smooch Blog and Journals

  We arrived at the venue about 5:45pm and parked facing the front of the bus. It was hot and humid outside so we walked to the Wendy's that was located right next door, to get something to drink and sit in the cool.  While in line we talked briefly to a member of one of the opening bands (Afternoon Delight, who had only just gotten the gig two days beforehand) and after we sat down, one other member from the same band.

  From our seats in Wendy's (right by the entrance), we could see the 'loading' entrance for the band equipment and after just a few minutes I saw Quinn outside talking to several other guys (two of which were the ones we had spoken to).  A few minutes later Dan came out and I thought I caught a glimpse of Jeph but I wasn't sure.

  Around 6:15pm Quinn and Dan headed towards Wendy's and came in.  We spoke to them as they entered, shook hands and after a few minutes of chatter Dan remembered us from St. Louis.  They got something to eat (meanwhile we moved to a 4-seat table right by where we had been sitting) and they joined us.  Quinn discovered that they hadn't put tomato on his sandwich as he'd asked for so J*** went and got him some, lol.  We talked with them some more about St. Louis, music, this and that, touring etc.

  I noticed that Quinn kept dipping his fries in his frosty and I commented that I'd never seen anyone do that before.  He said it was really good so I asked if he minded if I tried it.  He said no, and to help myself, so I grabbed a couple of his fries and dipped them in my own frosty (even though he offered me his).  I was surprised, it really was quite tasty.  I asked how he got started doing that and he wasn't sure, said "it must be a Utah thing."

  We continued chatting with them.  One thing I asked that I had been curious about was whether they put the name of the city they were in on a piece of tape on the back of their guitars (since they travel so many places it would be easy to forget where they are) and he said, that no they don't do that but they do have the name of the city on the set list for the night. 

  When they were almost finished eating I got a couple photos taken with them.  Then when they were done I asked if they would mind giving me an autograph.  They said they would be out after the show but sure, they'd be happy to, so I handed them a cover from a Used single and a sharpie.  I thanked them then we finished up our conversation and said we'd see them after the show.

  They went back to the venue about 6:40pm and we returned to our car until the venue opened at 7p then joined the line.  After a few minutes we came level with the back window of the bus and I saw Dan and waved and said hi to him, he smiled back.  I then saw that Bert was there too and I said hello to him as well. 

   I had a drawing of Bert that I wanted to give him so I took it out of my purse, stepped over to the bus and called out his name.  He looked out of the window again and I held the drawing up for him to see.  Bert reached out of the window and took it from me.  "Did you draw this?" he asked and I said yes, he said "awesome".  I was really glad he liked it.  I asked him if he was coming out after the show and he said yes.  (Little side note here: not long ago I had a dream that I saw Bert briefly before the show, asked him if he was coming out and he had said yes - weird huh!).

  Just then Quinn appeared in the window, I said "hey Quinn, fries and frosty rocks," he smiled.

   After that the line started moving again and before long we were inside.  The lobby was somewhat cooler than outside.  We found a good spot to sit but we found the venue itself was quite warm.

   The opening bands were Afternoon Delight who came on at 8pm - 8:25pm and (if I heard the name correctly) Wish Drive about 8:50pm - 9:35pm.

   The Used came on about 10:05pm opening with Take It Away.  Bert was wearing dark grey shorts with a black t-shirt with red lettering across the chest.  Quinn, faded black (grayish) jeans and a white t-shirt with something on it.  Jeph, blue jeans and a light coloured sleeveless shirt with dark round the neck and partway down the front of the shirt.  Dan, a white t-shirt, also with something on it and jeans I assume.

  The next song was The Bird And The Worm.  After than Bert started pacing the stage asking... "Are you ready for some shit?" "Are you ready for some Bert shit?"  Of course cheers were going up from the audience.  Then he requested everyone put their middle finger up in the air and had us start chanting Liar, Liar, which of course was the next song.

  After that (I believe) is when he went into a little story about walking down the street and feeling Jesus in his step, he kept walking still feeling Jesus in his step... and the devil in his cock at which time he grabbed himself... he then continued, ending up saying "I would personally fuck every single one of you."  (Those of you who know me, know I was thinking 'bring it on baby').

   Hospital was the next song.  It was getting really hot in the venue by now (I know I was sweating bullets), I can only imagine how hot it was onstage and down in the pit so I'm assuming some girl was shaking her shirt or something trying to cool off cause Bert said something about "air those titties mama - let them breathe."  He then lifted the left side of his shirt teasingly showing us his nipple with a grin on his face.

  Next he introduced the first single from their new album Artwork (now due out in July) called Blood On My Hands, rocking fucking song live!  The next songs were I Caught Fire, Taste Of Ink, All That I've Got changing into Buried Myself Alive and then finishing up as All That I've Got.

   Paralyzed and Pretty Handsome Awkward finished up the set with Box Full Of Sharp Objects as encore.  The show ended about 11pm.  They put so much passion and energy into what they do.  It was another amazing show from a totally awesome band and a really nice group of guys.

   After the show we sat in the car for roughly 20 minutes or so with the A/C going to cool off a bit, then went to wait by the bus door. 

  It wasn't long (probably around 11:30pm) before Quinn made an appearance followed shortly by Dan, then Jeph.  I spoke to Quinn first since he was nearest and he asked where we had sat.  I told him while J*** recruited someone to take a photo of us both with Quinn. 

  Talked to Dan next and I got another photo taken with him as well.  Then we moved around to the front of the bus where Jeph was, I got an autograph and a photo taken and spent some time talking to him.  I asked him if they had an actual date in July for the new album and he said no, that it had gotten pushed back several times for one reason and another and he hoped it wouldn't get pushed back any further. 

  Shortly after that they all returned to the bus, I'm guessing sometime around 12:10 - 12:15am.  We didn't have to wait too much longer for Bert to put in an appearance.  Around 12:30am we were informed that he was coming out and for us to form a line (which went from the bus door, around the front of the bus where we were) and to have our sharpies and cameras ready and not to ask him to talk to anyone on the cell phone.  About 5 minutes later I could tell he was outside.

  It didn't take long for him to go along the line and he looked tired.  Quinn I think it was had said earlier that Bert had gotten extremely hot on stage.  (I think that and the fact that they had to be out of there around 2am, was the reason the 'meet and greet' was being somewhat controlled unlike my previous encounter).  Anyway, when Bert got to me I said, "I gave you the drawing" and he said "yes I remember."  He asked if I had enjoyed the show and I said "yes it was awesome."  He signed a Used single cover for me and I told him I was lovin' his hair and ruffled the left side of it.  It was soft just like the last time I had touched it.  Before he moved on to the next person, which he had been doing fairly quickly, I asked if I could get a quick kiss and he kissed me on my right cheek.  His lips were soft and warm just like I remembered. 

   Well that was my night.  All in all another amazing The Used concert, time with each of the guys, photos, autographs and another kiss from Bert 'fucking' McCracken. 

   Well, I guess you can get lucky twice in a row.  One of these days I will get a photo of 'a kiss' from Mr. McCracken but for now I can at least relive it in my mind.

  The opening bands were Josephine Collective at 7:20pm, Army Of Me at 8:15pm and The Bled at 9pm.

  The Used came on about 10:15pm opening with The Bird And The Worm.  Bert was wearing all black, t-shirt, shorts and shoes.  Jeph, black jeans and b/w checkered shirt, Quinn, black t-shirt and either black or very dark blue jeans, Dan, an orange shirt and I’m guessing dark jeans.

  The next song was Take It Away and a bra flew up on the stage.  After the song Bert picked it up and put it on his head then on his chest and holding the cups did what he called the ‘titty dance’.  Several more bras ended up on the stage and were gathered up and removed. 

  Liar Liar and Taste Of Ink were next and Bert grabbed himself during both songs.  All That I’ve Got was next, morphing into Buried Myself Alive then finishing up as ATIG.  Bert then put on a black wig, which presumably someone tossed up on stage. 

  Paralyzed (another crotch grab) was next and Pain followed.  Bert then broke into Achy Breaky Heart, encouraging the audience to sing along if they knew the words… and after a few lines he finished up by singing the line –‘ Teenagers scare the living shit out of me’ (there was laughter from the audience). 

  Pretty Handsome Awkward was next then Bert did the band member intro’s starting with Jeph then Dan ‘motherfucking’ Whitesides and lastly Quinn… at which point he got down on his knees and proposed and damn if I didn’t just look away for a moment and missed seeing them kiss.

  Hospital rounded out the set… with Wake The Dead as the encore.  The show ended about 11:15 and was really all I had hoped for.  The Used are amazing in concert, Bert’s vocals were tight and they are energetic and play together perfectly. I had a great balcony seat pretty much center stage so I had a totally unobstructed view of Bert and for the most part could see all the rest of the band with only the occasional lean this way or that if someone moved in my line of sight.

  After the show we joined the line out by the buses about 11:25p.  We talked with several people in the line near us while we waited hopefully.  The line moved a little as some people dropped out.

  After some time Dan came by.  Stopping to talk on cell phones, sign autographs, give hugs and take photos.  I got an autograph and a photo taken and he stopped and talked to us for a short while.  I asked if they would be playing Nashville at some point and he said they had just got their confirmed schedule and he was pretty sure Nashville was on it. 

  Some time later Jeph came down the line, also stopping as Dan had.  I got his autograph and a photo taken and talked with him for a few minutes. 

  More time passed and gradually more people gave up and left.  By the time the two small portable barriers (between the line and the alleyway) were removed and security left, the line was considerably shorter but rumour was that Bert wasn’t coming out or at least if he did it wouldn’t be for some time.  We stayed in line.

  By about, what I would guess was now around 1:30am or so the line sort of dissipated and those of us who remained just gravitated to the bus we then believed Bert was on.  Dan came to the door at some point and when asked, said he really didn’t know if Bert was coming out.  Most of the people were waiting right by the bus door, we and two other people that we were chatting with moved away a bit towards the back of the bus.

  J*** spotted Bert in the back of the bus through a window and someone looked out.  (We found out later that it was April, Bert’s personal assistant).  I had a gift that I wanted to give to him.  We asked if she would give it to him (since we still didn’t know if Bert was going to come out) and she said she would, so since we knew he was right there I handed it up through the window.  Also the two other people we were talking to had drum heads they wanted signed and one was small enough to fit through the window and Bert signed it using one of my sharpies that I handed up to April.  She returned it afterwards.

  A short time later April came out of the bus and sat in the parking lot a fair distance from the bus, on one of the short concrete borders round a tree or flower bed, talking on the phone.  Then Dan and his girlfriend came out and sat on another border between where April was and the bus.  We were still hanging in there, continuing to chat with the other couple.  We’d waited this long and I was going to stick it out till he either came out or the bus left.

  J*** went over and started talking to Dan and his girlfriend and I joined him shortly and the four of us chatted… then they moved off.

  Not long after that, roughly around 2:10 – 2:15am Bert came out of the bus.  By now there were probably only about 20 of us left.  (April had been wandering around so we speculated she was head counting).  Anyway… Bert began signing, hugging, taking photos etc.  Right after he came out I was standing behind him and I must confess I was unable to resist the urge to touch his butt.  It was a brief, light touch of his left butt cheek but I must say it felt damn good. 

  Well, I got my first turn at him.  I got a hug and while he was signing something for me, I asked if he’d seen the gift and he said it was awesome, then in addition to the autograph he drew me a picture.  I asked for a kiss and got one on my right cheek practically immediately so I asked him if we could do it again so I could get a photo.  He said to hang on a moment while he signed something for someone else then he gave me another kiss and we got a ‘squishy face’ picture taken. 

  I told him we had come 5 ½ hours for the show… and he said, “the two of you… came 5 ½ hours… just to see the show?”  I replied that yes we had.  His reply was… “you guys fucking rock” and he insisted on taking a photo with both of us.

  At some point, someone asked to borrow my black sharpie to have something signed and Bert continued to use it to sign this and that.  He asked if I wanted it back and I told him, just when he was done so he continued to use it.  Then someone wanted something dark signed and I told Bert I had a silver sharpie, which he borrowed.  When he gave it back he ‘knuckled’ me (you know, where you make a fist and press knuckles against someone else’s as a sign of ‘awesome’, ‘cool’), “for bringing sharpies”. 

  He was telling us about something he had fallen against or into and he lifted his hoodie and shirt to show us his right side-back area.  He had at least 2 large dark bruises and I touched his side lightly.

  Also I got to smell his neck (it smelled clean, no cologne, no soap or shampoo smell, just clean) and touch his hair.

  I did get my black sharpie back when he was done with it and when he wrapped up the ‘meet and greet’ (around 2:50am), making sure everyone had been taken care of, as he was about to return to the bus I asked him if I could have one last hug.  He gave me the hug and then Bert kissed me right on the lips, saying something about sneaking that one in on me.