stillonmystring | I try to keep sane but this goddamn place is a freeway.

So... I haven't posted an actual new entry here in awhile. I guess my life has been pretty boring as of late. Not that it isn't always. But guess what? I actually did something interesting this week. I saw Lydia on Thursday night! I'll be honest, for the past couple weeks, I've been kind of wondering if it would even be worth it since the band has basically disintegrated by now (only Leighton and Craig are left; they had two random dudes playing keys and bass for them) and I was afraid that because of that, I would be disappointed. But I knew if I didn't go I would end up regretting it down the line; even though I would have liked to see them under more ideal circumstances, with most of the band still intact, seeing them this way would still be way better than never seeing them. And, actually, it ended up being totally awesome anyway. Truthfully, I didn't even really think about how I would have liked Mindy (or anyone else) to be there at all except before/after the fact because I didn't find myself missing her much during the performance itself. It was still spectacular without her. But I'll get to all that later.

First of all, it was kind of a nerve-wracking experience because my sister and I went by ourselves and I have never driven that far by myself (it's almost a three-hour drive) and I have never been good with directions and get way nervous in heavy traffic. But it all turned out pretty okay. I think my sister actually drove more than half the way there and also part of the way back so getting tired wasn't really an issue (though I don't think it would have been anyway; I'm not one of those people who can just nod off/space out while doing something like driving no matter how tired I am). Traffic wasn't too bad at all, except maybe when we were right near the venue, but even then it probably wasn't any worse than driving in a moderate-sized city on a busy day. And as for directions, Google Maps got us there perfectly but we had a little trouble getting back, mostly because we were stupid and didn't just retrace our tracks when we should have and it would have been way easier. But we got it figured out in the end. I still don't think I'm ready to drive all that way by myself anytime soon though. Because having company definitely made things a lot easier.

Anyway, the concert itself. Well, there were three opening bands. We were right up at the front and it was ridiculously awesome but at the same time ridiculously hot and it kept getting hotter as people kept packing closer together. The first band was local and not all that great. The second band was River City Extension and they were fucking awesome and really energetic and basically just all-around kick ass. For their last song, they all came down into the middle of the audience and just jammed out. It was amazing. My sister took some decent pictures and a few really short videos of them. Keep in mind that this is a camera that is not really meant to take optimal videos. But I think you can get the idea of their awesomeness from them.

The cute Asian keyboard player was our favorite.

The third and final opener was Analog Rebellion and they weren't really my thing but I guess they were okay but I was kind of distracted by other things at that point. First of all, some crazy (and probably drunk) bitch and her friends were trying to start fights in the audience right next to me. Seriously. At first, I thought they were trying to get a mosh pit started or something but they were actually just screaming at and pushing people apparently just for the hell of it. At one point, she actually had her hands around the neck of the girl next to me which was freaky. I tried not to look at her so that she wouldn't come after me next, LOL. Also, it was starting to get really hot by then. My sister went to the back for a couple minutes and got a water and came back. Then right before Lydia came on she had to go to the back again because she said she still didn't feel good. I wanted to see at least some of Lydia's set up close though so I stayed for awhile. So, they came on and the first few songs I'm pretty sure I've got in the right order. It was:

We Clean Up So Well
Hospital
Stay Awake
Always Move Fast
Her and Haley (These two Leighton played by himself.)
A Fine Evening for a Rogue
December

Also, I took some really shitty pictures and videos during these songs. Seriously, they're really shitty. Clearly, I am not the photographer in the family. But oh well. I tried. And the videos/sound are decent-ish, for being on a camera that is not specifically for videoing and for being so close to the speakers.

Oh, but here is someone else's much better video I found on Youtube. Unfortunately, it's the only one. Maybe there'll be more from other people after awhile because there were definitely quite a few recording.

That was when I decided I'd better get to the back and cool down. I didn't exactly feel like I was going to pass out but I was basically sweating non-stop at that point and figured I'd rather just be safe. So I went and sat down at the bar next to my sister and we couldn't really see much more than Leighton's head (when these huge guys weren't blocking our view) but we could still hear everything so it was okay. I can't really remember the order from this point on but it included:

Empty Out Your Stomach
A Place Near the City
Assailants
I Woke Up Near the Sea
One More Day (This was the only song I was actually disappointed by because it was super slowed-down and I didn't even recognize it at first.)
Smile, You've Won
It's in Your Blood
A Camera Lens and Careful Days (Leighton solo.)

And then the encore was:
A Story for Supper (!!! I was excited to hear this because it's my favorite song from the first album and I didn't think I would. Leighton played it by himself again and skipped a couple verses - basically like the version on Hotel Sessions except maybe a little longer - and I would have liked to hear a full-band version but it was still awesome.)
This Is Twice Now (My sister wanted to hear this one the most. She kept asking when they were going to play it and I told her it would be an encore song. I was obviously right. :P)

My sister took these videos while we were in the back. You can't really see anything but you can still hear Leighton's glorious voice. Also, the crowd sing along during This Is Twice Now which was awesome.

So... yes. It was amazing. I can't really say what the highlights were because they were all pretty equally awesome. I was surprised that so many songs from This December were in the set because I wasn't expecting there to be. I think there might've actually been more songs from that than Illuminate. Of course I would have liked to hear basically all of their songs but I was pretty happy with what they did end up playing. Leighton's voice sounded AMAZING. I was honestly kind of nervous about what he would sound like because in some live videos I've seen he sounds really good and in others he seems to shy away from the big vocal moments which kind of reduces the intensity of the song a lot. But he was excellent and was belting it out in all the right places and sounded perfect. The final extended note of Assailants was chill-inducing it was so amazing. Like I said, the only low point was the slow version of One More Day which was just really boring and kind of devoid of all the melody of the original. I'm not sure why they thought that was a good idea. But everything else was flawless. I wasn't really paying attention to the guys on keys and bass but they seemed to be able to play the songs well enough. And, anyway, it was all about Leighton for me anyway. I didn't really care what everyone else was doing as long as they sounded good backing him up.

And then, after the show, we went to buy merch and Leighton and Craig were at the table signing stuff for people. So I had them sign my Assailants CD and my sister had them sign her shirt. Here is mine:

They're pretty much just scribbles but they're scribbles with memories attached, LOL. Actually, you can tell Leighton's is his initials but I don't even know what Craig was doing. Either his is upside down or totally nonsensical because, yeah, not getting it. Oh well. Anyway, there was a line so obviously we didn't stick around monopolizing their time or anything. I just said something lame like, "You guys were amazing," and Leighton said thank you and was really soft-spoken and also, I will say it without shame, even more good-looking in person. Also, he is SO SKINNY. Oh my God. I was kind of being a creeper while we were in line and watched him and Craig go down the sidewalk and across the street to this cafe and all I could think was how thin and tall he looked. Not in a sickly way or anything but he just looked a lot skinnier in person. Anyway, I stopped short of actually following them inside or anything so, yeah, you don't have to worry about me becoming their stalker, haha.

Okay, anyhow, back to after the show, like I said, we didn't really talk to them but we did get pictures with Leighton! And Craig hanging out obliviously in the background. I guess we might've gotten pictures with him too but, you know, other people were waiting and also, let's be honest, it was mostly about Leighton. I look gross in mine (and fat but I'm working on that... I actually bought a shirt that's at least two sizes too small for me because they didn't have many sizes left and it was really beautiful and I wanted to support them as much as I could and I can use it as inspiration to keep losing weight) but Leighton looks adorable. And I'm sure my sister won't mind if I post hers because I'm positive she's already got it all over her Facebook.

Oh yeah, and then we went over to River City Extension's table and talked to the blond girl in the band who danced/sang/shook the tambourine while my sister bought merch and she was really, really sweet. And then we went home. And that was the end of our epic night. The only thing that would have made it better was if it wasn't so goddamn hot and I could've stayed up front the entire time. That's why I hate when there are so many opening bands. Because it takes so long to get to the main act and, in this case, it just kept getting more and more annoying to be up front. But oh well. It was still great anyway and I'm really glad I went. Now I will finally post this because I've had it sitting here written for about a day while I got all the videos uploaded.