For the Lives That I Fake

Last week, I got to go to Seattle to see The Pretty Reckless live in concert. Well, it was more of a show. I think I overuse the word concert. I definitely prefer shows, even if sometimes I just want to sit down. I was lucky to have my boyfriend drive & tag along with me to what I could only describe as "angry girl rock" and I'm so glad he's so accommodating of me. I wasn't in a rush to get there "on time" as previous experience has shown me this does little good. We had a hell of a time navigating the stupid one-way streets, and it took us more than five minutes to get to the club that could have been easily spotted from the off-ramp we took had we known it was there. 

Half an hour after the doors opened, we finally wandered on in, and the first thing I did was start scoping the location of the merch booth. When Brandon finally located it, I plopped myself in the nice, short line and got myself a basic black tee with the name and the Going to Hell logo on it. In retrospect, I wish I'd waited til the end of the show, as I did get a touch tired hold it the whole time.

The opening band was Louna, a female-fronted Russian band. I'm sure if loud rock was my kind of music in the first place, I'd have really liked them, but since I'm basically a country girl through and through, the music didn't do much for me. Another problem I had, with both bands in general is that this type of music, if you don't know the words, there's almost no way in hell you're going to understand 90% of the words anyway. As Brandon pointed out, he basically got the lines that were repeated a lot, but not much more. I missed basically all of Heaven's Basement, as I was getting severely overheated and had to step outside the bar for their performance.

Finally, at 10:30, here came my girl. I know you can't always take a fan's word on someone they adore so much, but Taylor looked beautiful on stage. The "raccoon eyes" that so many people still seem to have a problem with really suit her in person, I promise. Now, we were standing near the back of the lower section (about 35-40 feet away), as I've got a tall boyfriend who was considerate enough not to go around view-blocking. While the room seemed to be filled with all sorts of people, most of them were skinny or just average, and somehow I got the two widest people in the entire audience standing in front of me once the main show started. Step where I may, I had a hard time getting a view.

An iPhone camera isn't really the best in the first place, and from as "far" back as I was, I had to use full zoom, so yes, the pictures are on the fuzzy side. And I took plenty with my hands stretched as far up as they could go. Moving lights and people, plus Taylor busily rocking all over the stage didn't leave me with a lot of good shots. Still, I enjoyed the show, more than some people I fear. Yes, I took pictures galore, but I waited until after the show to get online with them. It made me sad seeing people tweeting and instagramming the second they took pictures, when Taylor was still on stage singing her heart out for us.

Taylor was a giant tease at the end of Cold Blooded, and had to keep revving up our cheer for more than five minutes before the final word and jams of the song. I admit she was right, we were pretty tame for a rock crowd. Then again, I've never been part of a rock crowd, and probably won't be again, and I was still recovering from a cold. Even when I was trying to scream, my voice was a little on the weak side. On another sad note, being so far back, I didn't get to see any of the writhing on the ground that Taylor's famous for, nor her panties when she lifted her shirt.

The highlight of the show for me though was between Miss Nothing and Going Down when there was just music, Taylor went over and took a drumstick from Jamie, banged it around a few times on the drum, and without even looking back, chucked that drumstick at the crowd. Everyone in front of us ducked to avoid losing an eye, and Brandon had to step quickly to the side. It bounced off the wall we were leaning against and landed on an empty space of the floor in front of us. Darling boyfriend that he is, Brandon bent the hell over, grabbed it before anyone else could, and handed it to me. It says The Pretty Reckless on it, as well as Jamie's name, plus it has marks all up and down it, and was briefly used by Taylor Momsen herself. Definitely the best souvenir I've walked away with from any show I've been to.

For all my pictures on a public Facebook gallery, click here.

PS. Possibly the cutest thing ever was at the end before the final "title track" song was just the look on Taylor's face as she said "ladies and gentlemen, you're all going to Hell!" I mean... she should work as a tour guide at a haunted house or something.