Social Repose+ @ The Rocketown (10.27.17)

There are few things more fun than getting ready for a rock show with some of my favorite people.  Draven & I before leaving the house.

THE SET-UP

This white building of the Rocketown complex is a small, very garage-band-vibe venue.  No hate, very cool!  No worries with bringing in cameras or bags, everything was checked.  No re-entry was a bit lame, as well as not even being able to bring cigarettes in, even an unopened pack.  Like all you had to say was no smoking/no-reentry.  We really have to walk them all the way back to the car?  Parking: super easy, nice big lot in between the main building and where we were, so we didn’t have to walk a mile in the rain.  Price did suck, for 4 hours-it was $20.  Even for Falling in Reverse, the whole night was only $10. We got a bit lost getting there, so we showed up about 30 minutes after doors and Cross Your Fingers was already on stage.  

It’s a bit of a bottleneck at the entry, between the ticket counter, bag check, and merch tables, so I kind of ran into both Lee Jennings of The Funeral Portrait, and Skyler, Richie’s drummer.

Tickets were super affordable, I got them from Ticketfly for $12 (back in July) and they were $15 at the door.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS

This band had a bit of a Motionless in White feel to it, as well as their logo.  Similar to Elmyra in genre, local Nashville metalcore.  It was hard to understand them, but the band seemed really cool.

THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT

The only other band, other than Social Repose, that I had known prior to the show.  Granted, I had only known one song.  Thankfully, that was the last song they played: Casanova (C'est La Vie)

Lee Jennings, the lead singer actually commented on my Instagram pic of us and Richie this morning, super cool.  Because it was such a small venue, it made for a super intimate show.  Once the artists were finished, they came and stood in the crowd next to us.  I remember spending Richie’s set standing next to a couple members from Cross Your Fingers.

The Funeral Portrait

HOTEL BOOKS

I wasn’t a fan.  I like the guy, he’s funny, he has a great message.  It really hit home near the end of his set when he said for anyone one who feels like they don’t belong, you belong here.  In garage-band feel venues, with 50 other people who share the same views and interests.  It’s fucking beautiful...I just can’t say I’m a fan for the other spoken word poetry.

SOCIAL REPOSE

So, when The Funeral Portrait was sound-checking, Richie appeared near his merch table out of makeup and people started screaming, I tried to get pictures but they were quite blurry.   During Hotel Books’ set, Weevip & I started walking back to his merch table.  At the same time, he walked out of the back room and nearly ran into us.  Needless to say, we forgot how to breathe, and didn’t even look at the merch table.  We just stood there fangirling.  

After Hotel Books, Richie was back-and-forth setting up everything and starting his countdown.  I believe he and his live drummer: Skyler Truth/ @Secrettreefort, finally took the stage around 9:05.  

From what I remember of his set, he started out with his cover of “Car Radio,” “I can’t Sleep,” and “Island of Yours.”  Later on in the night, he did his cover of “Ride.”  Off the new album, he did “Villain” (Which I love) and another one I didn’t know. Here's a short clip of that song. He sang “Demons,” and his final song was “If you’re thinking of leaving, you should,”  which is one of my favorites.

We wish that he had played “Bipolar Love,” but everything was still amazing.  Since we were kind of standing in the back, halfway through “If you’re thinking of leaving, you should,”  we started walking back to his merch table to be at the front of the meet-and-greet line.  It worked, we were 2nd.  I finally bought my SR Pop Socket.  

I gave Richie a painting that I did for him,  Which was skating SR in nearly full outfit with Pennywise’s balloon.  He signed the other painting I brought which was inspired by a screenshot of “bottom right richie”  “drinking” a bottle of bleach (which I changed to “Liquid Goth”) from his acapella cover of “Ride.”


And Weevip and I got to hug him and get a picture taken. Yaas, perpetual profile photo.
 



 

It was a fantastic night, even though downtown Friday night traffic was absolutely bonkers.  It felt like we were in downtown New Delhi, with no stoplights or street lines.  Taxis were picking people up from bars and weaving in and out of the traffic.  I was just glaring at the people trying to cut in next to us, and blasting our Black Veil Brides.