New York City, NY 2010

[Geki]

This was a really cool and unique show. The only U.S. show of 2010! I knew that I had to be there, and NYC isn't too far from me, it's only about 3 hours away. I remember getting hyped for this show. My friend was going with me, the same one who went to all the 2007 shows with me. ATS had leaked about a week before or so and we were playing the album nonstop and just hyping ourselves up for the show.

 

The morning of the show, we got ready and headed out. This time around, we drove down ourselves, since we were 19/20 at this point, where as I was only 16 in 2007. We stopped and got some pizza from my Dad's pizza restaurant just to have for the ride down. He gave us some money, too, which was cool. After that, we got on the road, and it felt like a super long ride. At one point, I just started goofing off and I remember putting on my girlfriend's sunglasses and sending her pics of it. Really stupid, but I thought it was funny at the time. Once we got to NYC, it was crazy. Tons of traffic, which is obvious, since it's NYC. We made it through and found the venue. I can't remember where we parked. I think we paid to park in some garage, but I could be wrong. After that, we headed straight to the venue since we wanted to be up front. We waited a good 6 hours + at least. Tons of fans were there. I remember meeting LPxDC there, amongst others. The 6+ hours didn't feel too bad, though, because everyone was having fun. There is an epic video going around of the line singing 99 bottles of beer, etc. I also remember a funny moment when somebody walking by asked who was playing and someone said Lady Gaga. In retrospect, it's not even funny, but I thought it was funny at the time. Haha. Finally, we were let in, and ready to fucking rock.

 

We rushed to the stage and we got about second row. We tried to get first row but the fans were crazy. Second row is still great, though. And I'm pretty tall so really it was like front row for me, and the venue wasn't that huge, either. The show started much different than the 2007 shows, which I knew it would be. This was the first real show for ATS so nobody knew what to expect. The Requiem/The Radiance opened the show, and to this day, it's the only show that featured the album version of The Requiem/The Radiance. Pretty cool. For a moment, I thought they were going to just play the full album in it's entirety, but New Divide kicked in right after The Requiem/The Radiance. I didn't care, it was epic. The band played such an awesome set. The live debut of Wretches And Kings was fucking SICK. I remember going crazy during it, as did like everyone else. It was also cool seeing all the other ATS songs like WFTE, The Catalyst, Iridescent, etc. Jornada Del Muerto and Fallout were also cool. The heavier songs of the set sounded great, like Given Up, No More Sorrow, Faint, OSC. Bleed It Out sounded awesome too and it was cool how Mike did the beginning of the song. It was really a great crowd at this show. WID closing the set was strange but cool to me, because WID is my favorite LP song. It's not as good as a closer as other staples that usually close, but I liked it. Truly a great, intimate show.

 

Once the show was over, I just stood there for a min thinking about how epic the show was. Chester didn't leave the stage right away, he came into the crowd, and I got to shake his hand. Pretty cool. We tried to get a setlist or a drum stick but we were unsuccessful. LOL. After Chester left, we decided to go check out what they had for merch. They had an exclusive show t-shirt and poster, and some other things. We both got the show t-shirt. In hindsight, I wish I had got the poster and got it framed, but oh well, too late now. The t-shirt had the cover of The Catalyst single on the front and the back had the tour date and city, etc. Awesome shirt. We then headed outside to that car garage and got my car. Can't remember if we stopped for food, I think we did. Great day.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Geki