The Academy Is... et al at The Senator 10/10/09

[rsadelle]

I should very definitely have gone straight to bed after the show, but I was way too keyed up for that, so instead I stayed up to type my concert report while it was still fresh. Some people liveblog while they're at concerts. I don't have a cell phone so I couldn't quite do that. What I do have, however, are a pen and notecards which I took out mostly between but sometimes during acts.

The short version: it was totally worth the $17, and stevie_roch is awesome for lending me her camera.

Part of what made this show attractive to me is that I haven't been to The Senator since it was a movie theater. Specifically, I haven't been there since we saw Eyes Wide Shut, which makes it about ten years. The lobby and the upstairs bathroom (which never has a line more than three people long because no one knows it's there because they're all too young to remember seeing movies there) are pretty much how I remember. I wish I could remember what the theaters were like so I could compare it to what it's like now. I think it was just one giant theater when it was first built, but when I was growing up, it was four movie theaters, two upstairs and two down. They've now converged back into one large space with a stage and a balcony.

There's a metal rail a little ways back from the stage, and everything in front of that is the pit. Behind it are seats all the way back.



You Me At Six, taken (and lightened up) mostly so you can see the empty seats and the smallish crowd.


You Me At Six is a little British band who maybe want to be more punk than they are. They're trying to get the audience to do something (I don't know what; I think rock concerts need to turn up the singers' mics), which their singer does by saying, "Can we fucking do that, Chico?" Plus they jump. A lot. Mostly in unison.

All of their fans are in the left half of the pit, presumably because that's the side closest to the entrance to the building.

For their set, I sit down, and mostly I laugh.

They cover Lady Gaga's "Pokerface."

They don't have enough techs, so the drummer dismantles his own kit. (At least one other band's drummer also does this.)

There are a few parental units around, but otherwise I'm probably ten to seventeen years older than everyone here. This explains why I had no trouble parking across the street only half a block up.

I'm still sitting for The Secret Handshake, but find them so completely irresistible that I have to get up and go down to the front to dance. (I don't go into the pit, but stay just behind the rail.) They're just amazing. In terms of music, they're (a) the most different from the other acts (I have no idea why they're in this show; they don't fit at all) and (b) my favorites. You should go listen to them. Every song ends abruptly, and then Luis says, "Thank you."

They also do a cover: Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." It's fantastic, and the crowd knows all the lyrics.

There are a lot of Hispanic kids around for this set. I assume they're there for TSH, because the rest of the evening I only see white kids.

Set Your Goals comes out for their first date on the tour in fake formalwear (shirts or jackets plus ties) over their t-shirts. One of their lead singers (they apparently have two) is wearing a sparkly silver bow tie. They ditch the fake formalwear after the first song.

They're mostly just loud. Moshing and crowd surfing increases. I spend part of their set wandering around instead. As part of this wandering, I get my picture taken with Luis from The Secret Handshake.



With Luis from The Secret Handshake. He seems to be the band all by himself, but he has a guitarist and drummer for tour.


He continues to hang out around the lobby for much of the night, but no one bothers him. I don't know if they're being polite or if they don't know who he is.

I also flip through the book of The Butcher's artwork you can buy prints of. There's one small piece titled "...I think you Pissed Her Off" that's a sketch of a woman who looks, to me, less pissed off and more strong, a Greek goddess type. If I weren't unemployed, I probably would have bought it.

I'm still wandering around trying to decide if I should ask the security guy if 21+ is just booze or if it also includes balcony access, but apparently The Academy Is... is the second to last band. (I was under the impression they were the headliner. I guess I was wrong.)

TAI takes the stage, and I head down to the front, on the right side where I can see Mike Carden. (You can't make me hate him!)



TAI! I have no idea what I'm doing, and my photos aren't great, but here's where I stopped to take pictures before going closer to dance and sing. I don't know what's going on with that girl's see-through shirt.


Bill is in a fake tuxedo t-shirt and suspenders. The outfit plus his new haircut make him look maybe twelve years old. Maybe. But he starts moving around, and he's surprisingly sexy on stage. At one point, he lounges against the speaker, and I wonder why no one's figured out they should have him lounging like that for publicity photos.

Of the non-Bill members of the group, Mike has the most facial expression, at least that I can see - Michael Guy Chislett is interestingly Tom-like in his intense focus on what he's doing (he also tends to hide behind his hair a bit), Sisky is hidden partly by the head of the plaid shirt wearing girl in front of me and partly by his truly hideous beard and hairstyle (for a guy who said, "As much as I can trust my band, they've thrown me under the bus a few times when it comes to my haircut," you'd think he'd know better), and The Butcher is pretty much hidden behind a cymbal. Mike starts out thoroughly adorable with that look that's six-year-old on an adult frame, but as time goes on I realize sweaty hair is not a good look for anyone. Maybe I just don't see enough concerts, but it amuses me that his tech even goes so far as to take his guitar off his body and drape the next one over him so he doesn't have to do it himself. Mike looks happy.

There are a lot of water bottles and a handful of red cups on the stage. Mike's drink (beer?) is in a transparent plastic cup.

Mike and Sisky play to each other occasionally, and I'm pretty sure they're singing the lyrics as they do so, at least on one song (maybe "Neighbors"). Everyone takes turns playing to The Butcher. Michael plays the Top Gun theme. Over the course of their set, Bill introduces everyone but Mike.

Mike, Sisky, and Michael all have a tendency to stand or wander upstage and toward the edges, where they're hidden by the speakers if you're in just the wrong place.

Between songs, Bill informs us that security is pulling people out of the crowd because they're getting crushed. He tells us to take four steps back and take care of each other.

Incomplete and out of order set list: Neighbors, About A Girl, I'm Yours Tonight, Summer Hair = Forever Young, 40 Steps, Classifieds, We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands. I'm surprised by just how many of their lyrics I know.

I head out to the lobby to see if TAI is going to show up to sign things and take pictures, since every other band has done so just after their set. They don't.

Mayday Parade takes the stage. They're very, very loud. They have what look like country-style rectangular dining room tables on the stage for the sole purpose of standing on them. There's also some coordinated guitarist and/or bassist spinning going on.


Mayday Parade and their tables. Cropped and lightened so you can get an idea of what their tables are like.


They do something that's just pianos and vocals, and their drummer sings. The crowd is a sea of cell phones held up to film the moment.

I don't think their vocalist knows where they are; he keeps referring to us simply as "California."

There's a tiny boy with a pass on a carabiner next to me at the back of the room. I don't know who he is, but some guys ask him for a picture, and he moves them around to where the light's better. Later, he and another guy cross the room. I lose track of them, but I think they're headed toward the front.

Mayday Parade is too loud so I go hang out in the lobby. They do have one of my favorite bits of merch: a shirt that says, "Without @mayday_parade, I'd be miserable @best."

There's a handful of guys hanging around the You Me At Six and The Secret Handshake area of the merch counter. It takes me a while to realize they all have passes on carabiners at their waists. I think they're You Me At Six. At some point, the one wearing a gray hoodie hops up onto the counter and leans back against their merch guy, who puts an arm around him. One of the other guys puts a bottle in gray hoodie's lap, and gray hoodie and the merch guy jerk it off, complete with sex noises from gray hoodie.

Another one of them keeps air fiving TAI's merch guy.

Eventually, Mayday Parade is done, and people start streaming out. The bands don't show up in the lobby, and I follow some kids around the corner to where there is a very large crowd of people around the Mayday Parade guys. I go past them to the slightly smaller crowd around Bill.

The girls behind me discuss how they're going to coordinate wearing their concert shirts to school next week. The girl in front of me declares her wish for Mike to come out to sign things and take pictures. She says she's the future Mrs. Carden but he just doesn't know it yet. I suggest she can hang around and see if he shows up. She can't stay for too long because her mom's coming to pick her up. The best is the blonde girl who's actually taller than Bill. Michael wanders out but disappears quickly. (I'm serious about the disappearing. He takes three pictures and is then gone, and he didn't go back into the bus.)

About forty-five minutes later, I finally get my chance to talk to Bill. I tell him I heard he was adorable in person and I had to see for myself. He tells me that he's just himself, rambles a bit, and asks, "What's the verdict?" I tell him he was very good on stage. It's all very cute. I poke at one of the teenagers waiting and get her to take a photo for me.



With Bill from TAI!


Four more thoughts about my adventures:

First, I was struck by how few women are involved in this tour, especially in contrast to the largely female audience. There were the two women selling Alternative Press subscriptions and a hot blonde teching (I wanted to know if she was with the tour or the venue). As for venue staff, I saw one female member of security, one of the people taking tickets was a woman, and two of the concessions staff were women.

Secondly, I thought about dressing up for their Dress to Express contest (the winners get to skip the line, get their picture taken, and watch from backstage), but ended up in just jeans and a polo (no one who was there for the music looked less like they belonged than I did). I should've done it, though, because the only two people dressed up were the two girls who won.

Third, I really liked being there by myself. I didn't feel like I had to keep track of anyone else or check in with them or be anywhere specific. I could just wander to my heart's content.

Fourth, in the time I was down near the front, I spent a lot of time either bouncing (I did not test my small purse for jumping - it doesn't stay on well if I do) or standing on my toes. Because I'd had ballet in the morning, I occasionally thought about my alignment. I don't know if it helped. My calves are sore this morning.

Comments

[rsadelle]

He's so adorable! You can't help it!