underwatour - on tour with my favorite band (part 1)
Jesse James Rutherford, Zach Shane Abels, Jeremy Freedman, Mikey Margott and Brandon Alexander Fried - those five guys from Newbury Park, California build my favorite band The Neighbourhood (mostly rendered THE NBHD). Most of you probably know their songs "Sweater Weather", "RIP 2 my youth" or "Cry Baby". I've known them for about 3 years now and have loved them ever since.
In November 2015 I was finally able to see them live for the first time, after missing their European Tour in 2014 because I went abroad to Ecuador. Seeing them for the first time was the best moment of my life. Nothing has ever made me smile so big before and during that one concert I forgot about everything for a moment. So I was even happier when just two days after I had seen them, they announced their second European Tour called "underwatour". Underwatour is their third European Tour consisting of 20 dates - 3 of them in Germany.
After seeing them for the first time in November I knew that seeing them only once on their next Tour wouldnt be enough which is why I decided to not only go to Hamburg but also to the other two concerts in Germany (Munich and Frankfurt), Utrecht (The Netherlands) and Brussels (Belgium). That made five concerts in total and me to the happiest girl in the world.
The first of the 5 concerts took place in my hometown Hamburg, so it didn't take me long to get there.
March 6th 2016 - The Neighbourhood in Hamburg
My friend and I arrived around 1:30pm at the venue, which is pretty late for me, and we queued up next to about eight other girls. It was a pretty rainy and cold day but time passed by fast and around 4pm we were allowed to go over to the side of the venue and wait in front of it (which wasn't allowed before because the Tourbus was standing right in front of it and we would have disturbed the Crew). I was feeling really nervous already. I still couldn't believe that in a few hours I would see them again. By then I had already made a lot of new friends who were making me forget about how much colder it was getting with every minute passing by.
7pm; the doors opened and I wanted to get front row, so when they checked our tickets and bags I had already opened everything so I would be done faster. With my bag still open and everything I had to get out still in my hands I went into the venue to the front row to Jeremy's side (right side from my view) where I put everything back in. My stomach went crazy and my mind did too.
The support act MOTHXR (pronounced mother) started at 8pm an played for about half an hour. I was pretty impressed by their music and excited to see them again soon. They are an indie-rock band and really talented. People were dancing to their music and cheering loudly, so I guess I wasn't the only one liking them.
After they got off the stage the Crew of THE NBHD came on the stage and started building up the stage for them, meanwhile my friends and I were taking photos and posting exciting snapchat stories.
Around 9pm the lights went out and everyone started cheering as the intro of "Ferrari" came on and the band walked up on the stage.
The setlist was pretty similar to the one on their last Tour "The Flood" in 2015, just that they exchanged a few songs and put "Jealou$y" (a song off their Mixtape) on it, what had me really excited because it's one of my favorite THE NBHD songs. They started off with Greetings from Califournia and ended with RIP 2 my youth before they went off the stage, after a little bit more than an hour. During the concert I was singing along to every single song and just getting more and more excited to see them again the week after. I enjoyed every minute of it and couldn't even believe what was expecting me.
After the concert was over I went to the Merchandise store where I got the Hoodie for 40€, since it was 10€ cheaper than on the last Tour. I also met Penn Badgley (the lead singer from mothxr, also known as Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl for everyone who doesn't know him) and took a photo with him. Sadly I was too shy to really talk to him since until then I have only known him from Gossip Girl and couldn't talk about his music. But I was happy.
When I had bought the Merhandise and taken a photo with Penn I went outside the venue to wait for the Band to come out and maybe take some photos. It didn't take them as long as I expected it to take them, but they didnt seem in the mood to take photos which is why I just said Hi to them and left after the bus had left too.
Now I had to wait 5 days for the next concert and I still couldn't believe it was gonna happen.
March 11th 2016 - The Neighbourhood in Munich
After I had almost missed my Bus from Hamburg to Munich the day before the concert and gotten on one minute before it left, I was finally on my way to Munich and my 2nd concert on the underwatour. I arrived at 6:45am in Munich and walked to the venue where my friend Charlotte from Belgium (who was touring with me; besides in Hamburg) was already awaiting me. So at around 7:40am I got to the venue and got out the golden blankets, my food and my cigarettes to wait for my favorite Band.
At 11am or maybe a little bit later another girl arrived at the venue and shortly after her a few more. We all started talking and eventually became friends who would watch each others things when someone went to the toilet, share food, play cards, listen to the soundcheck and sing along to it and even order Pizza together.
After 7 hours of waiting and three hours before the doors openend I started to really get cold and my whole body was shaking. I couldn't think of anything else than going someplace warm and just sleeping, because I wasn't just cold but also exhausted from sleeping on a bus and sitting the whole time. So I was really relieved when at 6:15pm they turned on some heating lamps and we all got up to wait, while I was pushed inside the property of the venue. By then we were already a group of around eight girls who were singing Songs of the nbhd before getting in and dancing in line to keep warm. We figured out at plan on how to get in so no one from behind us would get in before us and at 7:10pm went inside the venue.
I was the first one to go in so I ran straight to the middle of the stage against the barrier and saved me and my friend from Belgium who came in right after me the best places in the front row. Our friends rowed up on the both sides next to us and we started heating up again.
The concert began at 8pm when MOTHXR came on stage and I already knew a few of the lyrics because I had downloaded their album Centerfold right after the concert in Hamburg.
At 9pm The Neighbourhood came on stage and performed as good as I had never seen them perform before. Jesse was in a really good mood and talked to the crowd a lot during the songs, he made a lot of eye contact with his fans and was very personal. It was the most emotional show of the Band I had ever seen and when the concert was over I couldn't even put my feelings into words because I was so overwhelmed. It was clear that Jesse would come out later and meet fans but Charlotte and I had to catch our bus to Frankfurt shortly after the concert, so we took a Taxi to the Central Bus station in Munich and left.
March 12th - The Neighbourhood in Frankfurt
After sleeping on a Bus again we arrived in Frankfurt around 5:40am and went inside the central station to eat something for Breakfast, brush our teeth, wash our faces and change our clothes. About a little more than an hour later we went to the supermarket to buy some food for the day and wine to keep us warm and then got on the train to the venue. We were surprised when we arrived, because the venue was right downtown in the middle of a shopping mile, but we've been the first ones and that was all that mattered in that moment.
Since we didn't want to sit down already and look like homeless people together I went around the house to check if I could find the back entrance and maybe the Tourbus to make sure we were at the right venue. When I came back I wasn't really sure if I had found the back entrance or not so I felt really relieved when two girls (Dina and Aileen) came up to us and asked us if we were also waiting for the nbhd. I said yes and they went to their car and got a lot of blankets and two sleeping bags to keep us warm and told us that they had seen me walking around and immediately knew I'd be going to that concert so they came after.
After an hour and maybe a half a few more girls came around and from then on they came pretty close to each other, but Charlotte and I stayed with Dina and Aileen and later also Ema (a girl who had been waiting at the wrong entrance the whole time).
Even though we had been waiting since 7:30am I didn't feel cold at all because we had so much stuff to keep us warm and a shopping mall right in front of us where we were able to go on the toilet the whole time.
Around lunch time Dina and Aileen had left for a while and came back after like 20 Minutes to tell me and Charlotte that Zach and Jeremy are chilling at the back entrance. We kept it quiet so no one would freak out and run up to them and be ridiculously intrusive since we knew the Band likes to stay for themselves. But Charlotte and I still decided to walk around the corner and see if we could maybe get a photo with them. What we didn't expect was to see the whole Band; but it happened. When Charlotte and I were just walking around the corner, talking about life, we looked up and saw Zach, Jeremy, Mikey and Brandon standing all together talking and Jesse standing a little bit further away talking to the Tour Manager.
It was pretty awkward because it was so unexpected and we didn't see it coming, so we just stood like 10 meters next to them asking ourselves what to do. We looked at them for a short moment but realized they didn't seem to be in the mood for fans and pictures so we just passed by them and walked more down the street when they went back to the back entrance. We then turned around and saw our other three friends. Dina and Aileen just came back from in front of the venue and Ema asked Jesse for a picture after taking one with Jeremy and Zach, but he said that he has to eat first (which is obviously a no). When we were all together again we decided to sit in the car for a while to check on the back entrance but also to warm up a little. Charlotte and I left after 10 minutes so the other girls at the venue wouldn't get suspicious and Aileen, Dina and Ema came back shortly after us.
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| MOTHXR in Frankfurt |
At 6:30pm they let us in and like in Munich I was the first one to get in and I started running inside and down the stairs to the stage right in the middle of the barrier. Charlotte got in a little bit later than me but I made sure she would get her place right next to me like the day before. The Show started and we all went totally crazy again, also because the Band seemed to be in a good mood. It was the same procedure as on the other concerts and with every concert I knew more and more lyrics of the opening act MOTHXR.
The Neighbourhood freaked out on stage and people were throwing bra's at Jesse in all different colors and he picked them up and put them on his black leather jacket he was wearing when he came on the stage. He did his usual dancing moves and the whole band took everyone into their world by showing a lot of passion on the stage. After the concert Ema had to leave so Dina, Aileen, Charlotte and I stayed together and went to the supermarket to buy water, white wine and beer and to wait for the band to come out since Charlotte and I had time until about 6am before our bus left and Dina and Aileen decided to wait with us so we could stay warm and together for a longer time.
We bought the drinks and went back to the car which was standing right next to the back entrance. All four of us sat inside, got a bottle of beer (besides Aileen because she had to drive) and blasted the nbhd out loud. After half an hour we went out the car to smoke when two members of the Crew walked by. I took a picture with one of them, what made my day because I have had a thing for him since the last Tour of the nbhd. About half an hour later I saw a guy walk by the car who really looked like Jesse and suddenly all the girls who were still waiting ran after him, so we slowly got out of the car and walked after them to find out it really was Jesse. He didnt take any photos and went right into the Tourbus and the rest of the Band followed him, besides Zach. Everyone freaked out and took pictures with him while Charlotte, Dina, Aileen and I were just waiting until it was our time, while drinking our wine.
When it was our turn we each went up to him and had a smalltalk with him and Charlotte told him that she was doing four and I five concerts of the Tour, when the Tour Manager arrived. When I had taken my picture with Zach and talked to him I went up to the Tour Manager because Charlotte and I wanted to also go the concert in Paris a few days later but were only able to afford the bus tickets. I talked to him and since he already knew that we were going to so many concerts of the Tour he gave me a paper and a Pen and told me to write mine and Charlottes name on it so he could put us on the guest list for the concert. He then wrote a +1 next to each name so we could also take Dina and Aileen.  |
| Zach and I |
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