KARNIVOOL!

Let me tell you a story of a thing called One Movement Music Festival. I got free tickets for 2 for both today (Saturday) and tomorrow (....Sunday...) because I go to Murdoch and they sponsor the event apparently. Basically, easiest thing I have ever won in my life! First musical festival I've ever been to, I've never really been to a "real" concert (Those Free Valentines Day ones for charity kinda don't count.... OK maybe they do... but I was so far away from the stage, and so not interested in ANY OF THE MUSIC) so this was an awesome day of firsts.

Well nearly a week ago on Sunday I actually woke up nearly deaf. Another thing, this was an 18+ event. I didn't have a proof of age card when I got the ticket. These two things would've REALLY sucked if they weren't both solved not long before. After three days of pain and near silence I went to the doctor and had my ears flushed out and suddenly I could hear! And now just hear like I could before, but hear better than I could in 2 years! Suddenly everything was incredibly LOUD (the sound of typing on the keyboard gave me a headache it was so loud. My clothes made noise as they moved and someone in the distant kept yelling for help because they were stuck down a well...) I also could hear tones so much better than before! Music before was great, I loved it, it really moved me. Now... now I can hear so much better! I can hear all the little bits I was missing and notes are sharper, somehow more interesting.

Life is good. My ID arrived JUST in time, the day before, and I could hear. OFF TO THE FESTIVAL!

Quick background information. It started at 1, got there not long afterwards, went in and found a person I knew (also from Murdoch, there were a bunch of Murdoch people walking around going 'hahaha I got in here for free!') and enjoyed some music by some bands I had never heard of, and probably no one else had either as they were on at the start of the afternoon when few people had arrived. The bands started off good, then kinda went downhill... then went back up and then the finale was epic. The Trews were interesting. I actually enjoyed their music enough to go buy their album from a tent and then have them sign it! The guitarist was hell into it, he was moving around, sweating, swinging the guitar a bit, even put it behind his head at one point for some of a solo. Truly energetic and showman like, unlike some of the other bands... or even the bassist. The dude didn't smile and only moved to go sing in a microphone that the guitarist was using as a backup singer then returned to near the drums. It was amusing :P Then there was a redhead who was so pretty, but that went nowhere so let's fast forward to the final acts.

I met someone. I decided, hey, I'll meet someone new... so I randomly started talking to someone and they laughed. Laughed in the good way, not in the "hahaha you're funny because you're weird" or "hahaha please don't kill me". That went well, then it was off to delve into the crowd! Find a person I knew and get ear damage together! I believe Children Collide was playing at that time. They rocked. I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and actually moved during it. Normally I'm very inanimate when music is playing. I don't dance. But yes, the singer from Children Collide looked (and at times even sounded slightly) like Kurt Cobain. That was awesome. He was even performing very energetic and erratic at times going crazy with his guitar. Yeah! Didn't even bother to make proper chords near the end, just hit the guitar, strummed it open and such. Or at least that was what it looked like. Basically just went crazy at it and it sounded awesome.

Then... then was Dead Letter Circus! YEAH! (Or was something between it and that? I don't think so... I don't know) By then my voice was starting to hurt from having to speak loudly all day. They performed brilliantly and then for the final song they got members of Karnivool to come on stage with them! YEAH! I yelled (in my broken, slowly turning Munchkin meets E.T. voice that emanated from my pained vocal chords) "This is the best day ever!" to my friend. Then it got better!

Grinspoon! The 2nd act I came to see. The singer actually does things instead of just sing. He makes odd gestures and such instead of just singing a song and leaving. If you ever start a band, go see other bands and you'll find the more popular ones do things while they perform instead of just standing there. Twas brilliant! Between Dead Letter Circus and Grinspoon I kept getting closer and closer to stage until the final act...

Karnivool. Almost at the very front, only one or two people in front of me at any point in time. Awesome. Karnivool at volumes so high you can't even hear yourself scream the lyrics with them is epic. The singer holds his hand up when sustaining notes and also kinda dances. It was so much fun watching them live. The music just is brilliant, and just weaves together in this awesome alternative rock/metal kind of way. When he's not singing, the vocalist does this dance sort of thing, where his arms sway with the music and everything is just in time. It's just an amazing experience to have this poetic lyrics and wonderful music put together so well and performed to entertain in every aspect. The movement, the melody, the lights, it all worked to reach a level of excitement. I enjoyed it so much :D Now I hurt. The only disappointment was that it didn't quite reach 10 as it said, and there was no encore! You're the final act! Come back on stage and wow us again! Our chants went unanswered...

Well, I'm going tomorrow :D Though unfortunately there won't be any Karnivool. Perhaps there'll be a band worth listening to there? Better bring money just in case... must collect autographed things :D

Also, by the end my voice was screwed up. I still don't think it's better yet. But near the end/as I was leaving random people would come up to me and go "I LOVE YOUR HAIR!" and "YOU HAVE SUCH AWESOME CURLS!" (One woman, who had a bit to drink, was all up in my face like an inch from me grabbing my hair just going "I am in LOVE... with your CURLS!!!") and I would reply with "Thank you! You're welcome!" Only it was high pitched, crackly and pained so was more like "THAnk YoU! YoU'Re welCome!" and they didn't know that I didn't actually sound like that in real life... oh well :P