I was lucky enough to stumble in the venue and immediately get up to the barrier, where I stayed for the rest of the show. The two support acts didn't really catch my attention that much although Strike Anywhere had some good songs that I liked, at least from what I heard of them. I might check them out now and listen to them recorded and then compare, but I'll have to see about that.
The only thing I regret doing is buying my merch before the show and not after, even though I made sure my two shirts and sweater were safe during the show, it was still something I should've kept until the end.
Rise Against itself received so much screams and energy the moment they walked on stage, it was just amazing to be part of that crowd. The whole room was jumping together, and singing to the songs. The amazing live vocals coming from Tim McIlrath surprised me again and again when they launched from one song into the other one without stopping for a break. Zach and Joe kept switching sides of the stage, running around, laughing and just generally having a good time. While Brandon, who was stuck in the back of the stage, gave his everything too and even managed to impress me on the speed he had to hit those drums.
Okay so it might not been that good for my ears that night, or my throat for that matter, but man, I was so close to the stage, I could almost touch Tim himself whenever he decided to come and tease us by sitting down in front of us.
The fact that they went off stage so fast made us all chant 'we want more', which we got, thankfully. Tim came back on stage a few minutes later with his acoustic in his hand before starting on 'Hero of War'. It was so beautiful, honestly, the whole crowd was just moving with each other and singing along with the song. Then with 'Swing Life Away", several people got out their cellphones to get some sort of light thing going on but not many people noticed it and if they did, well, they didn't participate. Which sucks really, it would've made the whole thing even more beautiful I'm sure.
The pit itself wasn't that rough, either that or it was on the other side of the stage. I was lucky, I wasn't pushed against the barrier, I was close to the stage and took some great pictures. In short, I had the best time of my life and I really want to go back to that night just because of all the energy I had at the moment.
Strike Anywhere
Rise Against
