#(me and your borderline which is also just my favorite album of theirs)

[angelofdykeness]

sakura kiss is such a trademark fucking 2006 pop punk song made into an anime opening. it's fantastic. to say nothing of ouran's ending theme which just so happens to be by my favorite japanese band of all time. go listen to last alliance

[bruceedickinson]

Maiden adventures part 1: San Bernardino aka "Maidenfest"

Wow. Yesterday was absolutely insane, in both the best and the worst ways possible, but I'll go about it in chronological order.

The day had come: I was finally going to go to a concert with my best friend. Jaidyn and I had been trying to go to one together for years; from King Diamond to Rob Zombie to Ghost, something always came up and either one or none of us could make it work, until now.

We left town around 11 and got to the venue around 1:15, I was shocked at how many people were tailgating in the parking lot but I imagine most had reserved seats or lawn general admission. There was a merch stand at the beginning of the trail up towards the gates, so I went and picked up four different designs, one of which was the venue-exclusive design for the California shows in Oakland and right there in San Bernardino, buying an additional couple shirts for friends. Walking up the trail, I was eager to meet up with Jamie/ @gedddylee and her sister, we’d been planning to hang out in line the moment we bought tickets in January and we were minutes away from doing so. After a few minutes, Jamie saw me and we totally freaked out, it's amazing when you get to meet up with online friends you've known for ages and then see a band you both love together. The wait for doors to open at 3pm seemed to take forever, venue employees always lag on opening them right at the scheduled time, but eventually, the gates were opened and we all piled into the venue, making our way to the stage… until we discovered that the pit was closed until 4pm, and we had to get entry wristbands at the entrance. Luckily, we had about 35 minutes left to do so. Setting my water down, I dragged myself back to the gates and acquired wristbands for myself, Jaidyn and her dad, then made it back to the line and waited for 4pm to come. It came faster than initially thought, and we were off! I led the way for the pack to follow me, flashing my yellow wristband to venue employees before sprinting to the right side of the stage and making it to the same exact row in the same exact position I was in the first time I saw Maiden last year, second row right in front of Janick and Steve. I couldn’t believe it! The same place twice in a row, more than 14 months apart. Could’ve been luck, could’ve been fate, but either way, we were all there and ready for the metal madness to unfold.

Exodus, Kamelot and Ghost were the opening bands; Exodus went on first, and they were incredible, I'd missed them twice over the past two years and I'm happy that they were the first thrash metal band I got to see because they're my favorite band (in that genre) of probably all time. I was right in front of the legendary Gary Holt and I'm so grateful I was able to see him because he has double guitar duties for both Exodus and Slayer, there's always a chance he's off touring with Slayer when Exodus are as well, but this was the only show Exodus has done so far this year so he was able to be there. There were a few issues with Zetro's (Steve Souza) mic during the opening song (Bonded by Blood) but luckily it was fixed by the second song. There was so much energy and it was borderline overwhelming, everyone was headbanging and throwing up the horns and I kinda wish I'd been able to headbang more but my hair's too heavy for that haha. They had Fabulous Disaster in the setlist and it was probably my favorite in the set apart from The Toxic Waltz since both songs are from my favorite album of theirs so that was pretty cool. Zetro actually pointed at me during Blacklist since there was a parting between the first and second rows and I was in plain sight. I was in shock for a few seconds afterward; it's always hard to register that you just had your existence acknowledged by a band members, let alone the lead singer of your favorite thrash metal band. They only played for 45 short minutes but it was so worth missing them twice over the years. I hope to see them again soon.

Kamelot were next and they were unfortunately plagued with the worst of the audio difficulties; there was feedback left and right but luckily my earplugs reduce the most harmful frequencies to your hearing so it didn't really bother me. They were my least favorite opener out of the three; as a whole they were okay, but they're American power metal and I prefer the European variety. They had a couple female guest singers come out for a few songs and they honestly stole the show; I cannot remember the blonde singer's name at all but she slayed my life oh my GOSH. Ghost came on about half an hour later, and you would not believe how amazing they were; I missed them twice last October and there is no better feeling than finally getting to see your third favorite band for the first time. Papa Emeritus and the Ghouls were on fire and they sounded fantastic, the Ghouls looked like they were having a blast and they really got the crowd going the most out of all the openers (they're the main openers for Iron Maiden this year and they've really won over a lot of the fans, which is amazing because Maiden fans are typically super snooty about opening acts, they just want to see Maiden), Exodus were an extremely close second. Papa was so charming and funny and lewd and it was my favorite thing, I love him so much let's be real. Fire Ghoul (lead guitarist) pointed at me and Papa waved at me and I can honestly die happy. I cannot wait to see them two more times in over two weeks. And then things started nosediving really quickly. After Ghost left the stage and their and Maiden's road crews came out to change stage sets, security was trying to divide the pit up so they could get to someone who was trying to start a fight or something, I have no idea; security were pulling a handful of crowdsurfers and bozos doped up on who knows what from the pit mostly during Exodus' set, but it was really getting more and more frequent once it came to be time for Maiden to hit the stage. Once Doctor Doctor began playing over the PA system, we were all squished together like sardines and I wound up having to put most of my weight on the First to the Barrier guy in front of me, I felt so bad for him since he was taking so much of the overall crushing and weight and was hunched over most of the time but there was honestly nothing anyone could do. I did wind up having a very clear view of the stage but I could barely enjoy it since I was just fighting to hold myself upright and trying not to die. I lost count of how many crowdsurfers/people who wanted out went over me; my neck and shoulders took a serious beating, I lost my hat twice but got it back both times, my glasses got knocked off my face constantly (I actually had makeup smudged into a lens after being knocked around particularly hard) and I had quite a few strands of hair ripped out from being crushed like a soda can against the people in front of and in back of me. I actually almost went down a couple times from trying to avoid crowdsurfers and it was honestly a miracle I managed to get myself back up again, the fact all my buttons and pins managed to stay on my battle jacket as well is probably due to black magic. It felt like I had every drunk and crackhead in the venue shoved up against me, I literally could not move on my own and I barely had the strength to hold my camera up for pictures and video as I was using whatever I had left to wrestle tall sweaty dudes off me, some of the ones I did manage to get aren't as great as I would have liked them to be since it was impossible to get a constant steady shot from being thrashed around nonstop. I was so exhausted that I only smiled a few times throughout the entire two-hour set and I wasn't even singing along most of the time, I was only mouthing the lyrics and I looked so miserable that Janick actually mouthed, "Are you okay?" to me but I think I lied and nodded that I was. There was also a pro photographer that scoped my section frequently so there might be a chance of me finding pictures of myself looking like an actual zombie lol. Luckily I was able to make it out of the venue in one piece, thanks to a very nice shirtless guy from San Diego; I'm just very sore and tired and my upper arms will be completely bruised by Independence Day. I didn’t lose my voice since I didn’t shriek very much during Maiden so that’s a plus I guess. Even though I barely remember anything of last night and the pit was the worst I have ever been in, it wasn't all bad, I do remember that the boys' performance as a whole was just as good if not better than last year’s show at The Forum; Bruce sounded the best I'd ever heard him, his scream during The Number of the Beast was on par with the one from Flight 666, which blows my mind because NotB is in the encore this tour and it was in the middle of the set for Flight 666. What a man. He made a bunch of horrible dad jokes before Children of the Damned and I could literally feel my soul leave my body when he made a Fifty Shades of Grey reference 😂 I made lots of eye contact with Steve and Janick, who may have recognized me from last year, he pointed his guitar right at me while shaking his head and smiling/laughing. I also got to see Bruce's bare stomach when he covered Janick's head with his hoodie during The Red and the Black, I unfortunately didn't get footage of that but I was pretty much yelling "GOD BLESS AMERICA" the whole time when it happened because it was toned and glorious and it cleared my skin lmfaoo Someone threw a bra at Bruce at the end of NotB and he joked how he has a collection of hats, “some of which are questionable” and I died hahaha. Bruce threw it to the floor afterward and Janick picked it up and hooked it onto his headstock and it was my fave. I almost caught a drumstick from Steve after Wasted Years but I was too far out of reach, had I been at the barrier I most certainly would’ve caught it. Maybe it’s a sign for things to come.

Overall, Maiden themselves never ever disappoint, they mean the world and beyond to me and I'm glad I did see at least some of the show, but I will definitely think twice about doing the pit at this venue or even going to see them at this venue again. I’m just grateful I have two more shows in Mansfield and Brooklyn to look forward to later this month, they’ll make up for this fiasco for sure.