In the beginning of the week I had no idea I would be going to a Panic! At the Disco concert, until my friend texted me and told me that there was a contest to win tickets and even be able to meet the band. I have no idea how she does it, but my friend always manages to win radio contests. I’ve tried to help her multiple times, but she always wins and it always amazes me. (I’ve even tried using more than one phone, and she still somehow wins using just one phone.)
Well, she won again, and when she told me, it didn’t fully hit me until the day before the actual concert that I would be going and meeting Panic! At the Disco. It had been a hectic week, so it kind of slipped my mind. When it finally got to me that I would be seeing them, I could not contain my excitement, it was unreal. I have always appreciated Panic’s music and have constantly listened to them. Although I have seen them live before, it was never at a concert of their own, but I always heard good things about their concerts. In videos, I had seen their lead singer, Brendon Urie, have so much energy and do backflips on stage and I couldn’t wait to see it happen.
The day of the concert began as a bit of a mess because I was almost late to the meet and greet with the band. I had dragon boat that day so when I got home I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until two hours before the concert (which was a problem because it usually takes me awhile to get ready). The ride to the concert turned problematic when the bus I took stopped for awhile because there was a bunch of construction happening. By the time I was on BART, I only had about 20 minutes to make it and my friend was already there ready to stall. We had to be there by 6:15 pm and I got there at exactly 6:15 pm (from BART, I basically sprinted to the Oracle Area and I was so out of breath). My friend was a little mad but as soon as we got inside and realized that we were actually going to meet Panic! At the Disco, she quickly forgot why she was mad.
We were told that the band’s lead singer had a fever for a few days, and so their manager said that he wouldn’t be at the meet and greet. At first I thought he was kidding because everyone around me was joking around saying that they’ll replace Brendon in pictures, but he really wasn’t kidding. I was a little bummed out, but I was still really excited to meet the rest of the band. While we waited, my friend had a great idea to ask them to pose like we were taking prom pictures, which they thought was really funny.
Before Panic! At the Disco performed, the concert had two opening acts, Misterwives and Saint Motel. Misterwives cancelled because they were sick, which made me kind of sad because I’ve listened to Misterwives before and I really like their music. The other opening act was Saint Motel, who I heard of before (one of my friends had even asked to go to a concert of theirs at one point, but I couldn’t go). They were really good and had a lot of energy on stage. Their set was also accompanied by clips of the first moon landing. I’m not entirely sure how it related to the band but it made the pauses between the songs interesting.
Overall the Panic! At the Disco performance was amazing. Brendon’s vocals were out of this world. The fact that he performed like that with a high fever makes me question whether or not he is actually human. Brendon even brought out a grand piano and was singing in the middle of the crowd. There was also fire on stage during some parts, and that was so shocking.
I have to say that watching Panic! At the disco might be on my top-five lists of concerts I have ever attended. They just have so much energy, and they were able to keep the crowd energized the entire time. There was also this fan project where during one of their songs, “Girls/Girls/Boys,” we would hold up different colored hearts to represent the LGBTQ community. It was really cute and the band really seemed to love it. At the end of the concert, they had confetti—it’s weird but I really love confetti at the end of concerts, it just makes me so happy. This was my first concert of the year and I’m really glad I went.
