A Day to Remember, a pop-punk band, just kicked off their spring tour, the "Right Back At It Again" tour, with support from bands Of Mice & Men and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Not sure whether or not to try to get tickets to the show nearest to you? The nearly sold-out tour is only about half way over, so you still have plenty of time to get your tickets, it's definitely worth it!
If you do decide to attend, make sure that you get in line early! I got there at about 2:00 in the afternoon when doors where scheduled to open at 6:00 and I was still about 30th in line. Oh, and believe me, it wasn't long until the line was wrapping around the building. Even though I had to wait several hours in the cold, freezing rain, though, it was very much worth the wait.
The first opening band, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! was very impressive to me. Let's be honest -- most of the time, the opening band tries to interact with the crowd and it's like they're talking to a brick wall. These guys knew exactly what it took to get the crowd going. Even though they only played a few songs, they did play one that made everyone remember them. They performed Ke$ha's hit, "We R Who We R." Everyone in the room was dancing -- it was so much! Then, to really kick it off, one of their roadies came out and threw a whole bunch of foam glow sticks out to the crowd, so obviously the audience was excited about that.
Next up to play was Of Mice & Men. It'd be fair to say that half of the crowd at the concert was also there to see Of Mice & Men, not just A Day to Remember. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance too! Although I only knew a few of their songs, the energy the crowd had as soon as Austin Carlile (their frontman) ran out on stage was unreal. All you saw was a huge surge of people pushing towards the front center. During their whole performance, the audience was moshing, jumping and just enjoying themselves. Their last song that they played was probably their biggest hit, "Second & Sebring." Most of the people that know the song know that it's about Austin Carlile's mother who passed away a few years ago, so it's pretty heartfelt. During this song, as soon as they said the hook that most people know, "This is not what it is, only baby scars. I need your love like a boy needs his mother's side," I had the most intense goosebumps I've gotten in awhile. It was indescribable!
Lastly, the moment that we've all been waiting for... A Day to Remember's performance! I've seen these Florida rockers a few times, and once again, they did not let me down! Their set list was probably about seventeen songs. They played everything -- their super old songs, heavy songs, and even a brand new song off of their upcoming album, Common Courtesy. Halfway through them playing, they started bazooka-ing band merchandise into the mass of music fans, so it was funny to see people playfully fighting over their favorite band's merchandise. Then, before I knew it, I looked into the crowd in front of me and there was a guy in a wheelchair crowd-surfing (and yes, you just read that right)! However, amongst hearing some of my favorite songs, seeing the crowd go crazy and listening to Jeremy McKinnon (their lead singer) interact with the crowd and telling jokes and stories, the best part of the night was the encore. They played a few acoustic songs, one of them being one of their bigger songs, "If It Means a Lot to You." Hearing the audience sing along to the ballad about a long distance relationship was so pretty, especially the part where the lyrics read:
I swear I'd never be happy again, and don't you dare say we can just be friends. I'm not some boy that you can sway. We knew it'd happen eventually. La, la la la, la la la, now everybody's singin' la, la la la, la la la. If you can wait til I get home, then I swear to you that we can make this last.
I don't know -- something about hearing a crowd singing in unison with acoustic guitar in the background is something that sends chills up and down your spine. I can't lie, it brought a few tears to my eyes.
By the end of the show, my back was killing me, along with my legs and hips from jumping and standing all night long, but there is no doubt that that is the only place I wanted to be that night. I learned about some new bands, got to hang out with fellow music lovers and got to see one of the biggest upcoming rock bands, A Day to Remember. I definitely recommend anyone to go to a show on this tour, it's definitely worth the money. Even if you're not 100 percent set on liking any of the bands, you still have a chance on getting an awesome glowing foam stick or some free band merchandise. It doesn't get much better than that!