Oh my GOD! I just had the best night of my life. We (sam and i) got to the sunshine at about 6, thinking the doors were opening at 7, and there were only about 5 people in front of us. I had my jacket on, and at about 7, sam took my and his jacket back to the car. Little did we know, the doors actually opened at 8. So we stood in the freezing cold (it was about 25 degrees when we got there at 6, and I'm sure it got colder) for a while...then it started to snow. There I was, in a tshirt, and it was snowing. We got in about 8. They didnt have female security guards, so my camera in my sock was safe. When we got inside, I sat on the stage and we made friends with this girl named alyssa and her friend....I dont remember her name. The four of us talked until the first band went on. We talked (mostly alyssa talking) about nothing. I asked her how old she was, but she said 4, so I dismissed that. They must've had the backstage doors open because it was fucking cold in there. We could see our breath. It wouldn't've been so bad if I wasn't in the front, but I was, so I didn't have others' body heat to keep me warm. My hands were frozen throughout the whole night. The first band, Memento, was pretty good. We all liked them. Their guitarist was insane, though...so was the singer...they were insane. I caught a drumstick and a sampler cd. The second band, dont even know their name, wasn't so good. No one liked them.
When cky was setting up, most of the crowd around me kept trying to pull the microphone stand down so they could get pics. I was front and center, and I wouldn't let them. First of all, that's not cool just to steal all their pics. Second, if they had pulled it down, it would've hit me on the head. Third, if they had pulled it down, the entire crowd would've bombarded the area and we'd probably mess up the microphone/mic stand/their cords etc... So that went on for about 10 minutes, and alyssa and I tried to tell the roadie to move it back, but he just thought we wanted pics. So I finally gave up and let the crowd have the damn stand, and guess what? I was right. I was elbowed in the eye, and they lost the pic holder. I did get two pics out of it, though. I gave one to alyssa, cuz she was bummed she didnt get anything at all from the first two bands (handshakes, drumsticks, cds, pics, etc).
During cky, at first, it was hell. Everyone around me was screaming to Deron "pic! pic!!! pic!!!!!", a girl behind me kept elbowing me HARD in the back and I almost got in a fight with her. I told her not to, and to move her arms, and she said "It's a concert!" No shit, but that doesnt mean you have to bruise me if you don't have to. I cussed her out and we probably would've fought if there was more room. Then a crowdsurfer hit me upwards on my nose, which hurt like a bitch. And another fucking crowdsurfer kept getting back onstage, tried to crwodsurf, but he was too fat, so he kept being pushed back on the stage. He kept trying to jump on me, too. I cussed him out and started beating the crap out of him when he jumped on top of me, as did several other people. The whole crowd was pissed at him. They were yelling things like "you're too fat!!" Chad took a beer and poured the whole thing on his head (some of which got on me), cussed him out, and pushed him off the stage. He got back on the stage, and Chad pushed him off again so violently, that he fell in the crowd too, with his guitar. After that song ended, Chad said into the mic that if he ever saw that kid again, he'd fuck him up. I loved him for that. The girl behind me finally moved so she could touch chad's guitar, so she was out of my way for most of their set.
But yeah, the whole show kicked SO much ass it was unbelievable. I got the setlist, too, and they all signed it. And all of Memento except the drummer signed their promo cd. Chad was so drunk...it was hilarious. He went on and on about how he never brought his books to school, and that he didn't fail - he dropped out.
I bought a hoodie (which I immediately put on, because it was still snowing and I was still in a tshirt) and a tour shirt. I love them.
AHHHHHHHH...it was the best time ever. We made friends with a guy named Sky who works with Island and promotes....people.
So many times, I heard people (from various bands and management) say "Damn! I didn't know it got this cold in new mexico!" And we replied "Neither did we!"
I got home around 215am. My ears are still ringing.
I really love the way my pics came out. I took about 140 of cky, about 10 of the other 2 bands. Here's my favs: