Bands, bouncers, boozers, and blowers of air

Hi guys,

I have returned one year later to say this:

“New” Altars makes me lol.

That will be all. Thank you and Merry Christmas and a good night to all.

Sooo, we drove all the way to Arvada for this one. But we had to man, it was Sheridan’s last show :(

Since we waited so long to write this post, I don’t really recall the opening bands. Except that we thought it was A Skyline Surrender’s last show, but they just changed their name to Navigator and aren’t playing old songs anymore. So its all good, cause they’re still them. And from what I remember, all the openers were good.  

The crowd was weird, but I think that’s cause it was Denver’s Sheridan crowd, not Colorado Spring’s Sheridan crowd. They are WAY different. I haven’t even like 90 percent of these kids before. Most of them were 15, therefore the pit was really amusing to watch. It was quite ridiculous. They played red rover. And there was this one guy who was like 20 something who was completely crazy. I mean, if he was at a normal show, someone would have taken him out.

I’m extremely disappointed in you Colorado Springs. There were only a handful of kids from the Springs there. I know you all are scared of icy roads, but we made it just fine. There was no ice. We lurked road conditions all day to make sure it was going to be safe. You guys should have done the same. Pansies. JK. But, srsly. You’re supposed to be tough hardcore kids. IT WAS THEIR LAST SHOW!

And Altars, where you be at?

Otherwise, this was a very successful farewell show. Levi The Poet got on stage right before Sheridan. He came from a show he was performing at at a nearby venue. What a good pal :) He was really good. If you haven’t already watched the live stream you should, it starts recording right before he gets on stage.

Sheridan was excellent as always. This show was especially sad for us because Sheridan was the first local band we ever saw. And they were the last band left from the local music scene we walked into. I thought it was going to be a little more emotional, but they managed to keep it full of fun. They played lots of old songs, which was real nice. “This is the song we wrote our first break down for. We thought we were so cool.” Jeremy kept crowd surfing, but before he would, he’d make sure they were going to catch him. It was really silly. But they all looked like amateurs, so I would have done the same thing too. Towards the end of the set they began throwing toilet paper at the crowd. By the time they were done, the venue had been successfully TPed. Look.

At the beginning of the show there was a collection being made for Dylan’s knee surgery and they made over 200 dollars. I’m happy to be able to say his surgery went well. Sheridan, this was bitter sweet. You will be missed and good luck with future endeavors. 

Denver, you have an attitude problem.

The people who do Xs at the Marquis kind of suck, because they’re always more on my wrist than they are my hand.

There weren’t nearly enough people there for Listener, but he was amazing all the same. He sounded spot on and was super humble and funny and just an overall super cool dude. Him and Josh played a Pedro the Lion cover. He told us this joke. You don’t get to hear it though, because you should have been there. He kept thanking us for clapping and listening. NO, man, thank you. You’re terrific.

We didn’t know The Greenery was supposed to be on this date until the night before when we looked them up. We watched their tour update video (where they called Former Thieves Former Dweebs and said something about a webbed butthole) and the video for Spit and Argue, neither of which gave a terribly good impression. They were alright though. The vocalist was super involved with the crowd though. He took up the entire floor and was yelling at and touching people. They played a Suicide File cover which didn’t suck. I’ll try to let my psychological tendencies dissolve.

Everyone was being mean to Former Thieves which was stupid. Don’t just stand there and stare them. I enjoyed them, but I didn’t know them very well beforehand.

Everyone was mean to Vanna too! They sounded kind of funny though. And the clean vocalist kept…not singing. The shit. The lead vocalist seemed like he was pretty frustrated with the crowd. Sorry, man, attitude problem, I’m telling you.

THE CHARIOT! THE CHARIOT! THE CHARIOT! I LOVE THE CHARIOT! They’re the best. EVER. “THIS MICROPHONE IS YOUR MICROPHONE. THIS STAGE IS YOUR STAGE. THIS SONG IS YOUR SONG. BE FREE. BE FREE. BE FREE.” AHHHHHHHHH. THE CHARIOT.

No, but srsly, they always put on a fanfuckingtastic show and tonight was no exception, even though they had nothing to jump off or anything. I have no idea what happened at any point during their set though, because we were in there participating. Hank’s neck might be broken. My rib cage is bruised. At one point, Josh was directly in front of me with the microphone pulling me back into the crowd of people. IT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME. And this guy told Hollie that if she promised not to beat him up, he wouldn’t beat her up. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. (: Hank yelled at this guy for being an asshole. And by that, it was “YOU MOTHERFUCKER, YOU HAVE PROBLEMS.” He was being a turd and standing up front with his girlfriend and kept shoving everybody who got anywhere near him EVEN when the crowd wasn’t even moving. Besides that though, everyone else up there was cool with each other. People kept stagediving and crowdsurfing, but the amount of people was concentrated toward the stage and when they got to a certain point, most of them kind of just fell. It’s okay though, they all bounced right back up. Also, people suck at headbanging. Don’t even do that. Seriously. Just stop it.

After the show, we had to go to Walgreens. We saw a real life prostitute. She got picked up (on the bus) and paid and everything. That is all.

We decided it’d be a good idea to go to the mall today. It was not. It was a terrible idea. There were so many damn people. It took us forever to get in and then even more forever to get out. Lesson learned. No Black Friday for us.

So, this lady stops us to ask to sign a pot petition when we got to the venue. And Hank was talking to her when all of a sudden this chick in line yells “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” It was Peyton. D: She didn’t belong there. She’s supposed to be studying God in Arizona (which is something she doesn’t even follow, but whatevs). Instead, she’s here ruining Hank’s birthday. Things didn’t end well, man. WHY YOU DO THAT? Anyway, later I heard her telling some guy her favorite band was For Today. BITCH, I KNOW YOUR LIFE. You have 3 For Today songs you downloaded off Limewire smushed in between your extensive collection of Kesha and Chris Brown. DON’T EVEN TALK. AND you were wearing high heels and a dress. WHO THE HELL WOULD WEAR THAT TO A FOR TODAY SHOW? RAJSFJAGHLIETRIEJFKSDJFLKWERIqJFISDJIF. Regardless, For Today was really good. He gave a very inspiring speech and they sounded perfect.

Once again, holy lol to Enter Shikari. I dare you to go to one of their shows and not have fun. I DARE YOU. If you’re not having fun, it’s just because you’re being a butt. The vocalist and the drummer kept making crazy faces and eyes. The guitarists were just hilarious. The vocalist guy didn’t get taken out when he climbed on top of the balcony like Jon Kindler this summer. But, he also didn’t try to jump. Everyone up there was like THIIIIIS GUY. He also came into the crowd and did the robot. You can’t beat that.

I have nothing nice to say about Whitechapel, so I therefore have nothing to say at all. Except, for such a brutal band, they sure don’t do much but make stupid angry faces. And there was a crazy Whitechapel fan girl in front of us with pigtails who tried to fight some girl just because she accidentally touched her. WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA. Calm down.

I haven’t listened to The Devil Wears Prada since I was like…fifteen. We decided to stay for them anyway though. I got knocked over and fell into the sound guy’s barrier. It moved. They had a lot of stupid blinding lights. Right before they went on, we saw Christian. We went to middle school AND high school with this kid. It’s a pretty long story. Nonetheless, it makes the fact that Hollie AHHHHed! when they made eye contact acceptable. At some point, Hollie lost her shoe. On our way out, she thought it was covered in beer because it was kind of sticky. It wasn’t though. IT WAS COVERED IN BLOOD! D: Don’t worry though, it was her own blood. 

We didn’t go home, so there’s nothing to say about that.

Sooooo, we showed up REALLY early today, because we feared being late and missing half of the bands. Which, by the way, happened last week when we drove all the way to Denver to see The Wonder Years AND MISSED THEM because the Ogden doesn’t know how to get their door times straight. The Ogden is now on our shit list, along with Stargazer’s Theater, but that’s another story for a different day. Also, on the Blast O Mat’s facebook, they said be early or no show for you and I didn’t want no show for us. Therefore, we sat outside for a while in a sketchy part of town where the streetlights don’t stay on. Before we parked, we decided to drive around the back to see if anyone was there yet and THERE WERE DOGS. WHY WERE THERE DOGS?! WHAT KIND OF ESTABLISHMENT IS THIS? This kid parked behind us and was like six feet away from our car AND halfway on the sidewalk. Hank accidentally popped the trunk, so I climbed in through the backseat, pushed it open, and then closed it order to scare the shit out of him. So, for anyone who doesn’t know and doesn’t want to go through that awkward first experience, the Blast O Mat is basically just a house. The show takes place in a garage. There’s a yard or something. I think that’s where the dogs were. They weren’t there when the show started though. I don’t even know, man. Maybe there were never dogs to begin with. Maybe it was some kind of security system. I don’t even know. Regardless though, if you go to shows in the Colorado area, make sure to go here at least once. It’s an experience for sure.

There was a guy standing in front of us wearing Misfit shoes and Citizen played a Misfits cover and the guy with the Misfits shoes really dug it. While they were playing, half the band had their backs to the crowd. It was a little weird, but whatevs. They were good anyway. I see where they’re going and I like it.

When a band was on, it was REALLY hot. But then, during set change, the garage door was slide up and it suddenly got REALLY cold. And people kind of suck at moving out of the way for the equipment. MOVE BITCH, GET OUT DA WAY.

I really like Seahaven. He has an interesting voice. Alissa, we always love seeing you. We wish you hadn’t of left us and moved to California. But it’s okay. We might be leaving too. D: STAY TUNED!

The vocalist of Pianos Become the Teeth is crazy. In a good way. In like a this is what I’m doing while we’re playing kind of way. They were amazing. 

YOU KNOW WHO I WAS NOT HAPPY TO SEE TONIGHT?

This guy.

Lay off the tanning bed, you weirdo. This is Colorado. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE anyway? :)

Touche Amore was AWESOME. Totes righteous. Lots of crowd participation. There was a guy. He did not like the ground. He liked the air. He also made no sense, because he said he didn’t want to see TA again, but then was all crazy and whatnot. And then I thought, maybe he’s just trying to be an asshole by kicking everyone in the head. But, no, he was singing along. Anyway, their set was perfect and they did a really good job at blending songs together since they’re like 1-2 minutes long and if they hadn’t, there would have been A LOT of clapping. And that would have been weird. People got super stoked for ~ and Honest Sleep. Honestly, I was super stoked the whole time. This was without a doubt one of the best shows of the year.

And who’s bummed about Thrice and Thursday hiatuses? Talk about a double whammy.

These are your wonder years, so you need to set your goals in order to achieve a new found glory, at which point there’ll be fireworks (which are basically just explosions in the sky), and that moment will be such gold. If after your hundredth try you still don’t succeed, you’ll just have to make do and mend and attempt to at least maintain some balance and composure. But srsly, it’s not that hard. It’s not like you’ll be moving mountains to the bayside or anything. And hey, if you fail, you won’t be sent to the gallows or fed to the sharks like a man overboard.

Also, don’t just be a listener in life. Take the reigns of your chariot.

There was no way we were going to be late to this one, because we left the Springs at like 1 in the afternoon. We decided to go to the Denver Art Museum for this art project Hank had to do. Upon arrival, we were like this:

But after a while, we were more like:

While we were there though, we saw this gigantic lady behind us and freaked out because we didn’t recall seeing her. We had just meandered down the wrong hallway though. We call this piece the mud people.

There was also some corn hanging around like Jeepers Creepers.

After leaving, we got dinner, and then went to King Soopers to get Monster. It was pretty terrible. It was inside a parking garage and there were SO MANY DAMN PEOPLE. 

We got to the Summit a whole 30 minutes early. We sat in the car though, because we didn’t feel like standing around in line. Too cold. Once we got in, we spent an extensive amount of time searching for Caleb, but he was no where to be found.

Moving Mountains was up first. They were wearing creepy masks and had way more energy than any other time we’ve ever seen them. There was this guy who was like, “Duuude, this is the third time I’ve seen Moving Mountains in a year.” Duuude, this is the third time we’ve seen Moving Mountains in three months. You know what distinguishes this as one hell of a Halloween party? There was a crowdsurfing Gumby. You can’t beat that. His horse kept going on stage, lurking in the corner. I think Gumby’s horse was La Dispute’s merch guy, but I could be wrong. Gumby was the sound guy.

We tried to find Caleb again, but to no avail.

O’Brother was really good. They called themselves the “Dirty Bottom Boys” and they were dressed up in prisoner attire. I wasn’t too familiar with them beforehand, but I most definitely approve. You guys should totes get their soon-to-be-released-new album.

We moved all the way up front for La Dispute. Our half of the crowd sucked and knew no words. I could srsly distinguish our voices and that’s just not supposed to be. They were dressed up as cops - Law Dispute lolz. They called MM Booving Mountains. #halloweenjokes Jordan was wearing a ridiculously tiny shirt. Chad was wearing a wife beater. You know how we feel about those. We’ll let this one slide though, because we’re biased. Kevin was wearing a woman’s costumes. I may or may not have seen his butt. Once again, they were super crazy awesome good and I even got over the fact that they ended with a new song again because now I know it and like it. :)

Thrice were party animals and each had a head - a zebra, a lion, a sheep, and a rooster. It’s pretty damn weird to see animals playing instruments. Dustin kept making jokes about how he’d eat us if we didn’t shut up. Thrice is excellent live. For the first couple of songs, they sounded perfect in comparison to their recordings. While they were playing All the World Is Mad, the O’Brother jailbirds ran around stage and Law Dispute chased after them and beat them with batons. So hilarious and so fitting. During their encore, everyone made them take off their heads. Dustin was going to play an acoustic set after the show for Invisible Children donations, but we couldn’t go. We had to be in class at 8 AM the next morning. :(

Throughout the entire night, band members from other bands joined on stage and played instruments or did back-up vocals. O’Brother was always out there doing drums. It was neat. My costume was very fitting. Hank’s costume was probably perceived inappropriate (Hank looked a little naked). 

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. >:D 

Here’s something you’ve never heard before:

We were late. We therefore missed Sharks. It’s (kind of) okay though, because while we were stuck in traffic for an hour, we made some new buddies. We were sittin’ on the highway going 0 mph and I got bored. So, I (Hollie, jsyk) started blowing some bubbles out the window. And there was this girl and this guy behind us (who almost rear-ended us several times, but it was cool) who really, really appreciated that. Every time we passed each other, we waved, and at one point, we talked for a bit. Highway buddies are the best. There were also these two teenage boys who wouldn’t use their turn signal ever. The first time they passed us, I went to shake my head at the driver, but he caught me off guard by pointing at me. In return, I made him a lovely sign.

They later passed us again and the driver was wearing a Spiderman mask. I prepared a comeback, which consisted of a mannequin hand and a hoe I found in Hank’s trunk. Da hoe looked like this:

Loljk, it looked like this:

We never passed each other again though. :(

All the bands tonight were super excellent. Srsly, top notch. 

The Swellers wanted to make sure that we all knew they were a real band. “We are a real band. These are real guitars, these are real amps, this is my real voice. So give it up for real music!” You are a real boy. Congrats :) Joe was there. “I’m okay” Joe. He had that same stupid look on his face and was standing in the back of the venue.

I don’t really have much to say about Title Fight besides the fact that they’re amazing. And I love them.

After asking the crowd if we were bored like he was, the lead singer of Gallows got off the stage and stood in the middle of the room with his microphone. He then proceeded to get the crowd involved. And it worked. I have to say that I think part of this was due to the fact the Title Fight was getting more crowd participation and he just wasn’t having that. It worked though, for the rest of the . set the crowd was highly involved. Maybe too involved because after joining his band on stage, the singer called out the “fat bald bastard” for pushing kids around during his song. “The point of coming out isn’t to see who’s dick is biggest, cause Steph’s is the biggest.” Hank cares to disagree. Then, there was this bitch who kept saying that she wanted Frank Carter. STFU and GTFO, you’re just being an asshole. This guy was like “In the Belly of a Shark” and the lead singer said “What’dyousay?” “In the Belly of a Shark” “Whaaat?” “In the Belly of a Shark” “One more time!” “In the Belly of a Shark!” He then said that there was some clairvoyance in the crowd cause we were mind readers. It was a little upsetting half the crowd left for Gallows though. What’s wrong with you?

Most came back for Four Year Strong though. There was even an addition to the crowd. 

Heres a tip to bands, stop having really bright lights that face the crowd. WECAN’TSEEYOU. Or maybe that’s your agenda. This fight broke out. Of course there were no bouncers to be found. This guy who was being an ass all night punched this other guy, who wasn’t having it. So, they got into a scuffle. It traveled all the way to the sound booth, and we thought they had left. But no, they came back, still fighting, and at this point the ass only had half his shirt on and the other guy had him in a headlock and dragged him in the opposite direction toward the bathroom. While the whole time this little chick was yelling “guys, stop it!” and trying to break them up. Ma’am you are half their size, you’re not going to make a difference. Eventually security caught on and handled the situation. Four Year Strong blew it off and continued. The crowd became more interesting as the night went on. It became full of the living dead, a couple girls dressed like sluts, Waldo (we found him) and Mario. Of course all of this was not as scary to deal with as very hungry peewee football players at a buffet. I swear they were scarier than any hardcore crowd we’ve seen. Haha, nahh. But still. Joe became highly more involved at this point. He was jumping around with the crowd of people in the middle. I’m starting to form a dislike towards you Joe. You’re not allowed to stand in the back all night like a loner not clapping (he seriously didn’t clap for anybody) and then join the gaiety for the headliner. Not. Cool. I donno if we can be friends. 

Walking back to the car was interesting. So many weirdos dressed in Halloween costumes. Denver never fails in providing entertainment. These night walkers also don’t know how to follow traffic laws. It brings me to question how many of them get hit trying to cross the street. We were hungry so we stopped at Sonic in Castle Rock. Of course being broke college kids, we went through the drive-thru so we didn’t have to tip. Hey, don’t judge. At least we thought it through and didn’t just not tip the server. But of course, you can’t drive the highway and eat at the same time. At least, not a night. So we pulled into a Walgreen’s parking lot where you were only allowed to stay for 30 minutes. Hollie asked if they were watching us. My response was what are they going to do, tow me? She found this especially funny. On the remaining drive home we proceeded to “test” burned cds that weren’t labeled. Who would have thought you’d find Fall Out Boy, Underoath, and Motley Crue on the same cd. Did I mention they were burned many years ago?

We were SOOOOOO late. So late. We missed Transit. WE MISSED TRANSIT. :( Hank had to feed the chickens and Denver traffic sucks so hard. But anyway, on our way up there we listened to some old school stuff. And by old school, I mean A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Middle school jams! :D We are shameless.

We found our $2 only parking lot again, which was nice, even though it’s a lot closer to the Marquis than it is the Summit. There’s a mural on the super sketchy wall across from it that had laser-firing machine robot turtles, or something. There was this guy who asked us for moneyz so he could buy a beer. We had to politely decline and he was cool about it. 

During Saves the Day, there was this girl who was all up in my personal space. I’d move forward a little to escape her, but she just kept on advancing. I tried to just deal, but she kept hitting me with her beer and singing REALLY loudly and off-tune in my ear. Fortunately, she decided to move forward and then spent the next 20 minutes trying to coax her friend to come with her. And then, there was this guy in front of me who turned around and was like “Did you just tap me on the shoulder?” And I was like “wut…no.” After that, every time his friend would go to talk to him, he’d turn all the way around and make me awkward. …I’m not trying to stare at you. …You’re just in my line of view, you know? …You’re kind of tall. But then, AFTER THAT, he told me they were moving so I could see over his friend which he called “that tall bastard”. Okay, thnx man. Regardless though, Saves the Day was pretty sweet. They played 100 songs. I feel honored to have seen them.

In between set change, I saw a guy that lookalike Julian Casablancas. He even had a Strokes-esque hat, if you can imagine that.

Bayside was also pretty sweet. I was mostly satisfied with their set list. There were a lot of fights, which was kind of stupid, but whatevs. That one guy and the tall bastard came back, along with another guy that WAS THE EXACT SAME PERSON AS THE FIRST GUY (meaning, I think they were twins, but I’m not entirely sure because it was kind of dark. Maybe they just had similar haircuts). They met all these girls and then proceeded to be all gross and swap around and act like the STD Circle of the 8th Grade. It was pretty terrible. When Bayside went to play Don’t Call Me Peanut acoustically (which me gusta) everyone put on pained faces and sang along like they wrote those very words themselves. Got problems, guys? 

On the way back, we listened to more middle school jams. TOOOOOONIGHT, I AM THE DRUG YOU CAN’T DENY. And Hank kept freaking out because the speed limit kept getting lower and lower.

So. Speaking of those middle school jams, the first concert Hank and I ever went to together was, in fact, Panic! at the Disco (the truth comes out! O: but i mean, hey, at least we don’t forget our roots SAM!) They tried to confiscate Hank’s belt because they figured we’d use it as weapon. There were these girls wearing tutus who said they got in a car accident on the way there. We ended up having to stay in a hotel because there was so much snow and my mom didn’t want to drive home in it. She chose a Super 8. Our toilet didn’t flush so there was to be no peeing to be had that night. And we had no money, besides a couple of dollars for the vending machine. So, we left the room to go get a couple of sodas and ended up locking ourselves out of the hotel in the snow with a kid who thought she was a bunny. It was a fantastic bonding experience for us, I must say.

I drove today. Getting out of my driveway was a bitch, because there was a truck blocking half of it. So, I drove through my yard and the sidewalk. Good thing it’s not landscaped. Door times were off, so we played some speed in the car. Then, it appeared that there was a ghost inside my car. There was a random thump from the back and my headlights decided to turn themselves on. We went inside so we didn’t get sacrificed to the dead. There were a lot of strange people that came out tonight, some of whom I never expected to see at such a show. Abbie :D Melissa >:( PETER! You’re alive!

Maelstroms did better than last time. I’m glad you found some real clothes. :)

Victory Heights were really good. I missed them; it’s been a long time. I really wish they played in the Springs more often. I wish there had been more crowd participation, but whatevs. The guitarist is apparently single, if anyone wants to hit that up.

Forty Fathoms is getting so srs. They even had a backdrop. A big backdrop. And they’re about to release an EP. Get stoked on it. Taylor limited his inappropriateness to just one moment, which is a little surprising, considering the crowd was older than the 15-year-old one at Sunshine Studios. 

It was a pretty typical Altars, minus like 50 people, which sucks since it was their tour kick-off show. Sorry, bros. :/ Colorado, WHERE YOU AT?! The pit was actually pretty calm. I spent zero time on my ass. It was a little disappointing, to be honest. Nonetheless, people were still scared. Girls, if you’re going to stand up front, GROW A PAIR. THIS ISN’T EVEN THAT BAD. I like Hayden. He is pretty swell. I want more Avila, plz. PLZ?! And good luck in Canada! :D

As a side note, if you’re going to be in a band in the local scene, TAKE PART in the local scene. Don’t just come to one show ever to whore yourselves out and DON’T talk shit about other bands just because they aren’t going to help you get places. If you’re going to come to a show, you be there to support the bands NOT just for “business”. Kthnx. 

There was a creepy guy hanging around outside. He said he came for a punk show. Wut. How were you misinformed, exactly? Where do you get your info? Anyway, please go home now. Once again, you are creepy.

NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOUR BALLS, ANDREW. NOBODY. ESPECIALLY NOT ME.

Today, the craziness on the highway started all the way back in the Springs, which was unusual. Then, when we were in Denver, there was some crazy accident with firetrucks and police cars rushing to the scene. Except, not really. There was nothing there except the ER vehicles, so we don’t understand what happened, but whatevs. Have you ever tried climbing into a trunk whilst going 75 miles an hour down a highway? It’s an interesting experience; I suggest you try it. We had a conversation which led me to believe that sleeping with a really hairy person would probably feel a bit like bestiality. When we got to the Summit, we parked directly in front of a tour bus for FREE! :D because it was Sunday, the best day. We arrived really late because we didn’t particularly care to see Deez Nuts. We got into the venue just in time for Architects. He sounded a little off and their set was way too short - they only played four or five songs. Nevertheless, I still approve.

Parkway Drive was really good at the shouting along/moshing/hands in the air ordeal. He also sounded off, but maybe it was just that the microphone was turned down to low in comparison to everything else. Some girl tried to take me out because I apparently didn’t move over enough for her. And some guy elbowed Hank in the back of the head. People and their lack of consideration. Some kid attempted to join them on stage, but he got tackle dived by ‘security’. A lot of fights broke out. Seriously, guys? It is perfectly capable to attend a heavier show and have a good time and participate in the pit and not be a total asshole. I see it all the time. You guys suck. During the last song, some guy joined PD in singing Carrion, who then proceeded to cartwheel off stage. After their set ended, there were these two guys who kept yelling for them to come back on and repeating “FUCK BRING ME THE HORIZON”. We get it, but shut up. You’re not going to change anything, I assure you. 

After their set, we moved to the back and some girl karate chopped me in the shoulder. Considering the last and first time I saw Bring Me the Horizon, Oli was so drunk he fell off the stage, I was actually pretty impressed with them last night. They had these smoke machine things that were appropriately set off at times that got people WAY too excited. Smoke! So cool! Do you see that! Smoke! I must admit, I was expecting a lot of 15-year-old girls. And there were. However, there were also a lot of older men which was weird. There was also this guy in a Slayer shirt who was very into it, which seemed a little wrong to me, but what can you do. They directed two walls of death, both of which were way better executed than any other I’ve seen here. There were two drunk guys standing in front of us that were hilarious. Normally, drunk people piss me off, but these guys were just TOO drunk. Their headbanging, dancing, and fist pumping was so dramatic and amusing. One of them kept trying to tell the band that he had a boner. Dude, that’s really weird. Keep that to yourself. Oli told us to worship satan and to be pro-abortion. Trying to be controversial, are you? Did the peeing on girls thing get too old? 

When we went to leave, the car was kind of pinned in between BMTH’s bus and some car that parked in front of us. Some guy walked right behind the car when it was in reverse, but we didn’t hit him or the bus or the car. It took us like 15 minutes to get out of there. On the way home, we listened to the weirdest music ever. It was fantastic.

We had a couple near-death experiences again tonight on our way up to Denver. People on the highway are CRAZY - zooming in and out of traffic, not using turn signals and nearly hitting one another. There were these two guys in particular who were all over the place in fairly heavy traffic and I must say, no one’s impressed by your momma’s car, guys. We passed them despite their driving, so Hollie pointed and laughed. Ten minutes later, they passed us again and the passenger waved. It was good times. When we got in the vicinity of the venue, this Indian guy tried to make us pay $10 for parking. But we were all, haha, no, and drove directly across the street and paid $2 instead. Win of the night. As we were walking toward the Marquis, Hank got hepatitis. You don’t walk Denver streets in flip flops. We later learned that there was a prostitute on the loose that had hepatitis and HIV, so we have reason to be concerned.

Such Gold started out the night right with a highly energetic set. We were finally able to get over the fact that they (and Fireworks) had to drop off the Manscout Jamboree tour.

Balance and Composure were ridiculously amazing. Ridiculously. And I thought I couldn’t love them anymore; I was wrong. Also, there’s just something about the vocalist that makes me think, ‘Damn, that guy is cool.’ You know? No, but seriously, I loved the songs they chose to play and how amazing they are at playing them live. Definitely a live favorite.

Between set change, there was this guy behind us who kept profusely claiming he was a Christian. I get it man, you don’t need to repeat it 4 times. We ALL get it. 

Fireworks totally owned the whole night. They had so much energy and their set ended up being one of the funnest I’ve ever witnessed. They were super good at crowd involvement. The majority of the venue took part in singing along and dancing. And crowd surfing. At one point there were 3 guys on top of one another on top of the crowd. They definitely land at the top of my favorite bands live list too. I believe it was during this set when this guy, who I believe was a bouncer at Bury Your Dead, kept throwing ice cubes at crowd members. For their sake and yours, I really hope you know who they are. That wasn’t the only abnormal thing going on in the crowd. This dude-whom I’m almost positive was straight kissed this other dude who most definitely was straight. I found this funny only because the kissee was so surprised at what had just taken place. This was kind of like the time I got kissed by my gay friend. Aren’t you supposed to be into guys? Regardless, I’ll definitely take Fireworks’ world too.

People left before the headliner, like always. The people who decided to stay, however, kept the energy thriving and it was apparent they were fully enjoying themselves. The guitarist occasionally looked in pain, but I suppose that’s understandable. Or maybe that’s just his stage face - who knows? There were many failed attempts to  crowd surf tonight, but I’d say most took place during PBC, probably due to the lack of crowd. My friends, how do you expect to crowdsurf when there aren’t enough people to take you anywhere? What goes up must come down, but you kids were coming down particularly fast. Fitting to the last song, we did, indeed, fuck our ears, because holy shit, the volume was up so high all night. It was up WAY higher than it was last night at the Summit, and the Summit is bigger?

When we were leaving, we got stuck behind this beautiful thing called the patio ride, which was basically a giant twenty-person bike. I attempted to take a picture of it so I could forever remember how it took us twenty minutes to turn the corner and I got caught. A guy on the back end then proceeded to attempt to moon us, but we weren’t having it, so he took a picture of us instead. He can now forever remember that special moment we shared too.

Mcdonalds was not where it was supposed to be, so we decided to suffer until we made it to Castle Rock. We saw some dudes from the show. And some other dudes were like hey, you can’t go in there, they’re closed. They weren’t though. But they really were, but apparently we just dgaf so we went in anywayz and then spent a lengthy amount of time trying to locate the ice machine. 

…WE’RE BACK!

Dear Colorado Springs,

What is wrong with you?

I was extremely disappointed with the turnout of this show. I know Kevin Devine played in Denver a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t care. More people should have been there.

Briffaut was interesting, but they played a solid set. I had difficulties hearing them over these girls though. I’m standing ten feet away from you, and I can hear every word you say. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAD FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT. STOP YELLING. SHIT.

Set change was awkward. We were the basically the only ones not drinking. We did, however, meet the guy from Leftmore, who was really nice and funny. Sorry we can’t come to your show tonight, man.

During the first song of Kevin Devine’s set, I was a little angry. Aforementioned girls decided to stand right behind us and didn’t stop yelling. SHUT UP. WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE? GO IN THE BATHROOM AND TAKE YOUR FACEBOOK PICTURES. We got over it though, because the music was pretty amazing. You all missed out. I thought it was pretty neat that he took a bunch of requests and he told a couple of funny stories. And during Brother’s Blood, he sang without the microphone and it was pretty intense. That man is ridiculously talented. That is all. Anyone going to Fireworks and Balance and Composure tonight?

So, here’s the thing. I was looking at our tumblr and thought wow, this looks really boring, all these paragraphs of text. This blog could really use some pictures. Thus, I decided I was going to start taking pictures at shows. However, that didn’t happen. In order to make up for that, I then decided I was going to draw pictures! :D Actually, I didn’t decide that last bit at all. What really happened is we were sitting in my car. I was sleep-deprived and a little caffeine high and had my laptop awkwardly and crookedly propped between me and the steering wheel and started drawing pictures in paint. I was just going to delete them, but Hank decided we were going to use them. And here we are. I feel it gives the story a little extra something, but I also see that it makes this whole thing stupider than it was already (I know: Is that even possible? You just wait. It most definitely is.) Nonetheless, without further ado:

We got there and it was pretty much like this:

Lots of people. People everywhere, running around and playing tag or something. People climbing on the billboards. Basic madness, you know? And then Jeremy rode by the car on a scooter like so.

And when we got inside it was like this:

More people, as you can imagine. This kid Joe was there and he was really unexcited because “it had been a long day.” Dude, I don’t care. This is a great show. BE HAPPIER! And yeah, that’s the girl with the blue hair again. Which, by the way, we definitely aren’t trying to get at anything here. I just like pointing out her hair is blue. Because, you know, you can’t always just assume people can see colors. One time, I made that grave mistake when my student teacher in chemistry asked what colors I used for my bar graph whilst looking directly at it. I proceeded to laugh. He proceeded to tell me he was colorblind. Honestly though, you really do pull it off well. And the invisible boy was there. I only saw him once, then never saw again…

There was also this kid there who I would have liked to have done this to:

Back to the point, The Great Hotel Fire was amazing. I figured they’d be good based off of what I heard on Facebook, but they not only met those expectations and also far exceeded them. I see and hope for great things in your future (no pun intended). 

On the other hand, neither of us had listened to Desert Noises beforehand, mostly because

HOW CAN I KNOW IF I LIKE YOU OR NOT IF YOU WON’T LET ME LISTEN?! They were good though. Groovy. I don’t remember much of them though because I was too distracted by everyone else. As soon as they went on, something leaked into the air and everyone turned into dancing machines.

There was one girl in particular that was standing in front of us who was dancing especially crazy. In her defense though, I think she was already drunk. She looked a little like this:

Naturally, Moving Mountains was phenomenal. They were even better than they were at Warped Tour, though I’m pretty sure that’s just an atmosphere thing. As Hank puts it, they were easier to enjoy because “The sun wasn’t trying to fry me like…something you fry.” Natural poet, Hank is.

Here is a picture of Hank at Warped Tour:

Not to mention, they played Tired Tiger, which just made me stupid-happy. I’m already excited to see them again in October.

At the end of Moving Mountain’s set, we met up with this guy, Mike. We didn’t really know him, but one time, he rode in Hank’s trunk because we had to squish 9 people in a 5-person car so we could relocate our game of Capture the Flag. We don’t know how he fit; we really don’t.

I was REALLY excited to see La Dispute, because I’ve been waiting to see them forever. Every time they had come anywhere near us, something had been in the way. But now it was happening. And they didn’t disappoint. The band was amazing and they had a crowd to match. The only thing I was dismayed about was the fact that they closed with a new song and not The Castle Builders (or something else, but Castle Builders would have been a good chant along song, no?). I thought they were fooling us, but there really was no encore. And while I understand this, it was still a bummer. Especially because of this:

I mean, I know there was probably reasoning behind it, but come on. The whole crowd sang the entirety of Such Small Hands. How can you deny that? HOW?!

While I was on the way to pick Hollie up tonight, a man ran in front of my car. I don’t know if it was a suicide attempt, or if he was just drunk or crazy, but he did succeed in scaring the shit out of me. Then, a little while later, I went to drop my brother off at the house, but he locked himself out. And he chased my car down the street. I don’t understand how we could get there an hour late and still be early. So, while we were waiting in the car, we saw an old lady approaching us from behind. I kind of thought she was a drunk homeless guy because she was staggering while she walked. And, you know, she was old, so she kind of looked like a guy. Which, I mean, I was looking in my rear view mirror and I already need glasses (proven by the MovMou incident). But, she wasn’t. Because she was actually bedazzled and had a wallet. But honestly, she was probably still kind of drunk. “We should jump her.” I mean, logical conclusion, right? Just kidding, we most definitely didn’t jump her. We’re good citizens.

Anyway, we decided to go tonight in order to maybe find some new local bands. 

The first band, Fatal Memory, was a good mainstream-radio-appropriate band. Not really my thing, but good nonetheless. They probably shouldn’t have been on this show though, because everyone there was so HXC and just came to throw down, so they insisted on being assholes for no good reason.

I have to admit, I was a little turned off by Liberator because two of their members were part of the aforementioned assholes. Really, guys? I don’t know how you do it in Denver, but down here, we’re all about broha love. The whole walk in, flip them off, shrug, and walk back out thing was pretty uncalled for. Anyway, I’ll put that aside. You guys had all the basics of hardcore down. Your Acacia Strain cover was lacking a little in the brutality department though. My face could handle it.

As The Sky Darkens had moments I really liked and then moments that I wasn’t too keen on. It was mostly the former though. You guys really overused the phrase “Get the fuck up” though. And thanks for informing us when the breakdown was. I really needed that. :) Also, there was this girl in the corner who was REALLY enthusiastic for you. Her dancing was crazy. Somebody should have filmed her and put her on youtube, cause it was pretty amusing.

Maelstorms (HAHAHA, I’m so damn funny), I mean, Maelstroms. To that one vocalist, you were dressed kind of weird. Wifebeaters are only appropriate when you’re A) sleeping, B) working out, C) working on your car, or D) beating your wife. And get this, anyone who wears a bandana is pretty much guaranteed to be an asshole. Hollie called it from the get-go. What 21+ year-old starts beating up a 16 year old kid? I’ve seriously never seen someone get dragged out in that fashion. There was a guy sitting on top of him while two others were dragging him out. You bounced back fairly quickly though. It must take a lot to act cool again after that happens to you. Anyway, overall, you guys were pretty good. I liked the chanting bit at the end of the last song. Good luck on your Sunshine show later this month; I’m sure the crowd there will be better.

Tonight, we learned a few things.  For one, Cody is an 8. If you play guitar without a shirt on, it’s possible to rip your nipple ring out. If you want to eat something in Fountain, your only option is one of the seven El Super Tacos. Sunshine Studios doesn’t know how to properly write a line-up sheet. And finally, when you clean out the car, DO NOT take out the playing cards. 

The only reason we came tonight is because this kid from class wanted us to. We sat in the car for a while (not playing cards), but finally went inside for In Chase For the Sky. You all had so much energy, and at first, it was appreciated. But then, it got to be a little ridiculous. It was obviously local show to 30- people because there was more screwing around than seriousness. But musically, you guys have potential. 

You two, in the following band, get a drummer. I know you have intentions to find one, but don’t play another show until you do. A DRUM MACHINE IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE SUBSTITUTE. (caps lock unintentional, but seemed appropriate to keep.) And honestly…two people do not really make a metal band. We left after the first song, not to be rude, but because we were starving. Luckily, we dodged the Super Tacos and found a Sonic. When we came back, they were STILL playing. I can at least give you props for having enough songs to play a full set, though I also think it’s a little weird to dedicate cover songs to people.

Restore All Vengeance, you seem to have made an improvement from the last time we saw you. You have really good moments, and then some not-so-good moments. I don’t want to hear you say you want a pony ever again. And please, don’t point at me. That’s rude. 12 year old guitarist, you get BA points for being 12 years old and in a band. The pit for this entire show was pretty hilarious, especially with the WARNING: MOSHING MAY TAKE PLACE. PARTICIPATE AT YOUR OWN RISKS in the background, which I’m assuming were put there after the Altars/Legacies show.

Joe, we’re super sorry we didn’t make it to see your last TFTO show. This is to be blamed on Sunshine Studios’ inaccurate schedule.

——-

We’re slackers. We went to Warped Tour three weeks ago, but never got around to writing about it. While standing in line, we saw a few certain people who had made it pretty clear they were too cool for Warped Tour. Change your mind, eh? 

The Word Alive - I mostly just remember the guys who were standing next to us. They were srs fans. And by srs, I mean srs. Menzingers - We only caught a couple of songs, but they were pretty fantastic. The Field, The Ocean - Congrats on your Battle of the Bands win. I think your crowd has a fairly nice turnout. Set Your Goals - I wish we could have stayed for their entire set, but their timing was unfortunately close to TWY. It was fight-free this year though, which was nice. The Wonder Years - Hands down, best set of the day.  Winds of Plague - They made the crowd throw trash and flip the sky off. Moving Mountains - I think Warped Tour was a really odd place for Mov Mou to play, but they were amazing nonetheless. We’ll definitely be seeing them both times they’re here with La Dispute. Unfortunately, Hank told their merch guy his set sounded really good. Hank is embarrassing. Hank is a dumb ass who needs glasses. Enter Shikari - Holy lol. “Bend your knees and creep around like this…you sneaky little bastards.” We only watched a couple songs so we could go catch some Relient K, but they’re definitely enjoyable to watch. The Acacia Strain - Too brootal for my face. A Day To Remember - You have big heads (GET IT?!). We were too busy screwing around in the back to really be paying enough attention to have anything worthwhile to say. Crowd was ridiculously huge. I found it slightly hilarious that all the BVB fans came out dressed fully in black with their eyeliner stitches, and the band didn’t even show up. 

Also, we went to the As Told By show (which has no association with the blog name, btw). You guys sound a lot different now, which I know is due to a change in vocalists. But because of this, you might want to consider changing your name. I still get old ATB songs stuck in my head, and I couldn’t even really recognize old from new. Even though you’ve been broken up for a year, you seemed to have kept a good following as seen by the turn out. And Dillon, some girl driving past the venue says fuck you. I’m assuming your love song dedication wasn’t to her and she was upset by this. You should probably say sorry.

It’s been a really long time since I saw such a long line at the Black Sheep. When we first pulled up, there was this guy parked behind us who kept opening and closing all his doors. I’m not entirely sure what he was doing. There were too many people we knew there tonight. For one, Maia was there. Are you sure it’s safe for you to be at a show when you’re pregant? And you do know Aaron isn’t in the band anymore, right? You didn’t seem too into Underoath when the time came around. Also, Peter was there. It’s about time you showed your face again. There were a couple of people we went to high school with, which is weird. Melissa was there, unfortunately. I found it pretty funny when they wouldn’t let you back in. Not quite as special as you thought you were, are you?

letlive were awesome. They’re crazy live. I definitely liked Muther the best out of all of them.

Stray From The Path has me sold now that I’ve seen them life. They sounded sick and I loved that they said their music comes from the heart and isn’t about anything else. That’s how all bands should be.

I didn’t enjoy Times Of Grace very much, or the obnoxious people their band drew to the crowd. Their set was way too long and most of the people there to see them were wasted. I guess that’s what happens when Kilo promotes a show though. 

Underoath was good. I couldn’t enjoy them as much as I should have though because of all the drunk people around us. Who the hell puts a beer on the floor? By the end of the night, my lower legs and feet were covered in it. I’m not surprised Chris was let back in after he was kicked out. I doubt it was your fault anyway. I loved that they played three encores, but I wish they had played more off of Lost In The Sound of Separation and Define the Great Line and less of Disambiguation though.

It’s official. We have really bad luck finding tea after shows. Finally, we found some, but it was mostly water. Disappointed, you know we are. (#chariotreferences!)