On the 7th of November 2014 I went to the Linkin Park summit in Amsterdam (a day organised by Linkin Park their fanclub, which gives you the ability to meet the band, to see an acoustic set (or their soundcheck), And you could choose between a tourbus/backstagetour or a tour on the stage (and to play on their instruments)).
Of Mice & Men is, together with Linkin Park, one of my favorite bands. I chose the backstage tour because I hoped that I could meet OM&M there so I could give them a letter. We heard that the tour to the busses was cancelled because of the bad weather, so I became really sad. Because I thought that my only chance to meet OM&M was around the busses. So during the backstage tour through the venue I was really sad. But then we walked past the OM&M dressing room, and Tino was sitting there behind his laptop. And I kind of panicked and was excited at the same time, so while we were walking past the dressing room I screamed ”TINO” to my friend (who was walking next to me). And he looked up from his laptop, but we had to walk farther. And I didn’t walk up to him because I was too scared and nervous so I missed my chance to meet him which made me even more sad.
When we finished the backstage tour we still had half an hour left. A guy noticed that I was sad, and he knew that I wanted to meet OM&M, so he asked the Linkin Park Crewmember who gave us the backstage tour if I could go to OM&M their dressingroom to meet them. So the crewmember took me with him, and I dragged my friend along. She doesn’t really like OM&M but I was too scared to go alone. When we were backstage the Linkin Park crewguy started to talk to an OM&M crewmember. He called someone through his earpiece or something and he said that we had to wait.
So we waited, and suddenly Austin, Aaron and Alan walked through the door. But I’d expected that Tino would come so it was a huuuuge shock that actually 3/5 came. So I kind of freaked out and panicked more, and they said that it was okay. And they were honestly so sweet.
I first talked with Alan a little bit. ”Hey do I smell good? Because I just took a shower.” So I had to smell his neck, and I answered that he smelled good. So he replied with ‘Awesome’ and he smiled. And gosh his smile is so adorable. And he walked to the back of the stage and he asked me to come over. So I walked to him, and he asked me if I’d already seen the stage. So I replied with yes. And he told me that he was really excited to play there and he smiled so bright (the show was soldout, so there were 17.000 people). And Alan was genuinely really happy.
Then we took selfies, and we hugged a couple of times, and me and Alan walked back to Aaron and Austin who were talking with my friend. Then I talked with Austin for a while. I showed them some pictures from another time that I met them (they didn’t recognise me though :(). But he asked me where I’d seen them, and I answered with all the cities and venuenames and everything. So Alan who was listening to us tried to pronounce the venue name, so he repeated it a couple of times in some different ways and it sounded really cute.
Me and Aaron talked a little bit with eachother aswell, I don’t really remember about what anymore. I was too nervous/scared/excited and everything felt like a dream. We took selfies and hugged. Aaron his hugs are amazing!
So then I asked Austin for a favor. And Alan and Aaron were jokingly saying ”Oh no, whatever she asks don’t do it Austin”. So we all laughed. And I finally asked Austin if he could write my tattoo out for me. So he was super sweet and did what I asked for.
Alan said that he had to leave because they had a meeting or something. So he waved a lot at us and left. Shortly after Alan left Aaron had to leave aswell. Austin stayed with us. He asked what my name was and pulled me in for a hug (I DIDN’T EVEN ASK HIM, I almost got a heartattack or something, I didn’t expect that to happen). So we hugged for a while, and his hugs are so tight and amazing and he smells so good and everything. So after the hug he said ”Caroline, I hope that you enjoy the show and thanks for the support,” and then he had to leave aswell.
And I still can’t believe that they actually came backstage for ME.
I miss this day so much :(
