A proud day for all Catholics...

Fake or not, this is gold.

I've finally let go

Who knew all it took was a public breakdown and a letter?

A Series of Fortunate Events

I came to the concert with no preconceived notions or expectations, and very little excitement, but Keane was… Wow. That night was the most fun I’ve had in ages, not to mention the luckiest night ever!

As the friend I was going with, Will, did not particularly care for coming early, I made it to the line alone by 4 o’clock that arvo, and already, there was a cluster of six keen/Keane fans. A couple of them, Anna and Charlotte, even travelled from England to follow Keane around on their tour in Australia.

Not even fifteen minutes into waiting, Tim (the main composer/pianist for Keane) entered the venue. A few of the guys rushed to the back entrance to meet him, and I followed suit, not even knowing his name at the time. I got a picture with him and he signed a printout of Melbourne’s setlist for me (which some guy in the line had given me minutes prior). Unknowingly, I waved to what I thought was a crew person, who ended up being Keane’s unofficial touring band member, Jesse! My bad.

Not long after, Tom and Richard (singer and drummer, respectively) entered the venue, but didn’t stop for a chat. However, Richard eventually popped out to have a little chat with the line. I thought he was mates with the people at the front of the line, but when they started taking pictures I was wondering, “Who is this guy?” It was Richard! Oops. Anyway, I ended up getting a picture with him. At this point, my best friend Kat and her boyfriend G came to keep my company in line, and I was getting quite buzzed to see Keane.

Kat and G eventually left, and Will finally arrived after the line had already quadrupled. Me and Will immediately headed to the Pavillion (how classy), while the lovely friends I met at the line minded our spot. After downing about 8 standard drinks in the span of half an hour, we were SLOSHED!

And the drinking continued as we waited by the stage’s barricades. Man, I was so shattered that during the Ivy’s (support band) set I had a drunken interaction with the lead singer that went as follows:

Me: What’s your name?

Singer: We’re the Ivys.

Me: No, what’s YOUR name?

Singer: Luke (haha), what’s your name?

Me: Dianne.

I ended up asking for their drummer’s name too, and, according to Will, the bassist and drummer ended up high-fiving over it. There was a guy videotaping their set too, so our conversation is on record for my drunken shame to live forever. Anyway, I ended up scoring the drumstick handed to me directly from Luke, woohoo!

Then Keane took to the stage. As they have a piano-based, generally easy-listening sound, I was definitely surprised at the energy they had on stage. Especially Tom, who bounced and danced around the stage. At one point he jumped onto the barricades right in front of me! Good golly, did the female (and even male) fans get handsy!

They had a three-song encore, ending with their classic, Bedshaped. The crowd sang back to him, “What do I know, I know? Whoa” and lingered minutes after their set finished, chanting, “Encore! Encore!”. Er, they just did one guys.

Anyway, crew started throwing out random pieces of memorabilia to the crowd: drumsticks, picks, etc. There was only one thing I was after: the setlist! With a sea of hands outstretched with mine, I figured my chances were pretty bleak, especially since the length of my arms were half of theirs even though I was right at the front. Gah, the drawbacks of being Asian-sized. The roadie ended up handing the setlist directly to me, even dodging other assailing hands. I couldn’t believe my luck. And he ended up throwing me one of their water bottles! (I later saw this roadie in background a few of my pics of the left hand of the stage looking into my camera, funny that!)

Afterwards, I ended up catching the Ivys and having a chat with the boys, who remembered me, woohoo! I got pictures with them, of course, and got them to sign my drumstick. I couldn’t find the sharpie I’d “borrowed” so I got them to sign it using my liquid eyeliner, lol! Will and I ended up leaving, only to return to see if could catch Keane on their way out. What’s the point of having the setlist without their autographs, anyway? I did end up meeting them again, and finally got my picture with the last band member, Tom. Oh, and they all signed my setlist with the sharpie that had miraculously reappeared.

Buzzing from all the luck I’d had that night, Will and I decided to push it by trying to get into The Ivy (semi-exclusive/pretentious club) wearing an un-collared shirt, and an oversized T-shirt as a dress, respectively. Seeing the guys in front of us being barred because they weren’t VIP members, or on theguestlist, or whatever excuse the bouncers pulled out of their ass, I was already inwardly planning where else we could take our after-party. And what do you know? With our best “I don’t care” attitudes, we got in! There was a roped off, VIP room guarded by a bouncer, and after psyching ourselves up, we tried to get in. Luckily, I got in again, what the hell. Unfortunately, as Will wasn’t wearing a collared shirt, the lady wouldn’t allow him inside, even with my please don't to separate me from my “boyfriend”. I left Willfor a few minutes to explore, and was soon bored with the place.

We ended up just making the last train home, and I was already starting to feel the beginnings of a hangover, with a sore coarse throat to boot. Fortunately, I had a bottle of water handy and drank it despite my plans to keep it as a souvenir of sorts.

To my surprise, the following morning I woke up hangover-free, and with no sore throat, despite my constant yelling throughout the concert. In the past, I’ve drunk far less and yelled less loudly and frequently, and ended up insanely hungover and sick for weeks on end.

It was a lucky night indeed.

xx Di