Photog Mishandled by Security at MCR show, St. Louis

This link was sent to me by a fellow MCR fan who attended the May show at The Pageant in St. Louis. I was shocked at first, but cannot bring myself to be overly sympathetic. Read on to find out why.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-05-14/news/just-shoot-me/

I was at the show that night and had to sign a waiver in order to get my pass, which seemed very stringent to me. When I reviewed the agreement, I thought it stated that you could only shoot during the first three songs and that you could not use the photographs you took for anything outside of the publication you were photographing for. I thought it also mentioned no camera phones could be used during the show. It was extremely strict and I remember feeling a bit nervous after signing it. It didn't matter if you had a photo pass or not- after your time in the pit was over you needed to exit the area and not even think about photography while you were still in the venue. I can remember chatting with Todd from ishootshows.com, a regular photographer at The Pageant, about this. He had never had to sign a waiver before either and we both were a little taken aback by it. I'm too German to even think about not following the rules so I was determined to play it straight and narrow all night. I'm always too grateful and shocked that I've been granted the opportunity to shoot a show so I am usually operating under a submissive mindset anyhow!

After I finished shooting and joined my friends, I was standing in view of the photographer when she was shooting from the balcony. When I spied her I thought "good on her, but she needs to watch herself." Security was tapping on shoulders all night. It was not the most relaxing atmosphere despite the fact that the band out on a helluva show. I hate that she was so excessively manhandled like that and it's good that MCR tried to compensate her, but she was in direct violation of the agreement. Full stop.

I have never had a bad experience with security at The Pageant. They've been annoying at times, in fact J and I got in trouble a few times with those guys because we didn't want to stand where they wanted us to stand, but they've always been a necessary presence that we have to accept and we do. They've never been rude or aggressive. If anything, they've been guys we'd share a laugh with when things got really crazy. When I read this article I knew it couldn't have been a Pageant security dude being so aggressive. In fact, the more I read about it, it was indeed an MCR security guard who may or may not be employed by the band anymore after this incident. -K

Muse in St. Louis

Last week judakris went to see Muse at The Pageant in St. Louis. The opening band was an all- girl group called The Like. I hate to knock my sex but I don’t want to see a girl band, especially one who I guess attempts to be ironic by uglying themselves up. Next! At one point in their set the lead singer/guitarist looked at her rhythm section and asked “What?” looking slightly paranoid, while the other two just smiled a bitchy smile and the bassist mouthed, “Nothing”. I suddenly felt like I was in a high school bathroom watching mean girls interact. Guy bands don’t do that. Oh, and they skipped off the stage. No, that is not a typo. As K lit a cigarette, she said to me, “Hey, if we ever have a band, we’re not skipping off the stage”. I simply responded, “I don’t skip”. Anyway, the music wasn’t bad but I think it says a lot that I was paying more attention to the clothes and the band interaction. Ilove The Like’s website design way more than the music.

As for Muse, they sounded great and did not disappoint. Our friend M attended as well and he had already seen Muse this summer in Chicago. I asked him before the show what kind of audience to expect and he gave a one word response – “Comic-con”. I don’t know much about prog rock. I know so little that I didn’t even know Muse was classified as prog rock until I read it in a magazine. So prog rock is the thinking man’s music? As we were walking up to The Pageant, I said to M, “Oh, I get it. I just saw a Rose Hulman t-shirt”. He laughed and said yes, exactly. However, when we got inside, M said that the audience was a lot more diverse than the crowd in Chicago.

K and M are bigger Muse fans than me and can reel off the night's setlist. I can only tell you that Muse played my three favorite songs— Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, and Stockholm Syndrome. A little Muse goes a long way with me. There’s just a lot going on in their music, including a heavy vibrato. It didn’t help that as they walked on the stage, K leaned over to me and said how much the lead singer reminds her of this pain in the ass that we work with. I couldn’t get the image of that pain in the ass out of my mind for the rest of the night! The crowd loved them and all the superfans were out in full force. Even if it isn’t my favorite band, it is always fun to watch others having a most incredible night. --J

A.F.I. at the Pageant

On July 30, 2006 I headed down to the Pageant, sans J, to watch A.F.I.

I did not expect to love Nightmare of You as much as I did. One of my coworkers, R, considered tagging along that night only because of them.

Next was Dillinger Escape Plan. Very raucous and the crowd ate them up.

A.F.I. sound like every other band in that genre, really, but they put on a great show for their fans who returned their love and admiration with their screams and pumping fists.

In a recent article in the Dispatch, lead singer Davey Havok was described as being “rail thin”. Eh? I have seen rail thin and rail thin he ain’t! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

While Nightmare of You, who sounded very nicely like a punk version of Morrissey, played their set, I stood on the top floor and found a wall to lean against as I drank my gin. I had a great vantage point from where I was because I could see the stage, the audience, and people around me. I hadn’t smoked in a week and wanted to smoke one a mile long. Well, that’s what I did. I went up to the bar and purchased a pack. Not having a lighter (which is unheard of for me) I asked the guy next to me who looked a little drunk to hand me a book of matches, located to his left. As soon as I lit up and took the first drag I felt alive again. I’m not religious at all, but that moment makes me want to drop to my knees and thank someone, anyone. Earlier that day I had purchased a pair of sexy black open-toed platform wedges and that night was their inaugural outing. So, I was feeling fine.

Anyway, once J and I observed that it seemed perfectly acceptable nowadays to wear the band’s t-shirt at the concert. Among the black t-shirt brigade were a lot of A.F.I. shirts. I also saw a lot of parents hanging out in their jean shorts.

As the crew started to fix up the very white A.F.I. stage, I ordered another drink and fumbled to try and light my cig. I had been noticing a group of non-goth kids standing to my left that kept looking over at me. I recognized one of them as being the one that handed me the book of matches. I was uncomfortable. Without wanting to show my insecurity by looking down to see if I had made some incredibly bad fashion decision, I just acted like I didn’t notice and tried to light my cig. The group walked away, but out of the blue comes this hand with a lit match. He was tall, cute, and very much out of place. I looked at him and said “thanks” and he said, “You know you’ve made it when even your crew is color coordinated with the band and the stage”. I looked down at the stage and sure enough, the crew was all in white. He said that with great sarcasm and I appreciated that.

While there was no music and the atmosphere was conducive to talking we got to know each other a little bit. The perfunctory, “so are you from here?” type questions we got out of the way early. I was surprised that the small talk didn’t seem boring at all. He seemed young, but was an old soul. At some point I unintentionally impressed him with my knowledge of history. I told him I grew up in Germany and he said “Ah, my ancestors came from there about 200 years ago. Valerius”. I looked at him and said “Romans”. At hearing this one word, he jumped up and yelled “OH MY GOD-YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE!!! HOW THEY MADE EVERYONE LATINIZE THEIR NAMES!” I was taken aback by the reaction and then said “bridges”. What I meant to say was “yes, the long arm of the Holy Roman Empire stretched out and influenced many aspects of life in Europe- look at the architecture, for example.” When I’ve been drinking I can’t always articulate, but this guy knew exactly what I meant to say. In fact, he said “Yes, the architecture, absolutely! MAN! I can’t believe I can talk to you about this. Can I buy you another drink?”

You know, for once I’d like to really impress a guy with looks rather than my knowledge of history, comics, or argue that Queen may possibly be the greatest band that ever was.

When we started discussing what we do for a living, we both realized that we were perpetual fixers. He was a Democrat who maintained a database for a local Republican politician. He would be in charge of sending messages or activating a dozen Blackberries at once, for example. He told me that the Republicans were thanking god when the storm hit. He said “they’re all about distraction right now”. When I asked him how he could take it, he said “this is why I’m a drunk at 23”.

So, then A.F.I comes on. The crowd screamed so loudly we looked at each other and grinned. He said “Wow. They’re here for A.F.I., it seems”. Finally, I turned to him and said, “What the hell are you doing here?” He said he was a friend of a friend of one of A.F.I.’s roadies and tagged along for the night. Oh good- another non-fan!

Back to A.F.I. The cd is called DecemberUnderground and how appropriate that the stage and the band were all in white. As I watched Davey run around in his white suspenders, asymmetrical haircut and glittery eye make-up, I looked at my new friend and asked “do you think he’s gay?” He said, “Maybe. Or, maybe he gets so much poon that he doesn’t have to pretend to be straight.”

When the crowd’s singing overwhelmed the band’s voices and Davey simply turned it over to them, my friend looked at me and said “ you know, if I were the artist I’d be like ‘People your job is to buy the album. My job is to sing’”.

In regards to the show, I wasn’t won over, but I also didn’t walk away hating them. I can respect them now, just because they knew their job is to put on a show for their audience and by god they did.

At the end of the night, I said goodbye to my new friend. I didn’t get digits- too young and a drunk at that age! No thanks. I’ve had an alcoholic boyfriend before, and although he was a wonderful man, I will never knowingly walk into that again.

As I drove home, I reflected on what a fun evening it was. When I looked at the time, I realized I would be home in time to tape a FUSE F*** Ups episode that was going to have Ville Valo getting slightly shitty with a tv producer who kept interrupting him. Say it with a flower pot, baby! I opened a cold beer, taped/watched the show, went to bed happy, and woke up the next day feeling like ass. Life is good. -K

HIM is Love, Heartache, and Redemption in St. Louis

On May 20, 2006, J and I made our way to the Pageant, a medium-sized venue in University City. It's large enough for popular bands to play while still maintaining a certain sense of intimacy with the audience. Saturday night, HIM headlined with support act, Aiden.

At the Pageant, if you're 21 you can gain access to the attached Halo Bar. This is a bar that allows you to get your pre-show drink on then gain early access. This is what we did. By 5:30 we had made our way down to the Pageant and hurried past the Hot Topic contingent that had been waiting in line all day. We sat down, ordered ourselves a drink and mentally prepared for the night ahead. For sure, it was going to be slightly different from other concert nights as one week prior I had won two tickets to a meet and greet after the show.

Back at the Halo Bar, J people-watched and I, next to her, was somewhere else entirely in my head. As I drank my second whiskey sour and smoked my umpteenth cigarette, I organized and finalized my questions. I was going to ask Linde about the Daniel Lioneye project and beg that they come to St. Louis if they take it on the road. I would ask Ville about the significance of the Finnish folk song "Paratiisi", which he sang with the Agents a lifetime of his ago. I would say "I've read that you superstitiously start your shows 8 minutes after the hour, could you expand on that?" Of course, when it came down to it, whether or not I could form any coherent sentences at all would have to be seen.

We had grand plans to be in the pit that night, as I had a strange desire to see Ville's pores. Briefly, while in the pit J and I met a superfan named Dan who was a very open and friendly chap. He and I chatted about our favorite HIM songs for a bit. Ultimately, as the crowd got much larger around us, we decided to ditch the pit and said goodbye to Dan. It was a good move to settle in our seats up in the balcony. While there is no crowd surfing at this venue, the opening act Aiden, My Chemical Romance wannabes (do not get me started), encouraged moshing and general rowdiness. In fact, one of the guitarists actually stage dived (dove?) into the crowd directly left of center, which is where we had originally stood. We sat cynically and impatiently through Aiden's set and waited for the music that can make my heart drip with innocent love and then in an instant throw me into the quagmire of deviant desires. I came tonight to hear what love and lust sound like live.

When Aiden finally ended their set, the stage crew prepared the stage for the night's headliners, complete with candlabras (how goth). What sounded like Scandinavian ambient music filled the smoky air. It was going to be a night unlike any other concert night.

The music ended and the lights went down at exactly 9:08 PM. As soon as the iconic heartagram lit up in the background, the collective sonic screams could have reached heaven itself. As Ville Valo slinked to the microphone with trademark cigarette in hand, it was not just any lead singer we were observing- this was someone who would, for the next hour and a half, command the swooning audience with the slightest nod of his head. He was suave, laid-back, and often courteous to the audience, bowing and clapping with approval as we sang the songs back to him at his invitation. Excluding the occasional oral introduction to this song or that song and the periodic sight of bras being tossed onto the stage, this paragraph could sum up the entire performance. But it won't.

Setlist (not necessarily in this order)

Soul On Fire
Vampire Heart
The Funeral of Hearts
It's All Tears
The Sacrament (encore)
Play Dead
Killing Loneliness
Wings of a Butterfly
Join Me In Death
Behind the Crimson Door
Wicked Game
Right Here In My Arms
Razorblade Kiss
Your Sweet 666

Each song was a highlight. At no time was there a lull in the performance and the audience sang every memorized word of every anthemic song. And I do mean every song. The heavy "Soul On Fire" (Love Metal) opened the show. With lyrics like: "We are like the living dead/ Craving for deliverence/With a frozen heart and a soul on fire", it is no wonder that much of the audience there was dressed in gothic regalia. The next song was "Vampire Heart" (Dark Light). This one is quite possibly my favorite of all HIM songs. "Right Here In My Arms" (RR), a fantastic rock-out tune, brought everyone to a clapping frenzy. With "Join Me In Death" (RR) and "The Funeral of Hearts", Ville demonstrated his falsetto with the grace and passionate plea of his miserably romantic poet persona. "It's All Tears" (Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666) was HIM again exercising its metal roots. Ville's jump from baritone to tenor was well exercised in "Behind The Crimson Door" (DL), but was never more excellently displayed then with "It's All Tears'" simple but effective chorus "I'm waiting for you to drown in my love/ So open your arms". Because this is America, because the latest album Dark Light is the first HIM album to be released here and overseas simultaneously, and because HIM now has these videos playing on MTV2, songs like "Killing Loneliness" and "Wings of A Butterfly" were the most loudly sung by the audience, but didn't stand out as much as the others. HIM's cover of "Wicked Game" (GL666), both live and recorded, makes one ask "Chris who?". Finally, the encore was, appropriately, "The Sacrament" (LM). The song is like a beautiful unholy hymn. It was a perfect, albeit abrupt conclusion to the pseudo-religious experience shared by hundreds.

Because I studied every movement, I thought I would mention that Ville constantly (1) spit on the stage (2) shrugged and rolled his shoulders back as if to relieve tension. We all know how thin he is, but it's something different to behold live. He also wore black slacks, a black blazer, and a Black Sabbath t-shirt. Oh, and the black beanie, god bless him. He was incredibly "covered". He's not a very energetic soul on stage, but he did seem much more stationary than usual. If I heard him correctly, although any speaking he did was so low and warbled I couldn't make out much, he did mention the word "sick". Damn. I knew where this was going.

What was missing was anything from Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. For me, I consider "Lose You Tonight", "Heartache Every Moment", "In Joy and Sorrow" and "Pretending" to be outstanding HIM songs. Any one of those songs could have fit into the setlist. I would have loved to hear "Sweet Pandemonium" and "This Fortress of Tears" from Love Metal. And of course, "Sigillum Diaboli", a fantastic rock song from Razorblade Romance, was missed. Selfishly, I would have loved to hear Ville perform a non-accompanied version of "Paratiisi", but maybe he'll grant me a private concert someday.

To our disappointment, the Warner Bros representative announced that because the band was very tired and very sick, that there would be no meet and greet after the show.

While the radio station rep and the WB rep struggled to find an alternative to this disappointment, I sat down and lit up a cigarette and absorbed the moment. While watching the crew tear down HIM's set, I came to the conclusion that this was one of those life lessons where you are forced to accept certain truths. What I had been looking foward to was not going to happen, but god damnit if I didn't enjoy the concert more than anything in a long while. Regardless, it was disappointing, but I didn't feel personally slighted. What would have been worse is the band being forced to see people when they clearly weren't in the shape to do so. That is always a tricky situation- that's where you find yourself in an awkward moment subject to the artists' moods. No thank you.

We ended up with two signed Dark Light promos and exclusive t-shirts.

So as I write this, I still struggle a little bit with my feelings, but despite the disappointment, I am listening to my HIM concert playlist, enjoying a cold sweet tea, and smoking my tasty Marlboro Lights (while wearing my Jagermeister HIM t-shirt, I might add). I come out of this having enjoyed the concert immensely. I also feel somewhat thankful for the rotten post-show experience. Why? Because with the money that J and I will make from auctioning J's signed Dark Light poster, HIM will have unknowingly purchased our next concert tickets (though mine is framed and proudly displayed on my wall, thank you very much). Kiitos, boys! -K