Was the BLG tour closer the best day of my life? It’s up there. This entry might be the longest one yet. There’s a reason for that.
I woke up on the morning of Sunday, May 10 to a DM saying the band was inviting members of the Thunder Club who were in town for the show to get matching tattoos with them that afternoon – paid for by the band. XX to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their self titled album. I’ve never said “YES” to anything faster in my entire life.
Shortly before 3 I started walking to the venue with the only instructions being “Head to the alley with the busses,” and on my short walk (our hotel was literally a 2 minute walk away), I ran into Jamel, the accident-prone, man of very few words guitar player, who walked me to the back and said to hang out and wait. And…much like in Orlando…he never came back. Fortunately, not long after that, “can you believe this guy is someone’s LAWYER,” bass player Greg came out – he was kind of spearheading the tattoos, and walked me and my friend Jill (who’d shown up by that point) thru the backstage area to a green room.
It took a while – there was only one artist. Greg got his tattoo earlier and Jamel wasn’t participating, but they and many of the crew members passed thru to say hi to us while we loitered in their hallway. We got to see both Beef and Martin get theirs done, stick and poke style, while they did interviews. That was super cool. They also, of course, chatted for a bit. Some other stuff happened in the middle there, but I am keeping that close to my heart. Let’s just say, the band is very familiar with who the “SQUAD CAR” is.
By this point, it was almost time for the VIP stuff to start, and there were 15-20 fans standing in a hallway waiting. So…I jumped in the chair right after Martin, because if I’m not impatient, I’m not anything. After I got mine done, they figured out of plan for everyone to get theirs done between the VIP stuff and throughout the two openers. But then we asked about the VIP stuff and the tour manager, Ryan, told us that they were holding it because there were still like 25 people not crossed off the VIP list. We all looked at him like “….we are standing right in front of you.” “ALL of you have VIP?!” Yes Ryan. Why else would we be here getting tattoos if we weren’t willing to pay for the VIP stuff.
Ryan then escorted us up to the main theater and everything finally got started. Crazy being able to go to a show and not have to have your stuff searched or ticket scanned. I would have brought my full size water bottle if I knew that was an option.
Soundcheck was mostly normal until Martin pulled something out I never dreamed I would hear live. Wanna know when I shed my first tears of the night? It was when he started playing “Kill me in a Record Shop” at soundcheck. Most of the Thunder Club girls wanted “The Outside” but I was in ABSOLUTE AND COMPLETE SHOCK over this. I think I just sat there with my mouth wide open because…HELLO?!?!!??!?!
Anyway, the rest of it was kind of normal. Record Shop, meet and greet, Martin putting on Sandy’s judge wig for her photo and recording a video to promote the UK shows, me namedropping another friend who couldn’t be there and Martin saying he loved that guy. Greg asked me which show it was where I wore the meat dress. I’ll never know peace and I did this to myself. All normal things.
As soon as m&g was over, a handful of us BOOKED it to try to execute a successful fan project. Not for us – for the band. More on this later, but I still cry every time I see photos or videos or even think about this moment. Because we did THAT.
I don’t have much to say to comment on the openers, except I love Arrows in Action, their guitar player was wearing a “FUCK ICE” shirt and as I was texting that photo to someone they threw their setlist in the form of a paper airplane and landed right in my arm. So…I have that now. Karma for giving my AIA Denver setlist to the girls beside me who were there just for them.
We know the BLG set was gonna be rough. We knew we would cry. I am not a crier and I knew I would cry. I didn’t expect to cry as much as I did.
Martin is on record saying that the image living in his head from the last show, and “cry of the tour” goes to me. Which is insane, because as I said…I am not a crier.
During “Someone Like You” we all swayed our Pocket Lords, during “Go” I was an absolute sobbing mess while hanging onto Alyssa, Sandy and Rachel. I cried during Thunder. I HAVE NEVER CRIED DURING THUNDER.
In those moments, it wasn’t 35 year old me crying. It was 15 year old me. The kid who was in the middle of a hell of a year, figuring out how to be her own person, who found something she LOVES, and was obsessed with it before most people. The person everyone saw crying that night was real, in the moment healing. 15 year old me would not believe what has happened in the last 20 years…or even in the last 8 months.
If I had a time machine to tell her “One day Martin Johnson is gonna know who you are by name, and you’re gonna be invited to their rehearsal, and at the end of tour the band is gonna invite you to get tattoos with them, and call you ‘pal’ and ‘buddy’ and ‘homie’ and frequently say they love you and be excited to see you,” that sad teenager clutching that white hoodie while wearing her “BLG Unit” shirt….would not believe me for even one second. But it’s REAL. It’s REAL and it’s MY LIFE. and I wish I could tell little me how cool her life gets.
The Fan Project
So, have you ever been to a show where during one song suddenly everyone has their phone lights out and it’s all different colors? Myself, Rachel, Sandy, Paige and Angella gave out as many little colored slips of paper as we could in the one hour we had between soundcheck and the show beginning. We didn’t get everyone, but we got enough. We asked everyone to put their little slip of paper up during “Holiday,” the last song of the regular set.
It worked.
Martin couldn’t sing because he was crying. We were all crying. Beef took his sunglasses off because he needed to make sure “it hadn’t always been like that”. I still cry when I think about it.
After this, they still had to do the The Great Escape/Love Drunk reprise. Martin was wiping away tears during that too.
As soon as the reprise was over he jumped off the stage and started hugging everyone he knew. He knew SOMEONE in our little crew did this. He and the others immediately started asking who, how, when. It really meant a lot to them.
And then we got to hang out inside the venue for like an hour just chatting. Martin ate a carb. John spilled some tea. Greg and Jamel were making their rounds. It truly felt like a bunch of friends just hanging out.
Post-Show
After the show the girlies all went to get food, and then we eventually, of course, back to the hotel. A few of us were in the lobby talking when we see Beef walk thru. Man looked TERRIFIED. We told him to keep going and go to bed. Then Jamel walked in. We told him the same thing but he went and made some easy mac and then came to talk to us for a few minutes. A sweetie bean. After a little bit, I said something about “if Martin walks thru that door next I am hurling myself off the Space Needle” AND THEN LO AND BEHOLD….he walked in, and we repeated “NO go to bed! Don’t talk to us!!!” but of course he came and sat with us and chatted for a few minutes. Asked who was sharing a bed, told me I “nuked” him because everytime he looked over at me I was in tears, he hit our knees with a paper and said he loved us…and then as he’s walking toward the elevator just says “OH YEAH HERE ARE THE OPENERS FOR BOSTON” as he slipped away into the night.
Anyway. I love this band. I love this life. I can’t wait for Boston. My Close Personal Friends.
I’ll say it forever: No one has loved Boys Like Girls for as long as I’ve loved Boys Like Girls.
This show…this tour…were for her.