THE STROKES! #205

i clearly am not actually posting on this actual day

since i got home at 1.30am

but since i need to keep the 'one post every day' thing

i'll have to back track.

so, me & emma saw the STROKES

at festival hall

and well, we weren't planning to get there as early as we

actually did

its just that i took the bus to the city at around 4

and my bus passes the venue

and i saw people there waiting already.

so i freaked out, & called emma.

& didn't go to friday afternoon training like i was going to

so that we could go sit at the door.

so after rushing around mc to get our supplies.

ie. dinner, random snacks & taking our last bathroom break before we go there

we ended up getting there around 4.45

and sat down at door 11.

and we were second at our door

well there was a couple, and then us.

and we sat & waited

& ate

& took photos

& waited.

well, at about 7 we finally got up & was let in.

not before they told us that cameras weren't allowed though, which was very sad for me.

and also, emma had to 'cloakroom' her bag.

which took agesss, because she kept having to go back and forwards because she forgot things. and i had to let a couple of people in front of me.

luckily, it was not detrimental

because i managed to obtain a floor spot in the front row

next to the couple that was at the same door as us

and this guy that emma manage to befriend during the course of the concert.

and we waited quite a while, til we were forced to get up

and everyone RAN to the barriers.

and me and emma still managed to keep our front row position along the barrier.

then Gypsy & the Cat came out

i was glad i did listen to some of their songs beforehand

because i knew them when they were playing.

they were pretty good.

& the drummer was awesome.

seriously, emma described it as being orgasmic for him.

lets just say, just by looking at him you wouldn't think he was just playing drums at a concert.

& the bassist, was just this afro guy.

and he was just like chilling.

which was pretty funny,

especially compared to the drummer.

and i also liked the lead singer :)

i didn't manage to get photos of them

because the security guy was standing right in front of me

so i didn't want to get caught and everything.

after Gypsy & the Cat, there was more waiting

since they had to remove drum kits and set up

and there were these sparkly drum sets.

and i didn't think much of it

because i thought there was only going to be one support act.

but the lights dimmed again

and much to my surprise it was 'the Like'

(surprise because i read somewhere that they weren't supporting the Strokes for melbourne. just for sydney)

and odd too, because i used to listen to them

i have a couple songs from their album 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

but the stuff they have out now

or what i heard is that they've gone more chick rock

more like The Donnas now.

i really like the chick who played keyboard

she had the cutest hair.

also, during their performance

some of The Strokes were watching them from the side

:)

after the Like, more waiting.

then the beginning of 'We Will Rock You' stand playing

and the enslaught began.

everyone went nuts and lots of pushing.

and being in the front row, I was being pushed into the barrier in front of me.

I was in pain a lot of the time because of the pushing

a few of the times, I felt my lungs getting squashed

and the thing is it didn't alleviate during the course of the concert

it just kept going

to the point where people in the middle of it

wanted to get pulled out to safety by the security guards.

and some people even had their arms completely around me

as in, for a few songs when they clapped

they clapped right in front of my face

at least i think it was a chick though.

and then there was a point, this other chick shoved past me

and managed to squeeze into the front row

and she was fully shoving me

i was very pissed off

i tried to elbow her.

and kick other peoples legs away.

YES.

it was brutal.

the most brutal concert i've ever been actually.

at points, i felt a little violated.

but that aside, it was a pretty good concert.

though i would have enjoyed it a lot more,

if i wasn't in pain a lot of the time.

so, to the actual band now.

i was standing directly in front of Nick the whole time,

who was massively awesome at guitar.

and was always my favourite member.

and he truly cemented his position as my fav member by his awesome guitar skills.

truly amazing

♥

& i think nikolai fraiture is now my second fav

he was so cute

just like calmly playing his bass.

he looked like he was just chilling, you know?

and he was dressed cute.

haha.

albert hammond, jr. was a cool cat in a white suit

i thought he held his guitar funny.

i felt like he was kind of holding it like a ukulele

julian casablancas was pretty awesome too

being all cool, in his sunnies

and he had like a green streak in his hair

which i thought looked funny.

& i didn't quite get a good pic of fab though

i was limited by the capacity of my phone

which isnt very good at all.

bummer.

but obviously fab had awesome drumming.

(i was tempted to say he had fab drumming, but that's just wrong to say. haha.)

though i did manage to get a lot of pics using my phone

(at this point the security guards weren't worried about the photos anymore. but more or less, people not dying in the mob)

but i realise now that i was taking them in the wrong mode

so 80% of them are too small or pixelated.

sigh.

here's the set list as well:

i keyed it into my phone while they were playing

so i'd remember

New York City Cops

The Modern Age

Hard to Explain

What Ever Happened?

You Only Live Once

Soma

Is this it

Vision of Division

I Can't Win

Reptilia

Last Nite

Encore:

Juicebox

Someday

Under Control

Heart in a Cage

Take it or Leave it

i was so glad they played 'Heart in a Cage'

i went a little bit nuts

(not that crazy though, because i couldn't, due to being squashed to oblivion)

as i mentioned before, Nick was freaking awesome in Heart in a Cage & the other songs with crazy guitar solos.

and i'm also glad that they played 'Is this it'

:)

but bummed they didn't play 'The End has No End'

and i felt that ending with 'Take it or Leave it' was a weird choice

i would have expected it to be 'You only live once' or 'Reptilia' or something

it was also strange they didn't play '12.51'

but it was still a pretty awesome night

despite the pain.

i think it probably rates as my second or third favourite show ever

not sure which one

but if i wasn't in pain, and the crowd weren't so crazy

it might even have come first

and so Yeah Yeah Yeahs is still my fav show

because i was still in the 2nd row & i could go nuts & i touched karen o :)

but it was pretty EPIC.

and i mean, the Strokes was my ultimate

the ONE show i wanted to go.

so it was a pretty amazing experience for me.

♥

more about what happened: here