Saturday October 18th, 2003

Midway Theater's Creepy Crawl Noise Fest

This was my first time attending the show at the Midway Theater, and despite its convenient location, I was not fond of the venue. The seats and security really bothered me. Oh well, I still had a good time. Paul, Graham, and I met up with Kat and Kirsten outside of the venue sometime around 1:00pm. This was completely stupid. The doors didn’t open until two, it was cold, and we come to find out that the band wouldn’t arrive until sometime around five. As we stood outside freezing our tails off, we ran into our friend Brian who wound up chillin with us for most of the night.

After the militia promotion manager told us that the guys wouldn’t be in until five we booked our tails inside to catch a few of the opening acts, including Wilx Booth. Yeah…they were awesome. That was the last opening act we caught before 5. As soon as they got off stage we jetted back outside and saw the f81 tour van. Kat and I peeked in and saw Nate and Andy chillin inside. We opened the door and said our hellos. Most of our friends stood about 30 feet away as if the van was infected with SARS, but oh well. Kat and I talked to Nate for a bit while Andy carried on a phone convo with a friend of his that is planning to make a girls gone wild video. It was definitely an interesting conversation to listen in on. After a while the guys headed inside. They invited us to join them, but security wouldn’t let us through. Every person going backstage HAD to have a pass. That was upsetting, but it all worked out. We went back inside and stood around stupidly for several minutes. Paul and I chatted with a few of the guys from LLK and got their new CD signed. After that, I took off outside again and ran into Bill.

I stood alone talking to Bill for a few seconds and then Paul came outside looking for me. Bill said something about needing to get a battery for his cell so that he could call his “girlfriend,” and so we offered to drive him to the Sprint store. I ran in to tell Kat and she decided to come with us. We all went into the store and curiously poked at the cheap electronic toys while Bill bought his new battery. We drove him back and went back in the venue. That was one thing I did like about the venue…they let you re enter. That rocked.

Shortly after our return we ran into Kevin at the merch table. I gave him a birthday card with Jack Skellington on it that I made myself. It was cool as hell. I wish I would’ve taken a pic of it or something. But yeah he really liked it, which was great because I spent hours working on it. We pretty much stayed at the merch table until the national bands hit the stage. Paul, Kat, and I were the only ones conversing with Kevin, but it was a lot of fun. We talked about a ton of shit from hangers to catholic school girls…it was needless to say…interesting. When Slythern hit the stage I got a sudden urge to rock so Meg, Kat and I went into the actual theater and watched them perform.

I came back out briefly and conversed with Bill until LLK hit the stage. Then I went back into the theater. Their show was freaking great. I love them so much. I definitely will be catching as many shows of theirs as I possible. But yeah…after they got of stage I ran over to the side of the stage and tried collecting as many autographs as possible. As I was standing there, Nate came out from backstage and asked me what I was doing. I replied, “getting autographs and failing…what about you?” He said something about trying to get his hands on some beer, so I offered him a ride. Kat, Paul, Nate, and I piled in to Paul’s little Tercel and headed out on a quest for the nearest gas station, which unfortunately had no beer...so off we went. The next gas station had a limited selection, but it was good enough, Nate grabbed a six-pack and we headed back to the venue.

When we got back the blank theory was playing….I sat down for most of that trying to regain all the energy I lost throughout the day. They were alright, I just don’t think I was in the mood for that kind of music. Once factory 81 hit the stage I was set. I rocked out for the thirty minutes of bliss I waited for all day. It was wonderful…it could have been longer...it should have been longer…but alas it wasn’t. They played a few new songs, which I liked a LOT, peace officer, nanu, absentee generation….it was great.

After the show, we went outside and waited for the guys to show up. It was really cold, and I wound up buying the last piece of f81 merch I didn’t own that was still available, the blue star hoodie. It was nice, soft, and warm…everything you want when you are standing outside on a Oct night. We chatted a bit, hugged, and said our goodbyes. It was all in all a good night.

-Chelsea