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NO DOUBT, The Sounds, paramore

one of the best days of my life:

En route from Edinboro to destination THE BURGH, Jon and I were witness to our first roadkilling. This fucking beaver, this fucking precocious beaver, decides it's going to cross I-90. Like it owns the goddamn road. It deserved to be hit, but not as much as an opossum does, because opossum? that's some nasty shit. anyway, one moment the beaver is in front of us, and the next. BOOM! gone. no more beaver. we went through a mini-crisis.
"Do you think it had a family?"
"I don't fucking care it! It had it coming!"
"Now I feel bad."
"SHUT UP AND DRIVE."
Once in Pittsburgh, we then made our first (but certainly not last! oh ho ho) pilgrimage to the thing called IKEA. OHMYGOD. amazing. also amazing we did not get kicked out....I have a bit of a sectional-fetish. my future home will be made of sectionals. Kim, on the offchance you read this, OUR APARTMENT IS GOING TO BE LAID OUT LIKE AN IKEA DISPLAY.
Next we got to the Pavilion and spent about an hour parking. I started freaking out because I thought I was eating my organs again (oops). I demand to be fed before death. Once there, we eat. I do not die. We buy booze from English people. awesome, again. at first I'm like I don't want to drink, because I really am not like, the drinking type. and don't assume that I drink a lot because I see people that drink a lot and they look disgusting and the difference between me and them is I'm naturally this way.
then, even though we had tickets to sit up close to the stage (not that close, but closer than all the fucks on the lawn) we went on the lawn because neither of us were that crazy about The Sounds (sorry!) or Paramore (NOT SORRY HATE THEM). we laid on the lawn for a while and The Sounds started and they were good! very energetic. Maja (incredibly hot Swedish lead singer, but they're all Swedish, which makes them automatically attractive, just like IKEA!) owned that stage. They started with "Painted By Numbers" which was my Myspace song for a month in 12th grade.
cue lots of dancing and swearing from the band. I felt bad a lot of people were just like...not paying attention. what a crowd- I don't think I've ever been to a concert so diverse. There were people my sister's age, people my parents' age, KIDS MY COUSINS' AGE and a bunch of Hot Topic rejects in between. hmm.
some girl with an unibrow kept staring at me, btw. and I was just like BITCH TWEEZERS USE THEM. okay.
after The Sounds set- good set! most of the stuff was from "Crossing the Rubicon" and "Beatbox" was THE SHIT (see linkage below). Jon and I went down to walk around because we didn't give a shit about Paramore. then we saw that there was a signing at 9 for the Sounds and I was like let's just go because I like to meet famous people. sort of. we get more alcohol, I start drinking, we get in line for the Sounds. Paramore starts and I look over and I can see Haley's bright orange-ish head thrashing around on stage, which was good enough for me, thanks. the only song I recognized being "Misery Business" and some strange scene girl that was shouting about her relationship with Haley. at this time, I was just like- "I FUCKING HATE YOU" (fuck) and some girl in front of me gave me a high-five which was nice.
I drink more at this point so I'm not a bumbling idiot when I meet The Sounds. so I say more than garbled noises to them. they come out amid cheers and I look behind me and the line is stretched pretty far back! so it was good we got in when we did. there was like, a family behind me, and I kept stumbling into the little girl. I was like "are you so excited to see Gwen Stefani?" and she was staring at me like I was a child predator. WHATEVS
We were like the third people to meet the Sounds. And I gave them my mini-poster and I was geeking out because SWEDES AND A BAND I KIND OF LIKE WHOA and they were signing it so I was just: "y'all SO AWESUM! I LIIIIIIIKED YOUR SET! SORRY MORE PPL HAVE THEIR HEADS UP THEIR ASSES! LAST.FM FREE DOWNLOAD OF "DORCHESTER HOTEL" to which they went "o rly free! we do what we can for our fans!" signing my poster and I was just like OKAY OKAY OKAY AWESOME and then Maja was at the end of the table and she was hugging all the girls so I was just like JERKEJRKEKLERKE and I still have yet to wash my hoodie she touched. we also enquired about the size of the band members' dicks, which was hilarious because we were shitty. poor Maja seemed honestly confused by this. I would be too.
then we went to our seats, and thank God Jon and I could sit by each other. then he got more booze and I prepped myself by calling people to tell them about brush with celebrities.
THEN THE GRAND MOMENT WAS UPON US. we could see the band members' silhouettes up against a white curtain. Tom, Tony, Adrian. GWEN. "Spiderwebs" started. We all jumped to our feet, oh fuck. The curtain was gone. THERE THEY WERE.
oh shitttt. let me tell you that I've seen the "Behind the Music" for this band like 3000 times. I used to listen to all their albums before I fell asleep from the ages of 13 to 16. "Tragic Kingdom" was the first CD I bought, really. I tore apart my CCD (Catholic school werd) textbook to write the lyrics to "Happy Now?" THIS WAS SPIRITUAL FOR ME.
I thought I'll play it cool. I won't get into it. I can tap my toes lightly and snap my fingers and be cool and white. I'm never that good at concerts, I'm never that calm. I'm always a little uneasy and very self-conscious. But shit, once Gwen got going, I got going! And I didn't stop. Treated the people around me to horrible shrieky renditions of every fecking song from their catalog. SHIT. I've never been so animated at a concert before! And I knew every word to every song, which impressed me. I wish I had a version of a drunken me (being held up by Jon) trying to do "Underneath It All." My Lady Saw impression? spot on.
this band means the world to me. still does. fuck. two things will always define me, in terms of pop culture: episodes of Frasier (don't hate) and No Doubt, everything No Doubt. here's their setlist, thanks to the guy I'm friends with on last.fm who Gwen is in love with and took up onstage (!!! so jealous):
Spiderwebs Hella Good Underneath It All [life changed here! :D] Excuse Me Mr. Ex-Girlfriend DJs (instead of End it on this!) Simple Kind of Life Bathwater Guns of Navarone New Hey Baby Running Different People Don’t Speak It’s My Life Just A Girl Rock Steady Stand and Deliver (featuring The Sounds and Paramore) Sunday Morning
The "DJs" cover was legendary and awesome. they really rocked everything. I'm glad to see Gabe and Stephen were so involved, too. I love Gabe and Steve.
Was surprised to see them do "Rock Steady" though, never been much of a fan.
Gwen and the boys were very involved, though. Very active. VERY energetic. "Just a Girl" was a highlight because she got the audience to sing in two sections and then she did the classic one-armed push ups. Gwen is so ripped and perfect seriously I can't express this enough. she's just like - undeniably gorgeous.
During "Don't Speak" and "Simple Kind of Life" I kept taking out my cell to do the lighter thing. apparently I'm the only person that does that. hmm. THANX
shows I've seen: No Doubt, followed by Feist, followed by the Dresden Dolls, followed by She Wants Revenge, Mieka Pauley, Rilo Kiley (Jenny was a little too cool) and then Death Cab, Panic!, etc.
I don't remember "Guns of Navarone" hahaha. oh god. these two Asian girls ahead of us left halfway through and kept shooting me disturbed looks. I took their seats. repeatedly tried to rush over and break into the pit but security backed me down. I was like "I'm cool I'm cool"- went up and slamdanced/skanked/whatever I was doing some more. my legs were so red and puffy afterwards. they're getting better but they're still somewhat sore.
The band played well to the audience, too. Major props to the Penz. During "Stand and Deliver" Adrian was wearing a jersey. awesome. Maja and Haley and the rest of their respective bands joined Gwen and the boys for the Adam and the Ants cover. MAJA TOUCHED GWEN, SHE TOUCHED ME, I INDIRECTLY TOUCHED GWEN. !!!
the videos from tragiclamb (I found this on the No Doubt fan forum, my old haunt) capture them SPLENDIDLY. I can't even due the experience justice in my measly words. God. I'm still in awe of all this. It's like, for me, seeing the Beatles. that's what it can be compared to.






The band with closed perhaps my favorite song by them, "Sunday Morning." part of the encore we all demanded. 17000 people- the lawn was jam packed. Gwen seemed in awe when she commented on the scope and I have truly never been around so many people.
Here are the videos:

gahhhhhh

Jon and I headed back to our car, I wandered around half-naked in the woods and lost my Edinboro ID (REPRESENT), four hours were spent leaving the venue, another hour finding a place to get moar drunker/find food at, giving up, staying at a seedy inn called America's Best WHEN IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT, prying ticks off our skin and watching "Election." which is really such an underrated movie. see it!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uo317e
^ "Making Out," probably my favorite No Doubt song. off "Rock Steady."

- B. KEMPUS

Comments

  1. I remember that show... Gwen was so ripped, her abs are amazing. And she was weraing her white capri pants dangerously low. Very sexy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. omg yes, random person! was AWESOME

    ReplyDelete

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