Thanks for the karma! Missus has popped my karma cherry. :-p
I know no one wants to read my stupid story, so, I'm mainly just putting it down for myself, hehe. If you'd like to, though, feel free. I marked where there's real reviewing of the story, so just scroll down past the crap.
The night of April 25th for me started off as a disaster. I had plans to get tickets that fell through early in the afternoon; the rest of the day, up until around 6 P.M., was spent sulking. I got home from my Saturday classes, put my phone on silent, and ate junk food... this, however, lasted for about fifteen minutes. I resolved to get my ass up and go down to that venue, even if it meant I'd just stay out there all night listening in the lot. I'd already started to go through craigslist ads, begging everyone selling tickets to not let them go to waste if they didn't sell earlier in the afternoon ("I only have $20, but I'm absolutely desperate, and it's better than nothing!").
I get on the bus that'll take me to the subway, (which, by the way, I have to RUN MY ASS OFF for) get off of it still sulking, get halway down the subway stairs when... a little email sign pops up on my phone (which I'd been checking obssesively ever since sending out those emails at around 2 P.M., with little avail besides Google Alerts and "sorry, I've sold all my tickets; good luck though!"s). I check it, and all it says is "(sic) do you have a friend that can go with you?" I just told him that I could beg someone to go if that's what he wanted, because I figured he wanted us both to pay. He replied that it was fine, just to call him. I called immediately, there was a little small talk (mostly on his behalf), and he told me to just meet him at the venue and that he'd give it to me for nothing. I thanked him a million times and his attitude was basically "I don't really care at this point, you seem like a nice enough girl". He said he had two pairs, and that he and his girlfriend were going. We agreed to meet up around 8:30 in front of the venue.
I get on the subway, very excited, and I head downtown to pick up a copy of RS (I'd "stolen" someone else's copy that I'd been reading, but, I just felt that I needed to buy my own at the moment; it felt monumentous, almost). I got delayed, and ended up catching a very late train; I didn't get there until 8:40-ish. I met some people on the train, made friends, and got one of them to walk me to the guy. He and his girlfriend were very nice, and I thanked them a million more times. I got in line with the people I'd met, then had to split up. I went to my seat, which sucked. I saw three empty seats further down, and immediately went to them. I sit and wait... call a few people... then the lights go down.
ACTUAL REVIEW (PT. 1)
The anticipation in the crowd has reached it's pinnacle, and Mozart's Requiem starts. We pretty much go apeshit, and I'm just blown away by the fact that I'm even there to see this happen. They walk out and... it's really them. They strap on their instruments in all their glory, and after a moment of silence, they immediately jump into 'Crawl'. That fuzzy riff fliters through the speakers, and we're into this groove that continues straight through 'Molly's Chambers', the fouth song. There's a brief pause; just long enough for Caleb to say "Thank you all very much, we're Kings of Leon". Then comes 'Red Morning Light', which, I must say, may be my favorite performance of the night. It rocked fucking hareder than anything. 'California Waiting' was absolutely beautiful, Caleb's voice sounded amazing. (END PT. 1)
This is when the people came for their seats. Someone from the venue was helping them find them, and he asked to see my ticket. At first I couldn't find it, so he asked me to come with him; we just went right in front of those seats. He had to attend to other people, and while he was doing that, I suck away and went to a lower level. The LOWEST level. I ended up right next to the stage! I was so fucking happy.
ACTUAL REVIEW (PT. 2)
As soon as I stand still, I see Caleb changing to his acoustic guitar, and 'Fans' begins. This one really gets the crowd going, and from there they ride on through 'Charmer' (which I was a bit suprised to hear; I was totally expecting it to be in the encore). When Jared began that bassline, I pretty much died inside. After that, Caleb says "Is everybody having a good time? I had no idea how big this place was. I think it's gonna sound real great when you're all singing along", then, you guessed it; 'Sex on Fire' begins. It really was something to hear everyone singing along, that place was huge. Afterwards, all that's said is "That was awesome guys", then 'The Bucket' is played. Two songs later, he says "You know you have um... have... have moments in your life when you know right then and there that you're gonna remember that moment for the rest of your life and I just have to say man when I walked onstage and heard the crowd; I think America's starting to see the light. I know you didn't have to come here tonight... thank you very much". 'Cold Desert' begins, and there are a few lighters in the air. I was pretty disappointed with the crowd; it would have been very impressive to see a bunch of them swaying back and forth, but, none of that. Whatever. After the song ends, there's "I'd like to thank our great friends in a wonderful band, The Walkmen... thank you all once again; y'all drive safe. We'll see you soon". So begins 'Use Somebody'. One song later, they're offstage.
The crowd was screaming at the top of their lungs for the entire time; it didn't wane for one second. They come back onstage and begin 'Closer'. Definately one of my favorite performances; Caleb's voice when he sang "where am I now, baby where do I sleep?" had me absolutely taken. One song later he says "Hey everybody, this has been... I just wanna say this has been a phenomenol year for Kings of Leon; I can honestly say that I never I never thought that we'd get to this point. If anyone who's been there since the begining and got to watch this... it's pretty amazing. We just want you to know that we really love you guys and we thank you for supporting us. We'll never forget it. God bless you; we're Kings of Leon". On to 'Manhattan', in which Nathan's playing has me mesmerized the entire time. Then comes the groove I'll call 'Sell My Soul'. It really goes over well with me, I love it. You can just feel that it's growing and that they really feel this song. The crowd, however, seemed to just want songs to sing along to. Most of them honestly sat down. I'm not a big fan of this crowd at all, in case you can't tell. They end with 'Black Thumbnail', then stand and admire the crowd. Picks and water bottles are thrown, they wave goodbye, and like that, they're gone.
Then, that's all topped off with Nacho and my setlist (see above)... it was a night I'll never forget.
[Note: all quotes included were all things said. One of the elipses marks where I didn't take everything down, sorry.]
SETLIST
'Crawl'
'Taper Jean Girl'
'My Party'
'Molly's Chambers'
'Red Morning Light'
'California Waiting'
'Fans'
'Milk'
'Four Kicks'
'Charmer'
'Sex on Fire'
'The Bucket'
'Notion'
'On Call'
'Cold Desert'
'Use Somebody'
'Slow Night, So Long'
-Encore-
'Closer'
'Knocked Up'
'Manhattan'
*'Sell My Soul'
'Black Thumbnail'
Well actually it's a test exam... get me?
I dunno.
??
I cannot cannot wait for AZ....thanks for all the reviews guys!