~
So last night was flippin' AMAZING.
A little background: Some of you who have known me for a long while know this already, but for those of you who have not had to endure me for that long, I am really into music and really really into certain bands- one of them in particular has been very important to me over the years and their songs are 98% of the personal soundtrack of my life. I am one of those people that require music in their lives and their day-to-day events; when not able to get my music-fix I can become very unpleasant to be around.
The band I am going to speak of in a bit has been a source of great relief, comfort and kick-assery for me over the years: the lyrics have always been deeply personal to me, making me tell people more then once that I felt the songs were written just for me since they captured exactly what I was feeling or what was going on with me and within me at certain times in my life. There is not one thing I have written since finding their music that has not been touched and influenced in some way by it; most of my RPers would be able to recognize (if they are fans) titles of the RPs we do are names or lines from songs this band has done. Ever since I have joined Gaia this band has been a turning point for a lot of the things that I do on here- early on, with the album that had recently came out the year I joined the site, the songs were very important to the main story I tell on here: the character that made me join this site, Flare, has had her story continued because I was able to take her from the table-top RPG she came from and have her live on through all the RPs I have joined or started over the years on here. This band's music has inspired a lot of the titles for these journal entries, among other things, and a whole host of things I do offline; everything from small projects to my life's work has either been done to the music from this band, been influenced by or been helped along by their songs.
Over the years they would come into the state I live (usually around my birthday, to further tease me) but due to random circumstances I was never able to see them. It got to the point where for a few years I made it my mission to ignore the fact they were in the state because I wanted to see them so badly but knew I would not be able to. (And while I doubt he's reading, because I am not sure how active he is on the site anymore...Damnit, Van, you still owe me a concert! xD)
So when I got a text from one of my closest friends that they were going to be in the state yesterday my first reaction was to make my unhappy face because I just KNEW I was not going to be able to go. But a few very nice things happened, and a lot of things have changed in the past few years to make this wonderful event happen...so, yeah, long story short, the two very best friends a cranky introvert like me could have bought two tickets to the concert and the best husband that a major goober could ever hope for made sure that both he and I got to the Tennessee Theater on time.
Both of the tickets; Dragon and Cee got together and surprised me by buying two tickets for me and Asai for my birthday: a most bitching and very, very sweet surprise, completely blowing my mind in terms of all-out awesomeness. I asked if they wanted to come, offering to buy them tickets since they bought ours, but their music is not really Cee's thing and Dragon had to work that night. I requested the day off weeks ago and was fully prepared to call in if I had to because there was no damn WAY I was going to miss them (especially since I was this close- I mean, come ON, I had the tickets, had tucked the money back for gas, foodage and goodies because I for damn sure was gonna get a shirt, had requested the day weeks in advance...Flare was not gonna play that game!).
And because I have to add this, Asai's first words to me yesterday morning when he woke up was "Your nerd is showing." I had dressed in my favorite jeans and my KoRn shirt with the cover from See You On The Other Side on it- it was topical, damnit, and I wanted to show my love!
Asai's ticket.
My ticket.
They picked really fantastic seats; we were about twelve or thirteen rows away from the stage and even though at one point during the concert Asai had to change places with me (I am on the short side and he is very tall...so guess which of us got stuck behind tall people? What makes it funnier is that I turned to him before the concert started and said that I really hoped tall people did not get in front of me.) it was a great view. I was having to hop to get brief looks at the stage (totally lost my s**t when the first member came on stage) but Asai changed places with me, once more affirming what an awesome man he is and how lucky I am to have him. Awesome husband is awesome! *Gives him our special high-five!*
That is the only picture I managed to get of the stage while we waited for the concert to start (Asai got other pictures of the theater but I was too busy goobering, spazzing out and poking at him to exclaim, "I AM EXCITE!" every five minutes. Honestly, it is a show of how much he loves me that he did not squish me last night just to get a moment's peace and quiet- I was REALLY happy and excited and by myself with glee- in other words, I would have punched me if I could have.); I was too agog at the beauty of the place and too in awe of what was about to go down to get any good pictures.
Which is why I am very thankful that Asai thought to take this video; the place was BEAUTIFUL and other then a shot of the ceiling I was too spastic and giddy and in full-scale joy-joy to work my camera.
It is a lovely building. The perfect setting to see my favorite band perform. @.@ It was as if the setting was tailored to my liking (again reaffirming the joke that I am Haruhi cat_ninja ); the two opening acts were actually pretty good, too, but I will admit to doing a lot of hopping around yelping about how I wanted KoRn and I wanted KoRn now.
The atmosphere was perfect, too. This was only my second concert (and his first) and it totally killed the other concert for me. The people were awesome, the entire damn thing was fantastic and everything about the moment we got to the theater was magical for me. I am sure that the people that had to deal with me other then Asai thought I was more then a little touched- all I could do was grin at people and nod, sprouting off small, random things before doing another "I AM EXCITE!" and poking at my poor husband. I thought my face was gonna fall off I grinned so much.
And don't even get me started on when the band walked out...and when Jonathan walked on stage...
I could go on like this forever. It was...mind-blowing. It was an experience that defies my poor ability to put it into words; to be in a crowd of people that shared my enthusiasm for something that has been so near and dear to me for years, to see my favorite band perform and hear songs that have meant so, so much to me over the years...to know the experience was brought to me by being blessed enough to have such wonderful, caring people in my life (despite the fact that I am ME!) that helped to make it happen...
It was a life-changing night for me. It was an amazing opportunity and it was awesome to be in a crowd of such happy people who were as totally alive and in the moment as I was: I do not know how many of you are music people or how many of you have been blessed to see your favorite band or musician perform live but let me tell you, if you ever get the chance I hope your experience was or is as good as mine was. I felt so...ALIVE. It was like I woke up- which is funny, considering the songs they played.
The songs they did (and the order they played them):
"Divine"
"Predictable"
"No Place To Hide"
"Good God"
"Narcissistic Cannibal"
"Kill Mercy Within"
"Chaos Lives In Everything"
"My Wall"
"Get Up!"
"Way Too Far"
"Here To Stay"
"Freak On A Leash"
"Did My Time"
"Falling Away From Me"
"Another Brick In The Wall"
And the encore songs were:
"Shoots And Ladders" / "One"
"Got The Life"
"Blind"
What was so, so cool was that twice I had asked Asai what songs, if he could pick, would he want to see played live- once a few weeks ago when we first started talking about it and once that morning on the way up there. He said "Freak On A Leash" and while I had a b***h of a time picking just one I had JUST said during the drive that I would love to hear "Got The Life" because that song has had so much meaning for me since the first time I heard it while in high school (I started loving KoRn about 1995, when I first heard and watched the band perform "Shoots And Ladders" on an MTV thing- I got chills when they started to play it last night because it was that song that had made me love the band!) and a lot here recently since that album was the center of a few very...interesting years for me.
I swear it is a sign that certain songs were performed- I will not say too much right now, but "Falling Away From Me" is very important in the biggest, most important thing I am working on; if and when a certain thing happens in my life then I can say that song saw me through some of the makings of said event.
Asai did take two videos, which I adore him for; please watch here and here if you wanta get a peek at my happy moment. :3
We are lucky that my screaming did not drown out the music. xD
There are certain events that will forever be indelibly marked in my consciousness and being; my atoms have soaked up certain events and will retain the colors and impressions from those events for as long as there is- last night was one of those events, one of the best things that I have been blessed enough to experience.
I. Am. Still. Goobering. emotion_kirakira
I have read over the years what good, decent guys they are, too, which was completely confirmed by everything they did during the show and after- Jonathan took the time to call out anyone in the crowd who was active military (and dedicated "Got The Life" to them) and at the end he took off his wristbands and gave them to two of the people at the very front of the stage. He was very kind and thanked the audience, speaking of how they have been a band for eighteen years and thanking the fans for that- I have read all these years how he is a very nice person and it really showed. After the show Fieldy came back out and tossed stuff out to the crowd and Ray tossed out his sticks and signed Frisbees. It was very cool to see how nice they were and the fact they interacted with people as they did. It made me love them even more then I already did!
I wish I had the ability to let you all share in the emotions I had last night and have carried with me throughout today- if I could bottle this up and give it to anyone who needed it I would gladly do so. It was beyond my ability to verbalize, it was beyond awesome, and it was beyond anything I had ever hoped it would be.
I sincerely look forward to doing that again. Everything about the day and night (and seriously, guys, we had a DAY- our adventures leading UP to the event is a whole other entry...Poor Asai had a day and a half getting us there!) was pure magic for me. If I had to sum it up with one word I would have to say it was transcendent. It was a great way to spend what could be our six-month anniversary (we got married on Halloween and there is not thirty-one days in every month so I am not sure if it counts or not, but to me it does!) and it was exactly what I needed to get snapped out of the...mood I had found a part of me getting in over a certain thing (the event I alluded to earlier but will not get into now). I truly needed that!
What a great year, what a great month, what a great birthday present! *HOPS AROUND MADLY!* I am STILL EXCITE!
