this is *so* a scene

The ever-lovely Alex Sarti hooked me up for the Fall Out Boy show at Hammersmith Palais last night (ahh, the Palais, thee of the eternally sticky floor).

I hate to admit but I was pretty stoked to see them. The crowd at the Palais did not disappoint - totally full of emo-teens. Pink Spiders supported - saw 'em at Roseland when Cobra played there last October - but we kinda missed their set this time around 'cause we were running a bit late.

We eventually managed to find a good spot - far far away from the mosh pit. I'm an old woman. The show was taped to be released as Leaked in London, a bonus disc when Infinity on High gets a proper release (not that I don't already have a leaked copy, oh no, not at all). I'd promised Gurj that I'd holler her name during a quiet moment so she'd hear it on the record (naively assuming it wouldn't be edited out) - which I had forgotten about until a couple songs before the end, when I laughingly reminded my sister what I had said. The next quiet moment comes along and all of a sudden, from next to me: "GURJ!" I turn to stare at her, and she's cracking up.

Pete seemed to be the only one that ever really chatted with the audience (including "All you bloggers can blog this!": *flips the bird*), and he totally took his life in his hands by jumping into the crowd during the last song (Saturday). But they seemed to be having fun with it.

And of course, a high point for me right at the end when PW said they'd be back in the Spring with my boys Cobra. It's nice having friends in bands. It means when you can't afford to get back to NY at least there's a chance they might tour over here. So here's to the Mar/April FOB/Cobra dates. Hurrah.

Snakes On A...

So the Cobra boys were back in town, for one night only. They're currently on the MTV $2 Bill Tour, with 30 Seconds To Mars [haha], Head Automatica & Men, Women & Children [who had their gear stolen in Detroit - check their myspace page for how to help 'em out] and are touring, like, all autumn. Boo Cobra and MTV.

A pass was procured for me so I could go see Alex and Ry, my old homies [fact: Alex Suarez is the first NY kid I ever spoke to, at Trash @ Rififi in May 2005. He's one of the raddest people around]. I met Sarah H from work [have I mentioned before that I work a couple blocks from where Lauren & Sarah work? And how awesome that is?] and we headed over to W'burg, where Lauren and Alex were "napping". Once everyone was ready we headed into the city and up to Roseland, miraculously meeting up with Ryland and Kristen on the L.

We caught the very end of MW&C's set, went up to the reserved staged seating area [I heart passes] and met up with Joe-Nightmare of You and Gurj, and half watched Pink Spiders [loud. stripes]. Then Cobra Starship came on. For like the first song I sat there with a stupid grin on my face - after being used to watching Alex & Ryland play a couple of feet from me in places like Cake Shop or the Delancey [in their other band, Ivy League, who I've mentioned more than a few times on here] it was so awesome seeing them up there on a huge stage. Gabe was jumping around like all good frontmen, Ry and Alex were totally rocking out. For their last song they did Snakes On A Plane, and Gabe got some girl to come up on stage and do the rap, which was pretty funny - although not as funny as Lauren jumping up and turning to us when she saw the girl, saying "Ohmigod that girl mystalks me!"

After their set we kinda wandered around, headed up to the green room, back downstairs. Lauren and Alex and Sarah disappeared to the tour bus for a bit. I chatted to some intern from Warners, Head Automatica came on and played a horrendously loud set, accompanied by loud frat-boy yelling from the guys at the table next to us - who Gurj summed up best by yelling "Spring Break! Yeaaahhhh!". Ugh. After H.A.'s set I went and joined them in the tourbus, dashing through the pouring rain [the weather was terrible - I had like three comedians making some "must be like home" "guess you get this all the time" "so this is London weather" riffs that night].

Alex Sarti dragged most of the band out to do a meet-and-greet signing thingy so we all cotched on the bus with its overly-effective aircon, nibbling at the band's apple-cranberry pie [Sorry guys. Hadn't eaten all day] and admiring the rubber snakes adorning the bus. Walked back through Roseland towards the end of the 30STM set, to see Jared Leto jumping around on stage, wearing all black, shouting "Father Kill Me!" - hi-LAR-ious - to the merch area, where we were crushed by hordes of teenage girls and Suarez handed me a CD.

Back on the bus, still pissing with rain, trying to decide for far too long what to do. Lower East Side was most frequently mentioned, but the weather and general tiredness seemed to prevent anyone from even moving. Eventually about midnight we headed round the corner to a 24-hr diner - where we were almost kicked out straight away: "Table for 15 I think - oh FUCK!" In the middle of asking for a table, Sarti spied the World Series results. The poor Mets fan wasn't impressed. We got seated in the back, in the corner, and were given our food pretty fast...

In the end, no one ended up doing anything. Bus call was 5am and the Cobra boys went back to the bus to try and sleep, and everyone else was tired and cold and soaking and just headed en masse to the subway, and home.

And *that*, children, is what they call rock 'n roll...