Meeting The Young Veins

(Hey, just posting this because I feel it's important/ cool)

I went to the first ever Young Veins concert in Chicago April 10th, and let me tell you- along with only one other day, it was THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. It was so amazing beyond belief. I still can't believe it was real.

First of all, I bought these tickets a good 2 months ago. I was probably the first to get tickets because I waited for the exact time and did it super quickly. Finally, April 10th comes along. We needed to get there early in order to get a good place to stand up front. And remember guys, they are a small band right now so they were playing a tiny club. There was a room about the size of half a school gymnasium, the stage was 3 ft off the ground, and there was no backstage. The band had to walk past the crowd, no barrier, to get on stage. I've made a map for your refrence:

The doors opened at 7 but we got there at aroung 5. On the way there my friend and I were listening to TYV songs and we also looked up the headliner, Foxy Shazam, the lead guy had a SICK mustache. We got a rockstar parking space and walked up to get around to the main door for will call. As we're rounding the corner BAM. A huge blast of mustach fierceness slaps us in the face (the lead singer of Foxy just waltzed out the door).

My friend Lillie and I went "WHOA!" and jumped backwards because we almost ran into them. For just first seeing his face for the first time in the car 5 minutes ago she gasped a huge breath and I dragged her away as she screamed, "THAT'S THE LEAD SINGER OF FOXY SHAZAM!!!" REALLY loud. I looked behind us and they were smiling at me and I just shrugged apologetically and they gave me a thumbs up with a goofy smile, lol.

My dad got in line (yes, I brought my dad, this is a bar, you know) and Lillie (my friend) and I walked further to see what was going on by the alley. All of a sudden my eyes landed on a sight so ultraviolet that my lungs shriveled into the size of my ears. My knees turned into noodles. My heart started beating as if it were afraid of the dark and wanted to bust violently out of my chest cavity. I felt like I was going to poop, throw up, and faint at the same time. I saw Ryan Ross loading things out of a trailer 20 feet away from me. I kinda blacked out for a moment. Lillie had to hit me in the arm to get me to say anything. I seriously have butterflies right now just remembering it. He was wearing his soldier-looking jacket, some striped pants, blues brothers sun glasses, a yellow shirt, and his pointy shoes. Then out of nowhere I see a guy with the same hair but in a maroon shirt and pants- Jon Walker was pushing some amps into the staff entrance. And then I saw Nick White and Andy Soukal and Nick Murray. All I could say was "Wha......?????" I seriously couldn't comprehend that my idols that I've loved for 2 and a half years were standing right by me. I needed a moment.

After I cooled down, standing by my tree, I took out my blank CD case (I was going to have the band sign the black case and then when June 8th comes around, I'd put the CD and the jacket in that case). I started small. I was going to ask Nick White, the newest member and pianist, to sign the case first. He started to walk from the trailer to the door and I called out, "Nick?" and he stopped and turned, kind of suprised, I guess not a lot of people were able to recognize him yet. I asked, "Would you be willing to sign this for me? I'm going to put the album in it when it comes out." and he was like, "Sure, sure.". He signed, said thanks for coming, and went back to his buisness. I forgot to take a picture (god damn it). But that's okay, he was nice.

Okay, one down, 4 to go. Next I saw Andy, the bassist, and called out his name. Again, kind of not expected. I asked if he would sign my case and take a picture with me. He said he could only stop for a miinute and I said, "Oh, yea, sure.". He signed my case and Lillie took our picture and he, also, was on his way.

(LOL, he blinked. "My Name Is Earl" much?)

Ryan and Jon were busy setting things up inside so they weren't coming out for a while but I DID see Nick Murray come out. I called his name and asked if he could sign my CD case and he said, "Um, sure, just give me five minutes?". So a couple trips later, he, himself came back to us and said, "You wanted to see me right?" and I was like, "Yea, I wanted to know if you could sign this and take a picture, I'm going to put the album in it." and he said, "The album?" and I said, "Yea, you know, Take a Vacation." and he was like, "Ohhh, yea." and then my IDIOT friend said, "No, we're going to put a Jonas Brother CD in it." I gave her a posionous look and quickly said, "Haha, yea, no. Definately not.". He told us that he appreciated us coming out and Lillie said, "this is like the first legit concert that I've been to where the musicians have talent, I've only been to, like, a Jonas Brothers Concert." and I quickly and desperately added, "But, that was just her, not me." He was like, "Oh yea, yea *smile*" and I said, "We're really excited to be here, I've really been looking forward to this." and (OMG) he said, "Really? Thanks. That's hot." and we told him he could get back to what he was doing and stuff and he thanked us again and was on his way.

(He was sooooo nice)

Finally I had the courage to talk Jon (My courage was also fueled by the fear that he wouldn't come out again). He was so handsome and like and inch taller than me (and I'm 5'7), and thinner than I expected, and he was just Jon Walker. He walked past us and I said, "Jon?" and he came over and I asked him to sign the case and take a pic ect. And then I said, "So is Ryan being sneeky? I haven't seen him in a while." (p.s. I'm a creeper). He giggled and said, "Yea, well, Ryan's always sneeky." and I just said, "Haha, yea." and he thanked us for coming out and went on his way.

(eeeeepp)(p.s. that's their white trailer in the alley behind us)

Finally Ryan came out again. I HAD to talk to him. He walked past and I said, "Ryan?" and he was like, "Hi.". I asked him to sign my CD case and stuff. He was kinda busy so after a picture and a very breif amount of small talk about being excited and thanks for coming out and stuff he was on his way. I imagined him taller, but he WAS thin, now I can believe it. They, for some reason translate not as thin in pictures, I guess because it's 2D. But he was thin and handsome. When he open the marker to sign my case, I noticed his legendary long fingers (is that weird to say? yes, it is. but I did. they were beautiful)(I have a facination with hands, that's all. I always notice and study people's hands. Jon's were stubby as I expected and studied in pictures).

I refused to walk away from our tree though. I wanted to just watch the guys walk back and forth because I was having trouble comprehending the whole "standing in front of me as an equal" thing. I saw Cassie (Jon's GF, duh) walk in the building and Jon came out to say hi to several friends of his that came to the show (cuz, duh, he lives in Chicago). Cassie was so cute. She looked so nice and sweet and her little summer dress and boots were adorable. She had Starbucks which I later saw Jon share with her. He also looked through her bag for something and that made me go "Awwwwww" barely quite enough to not be stared at.

I finally went back to see my dad and right text to him was a table filled with Jon's friends. I asked my dad to take a picture of me and Lillie and I sneekly snuck (lol) in front of their table to get them in the shot (I'm weird and can't help myself).

(My theme song is "Creep" by Radiohead)

So we finally got in and we saw the merch and I told my dad to buy me one of everything of The Young Veins' and ran off to get a place (later we found out that Nick Murray was helping sell the merch and he sold my dad the shirts= PARENTAL WIN). We were behind 2 rows of people but we squeezed our way to just behind 1 group whom also were TYV fans and we talked to them as we waited for Bad Rabbits to play . They were really nice and that's good because you should ALWAYS make friends with people you'll be dry humping for the next 2 hours. Jon was at a booth in the bar having a pre-show-drink with his friends and Cassie which was so amazing and Ryan came into the stage room to check out the crowd and mingle a little bit.

Bad Rabbits played and were really fun to watch. They were really energetic and talented and the guitarist that was in front of me was really good and I loved what he was doing (best run on sentence ever :p). They played for a while, I was digging them.

The Young Veins came on and got their equiptment ready and fixed their sound and stuff for 10 minutes. 10 minutes I got to watch Ryan Ross and Jon Walker from 2 feet away, just doing exactly what they were born to do. I was so happy.....(Whoa, I was just thinking of how I was happy this very second and I kind of just blacked out, not kidding. I came back with my eyes really wide open and singing "The Other Girl". Them boys DO SOMETHING to yourz mind).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atBC4ywgfJs

They went through their set, Jon sang two songs. I ruined the audio on all of my videos because I was singing out of tune AGAIN (this happens to me EVERY concert). But I got a small video of Jon singing "Everyone But You":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip9F-jsTrf4

Which is a beautiful song that I am psyched for!!!

After their set I remembered a picture that I drew for them a while back that I left in the car that I HAD to get. We left even before Foxy could get in the room and got the picture. I would've kicked myself if I didn't give it to them.

I was looking at my arm one day and I saw my veins looked like a "Y" and a "V" so I took a picture on my phone and traced it in pencil and then traced that in colours that took me about 10 minutes to pick out. I know you're jealous that my veins are better than yours, but try to contain yourself.

I grabbed my photo and went back to my tree and watched and waited for The Young Veins. They were packing their stuff up. Ryan and Jon started talking with different fans and I was going to give it to them but then I saw Nick Murray. This crazy drunk guy was talking to him about the most random shit and I realized my life's destiny- Save Nick Murray From the Crazy Drunk Guy. Nick was looking very awkward and scared. He tried inching away but tried to stay nice at the same time, this was getting him nowhere. We walked up to them and I said, "Excuse me." The drunk guy and his drunk girlfriend moved aside and we talked to Nick and I finally handed the picture to him and said, "I drew this for the band and I just wanted to give this to you guys." Nick was like, "Cool, cool. This is yours" and I was like, "Yea *confused*, wait, what do you mean?" and he said (OH MY GOSH) "Oh, well, I've seen this before, it's cool." and then I remembered that I sent all the members the picture on Twitter, he read my comment and liked my picture. I'm getting warm and flushed just thinking about it. How cool is that? We talked to him a little more and let him go to mingle with the rest of the fans that left before Foxy (because honestly, I already SAW his mustache and so I don't really need to be blinded by it's magnificence again).

I'm adding this to my "Best Day Ever" list. I have two best days ever, neither better than the other. But this has to be my favourite concert that I've ever been to. LOVE LOVE LOVE. That's all can say.