The great concert rundown, that you have all been highly anticipating! Warning; very random self-taken photographs (with and without blur) included. ((I may also use too many brackets.))

By the way, I had to stretch the bloody pictures because Typepad was being a bitch. So we're not all as wide-faced as we look. Well, I am, but the other guys aren't.

So Friday the school day (heehee) started off really well. I was in a great mood, looking forward to the afternoon - although not a single person noticed my flippy new hair except for a little kindergarten girl who said "I like your hair Miss S!". That made my day. I don't think my kids have ever seen me quite so, well, cheerful for lack of a better word. I even enjoyed my Newcombeball training! Go figure!

Sped off just after school got out, nabbed Jen from the station - got home, took her to see the bunnies and the menagerie of animals I own in this house - and within about 10 minutes, the doorbell rang - Kirby had arrived! Heee. We spent an hour or so in my room with deep and meaningful conversations consisting of exchanges like "But I don't match. You guys match! I'm wearing black!", "Is it going to be cold? What if it's hot?", "Wow, that's a lot of makeup Jen, and why are your hands shaking so much?" Pretty intense stuff. Our chaueffer (otherwise known as my lovely momma) arrived to shuttle us to the train station in the limosuine (otherwise known as her red Mazda) - nothing too eventful here except for my internal panicking about missing the train, banging my head in a spectacular way as I was leaving the car, oh, and car photos!

We encountered the Ticketing Nazi at the train station - where I was forced to pay an extra $2 for my train ticket just because my Student ID didn't have some damn sticker. I even played dumb, but got nowhere. She hated Kirby too. Bitch! Jen got her cheap ticket, but a load of good that did her (as you'll find out later on.) We got to the station, waited a short while and took random station photos!

There's only so many things one can do on a train. One can sleep if they're brave. One can talk quietly amongst friends. One can observe the other passengers. We did all of those things (except for the sleeping bit) and plus, we had a camera!

Oh, and I must tell you some of our neighbours from the train visit. We had the strange man who was on for a couple stops, who would say the station name about five times every time we would pause. "Strathfield Strathfield Strathfield." Then we had the scary and possibly drugged out dude in the carriage downstairs who sounded like he was puking on the train (everyone else thought he was just coughing, but I thought puking, damnit) - which was even more suspicious when he moved seats halfway through the train voyage. And then there was the guy who came on the train near the end of the journey who sat there talking to himself and humming weird songs which had me inching as far away from him as I could.

After arriving in the city (here's where the pictures stopped for a while, boo - our starvation overruled our need to photograph everything!), there was a moment of mild panic when Jen lost her train ticket which had us all madly rifling through her wallet (and we still have no idea where it went either). A nice railworker just let us walk through after I told her what happened, and Jen bought a spare return ticket early to be safe. We headed out into Surry Hills, where I felt like the world's biggest tourist. Following Julia's wonderful instructions, we found the Gaelic Club pretty easily - and there was a queue an hour early to get in. We hunted around for somewhere to eat for a while (Pizza or Kebabs, anyone) and admired the sights of Surry Hills - Our favourite place? The Ding Dong Dang Karaoke Bar (Oh how I would like to visit there one day.)

The wind completely demolished my nice hair and after all that, we ended up walking back through the station to get to Broadway. Appetites filled, we headed back under the station AGAIN to get in the queue. Nothing eventful happened in said queue. Nada. Zilch. Got into the club, found a nice spot near the toilets but sort of left-angled to the stage where there weren't TOO many heads in front of us. Plenty of room. Jen even sat down for a while, since she had a bit of a stomach ache during the concert. See?

The support act was Kate Miller-Heidke (that's prounounced Hi-Kehhhh! to you and me, folks) who was this gorgeous little thing with a beautiful dress and cute hair who sat at a keyboard. I thought I was going to be expecting some nice keyboard mellow music - but instead?

She turned out to be this quirky freak who appeared as though she was suffering from Tourette's Syndrom crossed with some sort of psychotic personality reaction. She was a complete nutbag who made the worlds most hilarious faces as she was singing. And the songs! So lyrically genius! I like the one (that she wrote ALL BY HERSELF, omg!) about "That time I had the hots (her words) for this boy, but he didn't feel the same way - can you believe it?" I also liked the one about "That time I went on a date and the guy talked about himself all the time and I wished he would just shut up!" Yeah. These are some lyrics;

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ? Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ? Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ? blah blah dog diggity blah

Then there was the song about "That time I moved into my own apartment!" And who can forget that one about "That time I watched Australian Idol!" In fact, that one was so bad, I think I'll post some lyrics. Good grief. She turned demonic at one point, whispering "I love you.. I love you" and then ROARING "I LOVE  YOU" in this completely terrifying way. I'm still disturbed.

I was having a bad week - I crashed the car and the cat carked it ? Weighed myself outside Woolies and I?d put on 4 kilos ? Arranged to meet an old friend for coffee ? I poured my heart out - told her all about ? Poor dead fluffy, and the bloody car, and did she think I should go on a diet? ? She studied my face, trying to frame the words to say ? Just the right blend of sympathy and advice ? She took a big breath. And looked into my eyes and she said: You should go on Australian Idol! ? Even if you don?t win, you?ll have a great time. ? Don?t worry that you don?t look like a supermodel ? They?re even letting fatties on there now so you should be fine.

What the fuck? If you should require some more of her insightful lyrics, you can go here. Why you'd want to, is another story.

It was at about this time that my personal space started to become a little bit squished. A whole gaggle of drunken American females (save us!) decided to squash in down the front to get a good spot for when the Fray would play - shoving like elephants to get to where they wanted. I was trying to take the above wobbly possessed Kate photo when this stupid blonde girl just appeared in front of me, completely knocking the camera away. Not so bluntly, I asked "Are you planning on moving?" to which she replied "Oh, am I in your way?" -coughs- "Yes, well, only when you stand straight like that." Thankfully they shoved their way further to the front.

But then along came rude hat boy (yes, another American, go figure!) He stood completely in front of me. And was probably over six feet tall. Couldn't see a bloody thing. I made several cranky faces to Kirby, seeing as Jen was still sitting on the floor at this point. Grr. And as soon as the techies and roadies came out? Goodbye, personal space. Hello, random strangers touching me.

I had Hat Boy blocking the front, more drunken Americans closing in from behind, and a hyper group of Asian kids going insanely camera crazy next to me, meaning every so often I'd be jabbed in the ribs by the guy trying to hold the camera out for self-taken pictures. Lovely! Jen was being squished by the drunken Americans in thongs. Kirby kept getting felt up by the people shoving past her (who knew boobs could also double for hand-rails?) and I kept getting my hair touched and ass squished up by the girls behind me. Ew.

I was very tempted to do some of the following;

a) Poke the Hat Boy in the ribs until he moved.
b) Shove the stupid American bimbo brigade (shall we call them SABB?) so they'd all topple over like dominoes and shutup with their drunken stupor already.
c) Start stomping.
d) Whinge.

I did whinge. Alot. And louder than I usually would have. But it made no difference to these rude people, who just kept trying to shove and push and close in. I've never been touched in so many places in my life. Blech.

You know, even at M-One a couple years back with those huge crowds and bajillions of people - I haven't ever been to a concert where people just didn't give a fuck as much as last night. The SABB had taken over the building, with the herd behind us as well as a batch down the front. Guys were just randomly shoving in (tall guys at that!) and not giving a crap about the people behind them. And then came the turbans. Tall Indians. Already blocking the view. But with turbans on that gave them another couple of inches to their height. A couple of rows in front. They blocked the view, and everytime they would bop one way, we'd have to quickly bop the other way to get a peep at the stage. Gaaaaaaaah. So, we took a photo of it.

I like how you can sort of artfully sort-of-see The Fray if you look to the right.

In the meantime, the Fray came on and started rocking out and were WONDERFUL. Absolutely perfect. Isaac (the lead singer) is fabulous, and I swear he was singing right to me. Yep. I'm sure of it. Even though he probably can't see a thing from the stage and sees only lights, haha, it sure LOOKED like he was singing right to me anyway! And that voice... wow. Jen still felt sick at that time, though. I knew nearly every song, which was awesome. What a fan, I am! Haha.

I think it was about now when one particularly blonde member of the SABB decided to jump on her man-whore's shoulders and be all WOW! I'm UP HIGH! Blocking people's views! ROCK ON! -random squeal noises here- And not a single person politely asked her to "Get the fuck down, so we can see!" Nice. She eventually disappeared but between that and the twin turbans, there wasn't much of a view. Somehow one of the Asian photography gang had also weasled his way in front of me, so I had a mixed view. Sometimes I'd catch glimpses of the band, sometimes I'd catch glimpses of the dude's spikes. Gah.

Spikes? Are so not fashionable. SHAVE 'EM.

We did manage to get some pictures (albeit blurry) of the Fray. Also, the SABB members behind me were making not-so-subtle plans (I suppose when you're drunk you don't realise how loud you're actually talking?) about how they wanted to get past me and squeeze closer to the front - to which I started my bodyguard pose, bracing myself and keeping them from moving past me. Hee. I took evil pleasure in that!

If I ever spy those SABB members again (the ones with cameras) I shall kick them hard up the ass.

They look much better in real life. Love!

The Fray rocked. Seriously. With the exception of the crowd, haha. I looooved it, and I'd go again (though not to that venue, unless I was wearing my "Anti Bimbo and Tall People" spray). After their encore, they came back and did my all-time favourite song. Look After You. Live. BEAUTIFUL. You are soooo beautiful. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.

If I don't say this now I will surely break ? As I'm leaving the one I want to take. ? Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait ? My heart has started to separate ? Oh, oh, oh, Oh, oh, oh, Be my baby ? Oh, oh, oh, Oh, oh, oh, Be my baby ? I'll look after you ? There now, steady love, so few come and don't go ? Will you won't you, be the one I always know? ? When I'm losing my control, the city spins around ? You're the only one who knows, you slow it down..

If ever there was a doubt ? My love she leans into me ? This most assuredly counts ? She says most assuredly ? It's always have and never hold ? You've begun to feel like home ? What's mine is yours to leave or take ?What's mine is yours to make your own

Jen still felt sick, and after poking her a couple of times, I asked if she wanted to move - she said yep, she wanted air. We moved to the side but she still felt bad, so we left early. I'd heard all the songs I wanted to hear though, so it wasn't bad at all. Poor Jen! We have bad luck at concerts. Same thing happened a couple years back when we were at the Metro!

Afterwards we went looking for a coffee shop and found that nothing was open. Nothing! And it wasn't even 11pm. What the? I thought the city was supposed to actually be alive at nights, on Fridays? Everything on Broadway was closed. We grabbed a frozen drink at McDonalds, and while Kirby and I were in line, Jen disappeared all of a sudden. I thought she'd headed to the toilets, but er, no. You're lucky we stopped taking pictures right about now. Jen was making friends with a box on Broadway, showing it what she ate for dinner. Heehee! I shall forever be now making PukeBox jokes to my dearest Jen from now on. Hey, I wonder if I could re-do the words to that stupid Robbie Williams RudeBox song! OhOh! This could be good!

All in all, it was a good night minus all the bad points I pointed out. We also didn't have to catch the delayed train home though; lucked out big time, seeing as that dad offered to pick us up on his way home from the airport. Got home, blabbered away for a while, and crashed after 2am. Jen is home now. Kirby is home now. And we shall meet again in a few weeks for girly weekend number two, with the addition of Julie.

To finish up, some random Fray lyrics. Go and download as much music as you can. They really are amazing. This one is called Little House.

She doesn't look, she doesn't see ? Opens up for nobody ? Figures out, she figures out. ? Narrow line, she can't decide ? Everything short of suicide ? Never hurts, nearly works. ?Something is scratching its way out ? Something you want to forget about.

A part of you that'll never show ? You're the only one that'll ever know ?Take it back when it all began ? Take your time, would you understand ? What it's all about? ? What it's all about? ? Something is scratching its way out ? Something you want to forget about ? No one expects you to get up ? All on your own with no one around.

I had a ball. And loved spending time with these girls.