Big Bust

No, I'm not talkin boobs here. Things never go quite as planned.

I went to Portland yesterday to see MCR.

I got into town at about 4:15pm, checked into the Ace Hotel, then walked in the rain to Ringler's for happy hour. Ringler's is right downstairs from The Crystal Ballroom, the venue where MCR played. As I sat there, eating my cheeseburger and getting tipsy on Workingman's Red, I watched several pairs of "younger looking" people drift through the restaurant, obviously MCR fans looking for refuge from the rain. Many had come from out of town to see the show.

Doors opened at 6pm. I sat and nursed my beer until 6:15pm before I payed my tab and got in line. The line extended 3/4 of the way around the block, and moved very slowly. It was wet and windy and everyone shivered. The people in line behind me had apparently met Gerard earlier in the day, probably at a meet & greet. Monster drinks were being handed out for free, so there were many caffeinated teens, and many loose piles of cans on the ground. It took nearly an hour to get to the door.

By the time I got up to the third floor where the ballroom is located, my feet and back already hurt, and I already had the beginnings of a big headache. I immediately booked it to the 21 & over section, which was sparsely populated and had plenty of bench seating available. I sat there and did some people watching for about 20 minutes. Having a smaller crowd (The Crystal holds about 1000) made it easier to observe people. There were more boys in the audience than I remember from previous MCR shows. There were fewer parents, and the ones who were there were either trying to be young again, dressing and acting just like their teenage children, or else they were totally the chaperone and their kids didn't want to hang out with them. Those parents all sat in the balcony and were particularly non-active. There was a range of middle aged people like me hanging out in the beer section, who were also fairly mellow. I was really pissed off that the beer section didn't go all the way up to the stage. Normally the layout at The Crystal lets you get up close no matter which side of the barrier you're on, which also lets you choose which segment of the crowd you want to hang out with. But not this time. When Drive By came on, I got up and moved out to the main floor, surrounded by hundreds of sweaty screaming teenagers.

MCR fans are short. But no matter how big the percentage of short people is, I always manage to stand behind the only person in my area who's taller than me. In this case, I got stuck behind about 5 of them, and I couldn't see a damn thing. But the audience was very fluid with people coming and going constantly, and I was able to move up to within about 10 bodies from the stage.

Somewhere along the way, something weird happened to my ears. I've been to many loud concerts, but I haven't experienced anything quite like this before. Everything sounded high pitched and tinny. For about an hour I actually thought it was the sound system and not me. When Billy Talent came on, it was horrible - the lead singer already has a high tenor voice, and the strange sound effects in my ears made him sound like he was sucking helium. I had never heard this band before, so I kind of assumed this was a normal sound for them.

When MCR came on, I knew the problem was me and not the sound system. Gerard sounded oddly high pitched and tinny too. This really bummed me out. I could hear a fuzzy ill-defined low end and a bright thin high end, but the middle filler tones were totally missing. Everything sounded distorted and lacked fullness. This of course made my headache worse.

For those not familiar with The Crystal Ballroom, it has what they call a "mechanical floating floor". When a group of people starts jumping up and down on it, the whole thing moves and bounces, and you get bounced right along with it. It's really pretty cool. I overheard some kids talking about being afraid that the floor was going to give out under the weight of all these people. They thought the floor was bouncing because it was old and sagging.

If you've seen MCR before, you know that Gerard gets people jumping. The bounce at the Crystal was especially big last night. It was really fun to jump with the crowd - every time I did, I had a big-ass smile on my face, right up until my back and my headache really started to get painful. About midway through MCR's set, I could no longer jump or bang my head - all I could do was stand there with my arms folded against my body and try to remain upright as people collided with me, elbowed my head, and stepped on my feet.

I've gotta hand it to MCR, they really do kick ass. I've seen them 4 times in the last year, but this was my first time where all regular members were present and accounted for. The whole band looked more relaxed than at the Black Parade or Projekt Revolution shows. There was no backdrop and no stage design, just the band on a tiny stage with minimal lighting. They opened with Sleep, which was awesome, and on top of their usual songs, they pulled out some more rarely performed songs I had always wanted to hear live -- Headfirst for Halos, Hang 'Em High, I Never Told You What I Do for a Living, Kill All Your Friends, and My Way Home Is Through You. The highlight of the evening was easily their performance of The Desert Song, which they said they had never performed live in the U.S. before this tour. It was just Ray on acoustic guitar, James DeWees on keyboard, and Gerard on vocals. It was by far the best song of the night. They closed with Helena.

Aside from The Desert Song and other rare tunes that I was very excited to hear, the rest of the set was pretty average. I don't know if it was because I didn't feel well, or because I'd already been to three shows before this one, but by the end of the night, I decided I wasn't going to the show the next night, even though I bought a ticket for it.

Yes, I've abandonned Gerard on his birthday. But I'm pretty sure he won't know the difference. A lot of people in the audience responded with jumping and screaming when asked if they were going to tonight's show, so I think the crowd will be just as big and rowdy as last night (if you can call it big and rowdy when the venue only holds 1000).

After the show, I was SO GLAD that I had a hotel room within walking distance. Every part of my body hurt. The walk helped me stretch out some cramps, and it was amazing to crash on a bed right there instead of driving for an hour in the blearly eyed darkness to get home. I might try to do this for every Portland concert from now on. The down side was that I didn't sleep well at all. The bed was comfy, but my mind was racing, there were strange noises, and I just kept tossing and turning. I think I got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep in total.

This morning, I re-evaluated my decision to go home instead of going to tonight's show. After I checked out of my hotel room, I wandered around the city for a couple hours. Went to Everyday Music (a.k.a. The Candy Store) and bought some discs. Went to Powell's Books. I even went into a couple of the trendy boutiques in the Pearl District. But after milling around and pondering the possibility, I just couldn't see myself hanging out around the city for the next 7 hours, waiting for an hour in the same crowded and freezing line, standing through another 3 hours of concert with a backache, and then driving home afterwards and going to work the next morning. That, and the friend I wanted to hang out with today didn't respond to my text messages, so I would be killing time all by myself. I assume she had to work today and didn't get around to telling me she couldn't meet up.

I love MCR, I really do. But there was nothing spectacularly compelling about last night's show to make me want to go again tonight.

So I bailed. I was back home in Salem by lunchtime.

I feel a little like this was a failed trip. This was supposed to be my fun hookie vacation, going to concerts, staying in a hotel, hanging out in the city and shopping with my friend. But it all sort of fell apart.

I'll probably spend all afternoon watching movies or playing Warcraft, which is just as good, as far as a midweek vacation from work goes, but it's just not what I had planned.

Oh well. You roll with what's thrown at you, right?

Incidentally, and as a complete aside.... Alie rules. She was my text buddy for most of the night, which made me feel less lonely and made the whole event more enjoyable. She's going to come visit me in May. I'm excited!!! ^_^

The Black Rose and Undercover Brother -- thanks for totally NOT being there for me. You both suck.