Show: The All American Rejects
Venue: The Troubadour- Los Angeles, CA
Date: 3/30/12
Show #19
Friday marked my 3rd, and sadly final All American Rejects adventure for that week. This was the one I had been looking forward to the most. The Troubadour is one of my favorite venues in LA, so to see one of your favorite bands there, in such a small intimate setting is just the best.
I won't say too much about this show and let the pictures speak for themselves, but if you've seen All American Rejects live before, you know just how amazing they are live. One of the best live acts around. They put on the type of show where you feel like you can't sing loud enough, jump high enough, or scream loud enough. You're a crazy sweaty mess after an AAR show, and it's fantastic.
Show: The All American Rejects on Jimmy Kimmel
Venue: Hollywood, CA
Date: 3/27/12
Show #18
One of the many perks of living in Los Angeles, is that it's where artists come for album release festivities, and appearances. Which is why I got to see All American Rejects 3 times in one week. Excessive? Or awesome? I vote awesome.
Photo from my phone:
If you've never gotten to go to a taping a Jimmy Kimmel, here are a few tips:
- For tickets, go to 1iota.com
- Check that site often, as Jimmy Kimmel has a large outdoor stage and gets pretty big musical guests to perform there, and tickets are free! Given, it's not a whole show. Guests typically do about 5 songs (only 1 or 2 make it on air). But hey, it's free!
- Cameras are not allowed, and they mean it. Don't even try. Phones are ok.
- Purses are not allowed. Yes, purses. Keep everything on your person.
- Get there early. Try to get there at least an hour before the suggested time. That is, if you care about how close to the stage you are. For bigger acts, people have been known to camp out to be up front, or get there at all hours of the morning. Not that I've done it before *cough cough* This is what the line looked like when I showed up around the suggested time on the ticket for AAR:
- When you get there, look at your ticket and check to see if you're "Priority" or not. Priority ticket holders (these are luck of the draw when you're requesting tickets) get in before the general line. Look for a 1iota team member or ask people in line, to make sure you're in the correct line.
- Be prepared to stand. Once let in, you have to watch the whole taping of the show on a screen they project for all the outdoor audience members. Musical guests always come last.
- Have fun! Keep an eye out for cameras on you, especially if you're against the barricade, don't be caught picking your nose!
The guys sang 2 songs to air on TV (Beekeepers Daughter and Kids in the Street) and stayed after to do a few more for the fans, including Move Along and Gives You Hell. Before they hit the stage, they all did a walk by the barricade giving fans high fives and shaking hands. Nick even gave me a head nod and a point like "hey I remember you" haha I've been to a ton of tapings at Jimmy Kimmel and i've never seen an act come down and do that before the show. So that was very cool of them.
After the show, fans had the option to buy a CD and meet the band. I didn't stay to do it since I had met them all the night before, but it looked like a pretty big line of people!
Here's the recording of Beekeepers Daughter as it aired on the show:
Kids in the Street:
Here is a video a fan recorded on their phone of Move Along:
Show: The All American Rejects' Album Release Party
Venue: Silverlake, CA
Date: 3/26/12
Show #17
Monday March 26th marked the release of the new album "Kids in the Street" by The All American Rejects and I could not have been more excited! These guys are in my top 5 in terms of favorite bands, if not one of my favorite (besides the Backstreet Boys, let's be real) to see live.
To celebrate the release, they hosted an album release party that was open to fans! All you had to do was email an RSVP to an email address they posted, and boom, you're in. They advertised it as a chance to come take a look at the album art work, and actually said nothing about the guys even being there, so I went into this having no idea what to expect. What the night actually ended up being, I never would have expected!
It took place in a gallery in Silverlake, which when you walk in looked rather small, and was plastered with Kids in the Street posters.
Then you continue walking and there's a huge room in the back where the bulk of the art work was. They even had a station where they were screen printing posters for free! It's a really cool poster I ended up getting signed by all the guys, which is now framed in my living room.
The cool thing about this exhibit was that all the art work was submitted by fans!
Then the guys came out! They actually just came out into the crowd and talked to everyone. It was so cool to see them just want to go hang out with the fans. They all seemed really excited to be there and happy to talk to everyone. It even got to the point where Nick came up to my friends and I just to say hi (again) and see what was up because he had talked to everyone already but still wanted to hang out haha! They're all a bunch of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet.
Tyson even took a picture with all of us wearing our Kids in the Street masks!
As if the open bar (with a hilarious bartender who whipped up an amazing drink we deemed "party in a cup"), free food, posters, art work and just hanging out with the guys wasn't enough, they even put on a little show! Needless to say this turned out to be a pretty awesome night!
Here's a video I took of them performing "Fast & Slow"
Kids in the Street
To see ALL the pictures I took from the party, visit my Picasa Web Album HERE!
Also- The guys just posted this video on Vevo from the event as well! Click here
Show: Cartel
Venue: The Key Club, Los Angeles
Date: 3/24/12
Show #15
Ahh Cartel. One of my top 5 favorite bands. I fell in love with them my senior year of high school and stuck with them through the years. If you're not familiar with them, they're a pop/punk/rock group from Georgia who came on to the scene in 2005 with their hit album "Chroma" which had some goodies on it such as "Honestly" and "Say Anything (Else)". They also did the MTV show "Band in a Bubble", where they were forced to live in a glass house in New York where onlookers could come and see them at all hours of the day and watched as they record an album in 30 days. It was as crazy as it sounds, but an amazing album came out of it. The guys have said they will never do anything like that again, for good reason.
I went to see them at The Key Club as they were part of the Set Your Goals tour. I'm not a fan of Set Your Goals so I made sure to get there right as Cartel was coming on, and not stay any later. :-) These guys are so much fun to see live. I always leave Cartel shows a gross sweaty mess, and I love them for that. You can dance, jump or get a good fist pump going to all of their songs. Always a good time!
Show: Needtobreathe and Ben Rector
Venue: Club Nokia, Downtown Los Angeles
Date: 3/20/12
Show #12
I had been waiting for this show for what felt like an eternity because I had gotten my ticket several months beforehand. Tuesday finally rolled around and I could not have been more excited to see my favorite southern boys of Needtobreathe. Needtobreathe has easily become one of my favorite bands to see live. They somehow find a way exude even more energy on stage than the last time. It's difficult to explain how amazing they are live without seeing it for yourself. They just pour their heart and soul in to each and every note they play, and lure you in with their beyond compare powerhouse vocals, mesmerizing stage presence and overall expert musicianship.
Oh, and they're not half bad to look at either.
This was my 4th time seeing Needtobreathe, and each time, the lead singer Bear, let's everyone know how humbled by the response they get when the come to so cal. It still continues to baffle them, and will admit they used to be afraid of playing in front of us here in LA.
They also had an amazing opening act (I will be doing a larger post on him separately). His name was Ben Rector. I couldn't recommend him more highly.
For all my videos from the show, visit my YouTube channel!
