On Easter Sunday two years ago I went to a concert at a small venue called The Bottom Lounge in Chicago, IL. I was going to see Sleeping With Sirens and I had never heard of the openers. Since my friends and I got there so early we ended up front row, right up against the wooden stage. Now, yes Sleeping With Sirens was amazing, they usually are, but I was BLOWN AWAY by the first opener. Their band name is Secrets.
They put on an amazing show and did what openers are supposed to do, they pumped up the crowd. They were pretty unknown at this point. After the show, two members, Joe and Michael were outside and Anna and I got to hangout with them. They were very chill and actually liked talking to the fans, it was really cool. They signed my ticket and I bought their CD and they signed that too. I also got to meet Xander, the lead singer. We got a picture with him.
He was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, he has now left the band. The band has not stopped working, in fact, they are bigger than ever. They just landed a spot on Vans Warped Tour. As a big fan, not only am I super excited to be able to see them again, but I am also so proud of them for making it this far. I think they are going to be huge so everyone look out for them.
This is the video where the new vocalist is announced. Enjoy so post-hardcore everybody (:
Yesterday (February 12th, 2013), I saw Of Mice & Men live in concert at the Bottom Lounge (1375 W. Lake Street) in Chicago. They are a metalcore band from California. They have 4 members and a touring member, Austin Carlile, Tino Arteaga, Phil Manansala, Alan Ashby, and Aaron Pauley.
I'm going to start by saying, OH MY GOD. It really was amazing. They had 4 openers, Volumes, Capture the Crown, Texas in July, and Woe, Is Me. The openers were all good, they did their job getting the crowd ready for the headliners to come out. I usually don't know most of the openers for concerts, so I was surprised that I knew 3 out of 4, that was nice. None of the openers were bad either, they chose good bands to open.
When Of Mice & Men came out the crowd literally went insane, obviously, they were the reason we were all there. The first song they played, O.G. Loko, was the song I took the lyrics from to paint on my nails ("Meet my dedication, inspiration), it was awesome. (: This isn't my video, but I was standing in the same area as the girl that filmed this was. The first minute is kind of just the band entering the stage.
(Caution: some explicit words and 'scary' metal music, haha)
After this, they continued to play all of my favorite songs. Honestly, almost all of my favorites were played. Some of them included: Product of a Murderer, The Calm, The Storm, The Flood, The Depths (the 4 songs from their re-released album). During the song The Depths, Austin likes everyone to get down on to one knee because the first words are "Get Up". Once he says this, every person in the crowd jumps up and screams the lyrics along with Austin. Being a part of this for the first time was really great, it shows how dedicated all of the Of Mice & Men fans are. The same girl that taped the previous video caught this on film too.
This was supposed to be the last song of the night, but as the exited the stage, the whole crowd chanted "One more song" until they came back. Austin announced that he would not play one more song...he was going to play TWO! The two songs they played were amazing, 'The Great Hendowski' and 'Second and Sebring'. The Great Hendowski is my favorite song by them, i eventually will get a tattoo with lyrics from that song, it's a meaningful song for me. The greatest thing about the band, Austin in particular, is that he truly is a good person. Before he started he said, "I want all of you to go home and listen to these lyrics, because this song was written for you". I could cry.
The very last song, Austin told us he wanted us to sing the song to him, and, being the dedicated fan base that we are, the entire crowd, in unison, sang Second and Sebring to Of Mice & Men. It is a moving experience to be part of a crowd like that, it feels like home, like a family. The last lines in particular "This is not what it is, only baby scars, i need your love like a boy needs his mother's side", I know they hit home for every Of Mice & Men fan, it's the song that brings us all together.
This band knows how to make people in the crowd feel like they belong and are loved. Austin recognized one of the fans and had him come on stage, he had met him before. Austin called him on stage and announced to everyone that the kid was in a local band, and that we all had to go home and look it it because "we all start somewhere, I was this kid at one point, support your local music". It touches me how much a huge famous star cares so much for his fans. This picture is actually my own.
So, overall, I would call this small concert, one of the greatest that I've been too. Truly amazing.
