SOUNDWAVE.

So there was some troubles on my hard disk that forced me to leave the blog abandoned for awhile :( It felt awful not be able to post anything while I was still in a major euphoria of Soundwave. Let's continue the concert post, shall we? :D Starting from these tickets...

the reason I'm planning my holiday to Sydney since 6 months ago... :)

We went to the Olympic Park by train. There were special line from the Central to the Olympic Park and those trains were packed with mostly Blink and Metallica fans. Oh wait, you might wanna see the line-up for this year's Soundwave...

INSANEEE.

This piece of schedule sheet is a heart breaker. Some great bands are clashing, they're playing at the same time in different stages. And it is launched after the tickets are all sold out. Blink and Metallica is clashing, but *lucky for me* Paramore and Blink are sharing the same stage!!! In any other cities, Blink and Paramore played in the same time which gonna be a bummer for me and Audrio because we will need to split or sadly missing another band's performace. This is obviously our dream for all this time, watching our favorite bands together in the same stage, finally happened! :)

The gate!

By the way, they classified the audiences by age for drinking permit. Not only in events, but I found out that they are really that strict for drinking law in every cafes, bars and even restaurants. Nice. :D

Look at us so happy, all neat, lovely and ready ..... for 10 hours of standing in the crowds, 

through the summer heat and heavy rain. Hell yeah.

The weather was unpredictable, it could be hot as hell yet five minute later the heavy rain swiftly swamped us until we were soaking wet. Literally in 5 minutes, kinda awful weather for a huge outdoor event like this. I still need to stand still until the last show which probably ends at midnight so I'm not gonna risk myself to catch a flu or fainting that day. Unfortunately I forgot to bring any sunblock, so I wore my bulky sweater (yes, I got a lot of weird looks from people because I was that crazy to wear sweater for the concert in the middle of summer) and bowler hat to protect me from the rain. As long as I'm not fainting or got burned in the sun during the concert, I'm not losing my front row spot! THE WAR IS ON.

The crowds during Flogging Molly.

FYI, the venue was HUGE. For the main stage itself, it took almost one olympic stadium. And there were 6 different stages playing at the same time. This was by far the biggest (and the best) concert festival I've ever been to.

Now you can see my crazy sweater and hat in the middle of all the girls in tank tops and bikinis.... 

But guess what, I got the front row spot!

...Just to let you know how many people were standing behind me. Need a clearer view? well here's a picture directly from the stage, taken from Tom Delonge's instagram...

80,000 people, baby!

I wasn't planning to get the front row because of the previous concert a few days ago (Blink's sideshow) with the crazy crowds and all the pushing which made us can't even enjoy the show. I was expecting a bigger mess with five times the audience capacity, but this time the crowds were neat and so much more organized than the sideshow, and also Rio took a good care of me while we were in the moshing pit so we can watch the concert peacefully. :)

But I'm still incredibly impressed with the Soundwave's promoter for giving us a great security service, and for all the audience for being really lovely. I was actually scared to enter the moshing pit with a dreadful "Enter At Your Own Risk" sign written on the gate. But surprisingly, everything was totally under control. The emergency aid was placed beside the stage, near the mosh pit, noticing the audiences in the pit might have the biggest risk of getting injured. The security team was always ready on the front line, providing drinking water or any other help, especially anticipating if any of us was fainting during the heavy rain and intense hot weather. And the moshing pit was very civilized. They really take care of each other. No matter how scary looking they were, when I stooped to fix my shoelace for a second, a tall guy asked me nicely whether I'm okay or I need help. And they let smaller people *like me* taking their place for a better look. That is just heartwarming to know there are still a lot of friendly people who would do nice things to strangers... Just not what I often met at concerts before. What could you expect from a huge metal & punk rock festival with hundred thousands of people in it? Meanwhile in here people got injured, or rioting during boyband concerts,... Why, really.

...wait, what?

Whaaat??

Yes, Blink 182 came first before Paramore. Turned out a few bands were rescheduled because the containers carrying their stuffs got stucked on floods. Too bad The Garbage couldn't make it to the venue and was cancelled on Sydney touring. Though I know the promoter tried really hard not to disappoint us. While we were waiting for Blink, a group of audience from the other side started to sing the first phrase of "First Date". Then we continued to sing the next phrase, and we all sang it together :D LOL, good times we spent minutes before Blink started.

All the exhaustion I got from hours of standing just gone. Totally gone, seeing them finally playing. This is just the best week of my life. :") ...And wait...

.....MY ULTIMATE BUCKET LIST IS CHECKED!!

*be right back, fangirl-ing*

There were rumors that they are not gonna play Ignorance anymore, but they played it here! Ilan Rubin also did a very good job on the drum (but he was too far away, can't see him clearly). Jeremy did the famous 'Pressure' backflip with Taylor. What I missed after my first Paramore concert in Jakarta. I miss the Farro brothers. :')

Sooo happy. This is gonna be one of my historical moment seeing all my favorite bands together. All the loss are paid, they're totally worth it. Thank you God for letting me having a wonderful experience early this year. 2013 is gonna be awesome. :')