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December 5, 2001: Phantom Planet live at the Metro (Chicago)
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Have you ever had a day or an experience where everything just
falls into place in an odd but perfect way? That’s
this story.
Let me give you a brief background about my experience with
Phantom Planet. I first heard the band in early 1999 and
promptly fell in love. Since I don’t live anywhere
near California, I wished and wished that PP would bring the rock
to Chicago (specifically, to my favorite venue, the Metro), but
never honestly thought it would happen. Fast forward to
this September, and their very first show of their very first
national tour. At the Hideout. In Chicago. A
dream come true. Their show in October at the Metro (!!!)
was nothing short of amazing as well, so when I heard they’d
be playing there again in December (with Pete Yorn, no less!), I
knew I had to go. Ticketmaster didn’t agree though,
and I had to resort to some crazy crazy tactics to get into this
very much sold-out show.
I found tickets for sale on the Pete Yorn board, and soon
discovered that the seller not only goes to my school, but lives
in my dorm on my floor. Could that be any weirder? So I had
a ticket for my sister and my friend Karen, and just needed one
for myself. After trying basically everything I could think
of, I found a girl on a random message board who is friends with
PP’s guitar tech and said she would get me in if she could
get on the guest list. I didn’t hear from her again
until this Tuesday, one day before the show and one day after I
had completely given up hope. She told me she had found a
guy who had extra tickets, I emailed him, and that evening I made
my travel plans!
The next morning, I climbed aboard a Greyhound bus in Champaign,
Illinois, where I go to school. Four hours later, my dad
and younger sister, Claire, picked me up in Chicago and we headed
for the north side and the Metro. After a quick bite
to eat and a rather creepy ticket-purchasing-incident with Dan,
my unlikely savior and ticket-provider, Claire and I got in the
short line in front of Metro. We soon were joined by Erynn,
PP’s guitar tech’s friend, and Brian, James and Fred,
huge PP fans who we had met at the first Hideout show. And
we waited. For a few minutes, I heard
"California" wafting out from the venue during
soundcheck and then the excitement really set in. The line
moved forward a bit, and we saw a sign hanging on Metro’s
doors: "by entering this venue, you are giving
permission to such-and-such company to use your likeness in
the upcoming PHANTOM PLANET video for the song ‘CALIFORNIA’".
Let’s just say that this certainly did not make waiting any
easier, because we wanted to go in and see what this was all
about!
When we finally got inside, Claire and the guys ran upstairs to
stake out our spots. I unsuccessfully tried to leave Karen’s
ticket at the guest list podium for her to pick up (she had to
come late) and would have begged them again had it not been for
the wonderful Mr. Schwartzman. I snagged him as he was
walking past, and explained the situation ("we’re all
here to see you guys, and want to get upstairs before the show
starts!", at which he smiled). I asked if he could try
to get the podium people to take the ticket, and he said he’d
give it a shot. He marched over and, in his best
businesslike voice, said "excuse me, do you think you could
hold this ticket here for a friend who’s coming late?"
and they took it. I could barely keep myself from cracking
up. He turned around, winked at me, and said "no
problem, thanks for coming! i’ll see you later" after I
whispered thanks. (Very very unfortunately, Karen sprained
her ankle that afternoon and couldn’t make it to the
show. We missed you, Karen!!! But see, Jason’s
got your back! hehe)
We found that Claire and the guys had saved some prime spots
right up front and center, and settled in to get ready for the
show. Finally, the lights went down and Jason walked
onstage, sat down, and proceeded to SLAM out the intro to
"Shadows". Our neighbors in the crowd, to whom we
had made sure to talk up PP, said "wow, it IS the guy from
Rushmore!", but forgot about that and stared as soon as he
started playing. The other guys walked out and started up
their feedback sounds. I think this is one of the coolest
parts of the song/show, kind of the calm before the storm; you’re
waiting there in excitement because you know that in a few
seconds the guitar riff will start, and then you get to watch
Phantom Planet own the stage for the next thirty or so
minutes.
I could tell by the time that they started their second song,
"In Our Darkest Hour", that they had really improved in
the couple months since they’d last played Chicago.
The sound was better, they were more tight, and seemed very at
home on stage. And this was an improvement on a live show
that was already above and beyond most bands you see on tour
today. I especially remember this song having a real
boundless energy to it, Alex was doing a little dance during the
intro and everything seemed to have just more of a...snap.
Claire and I sang along to basically every song, and we were some
of the very few who seemed to be huge fans of the band.
They haven’t really broken in Chicago...yet. Alex and
Darren both noticed us singing and smiled. A few songs into
the set, Alex said something to the extent of "thanks to our
fans who came out here tonight" and smiled down at our
little PP appreciation section, which was very cool. Before
"Nobody’s Fault", the guys said as usual that they’d
need some crowd participation and Claire let out a little
whoop. Alex looked over at her and said "that’s
enough out of you", hehe. People were much more
responsive to the call for participation than they’d been at
the last show, and there was a small section of people on the
other side of the crowd who even sang the first few lines with
Alex really loudly. I LOVED finally hearing
"Anthem" live, it was so beautiful and their first time
playing it in Chicago. I’ve heard a crappy live mp3
version of it for so long that hearing it for real made it such a
highlight. Even during the slow songs, Jason would pound
the hell out of his drums. It would be a slow beat, but a
very forceful slow beat. They’re all so fun to
watch, because they go off into their little worlds, but I think
Jason is my favorite for this. He plays so hard and sings
along and does Keith Moon poses and rises off his stool with
momentum. How can you not love that? During one song,
I don’t remember which, Alex decided to take a little
trip. He jumped down into the area between the crowd and
the stage, and then I couldn’t see him anymore. He was
playing on the floor, and then all of the sudden popped up in the
audience’s faces.
I don’t remember when the cameras came out, but they were
definitely there for "California". After the
song, Alex said that they had another show that night at the
Hideout where they would be playing the song over and over again
so they could film it for their video. "So if you want
to be forever immortalized in rock and roll, come on
out". I had read about the show that morning on the
message board, and knew that we probably wouldn’t be able to
go. Claire had school the next morning at seven and I had
to get back to college for exams and presentations and a
recital. This was disappointing enough, but when we heard
that they would be filming the video in the place where we first
saw them and have such great memories, we were even more
upset. Didn’t stop us from rocking out during
"All Over Again", which I remember was also
videotaped. Alex had us all make the most noise we possibly
could before the song, and I think that was recorded
too. Somehow I get the idea that they recorded sound
at Metro and visuals at Hideout, but I don’t remember where
I heard that so it could be wrong. In any case, the guys
certainly went out with a bang. There wasn’t much room
on stage, but they managed to roam around and Jason went
crazy and Alex did the usual crowdsurfing. The song ended
and they left the stage amidst lots of enthusiastic
cheering. We gave up our spots in front to some Remy Zero
fans and went to talk to the band, since they wouldn’t be
there after the show because they had to get to the
Hideout.
Down in the merch booth, we were able to chat with all the
guys. Roman was down there too, filming basically
everything. A little disconcerting at first, but after
awhile I got used to it (Jason: "Oh, this is my cousin
Roman. He’s filming for our video, don’t mind
him!"). I complemented all of them on the show and
they seemed very satisfied with it themselves. At one
point, I got an autograph from Jason for my friend back at school
and then remembered to mention my dad to him. My dad came
with us to the first Hideout show because a) we’re under 21
and its a bar and b) he really truly likes Phantom Planet.
He came to the first Metro show as well, because he was so
impressed with the Hideout show. He talked to Jason a lot
at that show, and encouraged him to keep up his energetic
drumming rather than try to fade into the background a bit
more. They talked about Keith Moon (from The Who) and my
dad made Jason verrrry happy by saying that he was the only
drummer he’s seen that has anywhere near the kind of spark
that Keith did. This time though, he had a meeting and
couldn’t make it. I said to Jason, "our dad was
with us last time", not suspecting him to really
remember. He interrupted me though, and said
"Bill! I love Bill!", which made my dad crack up
when we told him later. While I was waiting behind some
other people to talk to Jason and Alex, I looked up and saw
Darren watching me. He said "Hey, how are you?"
and I was pleasantly surprised to be remembered from last time,
since he also remembered me at the first Metro show. I love
Darren, he’s such a nice guy (well, they all are!).
Somewhere in there, I jokingly said to Jacques that they should
play in England soon (I’m going to be there from January
until June) and he said "well...we’re playing in
Amsterdam in March". I’m going to be really
really close to Amsterdam, and told him that I would definitely
come. He was very surprised and offered me travel
ideas on how to get there..hehe. I don’t remember who
started it, but the guys asked if we were coming to the Hideout
later on. Claire and I said that we couldn’t, and they
were like "why not?". Claire said "well, i
have to go to school at seven in the morning" and I said
that I needed to leave for college at eight. Jacques said,
"hey, me too! we’re going to Minnesota at eight! so
see, you can come to the show". We told them we’d
work on it, and to take care if we didn’t see them
later.
For Remy Zero, we chilled in the lobby because it had grown
really crowded while we were talking to the guys. Brian,
James and Fred headed up to the VIP balcony for that part of the
show, because they were on the guest list. RZ sounded
really good, I kind of wish I would have been able to see
them. We tried to see from multiple places during Pete
Yorn, but the place was so packed that we couldn’t get
anywhere. Claire doesn’t like him, so she was standing
by the stairs and looking down to the first floor when she
noticed a VIP pass down there. She went to get it, and came
back with two that were down there! Then I saw one stuck to
the floor right in front of us, so we took that, put them on and
went to the VIP balcony. It was funny, because at the last
show, Brian had tried to get Jason to believe that Suzanne had
promised us VIP passes to the next show. Jason said
"oh cool! let’s all put our hands in and yell
‘VIP NEXT SHOW!!!!’", so the whole group of us
huddled and did it. I never expected it to actually happen
though! Pete was great, by the way. I’d love to
see him again sometime.
Outside afterwards, we talked to Suzanne and she asked if we were
going to the Hideout too. The guys said they were, and
Claire and I sadly said that we were going to try but that it was
unlikely. She put us on the guest list with them just in
case though, and then the bus took off. My dad drove up and
Claire went to beg. My dad wanted to go to the show
too, but didn’t think that my mom would agree because she
would be worried about him staying out late (show didn’t
start till midnight) since he had to drive me back to school the
next morning. He went to call her and things were as we
suspected...she didn’t think it was worth the risk.
Then Claire, bless her heart, called back and told my mom how
much it meant to us and how the guys had asked if we were going
and how we were on the list. And it worked! I’m
very lucky to have two of the coolest parents in the world, and I
am so grateful that they gave me this opportunity. So we
jumped in the car and headed to the Hideout....
Written by Katie