ONE OK ROCK - Eye of the Storm Tour House of Blues - Dallas
My 12 year old daughter, L, and I went to see ONE OK ROCK today. This a poorly written summary of our experience:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's ONE OK ROCK show day!! L and I are so excited! We've been looking forward to this concert for months. I got our tix as soon as they went on sale. Sadly, meet and greet passes were not in my budget. That's my only regret, but, maybe next time!!
We go to the House of Blues pretty early, around 12ish. There were a couple people already waiting on the patio. We decided to go eat, and the return and wait for the doors to open at 6:30. During lunch L was saying how awesome it would be if we ran into the band at the restaurant or outside near the buses. I was like “Yeah, right. Nothing like that ever happens to me.”
When we made it back to HoB, there were about 10-15 people waiting now. It was drizzling a little bit so people were waiting on the patio instead of lining along the fence. I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to get in the front of the line like we planned, but hopefully we'd still be able to get good spots when the gate opened. Someone was trying a numbering system with a marker, but I figured that would go out the window as soon as the people moved from the patio to the line at the fence (it did, lol).
Around 2:40 I needed to go to the bathroom and wanted coffee. So, I looked up the nearest Starbucks, which was ½ mile away (ugh). I decided to go ahead and walk. I left L with our stuff, so she'd be able to save our spot in line if it started forming. I trekked off to Starbucks …. ½ a mile is a lot longer than it sounds when you need to pee! I finally made it got our coffee and headed back. ½ mile is even further when you are carrying 2 drinks, lol.
When I walked back I had to walk by where the band's buses were parked. I was 10-15 feet from the first bus, I noticed someone open the door of the first bus and step out. It was Taka!!!!!! I instantly started squeeing in my head. When I passed by, I was only inches away from him. My heart started racing. My hands were shaking. I was thinking “Don't drop the coffee on him!! Don't act like an idiot” Of course, I didn't say anything to him. I didn't want to bother him. He was kinda looking down and heading to the back entrance of the venue. Now I'm going to be a little shallow, he was so much prettier in person (not that he isn't good-looking in pics, they just don't always do a person justice). I continued to fan-girl in my head as I made my way around the building and back to where the line was now forming.
I go to where L was, handed her the coffee tray, grabbed her shoulders and pretty much squealed “I just saw Taka by the bus!!! I passed right by him!!!” She replied “I hate you. I'll never forgive you for not taking me with you” Lol, lol. I was sad that she wasn't with me, but I don't think she could have kept a calm exterior if she had been that close. This was such an awesome moment. I never have things like this happen. The words I'm typing don't even come close to how I felt during this time.
6:30 finally gets here and the line starts moving!! We did not get as close to the stage as we wanted to, but we weren't in horrible places either. We were about 6 people deep from the stage. We were hoping to squeeze in a little closer as the show progressed.
I liked Stand Atlantic ok. The singer was good and had good stage presence. I did not like Waterparks at all. They just seemed like a bunch of flashing lights and unoriginal music. I pretty much spent the whole show looking away from the stage because the lights were just too much. I defiantly did not want a horrible migraine before OOR started.
Finally OOR time!!! The show was so amazing. I already loved OOR, but seeing them live made me even more of a fan. The energy, the sound, just everything was perfect. The super long (24.3 second) note in Clock Strikes, omg, how can he even do that?? The only thing I would change about the show was …. make it longer!! The time just seemed to fly by! I highly recommend seeing them live. This easily became my second favorite live show ever. It was second only to Linkin Park. I can't wait to see them again. Hopefully they come back to Texas soon!!
L says this was her favorite show ever.
Setlist: (I got this from YouTube, I'm pretty sure it's right!)
After the show, we went to he merch area. I'm usually too cheap to by stuff at concerts, but L really wanted a shirt. So I gave in and bought us both shirts.
We left the venue and started to head to where my car was parked. Before we left, L went around the building to see if the buses were still there. She came running back and said they were and there was a small crowd around the barricades. We went over to wait a bit to see if anyone would come by. Were were behind quite a few people, so I didn't think we'd be able to get close anyway. About 10 minutes L said, “I bet they are already on the bus, we should go.” Just a few seconds later, the back door opened and Taka come out! I expected him to walk by and maybe wave then get on the bus. Nope! He went up and down the barricade taking selfies with people and signing things. We were still behind a bunch of people, I was trying to make sure at least L got close enough to say something to him. My friend happened to have a small notebook in her pocket and L had a pencil. She was able to get close enough to try for an autograph, I handed her my phone so she could maybe get a selfie. Taka passed by where we were standing, I thought he was about to leave, but then he turned around and went to the other end of the crowd. The people were there before us were leaving as they got their pics. I was able to get behind L, so when Taka made it back to where we were, we were able to get a selfie. I was so awkward with my phone, I couldn't hold it with one hand and take the pic, Taka grabbed the other side of it to steady it while I took the pic! OMG Taka touched my phone!! I apologized that I the flash was on. He said “It's ok” L then asked if he would sign her paper. He said “Sure!” She took the paper back. She was so excited that she forgot her pencil. Taka handed it to her, saying “Here's your pencil.” Squeee.
We left after that so the next person could step up. I had to stop for a second to remember to breath, lol.
That was such an incredible experience!! Taka was so sweet to the people who were waiting outside the bus. He totally didn't have to take the time to speak, sign and take selfies with everyone out there. I'm sure he was tired after the show and probably needed to start getting ready to head to the next one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And … that was it! I already want to see them again!!
jbbartram-illu
tangentwithtanner
dededos
areudirty
