Fri 2 Oct – blink-182, Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects, Asher Roth
It's so sad that it's over...I need to update about the concert last night before I forget anything of note. I saw
Blink 182 and
Fall Out Boy last night on October 2, 2009 at the Virginia Beach Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. We left around 3pm, and didn't get there until after 7 because the traffic was terrible and we took a few detours we shouldn't have. But at least I got to miss
Asher Roth because I think he's such a tool and a dumbass, and I hate his song I Love College. One our way in, all I could hear was all these 30-second samples of other people's songs, so I had to wonder if it was actually Asher Roth or someone's mix tape.
I got three T-shirts (two Blink 182 and one Fall Out Boy) and a Blink 182 poster but I left the poster in Stephanie's car, dammit! I spent $100. We found our seats which were pretty good; section 101, row Q, seats 18 and 19.
The All-American Rejectsdidn't play because of "artist injury." Which was fine with me; I could take them or leave them. Although I do like some of their songs.
Fall Out Boy's set was about an hour long; now that I think about it, I don't remember if they played Sugar, We're Going Down. But they did play Saturday and I don't know why; it's probably their worst song besides America's Suitehearts and Dead on Arrival, both of which they didn't play, thank God. I worked really hard to learn all the songs to Folie a Deux, but the only song they played off of that CD was Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet. So all my hard work was for naught. But that song is my favorite off that CD and the first one I ever heard or learned, besides I Don't Care,which they also played but they're kind of obligated to since it's a single. When I sang along to Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet, I felt like I was singing up there with Patrick; it was such a divine, mystical experience. The good thing about their set being shorter than usual is that Pete didn't get to talk very much. But he sure tried. He and Patrick did a dialog from Top Gun where Pete said "Patrick you know what your problem is?" and Patrick said, "no Pete, what is my problem?" And Pete said, "You're the problem, Patrick!" The show was a lot more fun though, knowing the words to all their songs. I just wish my hard work would've been worth it, because when I saw them earlier this year, I didn't know any of the songs off Folie a Deux; I hadn't even listened to it yet so I didn't have a very good time.
I saw Ashlee Simpson and their son on right side of the stage and my blood started to boil because she's such a fake Christian whore. She and Pete are such irresponsible parents; they had their son on the side of the stage with all that loud music, probably way past his bedtime, and hearing all of these swear words at almost 1 year old, when he's learning to talk. That child is going to have a horrible life. Pete went into this huge introduction about how he loves Ashlee and fell in love with her so he married her, but the truth is he knocked her up so he had to marry her. Pete said some bullshit about how he was going to play our "national anthem" for her and then they started playing
Journey's Don't Stop Believing. I couldn't believe how ridiculously maudlin; it was just a gimmick. It was unnecessary bullshit, basically because I knew all of it was a lie. When Pete said that they had only one more song to play, they were in actuality about only half way done with their set. At the end, Pete tried to steal the spotlight from Patrick by getting into the pit and being all screamo by growling lyrics, which I find extremely unattractive and it requires no talent at all. Patrick is what makes that band breathe. Oh yeah, and Patrick lost about oh, a whole person! I couldn't believe it. I don't know how he did it in five months, but he looks like he did back in 2005. It was so amazing! It was kind of weird seeing Fall Out Boy open for a band for the first time, but if they were going to open for anyone, it was going to be Blink 182! The only thing Pete said that I actually liked was when he said "I slept with someone in Blink 182 and all I got was herpes!" And then they played "I Slept with someone in fall out boy and All I got was this stupid song written about me"
Blink 182 started with Dumpweed, which I think I got a video of, but I'm not sure if I got the entire thing. Then they went right into Feeling This, I believe. I told myself that I'd remember the order, or at least the songs they played but now I'm not so sure. I accidentally recorded videos when I meant to take a picture instead and I remember never singing a song while I was recording and I do remember singing Dumpweed, or I'm just delusional, who knows? Anyway, Tom started yelling obscenities at us at that point, like the abrasive tool he is. I've never liked Tom. It's been more than a decade since I've loved Blink 182 and I have never liked Tom. Then they played Obvious and I Miss You and they both brought back so many emotions from the last time I saw them, in 2004. 2004! Even when I was right there in the moment listening to Blink 182 play live, I still never could grasp the fact that I was actually there. It was so surreal, like a dream.
They changed a few lyrics to some songs to dirty things, e.g. in All The Small Things, instead of "she left me roses by the stairs" Tom sang "she gives me blowjobs by the stairs!" and in Reckless Abandon, instead of "he fucked a chick in a parking lot," he changed it to "he fucked his dad in a parking lot." They do that all the time at every concert, but it's just Tom's songs when he changes the words. Mark told us all that an important component of Travis' drum set had broken and needed to be fixed so he demonstrated how not to let the show come to a grinding halt by asking if we liked the previous bands tonight, and then Tom sang Blow Job and I got a video of it! They never do that kind of thing at my shows, but they finally did last night! Half their set was songs that weren't hits or singles but they never played Adam's Song. That was severely disappointing because I was so looking forward to it. But they did play Dammit, because they always end on that song, for nostalgic purposes it seems.
Travis did a drum solo to start off the encore, and he was on a suspended platform wearing a harness. I've seen him do it before. but it's still so amazing how he can drum in mid air. In 2001 he was spinning around and in 2004 he popped up in suspended in the middle of the audience. I thought they might play a new song off their forthcoming album, because I saw a prospective setlist online with "new song" inserted in a couple places. But they didn't. They will have a new CD out very soon though; I can't wait to hear it! They had a pretty sweet light show on the screen behind them; it wasn't anything too fancy or tacky, but it wasn't too simple either. It was really pretty and on the video screens behind them they showed the blink bunny doing all kinds of things, depending on the theme of the song. When they played What's My Age Again, Tom warned the crowd that people are likely to get impregnated during that song, because Mark's voice would flow into our fallopian tubes so the song was dedicated to all the females there. And Mark thanked everybody for carrying his unborn children! Tom joked with Mark that he had more girls in front of him and Mark had all the guys because they're all gay. Tom also made a few "jokes" that weren't really jokes. He thinks he's funny but most of the time he isn't.
Of course I was sad when it was over; it was almost like it never happened because it went by so quickly. It's been so long since I saw Blink 182 but I couldn't get my head around the fact that it's actually them playing live right in front of me after almost 5 years of hating each other. When they played Stay Together for the Kids, they prefaced it by saying "this song is about a band who hated each other for about five years..." because everyone always told them to "stay together for the fans" after they broke up. and now they're back! They're really, really back! Maybe the hiatus was the best thing that could've happened to Blink 182. But God, I sure missed them. At the very end, Mark played a segment of
Poison's Every Rose Has its Thorn and Tom came up from behind him and hugged and kissed him. It was so bittersweet, but that's when I knew they were back for good. They started out in 1992 as a novelty band and now they're one of the biggest bands in the world. They've grown up so much in their music. It's almost like it's not even the same band.
Poison