy was he bitter), and he was going on like "oh you Utah girls are just heart eaters, aren't ya?" after which he looked in my general direction so I just smiled and shrugged, and he returned the gesture, which I found to be quite amusing.
AAR finished their set, and while I didn't much approve of the behavior of the lead singer, I will give them props saying that they had great energy and I enjoyed listening to them play. Once they finished, the roadies came out and started moving the equipment around in preparation for Boys Like Girls. As part of this, they threw water bottles out into the crowd, and I caught my second water bottle of the night (the first one was after Parachute's set). I was feeling nice, so I took a sip and then passed it around the crowd. More and more people were trying to wedge their way to the front, so it kept getting progressively harder to breathe and the temperature kept rising. Despite all this, it was still totally worth it to have the font and center spot.
As the roadies set up for Boys Like Girls, they started playing some slow jazz in the background. I felt like this wasn't the wisest choice for getting us pumped up. We were already pretty tired and playing slow, relaxing music just made me feel like going to sleep (and considering how packed in we were, I probably could have just fallen asleep standing up). Thankfully at this point the chick who had previously had her arm in front of me had given up,so I could relax for a bit instead of feeling like I had to constantly try to fend people off.
After a while, the lights all went out, announcing that Boys Like Girls would soon come on stage. The energy in the room shot up, and I felt myself getting more and more antsy. In the dark we saw shadows take their place on the stage and we all began to cheer loudly. The music started playing and we all screamed as Martin got on stage, took his position, and started to sing. I won't lie, I was very impressed with these guys. They're extremely good live and the energy they put out is intoxicating.
Being front and center of the crowd, I noticed that I got a lot of looks from Martin and the guitarist Paul. Continuing on with my previous thing, I started making faces at Paul when he looked at me, and he started making them back at me. This continued throughout the concert and was a source of great enjoyment to me, and the people around me. It got to the point where I would catch him starting to make faces at me, instead of me just being the one to initiate it.
Second song into their set, Boys Like Girls were playing Hero/Heroine. I noticed a few times that as Martin would sing, we'd make eye contact a few times. This got me giddy, but I let it go as he would look all around at everybody (as he should). The first part to really make me happy in this whole encounter was during the part of the song where it goes "I feel like a hero, and you're my heroine". During the second part of the phrase, we both pointed at each other and sang the lyrics. After that my sister turned to me and was like "Oh my gosh, that was to you!" It was then I decided that being the front really is the best possible place to be during a concert.
At one point in between songs, Martin sat down on the side of the stage and commented to us in the front how freaking hot it was and how we dealt with it. I yelled out that we were thirsty and could use some water. He then called out the crew and had them throw water bottles out into the crowd. I wasn't able to grab one, which I thought was slightly unfair considering that I had been the one to suggest it, but oh well.
Throughout the rest of the set, I noticed that me and Martin held eye contact through the majority of the songs. I really enjoyed this, but didn't think of it as too big of a deal. At one point during a song, Martin hops off the stage to the area between the stage and the barriers. All of us surged forward trying to touch his hand or something just so we could say we touched him. I figured he was going to just walk down the aisle and touch peoples hands, as singers at concerts often do. I realized that as he did this, he was still looking at me, and while other people tried to grab his hands, he pulled it free, and grasped my outstretched hand firmly. I was elated. He'd climbed down the stage and came straight for me! He didn't stop there though. Holding my hand, he came right up against the barrier so his face was only a couple inches away from mine. I stopped hearing the music and everything else just got blocked out. I could only thing going through my mind was "oh my gosh, he's right in front of my face" and his freaking blue eyes were looking right into mine, and he was so close and ugh. I had to do SOMETHING. I realized what I would normally do should an attractive man get this close to my face, but unfortunately a microphone was in the way, so I had to make due. I leaned forward and kissed Martin on the forehead. He sang to me a little while longer, and then went to the other parts of the crowd. I was in complete shock. Of all the concerts I'd been to I'd never had an experience like that. I kissed Martin Johnson!
The rest of the concert went on with Martin and I maintaining eye contact throughout most of their set, and me and Paul making faces at each other. Once they played their final song and were throwing water bottles and guitar picks out to the crowd, Martin ripped the set list from off the stage, kissed it, crumpled it up into a ball, and threw it to me. I was in complete shock that all that had happened still.
Me and Debs rushed to the merch stand, hoping to get shirts so we could have a souvenir to remember this awesome experience by. To our disappointment, the shirts were $30(the standard for band t shirts at concerts is $20). One of the people we befriended in the crowd told us that passes to the meet and greet being held later were available for purchase at the merch stand for $20. After some debating, me and Debs decided to do that instead of a shirt. I handed our money to the exceptionally moody merch guy, and much to my delight, he didn't hand us just wristbands, but also full-sized posters - we'd get something to take home and remember it by after all!
As we descended back into the now-emptied general admission area, we were greeted by the friends we had made in the crowd of the concert. I recognized the traditional "meet and greet" set up with the short line of people waiting in front of it. I was somewhat disappointed. Usually things with this set up end up being very impersonal - you hand the band something to sign, they sign it, get all of 15 seconds to talk to them, take a quick picture(if you're lucky), and that's it. Despite my disappointment, I still felt like this was better than nothing at all, I could still express my appreciation to the band in that 15 second window.
After waiting a while, Morgan the bassist and John the drummer emerge, and instead of going to sit at the table, they came and talked with the people in the line. We were able to exchange hugs and pictures, which was nice.
Not too long after that, Paul also came out to mingle with everybody. As he got closer, I made a face at him and he returned it. He came over to talk to us, saying that he enjoyed playing for us and making faces back and forth. We hugged(holy crap that man's skin is soft) and I asked him if I could get a picture with him pulling a face, which he obliged. Right before taking it though he made me check his mouth to see if he had anything cause apparently he had just eaten fish or something. We took the picture, talked for a bit, and then he went to talk to the other people in line.
Finally Martin emerged. He talked with the people in line, but wasn't wanting to do pictures cause he was wanting to get a chance to say hi to everyone and said we'd get a chance to do pictures later. When he came to me and Debs to talk, we hugged and I thanked him for the show, told him it made my night, to which he replied(in an almost surprised/confused manner) "yea, I sang like the whole show to you!" This made me happy confirming that it wasn't just my fangirl imagination running away with me.
Finally the band sat down at the table and the traditional "meet and greet started". We handed them our poster to sign, got a picture, and I thanked them for their performance. They're really very nice guys and very normal. I honestly expected more of an ego considering that they're a pretty mainstream successful band. After Debs got her picture with them, we started to leave, going behind the table to the exit. As we were going, Martin reaches out and grabs my hand, and says "hey, you're awesome. Thanks so much for coming, it was fun playing for you." I thanked him and me and Debs walked up the stairs to go. Once we reached the top of the stairs, me and Debs had a bit of a freak out moment. Neither of us could believe what really happened. On the drive to get our post-concert slushee from Sonic (as is our tradition), we had several moments where we'd just scream like teenage girls because it really was that fantastic.
Of all the concerts I've been to, this one by far is the best I've ever experienced. I went in just out of nostalgia for this band that acted as the gateway to where my taste in music currently lies, and I ended up enjoying it more than the times I've seen my all time favorite bands play just because of how the members of Boys Like Girls act towards their fans, and to me. Boys Like Girls still isn't my favorite style of music, but I have a renewed love for the old songs I used to listen to as a sophomore in high school as they bring back memories of both then and now. Martin, Paul, John, and Morgan may not realize it, but they created a fan for life October 23, 2012.
Steff
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