Friday & Saturday: Lights!
So last Friday we picked up Becca from her hotel in Downtown Orlando and set off on our grand adventure to St. Petersburg! It’s really a shame that Colin didn’t do any lol-worthy roleplaying the whole time. The day was definitely epic, fantasy travel tale worthy. The biggest challenge of the day ended up being parking. I probably should’ve done some research before we showed up in St. Pete and ended up driving around to a ton of parking garages trying to find one that would let us stay late. So lame.
We got to Daddy Kool Records around noon and did a little browsing in the store before we went to sit outside to wait for Lights’s acoustic show. We ended up being the first ones out there. Daddy Kool’s employees were really accommodating! They came out to check on us every now and then and brought us water. They even tossed Siberia in their sound system so we had something to listen to while sitting on the curb. People slowly started to trickle in, both people who had heard about the show and others who saw the posters as they were walking up to the State Theatre. By 2PM the line filled the block and people were totally getting eager to get inside.
At 3PM they numbered us and let us into the store. Becca, Colin, and I were able to get right near the front and we all ended up sitting around Lights indian style. Kindergarten flashbacks for the win. They somehow managed to cram everyone into the store. I guess this was Daddy Kool’s largest in-store performance ever, pretty cool considering they’ve had bands like Yellowcard play there before! Way to go, Lights! She played a short, adorable acoustic set and then the record store has us all file out and get back in line according to our numbers to be let back in for the meet and greet.
Lights was totally sweet and signed a copy of Siberia and an 8x10 that Becca’s dad took at Osheaga for me. We talked for a few minutes about Warcraft, Lights Guild, and the sword I had for her that I had planned on getting to her later. She even mentioned the fact that it was totally awesome that I was wearing one of Beau’s shirts and told me she texted him about it, hah!
Check out this photo we got with her. Look at Colin’s face. Amazing, isn’t it? He didn’t want to be in the picture but Lights and I pretty much pulled him in. Hence the face.
After the acoustic performance we walked across the street to The State Theatre and waited until the concert. We ended up meeting a couple cool fans and talked with them a bit. That’s totally one of the best things about shows, you never know when you’re going to meet someone awesome!
The concert ended up being fantastic as expected. Her opening act Ambassadors was even pretty good. They were definitely fun to watch, and of course, everyone was fascinated by their blind keyboardist who totally stole the show. Lights was amazing as usual. I’m really glad to see the grittier stuff translate well live. It actually even sounds better, in my opinion, since it ends up being so much heavier and bolder sounding. Adding Aaron Grant to the stage was pretty rad too. His added vocals on some songs like River really add a new element to them. Oh, and he totally rocks the theremin (which Colin taught me about at the show!) with a bunch of crazy UFO noises after Where the Fence is Low. She played a gorgeous, stripped down version of Heavy Rope and closed the show with an encore of Lions! and Cactus.
After the show we went and got the FFXIII gunblade and waited around by her bus for a bit to be able to hand it to her. She was totally excited to get it. Becca actually ended up taping that moment for me because she’s awesome.
I showed her the photo we took earlier that day from the record store so she had the privilege of seeing Colin’s face. She said he was totally merping and then pointed out his face right then. “Look! He’s merping right now! It’s cute!” and then she playfully kicked his leg, hah.
We headed back to Orlando to get some sleep and then around 3PM the next day, we started the adventure over again! We brought Jimmy and Kris along for the ride at the Orlando show. Orlando didn’t disappoint and lived up to the previous night (The Beacham is amazingly gorgeous, by the way.) The previous year she played in Orlando she played at Backbooth which was a significantly smaller venue. It was great to see her fill The Beacham! Orlando is also the only city apparently that roars for an encore by saying “ONE MORE SONG, PLEASE!” They did that last year too! Maybe Orlando isn’t as rude as it seems to be half the time!
After the show we headed around the corner to go wait by the bus again. This time some kid darted out of The Beacham and ran around the block to be able to intercept Lights before she got on her bus. Apparently he got a hug because not to soon after he took off down the street screaming “I GOT A HUG FROM LIGHTS” and almost completely face planted after trying to jump a fence. It was pretty amazing. When Lights came out to talk to us again she nicknamed Colin “Merpy,” a name he will now forever carry! She gushed to us about the gunblade and how she spoke about it in an interview earlier that day and then thanked us. Fun times!
It really was an awesome weekend full of great music, merps, and friends! Going back to work on Monday was definitely a challenge. Why can’t I just be able to go to concerts and hang out with friends every day?! =p
Record store images were taken by Daddy Kool. :)
