Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour
First of all, let me apologize for the spam yesterday. I kind of realized it might be annoying, which is why I didn't update after Carolina Liar and We The Kings.

I'm uploading all my pictures as I type this. Most of kinda crap, as I had to use my cell phone or my sidekick. My dad's camera has a super great zoom on it and looks like a professional camera, so security told us we couldn't use it and had to check it in coat check. -_- And I thought my camera ran on double A batteries, but I was wrong. We put it on the charger an hour before we left but there's no way it would have been done in time. I guess I could have brought it and used it for at least the pictures with the guys, but we didn't think we'd have to put away my dad's camera. FAIL.



So, we drove past The Regency Center, and saw this line of people, and my mum was kind of impressed. Little did we know the line went around the corner and all the way down the block. BUT! More on that later.
We found a parking garage across the street and headed over to TRC. We get there and we're like, "hmm, okay, stairs." So before we even got in line, Mum found a security guy and asked about a wheelchair accessible entrance. He said there was one around the side and he'd go talk to someone about getting it open when it was time to let people in. He told us to stay where we were, and went off in search of... whoever.

As we're there waiting (across the stairs from where the line started), some guys walked past us and went inside. They all had passes clipped to their belts, and Mum asked me if "that's them?" I was like, "Pssh, please."
Like, A) no one else would have noticed?, and B) they would use the front door. I think they were members of Carolina Liar.

We're still waiting, and the next person to come outside is Jack. I totally leaned over to my mum and was like, "That's Jack! The camera guy. From TAI TV."
He came over to us to see if we needed anything, and Mum told him what was going on. He said he'd figure it out.
Security came back out and said someone would come out to take us around and open the door when it was time, so all we had to do was sit there and wait. Mum was thinking we should go get in line, when Jack comes back out with a lady who had all the tickets.
They started going down the line to give out the early entry tickets, so Mum took my emails and went over to see about getting ours. She talked to Jack again and he got our tickets for us.

A line started forming behind us for meet and greet, and Jack came over and told us all that the boys would be at a table signing, and asked if everyone had something to get signed. He said if we didn't take too long, because there really weren't that many Santi's there, there would be time for pictures and hanging out afterwards. He asked that no one take pictures until after, to make things move faster.

Right before they started letting people in, a guy came out to take my Mum and I to the handicapped entrance, which still had one little step. We had to wait for him to go back inside and unlock the doors, so we're thinking "Shit, how are we going to manage this?"
The guy (IDK his name, but he must be part of the tour. He wasn't security and he had a pass) opened the doors and we figured out that there was a folded up metal ramp inside the building and all he had to do was put it in place.
We got inside, crossed a huge ballroom (which was where I thought the show was going to be, but there was nothing set up on the stage and no barrier, so it turns out that was the old ballroom. We got into this wicked old elevator that like, he had to mess with to get it to line up with the floor when we got upstairs, and when we got into the entry hall, people were lining up for meet and greet.
We kind of snuck into the line, somewhere within the first ten people, and the girl we cut in front of was totally cool about it.


Meet and Greet

The entire time leading up to all this, I was nervous as fuck and my leg wouldn't stop jiggling up and down. As soon as we got into the room and I saw the guys (I kept eyeing them, because come on, wouldn't you? Butcher looked over at one point and smiled.) I wasn't nervous anymore. Just, I was totally cool.

I got up to Billvy first, and gave him my magazine (their AP cover from last year).
Our conversation went a little like this:
Him: Hi, how are you? (all smiley and looking happy. and hot.)
Me: Good, you? (all smiley, but like, totally maintaining my cool. IDK how)
Him: I'm good, thanks. (And then he either asked me if I'd ever seen them before, or something similar, IDRR)
Me: No, this is my first concert. Ever.
Him: (all smiley) That's really cool. Thanks for picking us (or something similar), we'll be sure to put on a good show for you.

I thanked him and moved on to Butcher. More of the same "Hi how are you" back and forth, and then Mum piped up and mentioned that while I was in the hospital, we watched all of TAI TV together. Except she couldn't remember the name and was like "we watched all of your vignettes." Butcher was all smiley and said he hoped it wasn't in one sitting. He passed the magazine to Chiz and I thanked him and moved on.

Again, "hi how are you" and he asked me something and I mentioned this was my first concert. More of the "thanks for having it be us". He passed the magazine to Carden and I thanked him and moved on.

Carden. Oh lord. He was all smiles, repeated the whole "hi how are you" and "this is my first concert" thing and he was totally chatty and sweet. I don't even remember half of what was said, but he sounded really pleased when he thanked me for coming. IDK if he was more chatty because there was a slight backup at his end of the table (Sisky, taking forever to sign some girl's bandana), but he didn't seem to mind it. My official word is Carden does not eat puppies and kick babies.
He passed the magazine to Sisky and I thanked him and moved on.

Sisky. God. Same "hi how are you" back and forth. He asked if it was okay if he drew a mustache on himself on my magazine and then looked up at me and grinned, so I was all smiles and like "Go for it!"
He drew a little mustache, a pointy beard and one devil horn on himself, then looked up at me again, grinning and pointing to Billvy on the cover, going "The other horn is behind his head."
I think he asked if I'd ever seen them before, or something similar, because I mentioned to him that this was my first concert and there was more of the thanking me for having it be them, and he promised they'd put on a great show and make sure I had a good time.
I thanked him and got out of the way to go to the merch table.

Everyone's Autographs


Butcher totally signed his name like, right away, while we were talking, and then went back right before he passed the magazine over and drew an arrow to himself.

Sisky's Doodle



I ended up getting two tour shirts, one for me and one for firedragon9, and a poster, and one of their grey hoodies. After the show, I noticed some girls in our parking garage with tour posters that I'd failed to see otherwise I would have gotten one of those too.

After we were finished, we moved out of the room (to be out of the way) and back into the entry hall. That's when Mum took out the camera to figure out how to use it, and a security guy told her she had to check it, because it wasn't allowed. My dad's camera is like, possibly a professional-ish camera? With like the massive zoom. I probably could have counted nose hairs with that thing.
She went and checked it, and then Jack came out to tell anyone who was in the room that the signing was over and we could take pictures now. Go fucking figure.

We went back into the room and Immediately saw Billvy in front of me and Butcher off to my left. Mum was trying to urge me forward, but I waited until Billvy turned around before asking if I could get a picture. I didn't want to be pushy and shit. He smiled and said of course, and came over. He leaned down next to me, and Mum was trying to figure out how to snap a picture on my sidekick. While she figured it out, Billvy leaned in closer to me. My heart might have stopped.

The picture turned out blurry, but I did my best to sharpen it a little in photoshop, so here's both of them:

The Original


The Fixed


I thanked him, and again he thanked me for coming and promised to put on a good show for me.

Butcher was nearby, and not being hounded, so Mum asked if I could get a picture with him. He came over and crouched down next to my chair and put his arm around me.
Again, the picture was blurry, and I fixed it to the best of my ability.

The Original


The Fixed



We thanked him and spotted Chiz over by the table, so we moved further into the room, but still out of the way of people. Mum got a picture of him taking a picture with another fan on her cell phone while we waited for him to be not busy. She tried to get one on my sidekick, but it died. Like, powered off and wouldn't turn back on.



When he saw us, he came over and asked if I wanted a picture. Mum used her cell phone to get the picture, because my sidekick still wouldn't turn on. It turned out good, like Carden's. For whatever reason, Mum was totally steady while taking their pictures and not so much with the other three.



Right before we got the picture, they called time. He asked me after if I'd gotten a picture with everyone, and I told him I was still missing Sisky and Mike. He said he'd get them, and then Jack came over and asked the same thing. Chiz told him who I was missing, and then had to go, and then Jack went to grab Carden and Sisky.

At some point, possibly after the boys had left, I'm not positive, TBH, Mum asked Jack if I could get a picture with him, because "[I] recognized [him]". I wanted to facepalm. For whatever reason, her phone was taking forever, so a girl nearby said she'd take it for us with her camera. She said she was paperchase on LJ and that she recognized me from my post over at theacademyis. Guess it was a good idea to post there, after all. She said she'd send me the picture, and last night left me a comment about it, saying she'd comment again as soon as she has it off the camera. So, I'll edit that in when I get it.

Jack the Camera Guy


Carden came over first and was all smiles and talky again. My picture with him turned out to be the best one. He thanked me again for picking them to be my first concert and promised they'd put on a great show for me. I thanked him for the picture and then Sisky kind of bounced over.



Sisky said hi and posed for a picture with me, but Mum had to take two because the first was blurrier than fuck. He was a good sport about it, he kind of laughed and stayed where he was.
The second picture turned out not much better than the second, but we didn't realize it until after. I tried to fix it in photoshop but couldn't do anything to make it better. D:



He was supposed to leave right after, but he stayed for a minute to chat. He asked me what song I wanted to hear, and I said "Neighbors, because it's my favorite" and he said they'd be doing it. It occurred to me afterwards that I should have asked for something not on the setlist people showed me. I wonder what they would have done? He also promised to make sure they put on a good show, and then left.



We waited in line for early entry and by the time we got to the door, I couldn't find my ticket stubs, so we stepped out until I realized they were in my wallet. We got in and there wasn't a ton of people yet, but the barrier was full, so we went to the left (facing the stage, but actually Stage Right) and ended up at the end of the barrier behind two girls. As soon as security saw me, they asked the girl at the very end of the barrier to move over, and told me to move up closer. They wanted to make sure people wouldn't be able to crowd around me. I parked my wheelchair at an angle to the stage, right in front of the speakers, with just enough room between them and me for security to get past.

During this entire time, I was texting back and forth with Maryam. Unfortunately, earlier today my sidekick restarted itself and all those texts were lost. IDKWTF is happening with that thing. And of course there's no T-Mobile store around here anymore.


Hey Monday

I think we waited like, 45 minutes, maybe? Before Hey Monday came out. I wasn't looking forward to seeing them, but almost immediately they won me over. They were totally energetic and kind of awesome. I got a few pictures and a little video. Cassadee was mostly in the center or left side of the stage, so I didn't get much of her.
I videoed Homecoming, because it was the only song I remembered. Billvy ended up coming out to sing part of it, so I'm glad I was able to get that. The sound quality is kind of shit, but whatever.
Half of these pictures are from my phone, half are from my sidekick. They're all kind of shitty.















I don't have any pictures of Billvy because I was too busy videoing and I didn't think to pass my sidekick back to my mum.

They really impressed me. My mum enjoyed them too. She thinks Cassadee is cute and thinks I should get my hair done like hers, with the blonde streak in the front. She liked Cassadee's voice, too.


During the entire show, there were two girls standing to my right who kept watching out for me. They were totally sweet and awesome. Anytime someone came up on my left, between me and the speaker, before they even had a chance to get in front of me, they made the person move. At one point, before We the Kings went on, a girl came up on my right and tried to push between them and me, and one of the girls told her to "get [her] ass back" and to get away from me, because "other people have been here longer and were here first". I may have glee-faced at that.


Carolina Liar

After they finished, there was about 20 minutes while their stuff was broken down and Carolina Liar set up. I didn't take any pictures or video of them. Their set was good enough, but most of the time the music was too loud and we couldn't really hear the singer's voice. Or understand him.
When he came out, he was wearing a hat and he totally looked like he could have been Singer from The Cab's twin. But eventually he took off his hat and he looked like a slightly less skeevy Bert McCracken.


We The Kings

After they finished, their stuff was taken off stage and we realized that okay, the stage was a lot bigger than those two bands had used, because We The Kings stuff was set up behind them.
While we waited for them, Mum ducked off to grab us water.
They came out and started and that was the beginning of people getting really into it. People were jumping around, and someone started shoving people because one of the girls who was watching out for me got shoved into me. She mostly caught herself on my wheelchair and barely hit me, but she was so apologetic to me and my mum. For the rest of WTK set, anytime they told the crowd to get crazy and jump around, she'd turn to my mum and reassure her that she wouldn't be doing that.

For the entire show, I half wore one earplug (on the side facing the speakers), and I say "half wore" because I've got retarded ears and earplugs never stay in. Neither do earbuds. I can't use those things because they fall out of my ears.

WTK performed Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc" which I videoed in parts because I kept getting text messages from twitter. Next time I go to a show, remind me to turn notifications off before I leave the house.
They put on a good show, even if I didn't know any of their music. Travis' voice though, had a tendency to make my ears ring. IDK if it was the microphone or if he was too close to the microphone or what, but I kept having to push my earplug in further.

Butcher played guitar tech for them.


The Academy Is...

After they finished there was another 20 minutes or so until TAI was ready to go. That's when people starting moving up and halfway through their set I ended up moving up closer to the barrier, totally blocking security's path. I had to move twice to let them through, but no one said anything about it and one guy even apologized for making me move.

My memory is shit, tbqfh, so I don't know the setlist, but they were fucking awesome. I think the second song they played was Neighbors, and I ended up videoing it. I think in two parts because of texts.
During WTK, I texted Maryam to say I'd call her during TAI and to find out what song she wanted to hear, so when they played About A Girl, I called her so she could listen in.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Billvy did Automatic Eyes acoustic. I was kind of in love.

The entire show, he was moving around. He'd come over to our side of the stage and this one girl would get in front of me to get a picture, so I kind of failed mostly. Plus, fucker has ADD and moves too fast for me to get a decent shot. I took a bunch of pictures, but most of them suck and most of them are of Chiz and Sisky, or Chiz and Sisky and Billvy.

My mum got like, the best picture on her cell phone. So I think I'll post just that one, and if you want to browse through the others, you can take a look at my photobucket.



Sisky kept moving back and forth, and every time he came forward he'd make all these ridic faces while he was playing. Chiz moved forward a little bit occasionally, and Billvy would come right to the edge of the stage, of course making people push forward.
Somewhere around the middle of the show, he was on the barrier and I think security had to rescue him.
He was back on the barrier at the end of the show, but I couldn't even see him. My mum got a picture, though it's not that great.




Maybe tomorrow I'll actually look through the pictures and find the most semi-decent ones to post. But this thing is long enough already and I think it's time to end it.

Concert Photobucket is here. Password is ifailsohard.
Nothing's tagged, because they're all kind of bad and really, what's anyone going to do with pictures of me with the boys? If you happen to look through and find something decent, link me in a comment and I'll add it to a picture/video post tomorrow.



That's everything I can remember. I kind of fail and occasionally remember tiny things like a week later, so if I end up posting going OH YEAH, I FORGOT ABOUT - , forgive me.

Sucky videos tomorrow!

...it's taken me nearly three hours to write this.


eta: edited to add the pictures of my magazine. Whoops.

eta: fucking fail. Meant to say thank you to everyone for the comments yesterday! I kept checking my mail on my sidekick and seeing all your comments made me smile. You guys are awesome.

eta - 10/21: Added my picture with Jack to the post.