So I'll give one of these nonsensical reviews, because I feel like being positive while venting. ; )
Let me get the negative out of the way, before I hit up the songs. Individuals on N1 ruined the first half of the show for me. For those of you who don't know, I take a lot of video and pictures while I watch the show. I love getting the little keepsakes and, quite honestly, it keeps my mind from wandering (I'm one of those people who has to be doing something while doing nothing...my brain is constantly multi-tasking, whether I want to be or not. So, even though I'm listening to the music, my eyes are wandering. This keeps me focused.) My signature has my videos and pics (if you want originals, PM me...always willing to share).
Anyway, we were about eighth row dead center to start, but we had some bros in front of us, one in particular who felt the need to raise his arms every three seconds. He did this with his water bottle and poster tube in his hands. He completely blocked my view (and I'm 6'3). My girlfriend couldn't see jack, and got claustrophobic. So, see ya, eighth row center.
We moved to the back, but we found ourselves at the corridor of an endless parade of people moving around (we were right near the taper with the short rig). This just did not do, because we couldn't get comfortable. So we moved to Boyd's side, which is where I was for Hershey. My pictures from N1 look a lot like Hershey's as a result, but whatever. We were decently situated; unfortunately, my girlfriend couldn't see anything (she's 5'3), but we were right next to the left screen, so she watched that.
Now, on one side of us, we had a guy who just wanted to love, and had no concept of personal space and spatial relationships. And he was drunk or stoned. He was completely incapable of keeping himself to himself, and ruined my BEF>PNP>Rapunzel video by trying to hump my leg. You can find that video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVIpBNRXReo
He also almost threw my girlfriend to the ground a couple of times; thankfully, he did apologize for that...so at least he was courteous. When he and his girlfriend left, a bunch of us high-fived one another.
On the other side, we had a pair of couples. One of the couples did not seem to realize that this was not some giant Meetup group. I don't think the one woman even knew there was a concert. I really wanted to ask her to name two songs that were played that evening. She had her back turned for much of the show, and talked and talked and talked. I wouldn't have minded, except for they were in front of us, so she was turned directly to me. We managed to slide them to our left and get in front of them, and enjoy things.
We did have some guys around us that were dancing around and had an idea of how not to do it while being respectful of those around them. They were cool dudes, and were pretty impressed with my predictions (I'm also positive that one of them said, "Dude, that guy totally called it!" when they were discussing how they wanted to say Seek Up and I said "Tomorrow night." I was talking out my ass, but I also believed that would be our debut. I got lucky, and in no way take credit for Seek Up getting played...other than jedi-mind tricks.)
N2 was different. We were slated to be in the GA, but we couldn't because of my girlfriend's knee. Luckily this couple, Mitch and Celeste, were accommodating (and, by the looks of a picture Mitch sent me today, they benefited from the switch quite a bit). We were behind the backstop, where a net prevented me from getting any meaningful video. So that's fine. I'll just snap a few shots and actually watch the show with my girlfriend. She could see and all was right with the world.
There was just one problem.
Our section sat down for 90% of the show.
Now, for my girlfriend, who was going to have to sit anyway, this was fine. For me...well, part of it was okay, because I had a baseball game today and thought I was going to have to pitch. So, my knees were saved. But at the same time, I wanted to stand. And my 6'3 frame, I thought, was getting in the way of those sitting behind me. So...I sat, too. It was weird, after standing for every show for the last three years, to sit. But it was relaxing, and I danced in my seat (as best I can dance).
Overall, the personal experience really hurt. N1 was just very difficult to get used to, and it took half the show to start enjoying myself. I was worried about my girlfriend, pissed about the people around me, and just grumpy. N2...well, that was my chance to be front row. And I know I did right by my girlfriend by getting seats...but if there's no fall tour, my last show was much farther away from the band than I have been all tour.
On the other hand, I've been to seven shows this year, and have seen some absolutely amazing performances. And I've been close every show. So who am I to complain?
This got long, so I'm going to do N1 shows in the next post.