man, it's been a long thursday.

it's been exactly a week since my wonderful 30 seconds to mars roadtrip...and i'm already having withdrawal symptoms.

it was indeed a great two days...it's almost surreal, all the great people i've met, all experiences i've had, the work i did, and of course, meeting the boys once again...and it's really like seeing your old friends again...they're laid-back and down-to-earth (sometimes jared can be a diva though...haha)...but last weekend has renewed my resolve for this band...definitely going to be part of the ECHELON for life.

anyways, let's see if i can write a SHORT review....here we go:

DAY ONE: Taste of Chaos Seattle, 2/15

i arrived in the sleepy industrial town of everett, wa (about 30 mins. north of seattle) at around 9:45 AM...met up with jennifer, who i was going to work with at TOC (me and her volunteered to do some promo work for the band and the label)...checked into my hotel, ate, and talked...hung out for a while until we got the call to come to the venue at around 1:30.

we finally get there and pick up our passes...and we were immediately put to work...we ended up stuffing freebie bags with promo materials from different bands and labels, and then we'll be handing them out to people later...we were under the impression that we were going to distribute 30STM-related material...but alas, all we got were these neat lanyards from Virgin Records...a little confusing, but we still did the work...we were also joined by street teamers from the used, so we basically finished all 500 bags in a few hours.

after that, we put up some more posters, and then we had a TON of time to kill...some of the bands were doing their soundchecks, so me and jen checked it out...chiodos sounded alright, so we sat at the bleachers for a bit...kinda boring after a while though...we then did some more work, picking up promo materials...i was able to get BACKSTAGE...pretty fucking cool, to see how everything worked from the inside...after we finished, we sat at the bleachers once more and started chatting...

a few minutes later, we see tomo walking in the empty pit...we waved and he saw us...we began to go down towards the floor, and had a little chat with him...matt soon walked out after, and we talked some more...he asked us what's up with our promo work, and then they had to go backstage...we said our goodbyes, and then i said "see you later, king tomislav!"...matt laughed and tomo smiled (to see reference, check out the vancouver show blog)...i can't believe he still remembered the incident from last november in vancouver!

anyways, we did some more prep for promo work after that...it was a pretty long wait, but finally the doors opened at around 5 pm...we immediately handed out the bags and some flyers as the kids came it (emo kid alert!)...it was pretty cool though, but went by quick...once we finished, we didn't really have much else to do but wait at the booth or just check out the show...so we did just that...

me and jen ended up meeting with a few more echelon...one of them i was sharing a room with that night...i was so excited to finally meet her...it was pretty cool...she opted to try to get into the pit during chiodos' set, but for some reason i really just felt like hanging out and waiting until 30's set came up...i mean, i knew exactly what time they were going to play, so it was not big deal...so me and a bunch of us just started chatting at the booth, i even checked out some merch and hung around during senses fail's autograph session...

at around 7 or so, i was back at the booth and was approached by one of the reps from Warner Records/the used if i wanted to join them for the meet and greet with the band...since i have a sponsor pass, i can apparently get into the whole thing...i'm not exactly a big fan of the used, but i thought, why not?...it would be cool to meet them...so i followed the crowd and went backstage to meet the band.

as we were waiting a few faces popped backstage...wiL from aiden was there for a brief moment before their set (didn't want to say hi to him though...there's some bad blood between him and 30 and i might smack him if he recognizes i'm part of the echelon)...then during aiden's set, i saw shannon walk by and watch from backstage...i could have said hi to him, but i didn't want to bother...a few minutes later, jared walked by and joined his brother...it was pretty cool to see, but i wanted to be respectful and i just kind of stared for moment...as they walked back to the green room, one of the girls from the used street team asked shannon "are you ready?", and shannon walked to her, pinched her sides and said "i sure am!"...she had a fangirl moment there for a while...haha, typical leto charm.

soon, i got to meet the used...bert was pretty cool, told him about my friend andrew and how he wanted royalties for his cameo on their DVD...bert laughed and then we took a pic together...jeph (the bassist) was incredibly shy but was also nice...same thing with their guitarist quinn...i didn't really belong there, i felt, but it was well worth it.

i hurriedly went back up because i knew 30's set was coming soon...so along with kellee (one of the 30STM fans i met) and her niece we sat on the bleachers to watch senses fail's set...it was high energy, but i will be honest...buddy (lead singer) was so tone deaf, it was awful...totally unimpressed with that...but whatever...besides, i knew 30 was gonna play after them, so i dealt with the awfulness.

i immediately went down towards the front row of the bleachers to get a better look of 30's set...they were supposed to start at 8:50...but alas, 10 minutes passed...then 15...THEN 30 FREAKING MINUTES LATER, they start...they were having major problems trying to set up, especially tomo's gear...it was painful to watch as the incompetent tech guy scrambled to fix his mess...i was dying of exhaustion at that point, they needed to play NOW.

they finally played at arond 9:20...and it was clear from the very start that it wasn't gonna be a smooth set...the tech problems kept on popping up...tomo was having a lot of trouble, and jared was also having problems with his guitar, pythagoras...the actually had to stall during "the fantasy" because jared's guitar was going all screwy...i could see jared mouth off to tomo "this fucking sucks"...and it did, in a way...however, despite the tech problems, they still played hard and still managed to do a good show.

setlist:
A Beautiful Lie
Battle Of One
From Yesterday
The Story
The Kill
The Fantasy
Attack

really short set, but that was a result of the tech problems...i was sort of disappointed, no doubt, but i can't completely blame the band for that...

jared then once again announced to the crowd that they were doing a signing immediately after their set...so i went back up, met again with jennifer and saw amy (who i saw last in the vancouver gig) and we ended up talking...eventually went in line to have my copy of the self-titled album signed...shannon smiled when he saw it, matt said "hello again", tomo said hi and jared put on his charm again and looked at me straight to thank me...it was pretty cool...during this time the used was playing, but what the hell i met them already...haha.

wait, funny/weird/scary thing happened after the signing...as they were walking away, tomo saw me again and motioned me to follow him...at first i thought, "who, me?"...but indeed it was so i walked up to them and he asked me about the promo work situation...and i told him there was no 30STM stuff to hand out...when tomo and jared found out, they were a bit miffed...but they had to leave so i ended up talking to their promo guy (don't remember his name) and explained to him the situation...he promised me it was going to be rectified, and thanked me for my work...so that was surreal.

we then decided to venture out into the tour buses and begin the LONG WAIT...it was alright though cuz my hotel was only 5 minutes away from the venue, so i didn't care if i stayed there for a long time...shannon and tomo eventually came out, we got a pictures with them...but matt and jared were nowhere to be found.

we ended up waiting for 3 HOURS...tomo saw us a few times and i actually ended up asking him if he could check if the other two can come out...and then at around 3:15 in the morning, we figured they weren't gonna come out (because the buses were pulling out of the driveway to go to san fransisco)...so we didn't get a chance to see the other two...but it was funny, how we all huddled up and stayed warm...we eventually went to our hotel, and tried to get some sleep...i needed that sleep, because the next day, i was on my way to portland to see the band again...

...

alright, THAT WAS LONG.

i apologize.

so, for the rest of the review, you can check out my account of the portland show from the 30STM message boards.

if that doesn't work, i can post the review here...but i'm fucking tired right now...don't know why.

oh, here are the links for the videos and pics from BOTH SHOWS:

"A Beautiful Lie" live in ToC Seattle
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1978832673

"A Beautiful Lie" live in Portland
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2022793286

"The Mission" (FUCK YES) live in Portland
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1979011851

photos from Seattle:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v38/freakychick/30STMtasteofchaosseattle/

photos from Portland:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v38/freakychick/30STMportland/

i have a full video for "Buddha For Mary" as well, but the file is large so i'm trying to get someone to convert it to me in a smaller size...so hold your horses, i will have that up and running soon enough.

edit that, i've got the video! (thank you heather!)
"Buddha For Mary" live in Portland
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2008719349

anyways, i'm fucking pooped...maybe it's because my body still hasn't caught up from all the sleep i lost...or maybe because i'm still trying to get over this goddamn cold i have.

i actually just found out that 30 had to cancel their show tomorrow at sacramento because jared's sick...i hope i didn't infect him...haha...but seriously, i hope he gets better.

anyways, BEDTIME.

and PCD, here it comes.

;)