Beer can do strange things to people....

Last night I spent 8 hours at Fiddler's Green (Coors Amphitheatre for people who know it by it) for 93.3's Big Gig. 7 bands, a couple thousand people, front row tickets: Oh yeah. I had fun.

My dad and I got to the venue a little before 3:00 and spent $10 on parking, 5 minutes waiting to pick up our tickets from will call, 10 minutes in the t-shirt line, and $50 on two Paramore shirts (we bought another one 6 hours later when my brother decided that he wanted one). We got the shirts before the crowd there got too bad, but we missed the first half of Skyfox's set. i could here them playing Church when we were in line.

Then we found our seats. Front row, baby! Way better view than we had last year when we were in the 10th row at Fall Out Boy. Skyfox was awesome from the half of the set that we saw. My dad commented on how they could get so much sound out of three dudes. they almost looked in shock since I'm pretty sure that Fiddler's Green was the biggest venue that they had ever played at. the very last song they played was the only one that I knew all of the words to: Run Away. and I think that I was the only one in our section that knew all of the words to that song.

After Skyfox finished up and the drums and amps had been switched out, Dropping Daylight went on. The bassist and the singer looked like they were getting most into the show out of everyone in the band. But even these guys looked like they were in shock even though they are more known than Skyfox is. The only song I recognized of theirs was Apologies, but it was a Cobra Starship for us (that's what we call when we see a band for the first time and like them, since that is what happened at Honda Civic Tour last year when we saw cobra for the first time).

Up next was The Spill Canvas. The only band with their name on the drum. The drummer had a tie on. The music was great but they still, just like the other two before them, seemed to be in awe of being where they were. After a song or two, they all just seened to be chillin, but still having fun at the same time. They even told the younger portion of the crowd to do earmuffs right before they played the "intimate song, about very intemate things." Not as good as some of the others, but still worth it.

Afterwards came the supposed "secret band" that everyone had known about for a week. The Flobots. Hometown pride. These guys came all the way from Texas to play in the city where they started out. My dad hadn't realized until their performance that Mackenzie played viola. Andy (bass) and Jesse (guitar) seemed to get really into the music. Brer Rabbit and Jonny 5 taught the crowd how to spell their name (F-L-O- no W- B-O-T-S). I'm sorry to Kenny Ortiz, but during sound check he looked a hell of a lot like the stereotypical roadie. And this was a band that I actually knew all of the words to most of their songs!

Then came the part of the night that got wild: the Dropkick Murphys went on. I had never seen so much beer flowing through a mosh pit in my life. And these guys had the most amps out of everyone and it was interesting to see what was on those amps: beer, water, Vitamin Water, Monster, more beer, and a lonely Coke can. and all of that was gone before the set was done. some interesting things happened during the set. one of the singers resembled a panther stalking it prey. The bassist was the only one the entire night that I saw playing left handed. the guitarist to the right seemed to be just rocking out, maybe too drunk to focus on anything other than the music. During Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced, the singer/bassist walked into the crowd and was swarmed. Got a couple of fun pictures of that. you can either just see his back or just see his head. what happened in the crowd was interesting. people would trade beers, were moshing pretty hard, crowd surfing, all that jazz. One girl even flashed the band twice. The Dropkick Murphys' set was proof that the venue made most of their money in alcohol.

After that came one of the things I had been waiting all night for: Paramore. been wanting to see them live ever since I first heard them. Josh came out first and stood on the riser thingy paying alone for a little bit, then Taylor stood on the other riser thingy to join him. Zac and Jeremy came in some order that I don't even remember. Right as they went from random music to Born for This, Hayley ran out and screaming ensued. For the rest of the night my dad kept saying that Zac didn't look like he was just 18. The set was awesome, starting from the first song. I got a few videos and a ton of pictures before my camera decided to die. Then I stole my dad's phone and took pictures with it for the rest of the night. They played We Are Broken for what they said was the second time live ever. I felt special. because of that and the fact that I knew all of the words to every single song that was played. Another thing that excited me was that for the first time ever, outside of youtube, I got to see the infamous "Pressure Flip." I know: nerdy, but I'm just that kind of person. I can't remember how many songs were played, but most everyone was singing along to them once they got comfortable. Coolest part of the night was right after they finished up the set with Misery Business. I hadn't caught any of the picks or drum sticks from the previous bands or the sticks that Zac threw out; then Hayley threw her water bottle out into the crowd and I caught it! that bottle is now sitting on my bookself reminding me that my luck didn't end at the front row tickets.

Finally came the headliners. the people everyone had been waiting all night to see: The Offspring. Every seat in the house was filled and I am pretty sure that there was almost no room up on the grass. They were awesome! We actually knew quite a few of the songs despite only having gotten a cd of theirs about a week before. Their was moshing again,but most of the people were too drunk to do too much damage. But there was a hell of a lot of crowd surfing going on. Back to the band. They sounded way better live than they do recorded. maybe it was just my little perspective thing. or everyone singing along to every word that came out of Dexter's mouth. One of the best parts was when randomly between two songs, Noodles screamed out "I've been drinking since Thursday night!" Hammerhead, You're Gonna Go Far Kid, Why Don't You Get A Job?, and Pretty Fly For a White Guy really got everyone excited. another bit of commentary went like this:

Dexter(D) "Hey Noodles, do you smell something?"

Noodles (N) "Yeah"

D "It smells kind of sweet and pungent"

N (sniffing himself) 'I thought that was me."

D "Smells like Marijuana. You guys are all wasted aren't you?"

89% of the crowd screams. Then came the end of the set. A very sad time in the night. then people kept of screaming for them. after about 5 minutes of screaming and yelling, the guys came back out and once again Dexter screamed "You are all stoned!" They played Self Esteem and I Want You Bad and they sounded just as awesome as they had 10 minutes before. then the show officially ended.I had a freaking great time! best concert thus far!

Oh, and it took me two days to get this crap out because I can be easily destracted at times and I had a youtube page up.