Nostalgic

Looking at concerts for some reason.  Remembered that warped tour should be coming up soon.  Curiosity got to me and so I looked up the band list.

All Time Low

Breathe Carolina

Mayday Parade

We the Kings

You Me At Six

It's going to be quite the show this year!  Looking at the bands I got really really excited, but also very nostalgic.  Warped tour is a lighthouse moment for me.  (movie reference: What Happens in Vegas)  It is a special memory that I visit if I ever need to remember a time when I was truly happy.  I went twice, and both times were fantastic.  Each hold different treasured experiences in their separate memories. 

#1 - Ashes showed me how to Warped Tour it up in style, taught me that you ALWAYS meet the band, invited me to take an interest in meeting random smaller bands trying to make it big and showed me how to push your way to the front every time. 

#2 - Put a little cement in the bonding of my relationship with my brothers, gave Kay her very first spray painted t, showed off our loyalty (rain or shine) and re-affirmed my love for music.

I would love to go back, but I think Warped Tour is better as a memory this time around. I'd like to remember it when I was jumping around amongst all the sweaty people, desperately reaching to touch Rian Dawson or maybe Gabe Saporta, rather than being one of the people that stands in the back watching all the madness take place. 

P.S. I love the word nostalgic.  It just sounds cool.  Everyone that says it has always sounded cool, so I finally looked it up in the dictionary.  I believe it will find its way into my vocabulary quite nicely. :)

P.P.S I did just find out that All Time Low has a new CD out!  Of course I bought it! It's waiting patiently for me at home, ready for me to enjoy this weekend.  Can't wait.  

"I Got A Tick-Tock Rhythm Runnin' Through My Veins..."

4 points to anyone that can guess the song and artist of this post title. :)

One week ago today Kaylyn and I attended a fantastic concert held at the Complex in SLC! Runner Runner, A Rocket to the Moon, Go Radio, Valencia and Anarbor were there for a smashing time and they definitely delivered! Runner Runner was my favorite, for their music and for their faces, and A Rocket to the Moon was a close second (mainly for their music though, they look like they are little boys). I was able to touch Ryan Ogren on the shoulder as he passed me and after he said, "Hey, nice shirt." Oh that smile... He was inadvertantly complimenting himself as I was wearing a Runner Runner t-shirt (yes I looked like the typical concert junky teen... sadly enough), but I didn't mind. I could exaggerate a little and say that we had a nice conversation he and I, which I just might if I met another Runner Runner obsessor. I highly recommend you check them out. They only have one CD so far, but in talking with Nick Bailey (yeah... we also chatted) they are already working on their next album. Hooray!! It's been awhile since I've gone to a concert, and after this one I am starting to get antsy for the next! Warped Tour is coming up in August, but I don't know if I can wait that long. Here are some pictures, we are pretty nasty in most of them... so enjoy! It's not a good concert unless Stino is there!!

Warped Tour 2010.... EPIC

Last year Warped Tour left me in such a fantastic state of twitterpation that I could not resist attending another year of all that greatness. Much to my dismay, most of my friends were unable to attend with me, but no worry, I convinced a few poor and unfortunate souls to tag along with me as I jumped from band to band like a child in a candy store. Yes, I really am that obsessed with this insane event. I convinced Kaylyn, Jordan, Parker and Adam Lutz to join me, and just like last year, we all made shirts for the occasion! They turned out soooo great! I've got some pretty creative friends/siblings. :)
Well turns out that almost all the bands I wanted to see overlapped other good bands, so we had to make a tough decision and find the top 3 bands we wanted to see.

Hey Monday, The Summer Set, The Rocket Summer, NeverShoutNever and mainly MAYDAY PARADE were the bands I wanted to see. Unfortuanely, we were only able to catch Hey Monday, The Rocket Summer and Mayday Parade. Since Mayday Parade was very last, we had a lot of time to kill..... So we walked around a lot, looked at each band's tents, etc. The weather had been great for the whole day, until about 4:00. We had a few hours to kill until Mayday Parade, and it started pouring rain!! Rain pelting us from all angles, feet tired from jumping up and down in crowds, and the beginnings of becoming farmers showing on our arms, I nervously looked around to our group. Do you guys want to wait it out until Mayday Parade? Everyone was trying to be nice to me, but I could tell that deep down they wanted to call it a day. The rain continued and I tried to keep spirits high by encouraging that the rain would stop soon. Rain, Rain, Go AWAY, Come Again ANY other day but today. It looked like there was no end in sight, but my fingers were still crossed. We couldn't leave before we saw the best band here! Especially when it had been kind of a crappy line up in the first place. I tried using the, "hey, at least we are making memories!" cop out, but that went over about as well as it usually does with me when my mom says it. Finally everyone thankfully agreed to stay. Whether it was out of pity for me, or out of belief that my life really would be over if we left, I didn't care. As long as we stayed. Thankfully, the rain subsided about 30 minutes before Mayday Parade was to start. Prayer really does work. Can I just tell you, that waiting in the rain was COMPLETELY worth it?? Mayday Parade was FANTASTIC!! Adam and I even shimmied our way up to the front, right behind the bar! Screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping around like a crazy person I had the time of my life. To my current knowledge, there is nothing comparable than an amazing concert by one of your favorite bands while you are squished in between a bunch of sweaty people. The best is when there are so many people crammed together that when everyone is jumping, you don't have to do anything to be moved up and down with the crowd. They jump for you! Same thing happens when you get in a circle of about 10 people and they all sit down on the person's knees behind them. Who knows how it works, but it's fantastic. One downside to being in an awesome concert at the very front along the bar. Crowd surfers. In a normal concert you'll get a few crowd surfers here and there that you can help heave to the front. Amplify that by a bajillion and you get Mayday Parade's crowd. One after the other, sometimes two on top of each other formed a continuous stream of crowd surfers. I'm sure this looked cool from above, but when you are the one underneath it is not so cool. When crowd surfers get to the front the bouncers just pull them down to the ground for the surfer to get out. Unfortunately this means using the front row as a slide to ease their fall down to the ground.

Dear Fat Sweaty Crowd Surfer Man:

Thank you for kicking me in the back of the head repeatedly and bending me completely in half over the bar so I can make your decent a little more comfortable.

Sincerley,

Hailey Francis.

Besides that, the music was fantastic, new bands were found and memories were indeed made. Here are some pictures of this fantastic day! Enjoy!

"I Wish I Could Cross My Arms, And Cross Your Mind"

Ashley and I went to the OWL CITY concert last night!!!!!! It was so amazing!!!! He is.. crazy... haha he was just dancing up there on stage, swinging his arms around, being swept up in the music! haha I loved every second of it! I was a little curious to see how his concert would turn out since he uses the synthesizer so much, but it was great! He actually turned most of his songs into a bunch of rock (?) songs I guess you could say. They certainly weren't mellow that's for sure! As we were waiting for Owl City to get set up everyone was pressing forward trying to get to the front. Ashley and I were pushed up almost 5 feet! It worked out great for us....not so great for the girls screaming behind us. Crocodile tears streamed down their faces as they chose their words delicately to combat the pushing. "Stop bleeping shoving!!" (bleep provided as a courtesy) Claustrophobic maybe? Whatever it was, I don't know what else they were expecting. It's a concert! Being shoved up against all the sweaty people around you is included in the price when you press purchase now on Smithstix. This concert also takes the first prize for the best encore screaming/chanting at the end of the show. Everyone was screaming for an encore, and that's what we got! Good work guys.

Well in conclusion, it was AMAZING! I love concerts. I love music and I love my friend Ashley. What a good night!

P.S. If any of you can identify which owl city song the title of this post is..... you win! haha He has the best lyrics of any other artist I've seen!

Hint: Another line from the song! "I wish I broke Mirrors, Instead of Promises."