phineasjones

inkjunket is on her way back to MA. :( i've been consoling myself by writing up my thoughts on last night's HCT in denver. look, i organized my thoughts into neat little categories, for your reading pleasure:

line times and zack shenanigans

inkjunket and i got there and met up with

bloodygoodgirl,

little_whittles,

siren_mage,

weird_one and visited

packmentality briefly in line. pack and i were the only ones not doing meet and greet and i was in the early entry line all by my lonesome. but it wasn't so bad. i made friends with the 15 year old girls standing behind me and got to watch zack be adorable. and also watch eric ronnick walk by (after ink flailed at me from across the way to indicate his presence.)

for meet and greet tales of \o/ and /o\ and spencer being sweeter than a sweet thing, see here.

so, yeah, zack? cute. he was standing near the front of our line at one point and he dropped his water bottle. instead of picking it up, he stood and looked at it then made some reaching motions without actually bending over, as though trying to use the force. after he did this for a while, a woman at the front of the line (i think it was one of the dvd interview chicks) went over and picked it up and handed it to him and he made a little 'i am awesome and powerful' motion.

there was also a group of 4 women in the meet and greet line who were obviously older than the average panic fan (in their late 20s?) and who were attractive and well-dressed who were apparently debating whether do go in? anyway, zack chatted with them and discovered they were scientists of some sort, and wondering whether they had enough time to be away from their lab. he let them in and told the guy to let them come out again before the show or something but then made some comments kind of to himself about how hell, they're scientists, maybe they're going to go cure cancer or something. they'd better be telling the truth. if not he doesn't want to know, he wants to keep his fantasy. um. zack fantasizes about hot scientists? ok!

the fillmore
skip this section if you don't want to read griping. bc omg fillmore! why so sucky? it's called air conditioning! it's been around for a while! GET SOME. we were in a great spot, in chairs (most of the time) at the front of the gallery on stage left. so we had great views, it wasn't too crowded, etc. and still, i think i was at least as hot as i was in the pit at madison square garden. and i remember the experience of being in the pit here for mcr and how i have never, ever sweat quite that much before. and i've been in, like, a sweat lodge. and the bands commented on the heat. and had to towel themselves off frequently. we could see someone down front spraying water into the pit and i thought, hey, that would have been nice at mcr. maybe the fillmore is starting to realize the heat's too much? but no, turns out the water pump thing is zack's. and zack also threw water bottles out to the crowd before panic and asked everyone to step back. fillmore, did i mention how you suck?

because also, it's entirely GA. and there's no division of the floor. so i saw from where we were sitting what i had only felt at mcr - the crazy forward crush of bodies when phantom planet came on. and the mushing around of the front of the crowd through the whole thing. and security pulling person after person out of the pit. fillmore, ur doing it wrong.

phantom planet
since seeing them in CT and boston, i've been listening to phantom planet's album and i kind of love it. and i think their set may have been the best one of the night. (

inkjunket and i just tried to construct a set list but i still don't know the names of most of their songs. if she posts the list, i'll link it.) they were totally energetic and on and alex (another alex, yes, the singer) was working the crowd (and diving into the crowd) and being adorable. for do the panic, ryan came out and played guitar and it was kind of hilarious and awesome. ryro is so... wooden. but he was doing his best to be a little rocker, singing and playing with them. i did kind of giggle through the whole thing, watching him, but it was also awesome and the song is kind of impossible not to bounce around to.

and then, when they played this song, the hushies joined them (minus bob). greta and darren played drums and chris was on... bass or guitar or something, hi, did i mention greta was on stage? more fun and awesome. i am pleased that this band is now part of the fbr family (are they decaydance? or just fbr?). also, see ink's post for some more phantom planet cuteness.

the hush sound
they played a sort of mish mash of the two sets i heard them play in new england. still not enough off the new album, imo, and sweet tangerine is not the most exciting live song (needs more greta). brendon joined them again for don't wake me up and definitely enjoyed his high notes. new and different was when eric ronnick came out and took over for greta on keyboards during wine red so she could just sing. i think... she doesn't do that very often. she was a little bit awkward-looking, like she wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself now that she could stand and walk around. also her singing, ironically, wasn't quite as good as it is when she's sitting at the keyboard. i support the move, though, i just think she needs some time to get used to it. also new were the hush sound balloons they thew into the audience. v cute. i loved their set, as, really, i expected to at this point. and later, during motion city, i got them to sign my ticket - a totally uneventful experience except for how it involved, like, eye contact and smiling. and my camera flaked on out me later when i was standing near the table and greta put her head on bob's shoulder and i... do i ship greta/bob? possibly.

motion city soundtrack
i can't really review their set. i didn't really watch/listen to it. i still find them mostly boring, though i do think they were somewhat more engaging last night than they were in CT. their keyboardist is still kind of fascinating and confusing to watch. i'm not sure what band he thinks he's in. the crowd loved them, though, and i think that helped their set along. lots of jumping, screaming, singing kids certainly bring the energy.

panic's awesome
panic's set is just so fun. and spencer smith continues to be utterly mesmerizing. i only wish i'd had a slightly better view of him, as his face was often blocked by a cymbal. still, so much awesome. i don't have a whole lot to comment on their set - which was the same as the one in CT and boston, though maybe with some changes in order? i did notice that they've been messing more with but it's better if you do - really heavy bass now and i think i liked it. also, brendon is getting more and more into his vocal gymnastics. the good of this is that it's just damn impressive. back on fever, even his recorded vocals weren't always solid. now he's throwing his voice all over the place and hitting his marks. the bad is that he doesn't seem to exercise a whole lot of discretion in relation to when he does these things. sometimes in really strange places (like folkin' around) that would be better left alone. still as one of the more spontaneous elements on their show (oops, that's the topic for the next section), i enjoyed it.

from where i was standing, i had a really good view of the crowd on the floor and i thought it was really interesting that they seemed way more animated for songs off of fever. whereas ink and i were the opposite. i mean, i can kind of see why. fever songs are the ones you pogo and scream out your teen angst to and pretty. odd. songs are more of a bop and sway kind of deal. but this leads me into a somewhat complicated set of thoughts about how different their albums are from one another and how different they are as a band now and how they're kind of stuck in the wrong scene but it's also kind of impossible to imagine them in any other scene and... i don't know. but it's kind of fun to ponder.

panic's < awesome
that's kind of a short section on panic's awesome. and it's not because i didn't thoroughly enjoy their show. i loved it. but this is where i usually comment on their banter and shenanigans and the thing is... i already knew what they were going to say to intro every song. because i saw them play twice a month ago. why the script, panic? there were little variations, but the routine was the same. jon invited us to their friend steven's for a pool party and hot dogs and hamburgers. ryan asked who was single (and interestingly? did not say anything about brendon being single). jon told us about ryan's tambourine before folkin around. spencer intro'ed behind the sea (and told us that he was born in denver! - ok, that was kind of awesome) and jon said, "holy shit, spencer smith. everyone say 'hello, spencer!'". they talked randomly about jazz before there's a good reason.

i'm trying hard to remember what i hadn't heard before. they asked if there were any grandparents in the audience and dedicated martyrdom and suicide to them. brendon intro'ed but it's better as, "but it's better if you do me." which, hey wow, that's funny! if you're 12. or a frat boy. brendon failed to throw his tambourine to zack when he tried. it just fell on the floor in front of the drum stand and zack had to come get it. they talked about being at the fillmore to film their dvd years ago and recognized the interview girls in the audience. and that led to the intro to sins which went something like -

ryro: so there's this song. it's kind of the reason we could make that dvd. so i guess we should play it.
jon: just play it.

oh, the enthusiasm. see, this is the thing about the old v the new panic. it's so clear that they are sick to death of that song. and frankly, so am i. STOP PLAYING IT. who would cry? i mean... would people? would they be really broken up that panic didn't play their way overplayed hit? are they waiting and hoping for it? it's hard for me to imagine, but i guess it cold be so.

i'm also still on the fence about most of the new version of their old songs. some things definitely work - the acoustic time to dance oddly being one of them. and esteban. it's just... they made sense as crazy, anxious, overdone songs. i don't know that they make sense as laid back rock songs.

last point and then i'll stop my panic abuse, i promise! and that is - this was the least together of their performances i've seen. i'm inclined to blame the heat, since i would never wish it upon anyone. but. ryro. keep taking those voice lessons, ok? i'm not down on his voice in general, he was just not hitting the notes last night. moments of not-quite-there-harmonizing. and even brendon was on the flat side occasionally. and during mad as rabbits, something got off rhythmically a few times. which was weird and unexpected. it was pretty subtle, but unsettling.

and that's a whole bunch of criticism and, to be fair, it's not just based on last night's show, but things i've been idly mulling over for a while.

conclusion
the show was as fun as i expected and hoped. i don't go see panic to be moved the way i would mcr or something. i go to have fun and see the pretty boys doing their thing. i was completely satisfied.

and now i have some random pictures.

the crowd and stage during the hushies' set:

here bob is glowing in a very ghostly fashion -

the streak is a balloon that was bouncing around. go, greta, go.

jeff conrad, drummer for phantom planet, signs

inkjunket's arm!

signed arm!

i lost all ability to operate my camera in the presence of the hush sound. srsly. i don't even know what happened. i missed many good photo ops and then stuck my finger in front of the flash. still, there's a little greta/bob-ness to this pic and i <3 it.