***Get your Red Bull and Twizzlers now folks, this is quite possibly the longest blog post in the history of blog posts. For some reason, I was in the mood to recap every step of our journey. This may or may not be a result of the two Red Bulls and half bag of Twizzlers I've consumed in the last fifteen minutes. Enjoy!***
First, for everyone to fully understand how important this event was to the progression of Mad Dog and I's lives, we must go all the way back to our high school years. Mad Dog has been obsessed with Tegan and Sara since way back then and has been desperately trying to pimp their music out to everyone who might listen for years. Finally, due to a chance mishap with our mp3 players at the gym, I was forced to listen to Walking With A Ghost on repeat for approximately 20 minutes. At the time, I was like, "WTF Mad Dog? You made me a playlist with one song on it? Are you insane?" It turned out that I am just technology dumb and somehow put this particular song on repeat. If you've ever heard it, you won't be surprised to find out that it was stuck in my head for days afterward. Still, I did nothing to further my interest in T&S. Then one day I became obsessed with a song I'd heard on an episode of Veronica Mars. Turns out that song was I Know I Know I Know by Tegan and Sara. From this point forward, I was hooked. (Mad Dog may tell a different version of this story, but that's essentially how it went down).
Let's fast forward to April 21, 2010. It was my b-day, so naturally I was sitting around doing nothing; other than appreciating myself and soaking up all the glory that is my life. That lasted all of 12 minutes and I decided to surf the Internet for awhile. Eventually this led to my discovery of the pre-sale code for the Honda Civic Tour, on which Tegan and Sara would be opening for Paramore. Of course, I immediately called my cousin (Roxy) and friends (Mad Dog and Kel$ey) who I knew would be equally excited by the prospect of seeing Tegan and Sara. Being the good people they are, they agreed to tag along (I didn't have to do much convincing). So, as a gift to myself, I purchased four tickets to the show on September 13 at Red Rocks!
As the summer passed, the excitement built into unbridled tumescence (not actually, I just really wanted to use the word tumescent in some form, but we were pretty F-ing excited). It was too much for one of the more wary T&S supporters in our group (Kel$ey) and she buckled under the pressure and sold her ticket to another friend (Lauren); a decision I have no doubt Kel$ey will regret for the rest of her life. As the 13th of September grew closer, we did what any normal, obsessed fans would do; joined the mailing list and took to checking the band's website every day. In the end we were rewarded for this borderline insane behavior when we discovered a post on T&S's website about a performance they would be doing at Twist & Shout in Denver on the day of the concert. Of course, we immediately made plans to skip work and classes so we could attend.
By now, it should be obvious that we REALLY like Tegan and Sara. A lot. Another thing we all like a lot? Sleeping in. So, on the 12th we road tripped down to Roxy's permanent residence in the Denver area to eliminate the need to wake up early on the 13th. In my opinion, this was an excellent decision. We had a successful evening filled with delicious Mexican food, VMA and True Blood finale watching, and summer camp style discussions about life. We made it to bed by 3am, which is a huge accomplishment for some of us, and woke up by 9am which is an even bigger accomplishment for all of us. After a quick stop for sustenance at Einstein Bagels, we set out to conquer the ever so treacherous East Colfax Avenue where Twist & Shout is now inconveniently located.
I would say there were roughly twenty-five people in line ahead of us when we arrived at Twist & Shout at 11:30am for the 1:30pm performance. Not bad. Other than watching the shenanigans of high schoolers on their lunch break from East High School across Colfax, we didn't have much in the way of time killing. The people in front of us in line had driven down from Utah for the event and were pretty friendly. Good times. (Check out this video of us waiting in line outside the store!) Around 12:30 we were informed that the first fifty people in line would be allowed the opportunity to purchase posters/bandannas/cds/vinyl/etc. in exchange for a wrist band. This wrist band would then grant access to a meet-and-greet/signing after the performance. Roxy and Mad Dog took this opportunity no questions asked. Lauren and I passed. Lauren on the grounds that she's not that big of a fan and didn't want to steal the opportunity from a die hard fan who would genuinely appreciate it. My reasoning is a bit different and has been called "ridiculous" by more than a few people. I have this weird thing about meeting the people I really admire. It's hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot.
First, I think it's best to explain that when something awkward or the least bit uncomfortable is happening on the television, I get very anxious and immediately change the channel to relieve the tension. I avoid situations that I think will be awkward in real life at all costs because it makes me want to change the channel, but I can't because it's real life! I try to avoid exposing others to my social ineptness and I knew that actually meeting Tegan and Sara would bring out that uncomfortable feeling. I mean, what do you say beyond "OMGaga! I love your music and listen to it all the time! I'm obsessed!"? That's just awkward for everyone, and they should probably assume that anyone in that first-fifty-people-in-line situation feels that way. I'll stick to admiration from afar.
Anyway......once inside of the store, our excitement was boiling over. Because of this, I now have a picture of Roxy that I will treasure for the rest of time. As we walked inside, I noticed her getting very emotional and my natural tendency to mock caused me to ask, "Are you really crying right now?" She responded perfectly with a well known hand gesture that I was lucky enough to capture on camera. I feel the need to be honest about something, I haven't been this amped up about a concert since I saw NSYNC at the Pepsi Center when I was eleven (I was a HUGE NSYNC fan back in the day). The only way I know how deal with such overwhelming emotion is through constant sarcasm. So, while I may be making it seem as though I wasn't happy to be there, I totally was!
Things inside the store were......too close for comfort. We had to be pressed up against one another to make room for everyone. I quickly forgot my discomfort once Tegan and Sara took the stage. For a look at the experience (and to hear Lauren's hilarious laughter), check out the videos we took over on our Youtube page. After the performance, it was time for Lauren and I to rest outside and replenish our blood sugar via Twizzlers while Mad Dog and Roxy's dreams came true inside (check out that pic at the beginning of this post!).
After a quick break for lunch and relaxation (here is a video of that relaxing break), we hit up a Starbucks for a caffeine boost pre-concert. We arrived at Red Rocks about twenty minutes before the scheduled start time. During this time Mad Dog and Roxy purchased some pretty bitchin Tegan and Sara hoodies while Lauren and I took some more videos. I'll admit that we were fairly lackluster during perfectly exciting sets from Kadawatha and New Found Glory. Lauren managed to get a pretty good video of the energetic crowd around us and our not-so-energetic behavior. It's actually pretty funny, maybe I'll consider adding it. The problem with that is, it makes us seem very old.
Finally, Tegan and Sara were back to entertain us some more. I have to say, seeing them earlier in the day at the record store and then having the opportunity to see them with a full band and lights and such was a really great reminder of just how versatile they can be. Being able to easily go from charming 150 people in a record store to playing in front of 9,000 people in an amphitheatre within mere hours is an impressive feat. Since this concert there has been much talk of how good T&S are live. Roxy and I came to the conclusion that they are not simply good, but are in fact better live than recorded. This does not mean we won't continue to purchase everything they throw at us, but mos def means we will happily pay to see them again (the sooner, the better). Even Kel$ey mentioned how impressed she was after watching our videos from the record store, and that IS saying something.
Obviously, like many other T&S fans, part of the love we have for Tegan and Sara is due to their hilarity. Once again, good thing we saw them in both settings! At Twist & Shout they were able to tell more funny stories and interact a bit, whereas at Red Rocks, things seemed a little rushed. There wasn't a lot of chatting between songs, but there was the occasional crowd pleasing pop-culture reference/Paramore plug for the easily excitable preteens in the audience. For example, Lauren's excitement was increased dramatically after Tegan made a quip about Justin Bieber's hair late in their set (note: Lauren is not an easily excitable preteen. She's an easily excitable JB enthusiast. We're trying to get her some help, don't worry).
As Tegan and Sara made their way off the stage, we all looked to each other with sleepy eyes. I leaned over to Mad Dog and casually commented, "I could be convinced to leave now." She quickly replied, "Me too! I have such bad heart burn right now!" I responded, "Really? My back is hurting so bad and I have a stomach ache." Lauren then piped up with, "My feet are hurting and this music is SO loud!" At this point it became very clear that we would NOT be staying for the entirety of Paramore's set. Our bodies are very old and the time for attending loud and raucous shows has certainly passed. Give us an Elton John concert and we know how to handle ourselves, Paramore on the other hand is probably best left to the hair dye ready groups of fourteen year old girls surrounding us. We discussed the matter further and decided it would be best to stay for at least a few songs just to have the experience under our belts. Six songs later we were making the long trek back to the car. We'd gotten what we came for; a successful day of Tegan and Sara.
And now, some Lessons Learned:
- Paramore fans are YOUNG. As in, need-my-parents-to-take-me-to-the-show young. That said, those kids love them some Paramore. Their enthusiasm is admirable.
- We are old. As in, lets-leave-the-show-early-so-we-don't-have-to-deal-with-traffic old. That said, we love us some Tegan and Sara. I think our dedication is admirable.
- Red Rocks has SO MANY stairs! Thank Gaga we were in row 11, there is no way I would have made it any further after that death hike from the parking lot.
- Red Bull and Twizzlers are an absolute necessity when attempting to make it through an entire day of concert going. (We had an abundance of Twizzlers, as I usually do in my life, but we failed miserably on the Red Bull front)
- Being a groupie is NOT fun. Simply put, "Being a full time groupie would be so hard! You would have to do SO much coke"---Lauren, said in exhaustion as we walked back to the car post-concert.
(Looking for a fun post-blog reading activity? Count the number of times I just talked about Twizzlers!)
thanks for the play-by-play.
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