Try to Play It Cool But I Still Love You (PWR BTTM)

After months of waiting (since August precisely), Anh, Ben, and I finally saw PWR BTTM at Villain in Brooklyn on Friday (outfit post here) and with complete confidence, I'd have to say it was one of the best shows I've seen (a close second to The Front Bottoms duh)- it was honestly slightly odd since I hadn't been to a concert since last December, when I saw Frank Iero and The Celebration (one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a show), and after going through that phase in my freshman (and early sophomore) year of basically seeing a band every week, not seeing anything for nearly a year was a wild break.

Photo taken by Anh right after we got in- I remember being fourteen and fifteen and me and my friends would camp out for hours (like the time I waited in line for NINE hours to see All Time Low) outside the venue just to get the golden barricade. Just because I *must* sound pretentious and reflective at some point within this, this show was such a contrast from most of the emo shit I saw previously- for one there were was a lack of pushing teenagers trying to get to the front (that will not be missed). ANYWAYS, even though the three of us arrived fifteen minutes before doors opened, we ended up being right up against the stage (and lucky for me, right in front of the speaker- the ringing has still not left my ears).

                                        My loves, Ben and Anh, minutes before Lisa Prank.

The hypeman of the night was the "IM CIS" box- another really wonderful and beautiful point of Friday night was how gay everything was. I hadn't really been to a concert that was so reflective and made me so thoughtful about myself (whoa that sounds tacky and pretentious). In other words, I love my gay self and I love my gay friends.

Lisa Prank went on first and closed on a cover of "Dammit" by Blink-182- no matter what show I go to, I'll never be able to escape that middle school emo phase and that's partly because no one has fully escaped their emo phase either.

Vundabar was incredible as expected- Brandon was in front of me the whole time (god is he beautiful) and I fell a lil in love.

PWR BTTM !!! They opened with "West Texas" and I haven't felt so happy and hype and wonderful all at the same time- though my past concert experiences have definitely varied, there's definitely that same feeling of appreciation and love for whoever is on the stage and that's pretty golden.

                                       Love of my life, Liv Bruce, during "I Wanna Boi"

While Ben and Liv were switching instruments, Ben ending up falling literally behind the stage- all quite surreal and slapstick.

Nicholas being super beautiful and pretty- I ended up standing right in front of him and he snuck us smiles and side comments throughout the night.

The night closed off with a chant of "NO MAN WILL EVER LOVE ME THE WAY I NEED HIM TO" and encore with "House in Virginia"- all of PWR BTTM is so talented and I am literally in awe after seeing such an incredible band goddamn. '

*side note concert story: this entire night got me thinking of all the ridiculous things that have happened at concerts (which are especially funny since all of these take place with emo Ann from 2-3 years ago) and for some reason, the most comical and surreal and horribly emo memory I could come up with was the time I saw Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens on Valentine's Day 2015 (which is just a complete joke within itself) and Kellin fucking Quinn tells us the reason why he couldn't fully open his eyes was because he'd "just smoked a fuckton of weed" due to his valentine not being present. I'm not sure why that's what immediately came to mind but...