The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

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zazthespaz
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Re: #32,000

Post by zazthespaz »

Greg, that first story sucks, sorry you had to deal with it and glad you were able to find a happy note. Hopefully Vermont brings some happiness too (might I suggest Hill Farmstead brewery if you’re nearby?). I ended up driving an hour south in nj today to further the distance between us just to play it safe anyway. (Also for my best friend’s grandpa’s funeral, but mostly Greg)
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

Andy92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Andy92 »

I’ve seen the story about that kid all over national news. Kinda bizarre to hear about it on TABN before NBC Nightly News...crazy to know you were in the middle of that scene that night, Greg. Hope all is well.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Lotha
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Lotha »

I'M GETTING MARRIED
Photobucket is responsible for my lack of signature today.

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anguyen92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by anguyen92 »

WHAT??????? You can't just come back after not posting here for almost four months and throw this news at us. Some people can't handle the shock of it, i.e. me. Holy smokes. Congrats, Lotha.

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zazthespaz
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Re: My presence is my present.

Post by zazthespaz »

Lotha wrote:I'M GETTING MARRIED
WOOOOO!!!! Congratulations! Greg's on my side of the country so we can get flights cheaper here than where he lives. I'll book something for this weekend and he and I will just hang out until the wedding. Micky, you in?
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

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SHEAKENBAKEN
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Im getting married too but its a surprise so dont tell zaz about the ring

Post by SHEAKENBAKEN »

Lotha wrote:I'M GETTING MARRIED
Congrats, Jana! :peace

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Timotheus
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Timotheus »

Congratulations, Jana!! :D
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anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.

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Lotha
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Lotha »

anguyen92 wrote:WHAT??????? You can't just come back after not posting here for almost four months and throw this news at us. Some people can't handle the shock of it, i.e. me. Holy smokes. Congrats, Lotha.
Sorry I was just so excited and had to share :D

THIS CANNOT LEAVE THIS FORUM COS WE'RE ELOPING AND IT'S KINDA SUPER SECRET

Thanks y'all <3 I wish I was a rich bitch and could fly you all to some exotic island to celebrate with us :hug
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Andy92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Andy92 »

Congrats, Jana!! Happy for you!!
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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AB4Lyfe
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by AB4Lyfe »

Who is down to text all of Jana’s friends and family about the wedding?
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Lotha
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just kidding, i don't

Post by Lotha »

AB4Lyfe wrote:Who is down to text all of Jana’s friends and family about the wedding?
I double dare you!
Andy92 wrote:Congrats, Jana!! Happy for you!!
Ayyy thanks Andy :hug :beer :cheers
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Micky
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Re: My presence is my present.

Post by Micky »

zazthespaz wrote:
Lotha wrote:I'M GETTING MARRIED
WOOOOO!!!! Congratulations! Greg's on my side of the country so we can get flights cheaper here than where he lives. I'll book something for this weekend and he and I will just hang out until the wedding. Micky, you in?
Of course I’m in!!!

Dad, why are you letting mom elope...?

Congrats mom! So happy for you!
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Thanks Andy!

Andy92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Andy92 »

Your mom has always been a free spirit.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Lotha
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He's a total stud after all.

Post by Lotha »

Micky wrote:
Congrats mom! So happy for you!
I love you, son! :hug

And don't worry about Dad. He'll be just fine.
Photobucket is responsible for my lack of signature today.

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anguyen92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by anguyen92 »

In line for Lindsey Stirling and Evanescence. Lindsey Stirling is doing soundcheck. Sounds pretty darn loud from where I stand in line.

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anguyen92
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by anguyen92 »

I'm back from the concert. I can easily say that waiting for the groupon deal to pay $40.00 for the ticket was way worth it. More to come tomorrow in a long detailed post. You have been warned.

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anguyen92
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Re: I hope you enjoy reading this long post

Post by anguyen92 »

All right, I was hoping someone would post here before I would tell this story, but here we go. Here's what happened on Saturday during my trip to Irvine.

As people knew, I was going to see Lindsey Stirling and Evanescence at the FivePoint Amphitheater in Irvine. Tickets for the 300 section were $65 on Ticketmaster, but I knew at some point there was going to be a Groupon deal and when that Groupon Deal came, I snag a ticket for $40.00 at the 305 section. Not a bad discount. I left the house at around 2:30 PM, because of the usual paranoia about finding good parking. That and that I wanted to eat somewhere in Irvine. Found this taco/burrito place called Wahoo's Fish Tacos and it was in the Irvine Spectrum Center which had all kinds of restaurants, shops, and a ferris wheel. Ordered me some fish tacos with rice & and beans and ordered a chicken burrito as well. Costs me $18.00, but that filled me up nicely and would fill me up way more than if I spent $18.00 ordering food at the Amphitheater. It was pretty good and I would consider going back there if I was going to come back to see a show at the FivePoint Amphitheater. Left the Spectrum Center at around 3:20PM to get to the Amphitheater and I got to say this, if you want to get to the FivePoint Amphitheater, you got to follow the directions on their site rather than rely on GPS and Google Maps, because it will not take you to the parking lot. After making a few wrong minor turns, I managed to get to the parking lot at around 3:45PM and found a good parking spot as close to the venue as it came be without paying more for VIP parking and it was free as general parking came with the ticket (so basically, $15.00 of the $40.00 ticket I spent was for parking, pretty darn sweet).

When I got to the entrance, there were all kinds of lines for all kinds of stuff. A VIP line for Lindsey Stirling meet & greet. Another line for Evanescence meet & greet. A line for soundcheck. It took a few moments for me to get to a line that only had general admission and got in line at around 4:15 PM. As usual, the people around me were a nice bunch and a mixed bunch filled with families, groups of friends of all ages, and lots and lots of couples, most of them young adults. This was basically the first time I felt a little sadden seeing all these couples and it hit me that I was probably the only single young adult at the concert.......... As usual, I went and try to look at the line to see what sort of band t-shirts they were sporting. I saw some Iron Maiden shirts, Halestorm, FFDP, GNR, A7X, and, of course, plenty of Lindsey Stirling and Evanescence t-shirts. Once again, after six concerts, non-AB related, I saw no one wearing an Alter Bridge shirt. One day, I'll see someone at a non-AB related concert sporting an Alter Bridge t-shirt. I probably hug em (if they are ok with that). Anyway, there a staff member that was trying to get the line to fill out surveys and she was nice and to kill time, talked about the shows that happened during this summer at the FivePoint Amphitheater. She mentioned how the shows were running smoothly and without any problems. She mentioned that the largest crowd, and the most potential for any issues, during the summer was when Slayer played and, of course, security had to be on high alert when it comes to the mosh pits and stuff like that. I decided to ask her if she hear any rumors or any murmurs about what acts are going to be playing in 2019. She informed me that they are currently mapping at the schedule right now and, most likely, the schedule will be sorted at by the beginning of next year. Hopefully, there's something there that I can go to in 2019.

Anyway, 6:00 PM finally arrived and people were finally able to get in. I decided to take a look around at the booths and looked at the prices for food and drinks and I was glad that I decided to eat at another restaurant before heading to the Amphitheater. Took my seat and this was my view. Not too shabby for $40.00.

Image

7PM and hit the first act of the night came out. Cellogram. It was a duo that comprises of a Cello and percussion. They did their job to warm the crowd up with some classical music covers, did some worldly music, and to end the set they brought at Evanescence guitarist, Jen Majura, and did a cover of Kashmir where both her and the cello player were on their backs on the floor and was playing on point.

8 PM has finally come and now out comes Lindsey Stirling. She had a pretty cool intro video regarding overcoming odds and adversity and heartbreak and it had some footage during the days where she was on America's Got Talent where Sharon Osbourne thought that her violin act would not be good enough to fill a theater in Vegas. Well, whose laughing now you old croon? This act that is perceived to not fill a theater in Vegas? Well, this act was able to perform all over the world and was able to get around 10,000 people to come to this show in Irvine, CA. Anyway, after the intro video, she came out and played her opener called The Arena and off we go. I got to say Lindsey Stirling was amazing during her set. It was everything I hoped for and more. Great production values, beautiful visuals on the screen, great choreography, sound was good, some good humor and banter in-between songs. One of those good production was when she was playing a song called Take Flight and she was wearing this attached dress where she got up on a platform and as the platform was rising, the dress was rising where once Lindsey was as high as she can go with the platform, the dress was as tall as the height of the platform.

One noticeable moment in between songs was when Lindsey stated that she was really happy to be on this tour with Evanescence and stated that she was only a "casual" fan. Then, the video screen showed footage from 2002 of Lindsey and her friends doing a little video and dance and signing along to Bring Me to Life. After the video was open, Lindsey stated that ok she might be more than a "casual" fan. She stated that she was glad that Youtube did not exist at the time or else her Youtube career would have died before it really got going to where it is now and she could have ended up being the Rebecca Black of her generation (those were her actual words). One minor gripe of the show though was that she had an orchestra backing her and I don't think I could have heard it that much and I think that's due to the fact that the main instrument of the set is the violin so it was going to be harder for me to piece it all together. One of the songs that Lindsey played was called Shatter Me and the studio vocals were performed by Lzzy Hale, but for this tour, the vocals were going to be sung by Amy Lee and it sounded fantastic. I didn't think this was ever going to be a thing that was going to happen during this tour, but I'm glad they did it, because it was a good highlight of the show. Another great moment was when Lindsey talked about having to overcome depression and anxiety in the past and talking about how that light came keep shining when things keep getting grim which segues nicely into a song called First Light and she got the crowd to get the phone lights out. Sure, watching it through Youtube videos, it may look tacky, but seeing that in person, seeing the majority of the crowd with the lights up looked pretty cool. She ended the set with Beyond the Veil with a medley of the Phantom of the Opera ending a really great set for me. I really highly recommend seeing Lindsey Stirling. It was a really well produced set filled with choreography, visuals, and great music. I thought that 75 minute set was well worth the $40.00 ticket alone and I knew waiting for the Groupon deal was going to be worth it. Evanescence was going to be a bonus for me.

The Evanescence's set though was while well-performed and had good orchestration elements (both sets were backed with an orchestra) and Amy Lee sounded great, I felt it was very lacking in other areas for me to deem this an amazing set. One thing, the guitarists and bassist were sitting down throughout the entire set with the exception of the encore of Evanescence doing a cover of No More Tears and they were moving around. I understand shows with an orchestra there's got to be a certain level of sophistication, but dang it, I thought this would still be a rock concert. Another thing, I couldn't really piece together the guitars and bass that much during the set. I rather, and this is just me, if rock bands are going to do a show with an orchestra, I would prefer the guitars to be more front than the orchestra, while the orchestra still making their presence felt, rather than the other way around (which I think AB will accomplish that with their Royal Albert Hall DVD, on a side note). Otherwise, to me, the set mainly comes down to Amy Lee singing Evanescence songs with an orchestra backing her (which the concept is still solid though, don't get me wrong) without an actual rock band backing. Another depressing flaw was that they played Bring me to Life pretty early (I think it was around the 5th song of the set) and after that was over, some people left and after My Immortal was played (which was not the closing song), more people left. There were still a lot of people though throughout the show, just not around the 10,000 or so people that was there when the show started or during Lindsey Stirling's set. On a brighter note, Lindsey Stirling did come out during a song called Hi-Lo (which she did violins on) and during the cover of No More Tears and I felt that her presence really energized the room.

Overall, I had a good night. I paid $40.00 for the ticket. Had free parking, had a great view, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of being in the FivePoint Amphitheater and I wouldn't mind seeing more shows there now that I understand everything is sorted when it comes to parking and lining up. Lindsey Stirling delivered an amazing 75 minute set and I would put this set on par with when I saw Foo Fighters in 2015 and AB in 2014, but I would not put this on par when I saw Breaking Benjamin, Halestorm, and Myles. However, a more active crowd during Lindsey Stirling could have gotten a better chance for that set to be up there in terms of my most enjoyable concerts ever. The Evanescence set, despite my gripes it was still a good set, I would put this set above me seeing Big Wreck (had horrible sound flaws where I couldn't hear Ian Thornley that much on vocals or guitars, but when I did, he sounded like a guitar god) and me seeing Slash/Myles/Conspirators (worst crowd ever, I would guaran-damn-tee about 95% of the crowd has no idea on whose in the band other than Slash or knows the non-GNR songs).

Next concert for me is Owl City on October 2nd at the Anaheim House of Blues. I will probably spend September (which ties in nicely since I believe it was September of last year when I really got into Owl City) listening to all things Owl City and Adam Young related, which I do that enough anyway, but I shall do it with more focus.

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SHEAKENBAKEN
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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by SHEAKENBAKEN »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOTHA! :beer :cheers :headbang :dance :peace :rockon :D

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Tigra
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yeah, why should other women be better off than me?..

Post by Tigra »

Lotha wrote:I'M GETTING MARRIED
OMFG!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!! That's great news!
When will this happy event be?

It seems I'm back and that's what you call perfect timing ;P

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Re: The Official "Total Randomness" Thread

Post by Tigra »

How many pages back should I read?
Last half year is 20 pages... My lunch break is too short for that.

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