#lpu summit

[feelingsofaithless]

All you've ever wanted Was someone to truly look up to you And six feet underwater I do

[feelingsofaithless]

All I ever wanted  The secrets that you keep All you ever wanted  The truth I couldn’t speak Cause I can’t see forgiveness, and you can’t see the crime But we both keep on waiting for what we left behind

[chennnington]

Omg I just found a picture gallery of the concert in Hamburg after the LPU Summit in 2011.

And apparently the photographer was right next to me, I figured out that that's my arm :D I reached out to Chester and he stretched and held my hand for a bit, that's how close I was to the stage :')

Further proof: On the left is their photo, on the right is mine :D

[chennnington]

The LPU Summit in Hamburg was 12 years ago today 🥹

I met the guys for the first time, won photographer for a day so I got to hang out in front of the crowd where the security guys are for the first three songs, was so close I shook Chester’s hand while he was on stage, met a ton of amazing people, took surprisingly great pics with my shitty digital camera, apparently only paid half for the concert ticket of what you’d probably pay today, hung out on stage cause we got a tour and finalized my decision to get my first tattoo. Truly a memorable day.

[chennnington]

Last Summit post, I promise. I just think this is such a relic from the past cause almost everyone has a digital camera. Almost no phones in sight cause in 2011 phone cameras sucked :D

Here’s the flag I made. The drawings are …something 🤣 I wonder where it ended up after the concert

And a screenshot from the LPTV episode of the Summit with me in my role as photographer for the day

Best spot in the house, especially since Chester hung out near me pretty much the whole time during those three first songs.

Maybe this was around that moment :D

[chennnington]

I’m trying not to spam too much Summit stuff, so here’s just some of my favorite concert pics. Plus Brad at the M&G 😀

[chennnington]

More Summit stuff!

This is in my living room, a collection of my fave pics I took and other stuff.

I also have to inform you that I dug through my old laptop to find my pics in proper quality, so I’ll probably post more

[chennnington]

11 years ago today, on the 21st of June, 2011 I attended the LPU Summit in Hamburg. To this day it remains one of the best days in my life and I'm pretty sure that won't change. Back then it blew my mind that the whole thing was free. You needed a concert ticket to attend the gig afterwards, but the 200 Summit passes were given out for free. Of course you had to be insanely fast and lucky, they were gone within seconds, people traveled there from all over the world. So that was one of my extremely lucky LP moments.

From what I heard it was among the best-organized Summits. There were auctions for signed items for charity, raffles with amazing prizes like photos with the band, a backstage tour with Mike or photographer for the day. I actually won the latter, it meant the winners were allowed in front of the crowd for the first three songs, where the security and professional photographers are. It was the age of shitty digital cameras but I still got amazing pics and Chester held my hand while on stage, that's how close I was. Here's my video of Given Up (with the official sound, not mine).

Another highlight was being able to go on stage in small groups during the day. We were even allowed to try out the (unplugged) instruments. I have a pic somewhere with me posing at the microphone, but I can't find it. Here's some others including my temporary tattoo. I got my real one a few months later.

After that all 200 of us gathered in front of the stage and the band came out for the M&G. It was my first time meeting them and only my second time seeing the guys in the flesh, so my main focus was on not bursting into tears. A friend stood right in front of me in line and tried to calm me down. Chester was the first one at the table, I managed to get out an "it's such an honor to meet you" to which he smiled sweetly and thanked me. He also shook my hand. It was very soft and smaller than expected. After that I couldn't really focus on the other guys and moved along the table rather mechanically. I did manage to ask Mike to draw one of his little skulls on my iPod touch. And all of them signed it, cause you get one item signed at a M&G.

After that there was a Q&A with the band members and an acoustic session. Here's my video of the latter, the camera is super shaky cause I was so excited. Hearing Chester sing without even a mic in sight was such an amazing experience. He was a bit sick that day but he still sounded amazing there and later during the concert. And it was so sweet how he forgot the lyrics during The Messenger and we all started singing together. Such a wonderful moment. And now I'm crying as I'm writing this.

Then there was a group photo of everyone with the band. Which means the band guys came to us and Mike ended up standing right next to me! I got this glorious pic XD

I'm not visible in the actual group photo cause we were told to raise our arms and someone's arm was right in front of my face. My arm is in the pic though :D

As I already mentioned, the concert was amazing and I got incredible pics with my shitty digital camera. I had planned to bring my dad's good camera but he needed it himself that day. Luckily my camera decided to outdo itself.

I still have this one as a huge poster in my room to this day. Cropped even

Here's my Summit lanyard btw. The yellow dot confirms I won photographer for the day. I still have the sticker they put on my shirt and of course I still have the lanyard. Also please appreciate my nail art I did for the Summit. I really went all out that day, I even bought a shirt specifically for the Summit (I still have that as well).

So yeah, an absolutely incredible day. I regret not being able to attend more Summits. But then again, others said many other Summits weren't as good.

An amazing part of the whole experience was the Facebook group for the Summit that was created before the Summit. People got in contact, planned flash mobs and gifts for the band and everything. For example we all planned to bring flags and write messages for LP on them. They were then displayed along the stage. Mine is the one on the right, I even drew the band guys. I have a better pic somewhere.

Sadly the flags were ripped off by the security guys after the concert and given to random people in the first row. We had hoped to get them back^^

The Facebook group was active for another three years after the Summit btw. First we of course shared all our pics and videos and memories, after that it became a place to hang out, make friends, share LP news and just everything else. Every now and then a few group members would meet up here and there and post pics in the group as well. It was just a really nice group.

Also special thanks to my brother. I didn't have a car back then, he did. I had a Summit pass, he didn't. He only had a regular concert ticket, but he still drove me there early. The Summit started a bit before noon, so he waited outside all day until the concert. I was so grateful