5/7/2013: MANIC SYDNEY

taken from a December 17, 2013 journal entry with the prompt: "the best night of your life: TELL US ABOUT IT."

SO THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE WAS JULY 5, 2013. I SAW THE MANICS PLAY LIVE AND IT WAS AWESOME.

...in a nutshell. XD

But basically, yeah. I pooled all my money, begged, borrowed, and stole (well, not that) the rest I needed, and hauled my arse down to Sydney for less than 24 hours to see them play, seeing as they skipped going to Brisbane for their Lions tour. (Bastards! Two dates in NZ and completely ignoring QLD?! Idiocy, you lot. Queensland actually doesn't suck weatherwise in July. Best time to visit, actually.) And, y'know, with me, tomorrow isn't an assured thing. I have to seize the day by the throat whenever I can. Every single time.

So yeah! Jetted off down to Sydney all on my lonesome, saw the Manics. I was like the fifth person to arrive at the gates, I'm not sure if that's embarrassing and pathetic or what, really XD;; Got in to the Hodern Pavilion at about...I don't know, 8 o'clock or so? I was slightly out of my head riiiiight up until the Manics came onto the stage, so I don't remember too much about the pre-show -- talked (!!!) to some actual hardcore fans, bought myself a tour jersey and dog tags, and ran like a maniac to the barrier as soon as the doors were opened, fuck what the security moron said. XD

So yeah, I was the barrier and three security guards and their shared braincell away from the stage. Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant.

The support act was the Hungry Kids of Hungary (hilariously enough, a Brisbane band XD), and I remember their music being nice and bouncy and stuff, but that's about it. Did enjoy it, though!

The Kids left the stage and ten minutes later the Manics came on, one at a time, Sean first...and Jesus Horatio Christ. When Nicky Wire walked up to his boa'd mic stand I shrieked out "I LOVE YOU, NICKY!" and my sister has not let me forget it since. XD James came on and launched into "Motorcycle Emptiness" with the power of a shooting star and I was gone. Except I wasn't gone, I was right there, and it was like I grew wings, or something. It was fucking magic, and I'll never ever forget that feeling. I can't put it into words very well -- if at all -- but I remember it. So much as thinking about it makes me grin, even now.

When they did "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough", I was singing along, natch, and pressed my hands over my heart for the you stole the sun/straight from my heart/from my heart from my heart line, and James -- who I was right in front of, stagewise -- grinned down at me, this 100 watt adorable grin and jfda;ldjsfasdf that was pretty much it, I was head over heels in love with him from that moment on.

The setlist was pretty much made of awesome. I wished they'd done "Autumnsong", but really, thinking back on how "Little Baby Nothing" had me crying into my hands, I'm actually a little glad they didn't, if only for the sake of my own dignity. XD;;

Some hilarious (non-setlist) bits included James leading the crowd in an "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE" chant, which of course brought the house down. I would wager that maybe 50% at the very least of the crowd were actually English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh, but that didn't stop anyone. He also had us doing "why why WHYYYY DELILAAAHH" at another point, everyone totally out of tune and sounding very drunk by that point. His excuse was "forgive me, I just had to!", practically giggling. Loved it.

Nicky related a gem to us before the band launched into "Australia", which I'll remember verbatim for the rest of my life: "I wrote the lyrics to this song when I wanted to top myself. In the end I went to fucking Torquay." Beat."...it was nice!"

Two hours of...of...of fucking awesome and amazing music and feeling alive. Oh, but it didn't end there! Well, Manics-wise it did, but in terms of You'll Only See/Hear It In Sydney, it didn't: while we were waiting in the 300km long taxi line (the taxis were taking merry ages to show up, wtf), some gentlemen at the start of the line got bored. And proceeded to burst into song. First up, naturally, it was "Delilah", and I had serious trouble not giggling. Then they launched into "Nessun Dorma!", and a pretty damn good version thereof, considering that they were probably pissed as newts XD Oh man, I wish I'd been able to record that with my phone, it had to be heard to be believed.

And that was pretty much it! When I got home, I discovered I'd lost my silver baby bracelet that I'd owned since birth at the gig, which was a pretty shit thing, but hey, I hope whoever found it enjoys wearing it.* :P AND when I looked at my bank statements when I got home, I discovered that...I hadn't been charged for the tour jersey. So I got a $90 jersey for absolutely nothin'. I still have no idea how that worked out, since I clearly remember presenting my debit card and punching the buttons and all that to pay for it, so...MUCH WIN. :D (Said jersey is one of my most prized possessions, by the by.)

So yeah, that was it! I got back to hostel at like 12, got about three hours' sleep before I had to take off to catch my train to the airport. Still had wings on my feet even as I walked all alone in the Sydney freeze to Central Station. Best night of my life, hands down, far and away. It didn't matter that I was alone. It just mattered that there was music I loved, I was in a city I loved, and that I was alive.

* I actually found said bracelet in the bottom of my yarn bin at home a good twelve months post-gig. Go figure!

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