by Anonymous
WOW THAT WAS F*CKING AWESOME!
OK, I'm cool.
So here's my story:
Me and my dad were supposed to be there at 4:30 to hear the end of soundcheck. We arrived fashionably late due to my dad's super-slow driving (AS USUAL). There were about 5 people mingling at the front door...is that them? No, just some crazy fans that had been there for a while. Wow, they sure are dedicated!
So I tell my dad to go around the back and see if there are any doors open. He finds one and gets me to go along with him. They were just in the middle of playing "Always On My Mind." My dad went to go check out the recording truck while I went to see Suzanne. And then I saw Jenny! Lewis, that is. Of Rilo Kiley. God, she is SO cool! She complimented me on my shirt!!! Yeah. I kinda just wore it cuz it was a very Jenny shirt and I knew she'd be there! Then they played "Nobody's Fault" twice and they were done with soundcheck. Then we were off to the recording truck to hear how it sounded.
We were all jammed in there and we listened...it didn't sound too good. And Jason wasn't feeling too good, either. He woke up with the flue and a temperature of 102 degrees! Poor thing. So after hearing it we all went out of the truck a little shocked. My dad told them that it could all be fixed in the mixing, and then we all went our separate ways. Me, my dad, Jason, and Darren all went to this restaurant called Zen-Sum or something......I dunno! Alex and Jenny went for sushi, and I don't know where everyone else went. Jason drove. Some of our topics of conversation included Darren and me being picky eaters (he won't eat bananas! What's wrong with him?), books (some fast food book and the seabiscuit book to be precise), the sound of Darren's guitar live, if Darren should wear a black tank top or not because he has a farmer's tan but he gets really hot onstage, how every time a fat Asian girl walks down the street someone (I'm gonna leave it anonymous...s/he's not in the band) always says, "Hey, look! There goes another Phantom Planet fan!," Guys that look at their big muscular arms while playing guitar, how much water you should drink daily, Jason's love life, and working out. Then we were going back to the venue, listening to 80's music about dating computers all the way.
When we got there, Sam had his cute little laptop set up with this program that creates images that respond to music. It was sooo cool! Darren helped Sam put up this big white screen so you could see the images better. Ashley did some videotaping that was projected on the screen, also. They put a piece of paper in front of it so it looked all blurry. Those guys just keep on coming up with more ideas...Oh yeah! And they had their cutouts on the side of the stage but they never made it out. Why not? Well, whatever. Me and my dad grabbed front-row seats upstairs next to Ashley and the laptop guy so my dad and Tennessee's parents could sit down while us teenagers were downstairs. I went down to the merch table to see Suzanne cuz she said she had a present for me. It was so cute! I love it. Then I got those two Roxy posters...but she gave them to me for free! I got Tennessee in the fanclub and took the Polaroid CD for myself, being the only PP CD I don't have (I have 14 now!)
nbsp; The first opening act, Will Hoge (which was actually a BAND, not just one guy) came out. They were from Texas. I didn't like their type of music really, but they rocked. They were a little oud, though! And the fact that my ears had been hurting me for the past week didn't help much! I wish I had brought earplugs...
So after the first act was over and they were changing equipment, I spotted Jenny Lewis coming up the stairs. She looked like she was looking for a place to sit down, so I offered her a spot next to me (which I really wasn't supposed to offer cuz they were for the parents!). We chatted a little with my dad and then the next band, the Crashpoets, started. Me and Jenny looked at each other at the same time with the same statement on our faces. UGH!!! This band sucks! So I was pretending to dance and be really happy and having a good time. She laughed and did the same. In the middle of the second song, she leaned over to me and said, "I can't take this" and left!!! That was so great! I would have done the same but I'm under 21 so they wouldn't let me leave the building and come back in. So the whole time all I was doing was watching the door to see if Tennessee was coming while occasionally looking at the dressing room (it had a glass window so you could see what was going on...including all of them changing at one point! Hahahahaha) while plugging my ears. Jenny didn't have any extra earplugs!!!! Waah. Oh well.
And then, finally, Tennessee came!!!!!! YAY!!!!! We hugged and then the parents sat down. She introduced me to her friends from school, and then I opened the present she got for me. I loved it!!! She gave me this fake watch kinda like this one I accidentally stole in Ireland and made my dad take back!!! Hahahahaha. I also got a purse that's very cute. We went down to get Coca-Colas (DUH!!!) and pretended to be REALLY into the band. Err...right! We were dancing really strange. As soon as they were off we went to claim our spots on the floor a few feet away from Darren. We could see all the guys, so it was all good.
Then suddenly this strange Jacques-ish classical music came on, and then the guys. They opened with "Anthem." Me and Tennessee knew all the words to all the new songs, so we sang and a few people thought we were very strange! They also played the new ones "All Over Again," "Always On My Mind," "California," "In Our Darkest Hour," "Lonely Day," "Nobody's Fault," "Something is Wrong," and "Wishing Well" and the oldies "Recently Distressed" and "Can't Take It"...at least that's what I remember. "Shadows" was played, and that's fairly new, although not on the album. And as a second encore, "Surrender," as usual, and a very very surprising "Sabotage"!!!!!! Alex said it was the very very very last time they were ever gonna play it! I don't remember what was played as the first encore...maybe "All Over Again." Well, whatever. Does it really matter? They rocked. Before the second encore Alex was very naughty and threw a bag of chips into the audience! He was gonna throw the CHIPS, but that would be very naughty. One of my fav lines of the whole show was before "Something is Wrong," the weird noises were on, and Alex said "Soothing sounds for babies!" I think that's really funny. After the song, Darren was having fun with the sampler and that one sound. Right. Another highlight was when Jacques and Jason had left for "Something is Wrong" and the rest of the the guys were supposed to leave and then come back on for the encore...but didn't! They were just on the stage going, "Jason and Jacques....Umm....Come to the stage now!" So it wasn't much of an encore, was it? So they did another one.
After the show, we finished signing up Tennessee for the fanclub and we talked to the guys. I met Jason's mom again...she's really sweet! I gave Sam his birthday present. He opened it and the toothpicks went everywhere!!!! Hahahaha. He loved it cuz he needs them to quit smoking. I didn't know that he already had, though! On his birthday, he said. Good boy. He doesn't smell bad anymore!
I said bye to everyone, and then I went to go say bye to Jacques and I was introduced to his girlfriend. She's so adorable!
Ok, I think I'm done now. Conclusion: Phantom Planet rocks.