Mansfield, MA 2014

[Geki]

I woke up pretty early in the morning the day of the show. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny. Wasn't unbearable though, nothing like Mansfield 2007. Got ready, ate breakfast, etc. Mansfield is about a 2 and a half hour drive for me. My Mom was driving to the show because I didn't have a reliable vehicle at the time. We left at about 11am and hit the road. We stopped once at a gas station to get some snacks, etc. Once we got in Mansfield, we went to a nearby Wendy's for lunch. I saw a few Linkin Park fans there who were also going to Carnivores. After we ate, we headed to the venue. Once we got to the venue, there were already a ton of people there. I didn't mind since we had seats anyways, so there was no rush to be up front or anything like I do when I have pit tickets. We waited for the doors to open, probably an hour or two. Once they let us in, I headed over to the merch booth to check out the merch on the tour. I ended up buying some stuff, and my Mom ran into one of her friends from work who was also at the show, to see Thirty Seconds To Mars. They talked for a while and then we headed to our seats. On the way to our seats, I ran into the MFR Booth and ran into Jonas and Mark and a few other people, which was pretty cool. After talking to them, we went inside the amphitheater to our seats.

 

AFI was up first, and I didn't know what to expect. I liked their music a lot at the time, so I knew I would enjoy their set for the most part. I had been playing Burials for months before this show. They opened with The Leaving Song Pt. 2 and it blew the place apart. There weren't tons of people inside at that point, but there were enough, and you could see the AFI fans in the pit having a great time. Epic sounding song. I also loved I Hope You Suffer, that was a great performance of the song. Overall, it was a great little set from AFI. Once AFI was done, I headed to find the Meet & Greet line, since I had a Meet & Greet for the show. It was at the same spot as when I had the Meet & Greets in 2012 and 2007. There were already some people lined up, but not many, so I was one of the first people in the line, which has never happened to me before at a Meet & Greet. After a long while, we finally got let in, I think Thirty Seconds To Mars had already started their set at that point. Once we got to the other side of the fence, in an enclosed area, we waited a while longer, while people talked, etc. I remember fans asking people how many shows they had been to, etc. Once it was time for the actual Meet & Greet with the band, we were led down a hill into a tent area, where the band was. It was the same as 2007 and 2012, the way we went in, naturally. Brad was there alone at first, and we took a group photo with just him, and he signed our stuff. I can't remember if Joe signed along with him or not, but Joe wasn't in the group photo with Brad. After that, the entire band came out, and they started signing everyone's stuff. I told Mike at this Meet & Greet that I've been seeing the band since 2007, and he said that was really cool, etc. I also showed Chester the tattoo that I have on my leg, the old dragon tattoo that he used to have, and he said ''Oh shit man, I covered that one up'', and he showed me his new tattoo. He said it was cool that I got the tattoo, etc. After they were done signing everything, they took a few group photos with us, and they left the area. We were then escorted out of the area as well, back out to where we were let in. At this point, Thirty Seconds To Mars was still playing, I think it may have been their second to last song or something. I texted my Mom that I was out and she could come meet me if she wanted to, but she said she wanted to watch the rest of their set since she was really enjoying it. Once they were done, she met me, and I went to the bathroom, got a Gatorade, etc. and hung out for a little bit. Not sure if I went down to see Mark and Jonas again or not, I may have. After that, we headed back to our seats for Linkin Park. After what felt like forever, Linkin Park finally came on. They opened with Guilty All The Same, and it was epic. I could feel the heaviness and the energy in my chest and it was a cool feeling, despite having seen Linkin Park so many times before, something about the way Guilty All The Same sounded at this venue was awesome. They tour through the entire set with huge energy, something that was good about their whole ''DJ Style'' set, which basically meant that they didn't ever have a gap in between songs like they used to do. I remember my Mom thinking that With You was off of A Thousand Suns. Haha. Joe's Solo was pretty cool to see live, with Joe in that prism, etc. The set ended with What I've Done and Bleed It Out, two of my favorite Linkin Park songs, and it was done. It was a great show, I wish there was a recording available for it.

 

After the show, we walked out of the venue and got to our car and waited in the parking lot traffic forever until we could get out. It was similar to the traffic in 2007, if you read my Mansfield 2007 review. I don't think we even got food after the show, we just headed home. I remember hearing Carnivore by Starset on the radio during the way home, which was funny since we just saw the Carnivores Tour.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Geki