Where’s the Band?

More than a few hours before doors were to open, State Champs sent out a tweet saying that their trailer hitch broke and they were going to be late, but VIP would still be honored after the show and doors opening would be moved to an hour later. Not having VIP, I wasn’t really affected but this played in my favor after the show.

The masquerade

This venue is the hot spot in Atlanta and currently rumors are flying whether or not it is going to be torn down, but that doesn’t stop the three floors of concert madness throughout the week. This was my first show that was on the first floor, fondly called Hell. It was a small show that packed in a lot of energy and eye contact with the bands.

The line up

1. Northbound

2. Let It Happen

3. Tiny Moving Parts

4. Hit The Lights

5. State Champs

How were the openers?

So first up was Northbound and they were very good! They had a major fan in the crowd that one security guard got frustrated with because he was the only one trying to crowd surf and when he would get on stage he wanted to stay and run around, but his enthusiasm was awesome and you could tell the band loved it. Let it Happen was next and kept the energy going that Northbound started and it was great. Also, lead singer has a man bun, so there’s that. . .

During Tiny Moving Parts the merch for State Champs, not to mention the band, finally arrived so I went to the merch tables and had the chance to meet Northbound and Let It Happen and also had them sign my tour poster. Each member from both bands were nice and asked my name and genuinely took time to talk with me. (State Champs merch prices were 20$ for a shirt, 40$ for a hoodie, and simply a tip for the poster.)

The crowd looked like a washing machine spinning during Hit The Lights, and the band sounded great. They finished with Body Bag and it built the energy up for State Champs.

State champs setlist

1. Simple Existence

2. Remedy

3. Secrets

4. Prepare to Be Noticed

5. Deadly Conversation

6. Nothing’s Wrong

7. Easy Enough

8. Losing Myself

9. Mind Bottled

10. Hard to Please

Encore

11. If I’m Lucky

12. Elevated

State champs!!!

What can I say? This band is one of the most talented, nicest, energetic bands out there in any genre. They are one of my favorite bands because not only are they great on records but they kill it live. They interact with the crowd and it’s obvious they are just as happy and excited to see us, like we are them.

Meeting them

So after the show VIP stuck around and so did we. VIP took about an hour and we watched from afar as the band danced to Taylor Swift, no lie. Luckily there were some very nice girls with VIP who offered to get Derek to write lyrics down for my friend in case we couldn’t meet them, but once she asked him we could see him look towards us and he told her he would come over to us after all of the VIP photos were taken. And he did.

The rest of the guys stuck around too as they talked to the VIP’s, us and the two other people who stuck around. They each were incredibly nice and we talked to Derek about seeing them at the Future Hearts Tour and he said he was glad we could experience their show at a smaller venue like the Masquerade. Evan said the same thing and that the smaller shows are what their used to compared to touring with All Time Low and 5SOS.

Ryan wears crocs and eats at cookout

You read it right. After the show we cruised on over to Cookout and who walks in? Ryan and Northbound. Ryan waved and said hi but all we could see were the Crocs he was wearing. Who needs the staple punk rock Vans when there are perforated plastic shoes out there? Not Ryan. (Ryan if you read this, don’t be mad I love you anyway.) Also Ryan is really cool about liking your pictures on Instagram just be sure to tag and mention him in the post.