when I first started reading the comments from people who'd heard New Surrender they were all of praise, saying it was amazing, the best yet, yada yada yada. then I went back like 30 minutes ago and started reading them since my post. they were all pretty much of hate, saying "it's not anberlin", saying how disappointed they were that it sounded like you had rushed.
did they not read your blogs? did they not watch the vlogs? did they completely ignore you for the months you were in the studio recording? honestly. sure, to some it might not have been quite what they had expected, but do they have to be mean about it? in my opinion either be constructive about it or keep your mouth shut. no need to bring people down that have poured mind, body, and soul into trying to create the best work of their careers. I really don't understand people sometimes.
I personally haven't listened to the album, I will when I go out and buy it September 30th. and no matter if I personally think it's better or worse than Blueprints, NTFP, or Cities, I will love every second of it. every word, every guitar solo, every melody, every single little thing you spent hours upon hours working on, I will try to find some meaning in, I will love with every fiber of my being. like I've told you before, you could come out with a record of little kids songs and I'd love it lol.
you're pretty much the reason why I'm alive. (now that I read that, it sounds a little weird.) but it's true. I'm about 98% positive I have dysthymia, a mild form of depression that can last for years (and I've been feeling this way for almost 2 now), and everytime I listen to you guys I feel better. there have only been 2 times in the past 2 years when you did not cheer me up. if I go a day without listening to "A Day Late" or "Paperthin Hymn" or "Alexithymia" I don't feel quite right. you guys have truly been a miracle to me. so thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I'm sure I will love New Surrender no matter what :) love you forever, Candace
they were super good!!! first time I'd ever seen them and it was great :D
"Blisters & Coffee" "Abracadavers"
"Say The Word"
"Gravedigging"
"The Coldest Heart"
"Medisin"
"The Fight"
Matt (lead singer) accidentally swapped lyrics from the verses in "Gravedigging" and each time he did it he just shook his head and looked at the guys. it was pretty freaking hilarious.
after them we watched We're Not Friends Anymore. other random crap. the significant band for me after them would have to be Pierce The Veil. I fell in love. seriously. Jaime (pronounced "Hi-Me") is the absolute CUTEST person alive. and I mean that. he's such a funny guy and he's just so cute :D. and I'm pretty sure he looked at me a few times while they were playing :)
I kept grabbing Olivia and saying "I'm in love!" and "He's SOOOOOOOO cute!" and "OMG I LOVE HIM!!!" hahahaha
I'm not entirely sure what we did after them, I don't really remember. oh, I think we got Jamba Juice. then O walked me over to the anberlin signing at the AP Tent. read about that here.
then I stayed with Raven, Race, Maricela, and Jordon for awhile and we waited forever for Cobra Starship. I have honestly never sweat to much in my life. every part of my body was perspiring. I swear. Cobra put on a crazy cool show. it was pretty freaking funny. Gabe was wildly entertaining. they played "Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)" and the crowd went NUTS. William Beckett even came onstage and sang his part. it was amazing. on the very last song "Guilty Pleasure", Raven and Maricela groped/violated Gabe and his package. yeah, don't think I should go into detail about that lol.
after that I found Olivia and Talia at From First To Last. after them we went over to the Pierce The Veil tent and got pictures with them.
I went to go get a picture and Jaime just opened his arms and hugged me and all I could manage to say was "Wow, thank you!" hahaha.
I swear Jaime is the cutest thing on earth.
then we walked away and stalked around the FFTL tent for a bit when guess who comes walking towards us? JAIME!!! Talia and O were like "Get him to sign you or something!" so I stopped him and he like started dancing with me lol. like he put his hands up to mine and I don't even know. but it was funny and cute and I love him. so I asked if he'd sign me (of course he would) and I got out a sharpie and Talia told him to do a self-portrait and he made a weird face/hand gesture at that. it was adorable. so he drew his self-portrait on my arm lol.
it was AMAZING :D
after that I think we walked by The Classic Crime's tent and the guitarist (found out his name was Robbie) was there with his girlfriend. I wanted a picture, but not if his gf was there. so we kept walking, but when we stopped and I looked down there again he was asking for tips in the tip jar that had a sign on it that read "Feeling Tipsy?" hahhaa. so I went up to him and I was like "I'll give you a tip if I can get a picture with you," and he was like "Sure!" haha. he was smoking though, which is a total turnoff, but that's okay! he has a girlfriend! :D
then I think we just hung out on the grass for awhile after that and then saw Shwayze. Talia and I left a little over halfway through and went to Gym Class Heroes that were on the same stage as anberlin, so after them I just stayed there. again, you can read about that marvelous experience here.
best day of my life. I fell in love and experienced THE VERY BEST anberlin show in the entire world.
I can't even begin to describe how INCREDIBLE my night was.
anberlin is/are the love(s) of my life, and I mean that full-heartedly. they are the most amazing people in the entire world.
I'll start off by saying this, SF Warped and Sac/Marysville Warped: COMPLETE OPPOSITES
1. in SF they played first thing at 10:30; in Marysville the played dead last at 8:15
2. SF: 2nd day of Warped; Marysville: 2nd to last day of Warped
3. the crowd: SF was tame and boring; Marysville was fucking CRAZY
first, they had a signing at the AP tent at 4 o'clock. Raven, Race, Maricela, and Jordon had saved me a spot in line and informed me we had to have a recyclable in order to get them to sign something, so I bought a gatorade and Raven downed it lol. when they came out and sat down I got really excited and kept hitting Race on the arm lol. then we got up to the front of the line and put my paper down on the table for them to sign, aka this piece of artwork that I created back in January:
Stephen was the first one and when he saw it he thought it was really cool and kept saying things like "This is awesome!" and "Thanks so much!" and Deon thought it was pretty sweet too and gave me a bigggggggggg smile :D. all of them thought it was really cool :D I think Deon mentioned his odd limbs and Christian was joking with Joey about Joey's face, and then Christian questioned his own face hahahaha. it was marvelous. they're so awesome.
k, so Gym Class Heroes left the stage and Ping and Spanky and some old guy started setting up for anberlin's set.
*sidenote: they use Orange stuff and they scratched off the "e" and part of the "a" to make an "i", made the "r" into a "p", and made the "o" a smiley face. thus it read: ":) ping". so great :D.
Angels and Airwaves went over their time, so anberlin started a bit late. at the very end of AVA's set we started chanting "AN-BER-LIN! AN-BER-LIN! AN-BER-LIN!" and then they came out and started with "Godspeed". the crowd was super into it and it was great b/c that got me even more pumped up. next was "Feel Good Drag" and I think the crowd surfing started then, but I'm not entirely sure.
I was up in the front so I had people flying over me/landing on me, it was pretty freaking crazy. I also think it was during this song that some chick was trying to bulldoze her way through to the front, but one of the girls I was talking to before the set wasn't gonna have it so she was like "BACK OFF BITCH!" and they full-on started fighting! it was insane!!! I've never seen anberlin fans act like that lol.
also, when Stephen sang "My boyfriend's gone, we could just pretend" he indicated that his boyfriend was gone lmfao.
I think Stephen talked after that song and thanked us all for staying out while everybody else had gone home just to see them. and he also said, "This is sizing up to be one of the best Warped shows we've ever played." it was amazing knowing that I was a part of that :D
then it was "A Day Late" (my all-time fave anberlin song) and I think it was then that I started crying. at first it was just a few little tears and then I was basically bawling. people around me were asking if I was okay and I was like "Yeah! I'm ecstatic!"
then "Hello Alone" and I think my glasses got knocked off by a crowd surfer on this song. I was trying to find them on the ground, other people were helping me look too, but we couldn't find them. and I also lost one of my earrings lol. oh well.
before they played "Adelaide" Stephen dedicated it to everybody that shops at Urban Outfitters. I guess I better start shopping there lol.
then "Paperthin Hymn" which Stephen dedicated to their friend Mike. so fucking incredible. I'm tearing up just thinking about it hahaha. when Stephen sang the lyric "August evenings bring solemn warnings to remember to kiss the ones you love goodbye" he kissed Christian on the cheek. it was ridiculously cute.
after that it was "Dismantle. Repair." and it was insane. Stephen came out to the crowd at the end, and if I had been one person over to the left I would've been able to touch him lol. when the song was over he was like touching everybody's hands and I think he brushed my fingertips lol.
then they left the stage. we were all like "WHAT?! IS THAT IT?!?!?!" so this one girl and I started "ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!" and then other people started "ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!" but apparently Sleep Train was shutting down and we had to leave. it sucked. I was kind of pissed. then I found my glasses on the ground, only one of the sides had broken off, so maybe I'll venture back into my taped glasses days lol. the lenses were perfectly fine :D
the crowd was abso-fucking-lutely crazy; moshing, dancing, crowdsurfing. it was INSANE. and everybody was singing along to every song and it was so awesome! like everybody there was sooooooooo into it and you could tell that anberlin, especially Stephen, were just feeding off of our energy and just put so much more into it. the best show I've ever seen/experienced in my life.
then I left and found O and Talia and walked up to them absolutely BAWLING my eyes out.
and I told them I would do anything for anberlin. I even said I'd stay a virgin my whole life lol. I was a little delusional to say the least.
also, I felt like skinny dipping, running through an open field chasing after the moon, doing cartwheels, singing at the top of my lungs. I felt like I could do anything.
