Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Curse of The Second Show

**This was written directly after this show. It is just being posted today because we were unable to have internet access on the road.**

So last night was our second show of this mini tour in Providence, R.I. It rained all day so we sat in the car until almost door time. For some reason the day had a weird vibe to start off but we were determined not to make it a typical second day show. Let me explain: Usually we do our tours in shows of 3 before making a trip back home to shower and repack and such. The first show is always great and the third show is always great but for some reason something always goes wrong with the second show. Either someone is pissed or there are technical difficulties. Something. We really didn’t want that again and we tried really really hard not to make it bad, but we truly think the second show has to be cursed.
For this blog J and I are each going to give our perspective on the show separately without reading the other person’s thoughts. This is because we are ultimately confused about this entire situation in general beyond any confusion we have had in the past.

Amanda’s Perspective:
I knew deep down inside from the very beginning of the day that no matter how hard we tried to break the second show curse that it wasn’t going to be any different. The line was annoying, the venue was set up weird and they were unprepared, and no one was there. It just kind of had an overall weird vibe. The local opening band was okay. 10 Years was great as usual but there was something about their set that I just couldn’t get into. Then SP came on. I tried to rock out but there wasn’t much contact between me and the band and I don’t really get the new music. It just made it hard for me to even try. We had a few small contacts with Shim which was okay, but we had just wanted more. I know that sounds so snotty of us, but certain things just happen at every show that did not happen at this show. We ended up basically standing still the whole show depressed. We couldn’t help it. On our way out we made a last ditch effort to be positive and decided to go through the merch line. That’s when everything changed and this whole thing got confusing and weird. They talked to us forever, asked us why we never do anything, laughed and joked around. It was crazy. It made me so excited and rejuvenated because it was like old times. They noticed things during the show that we would never imagine they would notice. It made us feel special.

When we left the show we couldn’t even talk about it because it was so confusing. I honestly don’t know why we keep doing this to ourselves. It’s like a never ending cycle of ups and downs. The ups are so high though but the downs are so low. There is never a happy medium. We can’t just purely enjoy the show anymore and I hate that. We honestly aren’t there to have fun. It’s all strategy and planning and if things aren’t just completely perfect and we don’t get the attention we want then the show is a bust. But then everything works out and we get attention and it’s like “OMG!!! Let’s do it again!!!” and then we completely disappoint ourselves. But it’s become this way because of us, not them. They have no idea about the attention we crave. But why would we tell them when that sounds crazy and selfish? I don’t know why we keep doing it or how long I want to keep doing it. Part of me is completely depressed that we aren’t going to the show tomorrow, but the other part of me is ready to just leave it behind. It’s too hard to leave behind something we have become so familiar with. Its seriously like going to SP shows is the only thing we know. And even though we aren’t best friends with the band it’s like we know them and there is a weird relationship going on between us and them.  I don’t know where the right place for this to end is.

Jennifer’s Perspective:
Honestly, I don’t know how I feel. I’m thoroughly confused. And the more I think about all of this, the worse it gets. Thinking through it just ends up giving me more thoughts than I started with. Yesterday in Providence, the day started weird. I could feel it in the air…and even now I can’t really pinpoint what was weird about it all. The vibe was just off. A & I could tell by the way the venue was set up and the way the crowd was acting that the show was not going to be as good as the show in Poughkeepsie. There were way less people, at least that’s how it felt. Not to mention, we hadn’t seen anyone in the band/crew all day which we normally look forward to. The show started with a weird dance/rock local band that seemed to have a lot of friends at the show. By the time 10 years started their set, the feeling was off. The band was still having fun onstage but the crowd just was not reacting the way the crowd in Poughkeepsie had. It seemed like Jesse (the lead singer) was almost amused with this because he kept making jokes about the crowd. By the time SP started, the place was beyond weird. They came out to Die to Save You and the energy level was just not there for us. There was a little interaction with us but not enough for us to be happy (that is fucking ridiculous to say, I know). Until halfway through the show, none of this changed. The band was crowd-pleasing but the show didn’t feel like it had in Poughkeepsie been two nights before. During Connect, A bent down below the stage to tie her shoe. After this song, we decided to give no fucks and just try to have as good of a time as we did in Poughkeepsie. It didn’t work. It felt forced and awkward on our part. So we just let the rest of the show play out. Overall, I had caught Shim and Emma’s eyes a couple of times but there didn’t really seem to be any feeling behind it. As the set ended, we called Johnny’s name to nab the setlist. At least one thing had gone in our favor at this point…Then we decided (somewhat on a whim) that we would attempt to go through merch…that is if we could get in to the signing without a special pass. We waited in the line and got up to Gerry and chatted a little. Then Shim jokingly asked if I had ever seen SP before and then said “thank you for coming.” Then he told us we needed to start getting to the shows a day early so that we weren’t tired during the set. He told us we yawned throughout the set and Mark smiled and said “come on shim, they’re tired. They want to go home!” Then before we left the line, Mark tried to say we weren’t into it because he had seen A sit down during Connect. We told him she was tying her shoe. Everyone laughed at this as they all realized that she hadn’t just sat down in the middle of their set out of boredom. As we made our way back to the car after bantering a little more with them we were both beyond confused. The show had been bleh. Then we get to the merch line and they recalled every emotion they thought we had throughout the show like they had seen us the whole time. The chat with them in merch is exactly what we wanted from them!! Those moments are the ones that keep us going. I just don’t fucking get it. During the show I had been thinking how much it sucked that we were back in this place with them where the show was weird and they didn’t care we were there. Then the merch line happened…..so…….. 

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