The Color Before the Sun: The Last One

Coheed and Cambria toured three times for their 2015 album The Color Before the Sun. Their final tour for the album cycle was opened by instrumental prog band Polyphia and early 2000’s emo band Saves the Day. After seeing 7 shows on their last tour, I settled for 3 really good shows on this tour rather than a full blown Heedtrip.






Seattle

My first show on this mini Heedtrip was also the first show on this tour for the band, at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle. This one worked out really well as I the Mighty played Seattle two nights earlier, so I met with three COTFs (Zane, Jordan, and Hannah—none of which live there, by the way) for a few days in the Pacific Northwest.

14370251_10207282049314210_8117034971896642379_n

Jordan, Hannah, and I made a lap around the venue before there was hardly even a line and saw bassist Zach Cooper and guitarist Travis Stever just chilling. We said hi and I think Jordan had them sign something real quick, and then we headed to a bar where we met another COTF (who actually does live in Seattle!) Ashley.

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 9.28.34 PM

Eventually the line starts forming so we join it. Coheed’s photographer Ernie saw me and gave me a hug before he had to run in to take pictures for people with Platinum VIP passes, allowing them early access into the venue and a photo op with the band. I didn’t have Platinum for any shows on this tour unfortunately, but I did have a Gold Pass, which meant early entry and no photo.

This was the last tour that Amory Cards worked in place of Gold Passes that could be bought online with your ticket. That’s how I was able to get in early for shows on the last tour, and that’s what I was relying on this tour as well. However, different venues weren’t sure how to handle it. This one goofed in a way that benefitted us.

I flashed my Amory Card so they let me in, but they didn’t bother checking to see if I even had a ticket to the show. I did of course (I wouldn’t have flown to Seattle without a ticket), but I realized I could have very easily gotten into this venue for free.

What.

14391010_10207282050034228_5862612319520257819_n

Zane had a similar experience. He had two Gold Passes, but had tickets for himself, his friend Patric, and Ashley. They let all three of them in on Gold and did not give it a second thought.

Again, what.

This venue. I can’t. Good for us though!

But before that, while waiting to enter the venue, I met COTF Nigel and his girlfriend Kelly again, after briefly seeing them at the I the Mighty show a few nights prior. Nigel had Platinum so he went in before we did, and I sat outside with Kelly and talked to her for a bit. She’s super sweet and all about crowdsurfing and moshing, so I vowed to take care of her for Nigel, who was determined to stay on the rail all night.

14368649_10207282051074254_6786599684321964296_n

When I did finally make it in the venue, I headed to merch first. I didn’t buy anything just yet, but I wanted to see what was there. Jordan was waiting for me and had a space saved up at the barricade for us.

14317522_10207282050834248_8844309309038330806_n

14432945_10207282051994277_6323996705195536710_n

The early entry song this time was really cool. Claudio came out with just his acoustic guitar and played a new song that he wrote for his kids’ book, Kid Crazy and the Kilowatt King. The song is called “Friend to Enemies” and I really liked it.

One of the absolute greatest things I have ever witnessed at a venue happened at the Showbox SoDo: Hannah sat down with her back against the barricade and fell asleep, so a security guard went and grabbed her a pillow. Now that’s amazing customer service right there. I’m just happy when security supplies us with water at a venue. But a pillow? You, sir, are a hero.

14446097_10207282054074329_2378013543660269420_n

Eventually Polyphia hit the stage. They were super talented, but I have trouble getting into instrumental music. Without words, the music just doesn’t stick with me as well. I enjoyed them, but I probably wouldn’t choose to listen to them on my own.

Saves the Day, on the other hand… I’m following Hannah’s lead. This band made me fall asleep. I’ve heard them called pop punk, but they sounded neither pop nor punk to me. They just made me sleepy. I could not get into them at all, and I generally love pop punk.

Someone referred to them as “90’s prom music” and that made me laugh. I’m not sure what qualifies something as 90’s prom music, but I like it. We’ll go with it.

Of course the crowd surged forward when Coheed came on. The only other time I’ve ever been this close to the front during a Coheed show was at Madison Square Garden in March, and that was the tamest show I have ever been to. This, however, was not.

I could only stand it from “Ghost” through “Everything Evil,” then I had to ask a security guard to pull me out. I had elbows in my stomach and my feet were hardly even on the ground and I was just not about it. I prefer the mosh pit where I can actually take a step back if I need to and catch my breath. You can’t do that in the second row.

14368836_10207282054314335_8520850208434377035_n

14358681_10207282060314485_6816215518480591809_n

I told Kelly I was gonna make my way to the pit and she was down to follow my lead, so the security guard closest to me pulls me out. As I’m making my way around the front of the stage, another security guard asks me if I need a medic.

“No, I just wanna mosh.”

It was really sweet that he asked though. I’m just a weirdo.

The rest of the night went about as you’d expect it. I crowdsurfed to “Here to Mars” and danced my ass off for most of the night.

The band added “Ten Speed” to their setlist, which I’d only seen live at Rock’n Derby prior to this show. I think it’s a fun song live, but I know people who would disagree. Those are the same people who complain about the setlists to begin with, though. I wouldn’t go if seeing the same set over and over bothered me that much. Clearly I love them too much to stay away.

14368912_10207282067514665_8401836641775435522_n

I think “Eraser” was playing when I noticed a lot of the people around me in the pit probably didn’t know an awful lot of the songs they were playing. There are always those people at Coheed shows who only know “Welcome Home,” but it’s whatever.

The only thing with this crowd was that I felt like I was going nuts enough for everyone there. I’m okay with that. I have the energy for it.

Kelly was one of the people who didn’t know much of their music, but she was an awesome mosh pit buddy. She was right there with me dancing and crowdsurfing. Girl after my own heart.

The front of the venue was a very different story, though. The crowd was so loud up there that I noticed Claudio didn’t even bother singing some parts of “In Keeping Secrets” and “Everything Evil.” He didn’t need to. We were.

The worst part of my night came when they started playing “Peace to the Mountain.” I couldn’t stay in the pit for it. I’ve been skipping that song every time it comes on shuffle pretty regularly since the last tour. It makes me too emotional for some strange reason, and especially being here in this pit without any of my COTF family, I just couldn’t do it. I missed them all too much.

So instead I headed to the bar and got some water, and then stood on the stairs leading back to the pit to take some videos.

After the song ended, I was back in the pit and everything returned to normal. I crowdsurfed again, this time to “You Got Spirit, Kid,” and I caught Ernie snapping pictures of me in the air. I haven’t seen any of those surface though, so I’m sure I looked stupid. They can’t all be perfect surfs.

The encore had a new addition since the last tour as well. They covered Nirvana’s “Drain You.” I’ve heard a lot of COTF complain because they don’t like Nirvana, but I friggin love Nirvana and if this is as close as I can get to ever seeing them live then I will take it. Thank you for this small gift, Coheed. You made some people very happy.

Like usual, they closed the show out with “Welcome Home,” and Claudio jammed on his double neck guitar like the badass that he is.

Oh yeah, and Claudio wore pigtails and it was SO CUTE. I loved it. He seriously rocked those pigtails.

14370192_10207282060474489_35564244168535429_n

And here are some other miscellaneous Claud photos from this show (all taken by Jordan):

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 9.47.44 PM

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 9.47.57 PM

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 9.48.06 PM

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 9.48.17 PM

When it was over, I headed back to merch where I finally coughed up the $60 for the hoodie I’d been eyeing. It’s so sad that a hoodie costs more than the concert ticket itself, but the band knows we’re suckers and if we’re willing to pay for something, they can get away with charging that much. I need it. I can’t say no. And I love hoodies.

After that all I wanted was a milkshake. For some reason, a post-show milkshake just sounded perfect to me. So my tiny little crew found a 24 hr diner and of course, they stop serving milkshakes after a certain hour. How?! Doesn’t everyone want milkshakes at midnight?! No? Just me? Oh okay.






Port Chester

Fast forward to the very end of the tour. The final two shows were at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, (what I’d call upstate since it’s not the city, but really it’s not upstate at all) and Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. A huge meetup was planned for the Jersey show (with a prom theme—I’ll get to it) and since the two cities were so close together, most of us decided to do both.

My friends Devin and Alyssa picked me up from the airport and took me back to Devin’s house on Long Island. We talked comic books and music and show plans. Oh yeah, and of course we talked Coheed and Comic Con.

He had grabbed me some merch from the Evil Ink table at Comic Con so I was finally going through it. As you’d expect based on the above: some comic books and a Coheed t-shirt.

He wanted to leave for the venue super early the next morning, like 5am, and I was not about it.

Right on cue without me asking, I get a text from my friend Cram around 10pm, “Do you need a Viking Raid?”

So he shows up at Devin’s, throws me over his shoulder, and carries me off to Jason’s, where he’s staying, also on Long Island. He carried me in the house over his shoulder as well, because of course. Viking.

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 10.36.52 PM

Now I had just landed on the East Coast from California, so my body was running on a different time. Cram got up early to head into the city to meet with some other COTFs, so by the time I left with Jason and Niki, we went straight to the venue in Port Chester (after picking up my wife, Anna, on the way).

We had some things to do at the house first. Like Niki cutting Jason’s beard for instance.

A small group of my friends were cosplaying at this show… as the members of the band. We were calling them “Cosplay and Cambria.” Niki was Josh, Kailyn was Claudio, Max was Zach, and Jason was Travis. So he needed his beard cut to look like Travis’s beard.

14731130_10207534504905442_6021633288239363628_n

When we made it to Port Chester, naturally we needed to eat before time to head into the venue. There was a taco bar down the street, aptly named BarTaco, and we were greeted by the best tac-omen: a dragonfly logo. Dragonflies are also one of Coheed’s logos, so it was just too perfect that that’s where we ended up. A lot of people in our (now huge) group bought glasses with the BarTaco logo as souvenirs from the show.

14705641_10207534501385354_5267470211991563550_n

14718816_10207534502185374_5683604244407558524_n

My friend Patty, who I know through another band World/Inferno, was working the box office. I was struggling at life trying to get into the venue for some reason or another, but she and her coworker covered for me so I wouldn’t get in trouble.

14670897_10207534504505432_7701270241698204503_n

The real members of Coheed were apparently wandering around the venue before the show, but I missed them. I wasn’t too heartbroken by that, though. I tweeted a picture of “Cosplay and Cambria” at them and they were liking and retweeting it, so that was success enough for me.

14656246_10207534504265426_9701424755897212_n

My babies Hannah and Jordan were adorably wasted tonight. I tried my best to take care of them, but I kept losing them until finally a security guard saw me looking around and goes:

“Are you looking for Hannah?”
“I am! How did you know?!”
“Don’t worry, I’m watching her.”

It was just the cutest thing. And I was shocked he knew her name. But I guess I shouldn’t have been too shocked. She was drunk after all. I’m sure she was chatting him up moments before.

Then there was Fenn and Jess, our Coheed and Cambria cosplayers. The characters themselves, not the band. They weren’t dressed up tonight because they were saving the big guns for the following night in Jersey, and on top of that, they also stayed back most of the night. I think they were stressed about prom and other life things, so it took a little longer than usual to get their attention, but I absolutely love the crap out of them.

There’s generally a good amount of people who head for the barricade and stay camped out there, but I’m a pit girl when it comes to Coheed. So it made me really happy to see so many of my friends hanging back early in the night because they were going in the pit too. The only downside is that there were so many people to try to keep track of, and I love them all.

14955980_10207644294130104_4069294017675456048_n

14908169_10207644294530114_4139058181749523785_n

14907606_10207644295290133_3348103498980599203_n

14947437_10207644295770145_8868236222848579773_n

14925578_10207644296610166_6973525181176108921_n

14947923_10207644296890173_3310282840309173153_n

14908194_10207644297690193_1844094919151439286_n

14900438_10207644297970200_5100303859106427277_n

14956497_10207644299050227_401401059527116399_n

I hated Saves the Day a little less tonight, so that was good.

Then it was time.

The first thing we noticed upon entering the pit is that the floor of the venue was carpet.

Carpet? Really?

It was weird. And gross when people inevitably started spilling their beer all over it. Not a fan. Please don’t ever carpet venue floors if you’re gonna have rock bands play there. It’s just not natural.

One group of people that really surprised me was the Jersey City Devils. (More cosplayers, because of course.) They made costumes that were simply biker jackets with “Jersey City Devil” written on the back, as if they were a real biker gang. It was perfect.

What surprised me about them, though, was that they weren’t unnecessarily rowdy like I would have expected from a group of guys dressed as violent bikers. They were actually who I found myself relying on most to keep the pit under control throughout the night. Best biker gang ever? I think so.

So yes, the Coheed pit definitely existed tonight. It was extremely rough and a little scary even. Fun for sure, but rough. I took a shoe to the shin toward the end of the night and it immediately welted up. Anna even took some teeth to the forehead. That pit, yo. Goddamn.

Security was awful. Especially as compared to the awesome venue security in Seattle, Port Chester was one of the worst examples of venue security I’ve ever seen. We weren’t allowed to crowdsurf, but they didn’t even vocalize that well enough to the crowd. So they were throwing people out of the venue left and right with very little warning.

Yes, you read that right. You crowdsurf, you get kicked out.

Is this real life? Where even am I?

During “Eraser,” Biz got picked up off the ground and launched into the air, and you can see him freaking out telling the crowd to put him back down. Luckily he knew about the whole throwing-out-crowdsurfers thing, unlike a lot of people who we later reunited with outside after the show.

So naturally, I was too afraid to risk crowdsurfing at this show, so I didn’t.

There were a few couples dances throughout the night, and some tears shed during certain songs. They added “Delirium Trigger” and “The Crowing” to the setlist at this show, which made me extremely happy. “The Crowing” is one of my favorites. During the “Dear Ambellina” part of the song, they flashed a picture of Ambellina from the comics on the wall of the venue. It was awesome.

“Delirium Trigger” was a fun one, too. Biz ripped his shirt open. I think technically Sean ripped Biz’s shirt open, but regardless, the end result was the same. It reminded me of Max’s story about ripping his shirt open while crowdsurfing to “Everything Evil.” Something about Second Stage Turbine Blade makes boys lose their shirts, I guess.

The “Cosplay and Cambria” crew did a (mostly) simultaneous crowdstand to make sure the band saw them. They did. It was a success.

14657290_10207534507185499_6863718170778624063_n

Unlike in Seattle, I could handle “Peace to the Mountain” tonight because I was surrounded by my friends. There were so so many hugs.

And the show’s closer, as always, was “Welcome Home.” Claudio played on the balcony where his family was watching from for a bit. It was really cute.

14680566_10207534506185474_4615500542390044680_n

Overall it was a really great show and it felt like home, but it wore me out. This was the practice show for prom? Practice? But it kicked my ass! I’m not ready for this.

14567986_10207534506945493_5638644572483939657_n

We stopped on the way to Biz’s house for some post-show breakfast meats, a personal tradition, and then I passed out in his car. So many of us were crashing at his place the night before prom, so Anna and I shared his sister’s bed while the rest of the crew cuddle puddled on a futon.






Jersey

Biz gave birth to the idea of a Coheed prom—that makes him the Promfather. I originally thought it was just our small group of 10-15 friends dressing up for prom to freak the band out, but it somehow blossomed out of our control until it seemed like the whole internet knew and it became this huge event. So huge that even the band knew about it and was on board with the insane idea.

Are we really wearing suits and poofy dresses to a concert? With a mosh pit?

Yes. Yes, we are.

Many of us agreed that we didn’t have good prom experiences in high school, but that if we did prom together at a Coheed show, it would make up for that. We would have good music, good friends, and it’s legal to drink alcohol now that we’re all 21+. And I’ll take any excuse I can to dress up.

It also felt like a really fitting way to end the last tour for the Color Before the Sun because the band was already doing this whole “Amory High” theme. The music video for “You Got Spirit, Kid” takes place in a high school, and the flag for sale at merch was Amory High. So of course we’re ending the last show on the last tour run with prom!

A large amount of my group stayed at Chez Biz the night before the show so we could get ready together the morning of. I’d had my outfit planned for months and was really excited to finally wear it. I wore a red and black corset with a black tutu, and I felt like a punk rock princess. It was a much better look for me than what I wore to my actual prom.

14690999_10207534508865541_2660692892196312276_n   14691020_10207534509185549_2676303014635794357_n

We all took awkward prom pictures together before even heading out of the house.

14657491_10207534544826440_1189323352238981985_n

Max looked like one of those people who minister door-to-door, so someone grabbed him a copy of the Amory Wars so he could be a full-on Kilgannon’s Witness.

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 11.46.54 PM

“Have you heard about our Lord and Savior Claudio Kilgannon, the Crowing?”

Then it was time to head to the venue. We got there early so we could socialize with everyone else arriving.

Starland Ballroom is in the middle of a wasteland. It was nothing but parking lot, with one small bar across the street. That was it. Looks like our pre-game is in the middle of nowhere today.

There were so many people I wanted to see in such a short amount of time scattered all over the place that it almost stressed me out. But it was the best kind of stress, worrying over who to spend the most time with. We’re all friends here (for the most part).

14657315_10207534521865866_5403200334559344938_n

14725621_10207534508625535_2872464281653258132_n

14657315_10207534522825890_5695690598776175816_n

14717185_10207534522945893_102211703842323578_n

14716127_10207534532506132_449285987771467772_n

The parking lot more or less got split into two sides. We had a guy named Sean playing some acoustic Coheed covers close to the venue, and then the Jersey City Devils had some actual Coheed blasting out of their car at the far end of the parking lot. They were moshing, naturally. This was a big parking lot (wasteland, remember) so their sounds didn’t clash at all. You could easily move from one party to the other and back.

14725767_10207534542506382_3956297883609987484_n

14724575_10207534549866566_2070639685560371369_n

The best part of all of this were the few people camped out in front of the doors in casual clothes. They had no idea about prom. And here are all these people, at least 50 of us (but likely double that), running around hugging and dancing and dressed to the nines. I’m sure they were freaked out. It happens.

Someone ordered pizza to the venue (we did the same thing when I saw Green Day play here) so I’m wandering around stuffing my face.

Mouth full of pizza: “I have to go mosh now.”

This is real life I guess. Some kinda heaven.

I felt about 12 years old in my tutu, so I couldn’t stop dancing. It’s prom, though, so that’s not a bad thing. My friend PJ randomly got the idea to do the Dirty Dancing jump, so there we are in the middle of this parking lot, me launching myself into the air.

14732293_10207534525665961_7934880462953024314_n

Our first attempt was the better one, but no one witnessed it unfortunately. So you’ll just have to trust me that this wasn’t our best.

My friend Danielle saw it happening and did the same.

Danielle and I both looked hot, so random guys kept asking us to take pictures with them to make their girlfriends jealous. Did I mention this was about a thousand times better than my actual prom?

14708245_10207534546826490_4676521450505333273_n

Danielle was there with her date Matt, who had a red top hat on. Both of us were also wearing red, so we took turns stealing the hat. I also stole his date, because I love Danielle and we’re cute.

14716191_10207534544546433_6970988247587771299_n

14718775_10207534556106722_549773022697956851_n

My actual date was Anna, and she was taking way too long to show up. She ended up missing most, if not all, of the meetup beforehand and got there right as we were going in at doors. But I had plenty of other people to dance and goof off with until then.

14695391_10207534527226000_6693577371524174041_n

14670793_10207534528346028_6111871509551197485_n

Every time someone new showed up, whether I knew them in real life or solely from the internet, I would run at them and yell “I need to hug you!” I feel like I probably scared a bunch of people, but I was really excited to finally be meeting everyone I hadn’t yet. They were good sports about it.

But I didn’t want to hug just everyone…

I’m sure you remember Captain Keywork from Denverender, yeah? Well… Turns out he’s not exactly the great guy we all thought he was at the time. I don’t need to go into details, but if we’re talking Coheed, and especially talking meetups, it’s probably important to mention that my friendship with him lasted no longer than four months total, and we haven’t spoken since June. It’s unfortunate, but I have absolutely no interest in having anything to do with him ever again.

In the middle of a parking lot wasteland:
Captain: “Lindsay!”

Me: “Nope!” -flips around 180º and skips away-

Unfortunately for me, Dan (the Captain) was not the only person I didn’t want to deal with at this show, so I decided my best bet would be to get really drunk. I spent some time at the bar across the street, but I didn’t even end up drinking all that much. It was a nice thought.

Our Canadian Moose was unable to attend this show, but he skyped in for a little bit so he could say hi to everyone. He told me he saw me and PJ dirty dancing, so I’m glad someone saw it happen, even if that someone was thousands of miles away. It’s been months since I’ve seen Moose and we all really miss him. I’m glad Skype exists if nothing else.

We were also missing Unicorn, who is in the Navy and just got deployed for seven months a few days before the show. The timing was awful. But Jordan had a little stuffed unicorn to carry around in his place. He was there in spirit.

14690858_10207534523385904_8913431263390896082_n

14680692_10207534524505932_7841588464924652231_n

14702333_10207534525465956_2092638890348939001_n

My introduction to a woman named Ari involved flan and some free Coheed car decals she made. She’s a wonderful lady. My car thanks her, too.

14681715_10207534555986719_5074502875037085692_n

Fenn and Jess came dressed as Prom King Coheed and Prom Queen Cambria. They looked amazing.

14729361_10207534521305852_6150828527572722322_n

A few people gave them some shit for coming as King and Queen, but in all honesty, anyone could have dressed any way they wanted to, and it was my idea because I thought it would be a really cute prom spin on their usual cosplays. And I still think it was a great idea. They killed it.

The band’s photographer Ernie came outside to talk to us for a little bit before doors. He said the band had planned on wearing tuxedos when they heard about prom, but that they decided at the last minute that would be too hot. So instead they had someone out looking for tuxedo t-shirts for them to wear. We weren’t sure if they would come through in time, but regardless, it made me so happy that the band was on board with this crazy idea.

Ernie also mentioned that the band had some surprises planned for the night…? Spoiler alert, there weren’t really any surprises. I still don’t know what he was actually referring to.

A few of my crew had VIP passes while I did not. Kailyn said she cried during her Meet & Greet with the band. I love her. Then the cast of “Cosplay and Cambria” from the night before took an amazing awkward prom picture with their respective doppelgangers.

14721749_10154574365616873_7917694676731731607_n

Just look at Josh and Niki. I can’t.

Biz was wearing a white suit jacket and somewhere along the way decided he needed everyone to put on lipstick and kiss it. I always come equipped with red lipstick (red hair + red lipstick, it’s kinda my thing) so people without their own were lining up to use it and kiss Biz’s jacket. This included two guys, Jordan and Ian.

14656264_10207534526145973_8460003282407529107_n  14713669_10207534526305977_2057829873494850756_n

14713586_10207534526465981_4039463354109961148_n

14680585_10207534528466031_2117351673877636437_n   14708094_10207534528666036_5410482214997503943_n

14721734_10207534529506057_2697752130652948384_n

14724557_10207534530106072_3164027113741380417_n  14717330_10207534530426080_4774473103151091858_n

14606285_10207534530626085_7128899801217968428_n 14713765_10207534530866091_148479038096197748_n

A few of us went outside to the smoking area during the first two bands because none of us really care for Saves the Day. We inevitably wound up explaining prom to a few people outside, because all of a sudden we were in the minority here.

Claudio played one song onstage with Saves the Day, and later Saves the Day frontman Chris Conley played a song with Coheed. That’s really the only thing different about the setlist of this show that I noticed as compared to the rest.

14606485_10207534556666736_2825198416260714309_n

14590247_10207534557906767_6694905737944825902_n

14718605_10207534558146773_7298366042216590251_n

14639575_10207534558546783_7617563122221008372_n

The pit looked ridiculous before Saves the Day even finished their set, so I was worried we waited too long to make our way in. We finally made it one by one, but it was so tightly packed, it was insane. I don’t think I’ve ever been so far back in a pit but still that squished before in my life. And Coheed hadn’t even hit the stage yet! I kept turning in different directions to find my friends. I’d scream their names and grab their hands, then turn to someone else, and we all just felt so far away. It was so weird.

14732293_10207534532146123_7914071139051026983_n

14632882_10207534541306352_8706014129034076732_n

Of course the band came out in their tuxedo t-shirts and it was perfect. Gotta love ’em.

After the opening song “Ghost,” they come out for the beast that is “In Keeping Secrets.” It’s a rough “pit,” so I tell myself as I always do, “If I can survive ‘In Keeping Secrets’ I can survive the show.” And “In Keeping Secrets” was NUTS. It always is, but this crowd, dude. I couldn’t deal.

I’m not sure when it happened, but this guy Joe got knocked the hell out at some point during the night. That’s how crazy this pit was.

For most of the show I couldn’t move at all. It was like we were stuck in a wall. My feet were lifted off the ground at times. Flashback to being too close to the rail in Seattle, except that we were actually in the back of the room this time. What even.

I lost Matt’s hat at one point in the night, and of all people, it was Dan in his own top hat who tried to hand it back to me. I took it and instinctively handed it to Danielle just because my brain didn’t want to accept anything from him, even though it was Matt’s hat this whole time.

I definitely walked right past him in the pit once after it seemed more like a pit and less like a wall, and then immediately I’m being tapped on the back over and over. Naturally, I assume it’s him, and as I’ve said, “Nope.” So rather than turn around and see who it was, I kicked behind me hoping he’d get the message. Then I did turn around to find Niki and Jason, fresh in the pit off the barricade and I instantly felt horrible.

“Oh I’m sorry! I love you guys!”

And then we’re hugging.

We all tried to do the weird hugging thing during “Peace to the Mountain” again, but it was just such a tight squeeze, it was difficult.

Thankfully, one small victory we had at this show was that crowdsurfing was allowed. So my friend Bronte launched me in the air during “You Got Spirit, Kid,” and I surfed on my tummy. It was weird, but it worked. It was totally an accident, but that’s just how I was launched this time. I generally prefer sitting up while crowdsurfing because I feel like I’m more in control of myself that way. But someone later told me it was a “swan dive,” and he was so impressed by it that he wanted a picture with me (and my badass outfit) at the end of the night.

14650475_10207534556306727_7586881424901059187_n

Of course this was a complete stranger and I’ll never see that picture, so some random guy somewhere out there has a picture of the girl who swan dived to “You Got Spirit, Kid,” but whatever. It happens I guess. Weirder things have been known to happen.

I also crowdsurfed to “The Crowing” and this had to be one of my favorite surfs ever. For one, it’s one of my favorite Coheed songs. Top five for sure. But also it was just such perfect timing and I live for those moments. I was thrown up during the “Dear Ambellina” bit, and then I definitely made eye contact with Claudio and was fist pumping during “I will come reformed!” It’s my favorite part of the song and it was just magical in every way.

14731291_10207534542026370_3580947850577568187_n

14702272_10207534542066371_945336463659217140_n

As I was running around the barricade back toward the pit I saw Kailyn and she grabbed my hand as I passed. I miss her in the pit, but this was her first show on the rail and she loves Claudio so much she cries and it’s precious. I’ll part with her for her sake.

I guess a reason I had to mention no longer being friends with Dan is because of a small incident toward the end of the show. Of course we’re all dressed obnoxiously at this particular show, but his schtick is wearing a cape and top hat and crowdstanding so all eyes are on him. A line has been drawn in the sand and we don’t allow him to take all the attention anymore, which often means we do crazy shit as well, like also wearing a top hat and also crowdstanding. But he picked his moment, as he did during the last tour, and stood for the final song, “Welcome Home.”

And I wanted to push him over so bad. I think I might have too, if it hadn’t been for the random kid who stood next to him, and then Jordan on the other side. It’s probably for the best that I didn’t anyway. But it did cross my mind at that moment just how dangerous crowdstanding is if you’ve made enemies of everyone in the room.

Note to self: Don’t fuck over all of your friends.

Who am I kidding, I love these people too much anyway.

Matt’s top hat amazingly survived the entire show. It could only have been by a miracle though, with as much as Danielle and I were passing it and losing it throughout the night. Coheed magic, maybe.

Overall there were much fewer injuries this show than last, but the pit was a lot rougher. It’s hard to even call it a pit, though. It was more like pure chaos. Just a room of chaos. And that was it.

14721709_10207534567427005_3031598485388637452_n

14563297_10207534567787014_1314364906459073894_n

14702514_10207534567627010_4781503333469640914_n

14650587_10207534568027020_7687338261054017403_n

We all headed outside to wait near the buses hoping the band would emerge, but alas, they did not.

14671091_10207534547506507_847975145219738778_n

14720561_10207534547946518_8737044502842297633_n

Niki had saved me a setlist from the last tour, so I didn’t feel like I needed to collect anything from this show. I typically don’t at Coheed shows anyway, but it was super sweet of her to think of me with this one. It had “The Crowing” on it, which was great, even though it wasn’t from a show I was actually at. This is my first ever Coheed setlist!

When we gave up on waiting at the buses, the whole lot of us went to IHOP. And by “whole lot,” I mean we took up probably ten or so tables at the least. It was a mess. We might as well have been a real prom party. There were not enough people on staff to handle all of us, so it was just some more chaos on top of the chaos of the rest of the night. But they did their best and we were really happy with the service. We felt bad, but they were nice about everything and did what they could.

14705626_10207534531466106_6896366365938709585_n

14657295_10207534531946118_6718937955892321947_n

14725556_10207534545586459_4263062975585987683_n

The waitstaff even told us that they had another huge party the previous night all dressed similarly to us because it was the night of their Homecoming dance.

We had prom the day after homecoming. How perfect.

Even more perfect than that was the fact that Anna got her Masters degree in the mail the day after prom. How fitting.

Someone in that IHOP that we didn’t know was celebrating a birthday, so cue all 50+ of us singing “Happy Birthday” to this random stranger. I hope he(/she?) appreciated it.

What a great night, dude. This fandom is so weird.






So that was the end of the Color Before the Sun. It had a good run, but three tours seemed like enough. Or maybe it’s just because I happened to see them play 11 times this album cycle. It’s all worth it.

Rumor has it that the next tour will finally be the Neverender (in which they play an album front to back) for Good Apollo 1. I was told at IHOP after prom that that tour should be starting in April. Devin told me he thinks it’ll be a back-to-back Good Apollo 1 and its sequel No World for Tomorrow, and that would be the best. Unlikely, realistically, but it would make me happy if they did.

#tilnexttime COTFs. Will anything ever be crazier than prom? Time to start planning I guess.

14695338_10207534542986394_3160334278617436210_n

Lindsay Marshall

One time I sneezed and Billie Joe Armstrong blessed me.

One thought on “The Color Before the Sun: The Last One

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *