Watch You Take The Fall

Imagine waking up and falling out of a bunk 7 feet up, only to be then stood on by two lanky overgrown babies, a personification of the Incredible Hulk and someone with teeth so bright they could blind you. Then imagine finding that there’s a shortage of cereal and peanut butter on the bus and that your phone is out of battery. Now imagine being told that you have 10 minutes to change and be off the bus for the last day of Warped Tour. Now, if you envisaged that reasonably accurately, you’ll pretty much be able to feel what I went through upon waking up on the last day of Warped Tour.
Finally, at 10am, Matt hauled me off the bus, the rest of the crew and Rian and Jack following closely by. It was surreal that this was the last day of the tour. It felt like only yesterday that I had boarded the bus and had been introduced to the guys by (what I now knew was only usual) overly hyper Jack Barakat. It seemed like only yesterday that Kate and I had begun a feud that had lasted all tour long. It seemed like only yesterday that I had stepped onto Warped Tour, away from what I knew, leaving my brother in the dust churned up from the hot, dirty ground behind me. Now I was wandering around a tour that had begun to feel like a home to me over the past few months, exchanging jokes and conversation with the band and crew members around me. I was ignoring Kate as much as possible and distracting myself by talking to the various bands that milled around us. The people that once felt like unapproachable strangers had become close friends of mine, and I’d spent the tour doing the job that I loved the most with people that were considered practically family.
In the moment that I had spent looking back on the duration of this tour, I’d forgotten that we’d left the bus for a reason. I shook myself out of my contemplative mood and split off from the rest of the group alongside Vinny, and began to set up the merch stand so that he could begin his days’ work. Fans were already milling around us, eager to buy the wares that we offered them.
“You know, I’m really happy you decided to take the job with us.” I heard him say to me I was tackling a pole that wouldn’t extend. I frowned, reminding myself to tell Matt to add it to the list of things that needed replacing. Apparently the list was 4 A4 pages long already; this tour had worn out everything we had.
“Really? Thanks. Well you see the thing is, I took it for a very important matter, a case of life and death.”
“Oh? And what would that be Miss James?” He questioned, leaning towards me and manhandling the pole a little more viciously than I did.
“I couldn’t go back to England and not see you again Vinny, it would kill me, seriously.” I stated, a shit eating grin plastered across my face.
“It’s my body, I know it is. People just can’t leave once they’ve seen it.”
“Clearly, it’s a wonder you ever have a chance to sleep what with you being surrounded with girls all the time.” The conversation carried on like that for a while before Matt radioed me, telling me that I needed to be side stage in five. All Time Low were preparing to go on for their last show of Warped Tour 2007 and I was needed there to see it off properly. Waving a goodbye at Vinny, I rushed over to the stage, flashing my various passes at the security guards. I received a few waves and shouts of hello from some fans at the barricade. I returned them with a big smile, it was amazing that I was actually known, not that I’d ever abuse that. I scurried to meet Matt, avoiding the various people standing and working. I dodged the band that was completing their pre-show ritual, yelling loudly at each other at how to make this show a fucking firecracker. Finally, I saw Matt who looked completely overwhelmed. He was surrounded by wires, and clipboards were scattered all around. I scurried over to him and quickly began helping him sort everything out. We worked as a team and managed to sort everything out within a minute, lucky really, seeing as we needed to get the guys out on stage. I turned to them and pointed to the stage before yelling “good luck” at each of them. I knew that as much as this show would be fantastic for them and the crowd, it would be difficult at the same time. It was their last show of the entire tour and I knew how much people missed touring and the friends they made whilst on them. The music brought people together. Whether it be the bands and fans, fans with other fans or bands making connections with other bands, it brought people together.
I ran around like a headless chicken behind stage, sorting out cables and monitoring the things that needed to be checked. This was no doubt the most stressful show to date on Warped, probably because it was the last and we were all worn out. In a rare still moment, I perched on a case used for transporting Rian’s drums, next to Matt.
“So what happens next?” I wasn’t exactly specific, but I knew that he understood.
“I’m not so sure myself to be honest. Everything’s up in the air. You accepted the offer so I assume the contracts have all been signed in England, other than that, I have no idea. Most of it is down to you.” I frowned slightly at his words; I hated making big decisions about myself.
“But do I stay in America? Should I try and find somewhere to live? Surely it would be too complicated flying back and forth between Maryland and England constantly.”
“I suppose you could stay in England, but it’d be easier for everyone if you moved out here. It’d be a bitch of a commute for you.”
“So does everyone live around Maryland or is everyone spread out?”
“We’re all spread out really. Quite a few of us live back in Baltimore, Zack’s contemplating moving to California, Jack wants to relocate to LA. It gets complicated sometimes, but you need your time away from people when you tour with them virtually non-stop.” I nodded, mulling over his words. I came to the conclusion that it would certainly be more convenient if I moved out to America. It would be difficult though. I would be leaving behind all of my friends, my flat, my entire childhood. But, I suppose times change. A childhood is just one part of your life and the rest of it is still waiting to be made. Deciding that I’d enlist the guys help with finding a place to live later, I hopped down from my seat, realising the set was over.
“Thank you Warped Tour, we’ll see you sexy mother fuckers soon!” I heard Alex boom from the stage. The crew around me jumped into action, taking instruments from the bands hands as they stepped off stage. We immediately started packing away, going as quickly as possible so the next band could perform. All Time Low had been fantastic, and I knew that touring with them for the indefinite future was a good decision to make.
*
When we got back to the bus a few hours later, Matt and I were swamped with work. Hopeless were throwing offers at us, there was press that needed to be done, flights needed to be booked, equipment needed to be bought for the next tour. You name it; we had to sort it out as quickly as possible. Everyone disappeared to the back lounge as we claimed the front. The fridge was beginning to run low on energy drinks only an hour into our planning, admittedly that was my fault. I was emailing suppliers that could provide us with the necessary gear for our next touring stint when I remembered that my phone was out of battery. I was in such a rush this morning that I hadn’t had a chance to put it on charge. I stood up shakily for the first time since we’d boarded the bus (we were on our way to Maryland, Matt insisted we needed to get there ASAP). Finding my phone amongst the piles of shit on my bunk was a problem but eventually I located it and plugged it into the charger. I waited until the notification light came up to tell me that it was charging, as sometimes it just didn’t charge, before heading back through to the front that was decorated with paperwork and energy drink cans. I put my head back down and worked solidly for another ten minutes before my phone rang, the shrill noise interrupting my stream of thought. I rolled my eyes along with Matt as I stood up to answer it, it had distracted us both and he was on the phone at the time. I jabbed the green button and raised the still charging phone to my ear, already irritated at the person on the other end of the line.