Weekend With the Whibleys

[Open Your Eyes]

"Two Concerts
Two Venues
Two Cities
Two Lovers
One Weekend"
-Adam

This past weekend was one to remember for four Bandaids Administrators. Myself (Adam) along with Sharifa (staticrebelle), Chelsea (Kacky) and Justin (Forgott3n) spent our the weekend with the Whibleys! On Friday, March 21, we went to Windsor to see Sum 41 perform. The following day, on Saturday March 22, we were in Detroit, Michigan to see Avril perform. It was an awesome weekend, and a lot happened.

Here is my play-by-play of what happened during our weekend. Keep in mind that this is really long. I don't expect anybody to actually read all of this but I figure it's the perfect mixture of everything anybody is wondering about the tour. Here's a brief synopsis of what's in each post...

Sum 41 Concert - About the Sum 41 concert, the set list, the special songs they sang and singing happy birthday to Deryck.
Hanging Out With The Sums - After the show, we talked with the guys. A must read for something later on during the Avril show.
Waiting Around For Avril - All the bad things that happened to us throughout the day. We were very unlucky.
Boys Like Girls - The opening performance and their setlist. The highlights of the opening act.
Avril Lavigne - Hell yeah, she's the motherfucking princess.

Read what you want! I've split up into multiple posts to make it easier for you to follow. If someone actually reads the review in its entirety, I'll rep you beyond belief and you'll be my new best friend. Enjoy!

[Open Your Eyes]

Friday, March 21 was not only a special day for us, but it was also a special day for Deryck. It was his birthday! I know what you're thinking right now. You're probably saying to yourself, "Why the hell do these people insist on seeing Deryck and Avril on their birthdays? They're such stalkers." You're kind of right though, to be brutally honest. It just works out that Sum 41 plays concerts in the Detroit area on significant days!

I live in Detroit, which is right near Windsor, so obviously I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go see The Sums. Sharifa, Justin and Chelsea all came over from Canada for this concert as well, since they would be attending The Best Damn Tour the following day. I brought my brother along with me, because he likes Sum 41 as well.

We met up with them at the concert. We were fifth row to begin with, and it was great. There were some assholes by us, but I must admit that I enjoyed it. We all ended up getting separated by the time they played their second song (The Hell Song) because of the intense moshing. I particularly didn't mind it, as long as the people weren't drunk off their asses. I'm more into jumping than moshing, but that's beside the point. By the end of the concert, we were a few rows back, but we were center stage which was great.

Their opening bands were Social Code, Die Mannequin, and another band that I missed and didn't even know that name of. The two bands I mentioned were really cool, and the chick from Die Mannequin was real down to earth and jumped into the crowd to rock out on guitar.

Finally, the guys came out. I was jumping up and down like a twelve-year-old girl at a Jonas Brother's concert, but I didn't really care, to be honest. They opened with Underclass Hero, one of my favorite songs off the new album. I was bouncing off the walls, while others were pretty chill. Throughout the concert, they played a lot of their hits including Walking Disaster, With Me, Makes No Difference, In Too Deep, My Direction, Over My Head, Fat Lip, We're All To Blame, Confusion and Frustration, King of Contradiction, Motivation, and Pain For Pleasure (no particular order - I know I'm missing a few). Their set list was perfectly chosen, and they chose songs from each of their albums.

One of my favorite parts of the concert was when they played "Attitude" a cover they've recorded originally by the Misfits. They don't usually put it on the setlist, so I knew it was a special night. Another memorable moment was when Deryck asked some kids to come up on stage and "try" to play guitar as good as him. They tried their best, but didn't come close to success. They also had a guy in the audience participate in a drinking contest with one of Sum 41's crew members. Sum 41 won as Deryck yelled, "Sum 41 3 - Canada 0!"

Also during the concert, the audience sang happy birthday to Deryck which was really awesome. Deryck referenced his birthday throughout the concert in his funny ways. The concert was amazing, and I was pissed off that it was over, but I looked forward to what was happening after the concert.

[Open Your Eyes]

After the concert was over, I went over to the merch table to get some stuff and met the drummer from Die Mannequin, one of the opening bands. He was really cool and gave me a bandana for free. We gathered our group and went out into the freezing cold. I didn't mind, since it was precisely 100 degrees inside the venue. It was refreshing to go back into the 20 degree weather and several inches of snow. We went back to the Sharifa's car and drove over near Sum 41's tour bus. At first I was kind of nervous because Social Code and Sum 41 have the same exact bus, so we couldn't tell them apart. We waited right outside the venue doors by one of the busses and hoped that they were inside.

There were about seven other fans outside waiting with us. This guy named Sean came over and hung out with us. I owe my life to this guy because he's one of the main reasons we stayed after at the last Sum concert back in September to meet Avril and the guys on Avril's birthday. He had told us that Avril was at the Detroit concert the night before, meaning that she would've been at the venue in Grand Rapids that day. You can read more from that HERE. We hung out with him for awhile, and he was just as cool as last time. A few months ago, I ran into him on the Operation's Myspace and sent him a message to thank him for that awesome day. He ended up thanking me that night because he said he wouldn't have known about this concert in Windsor if I hadn't told him on Myspace. Also, he asked me about the TNS forum for Sum 41 and if I was on there a lot. I told him how I'm a lurker on there (yeah...freaky) but I don't really post and also told him how one of our moderators is also a moderator on TNS. He asked who it was and I told him that it was Phili and he knew her and he had talked to her through private message before. That was really weird.

Meanwhile, Travis from Social Code came out. He took pictures with everyone and made a zillion funny faces in each picture. He's one of those guys that can't get a normal picture ever. I took my picture with him as well. Another band member from Social Code came out as the bus was leaving and he ran off after it as fast as he could. It was so hilarious.

Eventually the guys came out of the bus. They were either really drunk or really cold, especially Deryck. They have an excuse to drink, since it's Deryck's birthday, so I was all for that. They seemed really eager to meet people, and I was the same way.

I approached Deryck first. I told him how awesome the concert was and that we were going to see Avril the next day. He said "Oh that's awesome!" and took his picture. Sharifa took his picture with him next and he asked, "I've seen you guys before, right?" and we reminded him how we had seen him last on Avril's birthday. I was stoked that he remembered us from that day. I was so shocked!

After Deryck, I took a picture with Steve, who was so nice. I told him how I'd met him awhile back but never got a picture with him and he was happy to take one. Totally nice guy. I went up to Cone next and congratulated him on the great show and got my picture with him. I didn't want to start up a conversation with him because he looked really cool and Deryck and Steve had already gone back into the bus. I'm sure Cone was out there a bit longer.

After we met the guys we took off pretty fast. We went in a billion circles around Windsor before we took the tunnel back under the rive over the border to Detroit. I lost my phone in Windsor which really ticked me off. It must have slipped out of my pocket because I never lose my phone. That was the worst part of my night. Sharifa, Justin and Chelsea spent the night at my house. I let them take over my room. I was surprised that after this weekend they didn't start to live in my house because all they commented on was how comfortable my bed was. It was hard to catch sleep thinking about the loss of my phone, the high of meeting The Sums and the excitement of meeting Avril the next day. Our original plan was to wake up at 6 AM and go to the venue for Avril, but we decided 9 AM was a better time to get there since we didn't get back to my house until 2 AM.

[Open Your Eyes]

Waiting around for Avril was probably the most boring experience of my life. We woke up very early. After we got all ready, we left for the Palace of Auburn Hills expecting to go right into the venue and wait in line until the show started. It didn't work out as we planned though...

First, we went into one of the entrances and there was a security guy with a big nose there. He asked us what we were there for and we told him we were here for the Avril Lavigne concert. He looked at us as if we were crazy and told us that the parking lot would be open until 2:00 PM. We tried to get him to budge, but it didn't work. We turned around and went across the street to McDonalds to figure out a plan. We ate a quick meal and drove around the Palace to look for an alternate entrance. We found one and drove in very secretly. We ended up parking between a bunch of parked cars, most likely belonging to people who work at the venue. We waited for awhile and I went out to see if Mr. Big Nose was still waiting by the other entrance. He sure was.

We drove around to the main entrance and walked in. There was a security guard, I named him Guillermo. We approached him and Sharifa did the talking. She told him we were there to wait in line for the Avril Lavigne concert. He also looked at us like we were crazy. She said some unfactual information to try and coax him and she confused the hell out of him. It was hilarious. Apparently we were there to run some promo contests for Avril's tour - that's not why we were there. Anyways, he asked us to go talk to the head of security, and we told him we would, but we never did. We went back out to the car to chill.

Next, we went around by Avril's tour buses. This is where we staked out the longest. We waited and waited and waited for something cool to happen. I felt like I was in the FBI. Unfortunately, it was very dull. The only interesting things that happened was someone walked out of one of the buses the put a garbage bag by a light pole, and we watched the Boys Like Girls crew unload their trailer of merchandise. Eventually, me and Chelsea walked out to find a bathroom. This security guard lady stopped us and asked us if we were with the concert crew. We couldn't lie, so we said we were here for the concert that night. She told us we had to leave and to come back at 5:00 PM. We didn't understand now, because we had one guy tell us 2:00 and the other tell us 5:00. I was so confused! We went back to our car. A few minutes later, this security guy came over and yelled through his walkie talkie "We've got a van-full over here!" and yelled to us "You're gonna have to get out of here". I wanted to pull the Avril Bandaids Administrator card on this situation, but there's a time and place for that, and it's not to be used in the parking lot of the Palace.

In a pissed off mood, we ended up going to Great Lakes Crossing, a mall where Boys Like Girls was performing an acoustic show. They were performing at FYE. I went to the bathroom there really quick, and as I was walking out, a guy came up to me. He was like "Are you Adam?" I'm not going to lie, I was caught off guard. I told him I was and then realized that it was Tim (Funkmon) from Bandaids. It was really random that he found me coming out of the bathroom of all places, but it was cool. We ended up splitting up from him and met up with him later on at the venue. Anyways as we were waiting for the show to start, Katie (ktg205) called us and told us they were letting people in the Palace now. We literally sprinted out of the mall as Boys Like Girls started singing the first line of their first song. It was so crazy.

We got to the Palace and we were pretty much the first people there. We chilled for about two hours. It was the longest wait of my life. We used a lot of this time to plan exactly what we were going to do to get front row. It all worked. We had the best plan.

We were in the front of the line to get our wristbands for the floor. We had to watch this really korny video about moshing, as if it was made in the 80's. I didn't actually believe there would be moshing at an Avril concert (lol) but I signed the waiver anyways. It sucks that you have to sign your life away in order to have a good time. A lady snapped a bracelet on my hand and I was good to go in line.

We were at the front of one of the lines then. When the time turned to 5:30 PM, they opened the ropes, searched us, checked our ticket and then we ran like there was no tomorrow. All of the others in our group were in front of me. We had a specific plan of how we were getting down there and what section to run down, it was very well thought out. When we ran down to the main floor, the security guards checked our wristbands by pulling on them. Mine came off. The lady told me I had to go ALL THE WAY TO THE BEGINNING to get it put back on. I pleaded with her like there was no tomorrow. I had to have my concert ruined because some bitch, slut, psycho babe doesn't know how to put on a wristband. I was crying and my face was really red. I ran faster than I ever have before. I went back to the table and a lady put back on my wristband and waited in line AGAIN. I got searched again and they checked my ticket again and I was good to go. I ran so fast back down to that floor. I'm glad that security lady wasn't down there when I came by the second time, because I would have punch her.

By the time I got down there, there were five rows of people. I came in there crying my eyes out and I was visibly pissed off. Luckily, they saved me a spot in the front, which was perfect. We sat around for another hour or more until Boys Like Girls came out. The fun was finally about to begin...

[Open Your Eyes]

As we waited, some very shitty music played. I don't even know how to describe it, but if that was supposed to get us in the mood for an Avril concert, that's really messed up. Finally, the lights dimmed and Boys Like Girls was ready to hit the stage.

They had a very cool set up in front of a huge curtain that concealed Avril's entire set. A huge banner read "Boys Like Girls" in different colors to go along with the color scheme of their album. They had several poles that lit up and they started out with a very bright light that nearly blinded me. The drummer of the band started playing as the rest of the guys came out on stage. The started with one of their biggest hits, "Hero/Heroine". Throughout the set, the lead singer threw a total of four open bottles of water into the crowd in the center of the stage along with tons of guitar picks. He only threw stuff out directly in front of him though.

They also played "Five Minutes To Midnight" which was a crowd favorite. "Dance Hall Drug" was a great performance as well because it's very dancy, believe it or not, and I like to jump and make a fool out of myself. Another highlight of their performance was when they performed the song "Thunder". It is one of my favorite songs off the album. They performed it acoustically and did a great job at it. You could tell that a lot of people knew the words, and it is the perfect summer song. They announced that they will be coming by Detroit on their "Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour" this Summer. The name of this tour originates from a line in the chorus of "Thunder".

Some additional songs that they played were "On Top Of The World", and "Heels Over Head". They may have performed another song, but I can't recall. Their set concluded with their first big hit, "The Great Escape" which everyone sang along to. It is also a favorite of mine, and I was jumping up and down like crazy.

The lights came back on as their crew dismantled their set, which wasn't really much. We waited, very eager for Avril to take the stage...

[Open Your Eyes]

Finally! The lights went down and we were ready for Avril to take the stage. No more shitty music. No more waiting in line twice. No more security guards with big noses. No more crap. It was time to have some Avril.

The curtains pulled down and the band started to play. They played a broken down version of "Girlfriend" as an intro. Then, on the big screen appeared Avril's name. It was being spelled out very slowly, like in the "Girlfriend Remix" video, with graffiti. Then her name split into two AV-RIL, AV-RIL, AV-RIL, AV-RIL. The entire crowd chanted along with the screen like there was no tomorrow. The beat to "Girlfriend" was echoing throughout the stadium. Everyone was passing energy around, waiting for Avril to appear on stage. Finally, Avril rose out on the top platform by her band members on a lift. I started crying my eyes out. It wasn't one of those girly cries. I cried like a man. My tears were from the adrenaline I had from seeing Avril. Keep in mind it's been three years since I'd seen her in concert last, so this was a big moment for me. I was crying on and off for the first few songs just because I couldn't believe the moment had finally come.

One thing you have to understand about me is that I'm crazy at concerts. Like I'm a really chill guy, it may not seem like it around here, but I'm so laid back in regular life. At concerts, I'm crazy. I don't care what people care about me. I was probably the most crazy person in the place. The people behind me didn't like me very much because I was jumping up and down the entire concert. My arms were in the air the entire time. People behind me came up to me after the concert to tell me how crazy I was...in a good way. Even people in the seats had noticed me. I wasn't embarrassed at all.

After Girlfriend, she sang "I Can Do Better" this was one of my favorite performances of the night for a few reasons. Firstly, she sang the whole thing perfectly and it was great to get the crowd staying pumped. The dancers also did a great job on this song. The main reason why this was one of my favorite performances was because she pointed us out during the song. Remember how a security guard for Sum 41 texted her to tell her we were going to be at the show? (see above) Well, she was definitely looking out for us. She didn't point at anybody during the entire show, so this was really special for us. She pointed at us and looked directly into our eyes as if she was acknowledging how important Bandaids is to her. It was so great that she knew where we were right at the beginning.

She moved on to sing "Complicated" and "My Happy Ending". They were huge sing-along-songs because everybody in the place knew these songs by heart more than any other song. One of her best vocal performances was "I'm With You", which she dedicated to her fans. She featured the fans in the front row on the big screen during this song. Apparantly we were up there, but I never saw.

Her performance of "When You're Gone" was flawless. There was no malfunction with the piano, so she was good to go. She was oozing with talent during this performance. She went on to sing "Innocence" which was also flawless. Though she didn't perform the high note on the bridge, she did add in a run towards the end which went just as high as the bridge would have. It was another flawless performance.

The acoustic set was really rad. She performed "Hot" which was even better than the Roxy Theater performance. She also performed "Losing Grip" and "Don't Tell Me" in the acoustic setting. Though some of these songs were shortened, they were all within context. To be honest, most of the crowd didn't even notice that they were shortened. She only takes out like one verse and it keeps it very interesting.

A really cool part of the night was the performance of "Runaway" where she played the drums. She teased the crowd into thinking that she didn't really know how to play the drums. She rocked out like there was no tomorrow. I was amazed that she could sing and play drums at the same time. I don't know who came up with the idea for her to do that, whether it was Avril or someone else, but whoever did, thank you. After "Runaway", she performed a snippet from the song "Mickey" which we all know from the movie Bring It On. She only sang the chorus to this song, and she did a damn good job at it.

Eventually, she went for a costume change where we saw the "Bad Reputation" video. I'm still in love with it, and I hope she releases it on the next single. Another great part of the night was when she performed "The Best Damn Thing". Being her next single, she was trying to get the crowd very into it. It was great to see the video behind her. Eventually, the dancers came out in their cheerleading uniforms to dance during the bridge. It was very symbolic because they represented us, in a sense. On the back of their uniforms, it read "Team Avril", a team that many of us are on.

I really enjoyed the performance of "Everything Back But You". Though it's not my favorite song off the record, it was very rock and it shook the place up. She introduced her band members during that performance. Unfortunately, I missed part of that because a girl next to me passed out during the performance. I wanted to get the names of her male dancers that we don't know well yet and introduce them to our inner circle.

"He Wasn't" was probably the funniest performance of the night. She got the crowd so involved at the beginning. She took us on a rollercoaster of fun throughout the intro. She got us to put our hands up and down and clap and do backflips. We didn't do backflips, I'm just seeing if you're actually paying attention to what I'm writing. I've put more thought into this than anything I've ever written and I apologize fore that. "He Wasn't" brought a good vocal performance and all the chicks were singing along.

Eventually, she tempted the guys to act like they wear the pants. When she asked us if we wore the pants, I was probably the only guy in the venue screaming at the top of my lungs. I have no girlfriend either, which is really ironic. But I guess that means that I wear the pants. I think there were about 20 people around me staring at me. The girls overwhelmed her when she asked them the same question. Apparantly the girls wear the pants at this concert. Avril proclaimed herself that she also wears the pants, leaving us all to wonder what Deryck thinks of that. She delivered a grand performance of the song and got everyone in the place on their feet. It was a very PG performance. She sang the clean version, while I sang the dirty version while giving my middle finger everytime she used the MFer word. I was hoping none of the children saw that.

She departed the stage and left everyone screaming her name for an encore. Of course she already had one planned, but it was fun to scream her name anyways. The place could've been silent and sweet little Avril would've still come out for the encore. The stage lit up one final time as her dancers, not including Sofi and Lindsey, came out and danced. They did flips and jumps and breakdanced like crazy. I was amazed. Avril rose out of the lift just like at the beginning of the show, but with Sofi and Lindsey this time. She rapped the "Girlfriend Remix" and did a great job at it. I was never convinced that Avril would do a great job rapping, but she truly did. I was in awe at how awesome the performance was. At first, when I heard she was performing this, I was a bit skeptical, but it was one of the most memorable things of the night because it was different. I love a chick that dares to be different.

She closed the show with one of her biggest singles, "Sk8er Boi" as mostly everybody jumped. I found it ironic that she used to open with this song and now she closes with it. It's obviously very special to her...hmm I wonder why. The star symbol from the Let Go era was plastered all over the stage as we were reminded me of the first time I ever saw the "Sk8er Boi" video. She did a great job and thanked the crowd for being so great.

As she ran off the stage, I wasn't disappointed that the show was over, because I know this isn't the last time I'll see her. Hopefully I'm provided with opportunities to see her many times this tour. Overall, the show was fucktastic! I've never used that word before, but it seems fitting in this situation. She did a stellar job during her performance and I look forward to the next concert.

The dancing was excellent. For all of you that dislike the dancers, you need to go to this tour. You need to appreciate the art of dancing. They are amazing at what they do. They can do back flips while standing. It was amazing. They provided so much energy. Don't worry though, they didn't hog the entire show. They were present for the up beat songs and took breaks for the slower songs. It was the perfect mixture. I wanted to meet all of them.

I was overwhelmed at the number of Boys Like Girls fans at the concert. I didn't think they were that popular until I came to the show. I was disappointed by the fact that there were people there that only wanted to see Boys Like Girls and not Avril. Some people hated Avril and I heard a few comments. Did I confront them, yeah I did. We all have our opinions though, and I respect that. It's just a matter of whether our opinion is right or wrong. In this case, their opinion is wrong.

The feedback I was hearing from other fans was phenomenal. While I was standing in line waiting for merchandise, people were talking about the show, and I was listening. There were hardcore rock metal people that were amazed by her performance. I wanted to hug them, but that would've been seriously awkward. I thought it was hilarious when I was talking to this guy behind me in the crowd before the show started. We were talking about music and I asked if he was a pretty big Avril fan and he looked at his girlfriend. So I asked him, "Oh, did you girlfriend drag you here?" and they looked at eachother and laughed. He actually dragged her there. It just shows how diverse Avril's fans were. After the show there were little kids that belonged in elementary school running around. There were mothers and fathers and grandparents and lots of chicks and a good amount of guys that wanted to pretend like they weren't there.

After the show, Katie pointed out to me that there was something on my shirt. I looked closely at it and it was all silver and there were a good ten holes in it. The metal from the barrier ripped through my shirt from jumping up and down so many times. I was kind of mad because I love that shirt, it's an Avril shirt. Though I've officially retired it out of my closet, it was very symbolic of this whole experience for me. The concert was such a change from The Bonez Tour, the era from which this shirt was from. Though I'll dearly miss that Avril shirt, I'm okay for a change. I love change. Change is good. In Avril's case, the changes she's made has turned into so much success. This tour was the best move she's ever made. She'll be moving on to even more change, and I can't wait until the next tour when I accidentally rip another shirt. It'll be the best damn thing.