MURDERDOLLS

When we got to the Academy, we found Spider and KeeGle quite quickly and the five of us casually queue-cut to get into the venue quicker. We didn't quite get to the front for the support act, and it took a LOT of argy-bargy behaviour to get to the barrier. We managed in the end though, as we always do cause we are well-learned and skilled in this kind of thing. So we were at the front for most of Murderdolls, which is all I wanted really.
The first support was a London-based band called The Defiled -- they are absolutely AMAZING and you should all check them out! They're incredible live as well, which is a bonus as they're a gorgeous bunch of gothy punky mentalists. Stitch, the lead singer, has a beautiful singing voice and a riveting stage presence. The keyboardist, AVD, is actually insane; he kept throwing his keyboard around and I feared for my life a few times. He appears later in this blog, where more madness occurs. He's actually one of my favourite people now, cause he was half hilarious and half terrifying.
The second support was Black Veil Brides -- you may have heard of them cause of their pretty-boy, Internet scenekid fame lead singer, Andy Six. Honestly, I was not impressed with their 'talent' or their attitude towards the show and the fans. They were mediocre as fuck live, just using shit theatrics (and I mean SHIT) and pretty make-up, hair and costumes to cover up the fact that their music and their stage presence was a load of shit. Andy Twatface Six didn't even make the effort to even look at the audience or interact with them; he just gave off an aura of 'I'm better than you and you mean nothing to me' to everyone. Loads of BVB fans were making hearts and shouting at him, but he didn't even acknowledge any of them. He obviously thought he was doing us all a big favour by being there. Only the people that literally went straight outside after the show got to meet BVB cause they didn't either bother to hang out for a while and talk to fans. I have lost ALL respect for them, and I feel sorry for the multitude of BVB fans that came to the show, some of whom only made the effort for BVB. God, no wonder Joey Jordison hates them.
Murderdolls, however, were ABSOLUTELY ASTOUNDING. Always chatting to the audience, and acknowledging everyone (including the people up in the top shelf). They put so much energy and effort into their performance and got the whole crowd moving and screaming the words to songs. You could tell that they were really enjoying themselves as well. Joey Jordison was right in front of where Lozz, Maggs and I had shoved to the barrier, and I admit I had a little cry cause I was seeing someone I've idolised for years in the flesh. He was adorable too, with an almost permanent grin on his face, waving at everyone and flailing across the stage with unbounded energy. Wednesday seemed to be drawn to our side of the stage too (Lozz blamed my bandboy magnetism XD), and I blew a kiss at Joey with no real hope; imagine how amazing it was when he blew one back, and laughed at my weak-kneed reaction. God I love him; I also love what we called his Petulant Child Look, when he was stood stiffly, glaring at the top shelf who weren't moving with a pout on his face. He looked like he'd been denied sweeties or something XD
The encore call for Murderdolls actually sounded like the end of the world, and looked like Hell. There were red lights that were shimmering in the heat-haze from the sweating audience, and everyone was soaked with sweat and the water that security kept throwing out at us. It started with some scattered shouting for separate members of the band, then a chant started: "Murderdolls! Murderdolls! Murderdolls!" and so on. Then people started clapping and stamping and it sounded amazing; I felt like the apocalypse was bearing down on me and it was the most charged atmosphere ever! Ofcourse, Lozz and I indulged in our favourite encore practice; singing 'Numb/Encore' by Linkin Park & Jay-Z for a few verses. The encore was the most amazing one I've ever seen; they did an amazing blend of two of my favourite 'Dolls songs -- I Take Drugs and Dead In Hollywood. The crowd went wild!
Afterwards, Joey collected up his remaining picks and hopped down into the space between the stage and the barrier to hand them to people. Loads of grebs started battering me at this point, trying to get past and steal a pick. I just looked at Joey and mouthed, "Please?" He put a pick in my hand and closed it with his hand, before giving my hand a little squeeze and letting go. I hugged him, and stroked his hair back from his face to look at him properly; he was absolutely stunning, and had a little smile playing on his lips for a second before becoming serious and moving on to hand Maggs a pick too! He didn't say a word for the whole time, and it just made it all the more magical and surreal! JOEY EFFING JORDISON GUYS!!

Although, because it was such an intense show and a mental atmosphere (I've never experienced anything like it before), I sustained a lot of injuries! For starters, I was bruised all over from the battering I took at the barrier, I still have a sore throat now, two days later.. I got elbowed in the back of the head really hard by some fat greb fuck, and saw stars for ten minutes; luckily though the AMAZING security guy saw this happen and threatened the fat fuck. I liked this. I got accidentally punched in the mouth twice, and kicked in the face when people were taken over the barrier.. You get the idea. I hurt all over, but I loved every second of it!!

We hung out outside for ages, and got obsessed with singing the live recording of the Killswitch Engage cover of 'Holy Diver' by Dio. We got to meet 4/5 of The Defiled, and I'll list each encounter to break up this long blog:
>> Stitch: We established the Cunt Club after deciding we're both horrible bastards; he was such a laugh, and shared his beer with me and everyone in the vicinity which was amusing. My kleptomaniac tendencies reared their ugly heads at this point, and I managed to steal a stud from his jacket. Unfortunately I didn't get his Misfits patch that was stitched haphazardly on his jeans.
>> Luke: An absolute sweetheart; he let me steal his Graveyard Promotions badge from his jacket when I eyed his attire hungrily for something to steal. I told him he was my favourite after he said something very suggestive to me. Ohh, I love band boys that flirt!!
>> AVD: I tried to steal the bandana tied to his jeans and he told me he'd punch me if I did; he's so mad I actually believed him, but I replied coolly, "I'd love to see that. I'm having a hug." before hugging him. He said, "I'm charging for this by the way.. Ten.. Twenty.. Thirty.. Forty.." then he started gyrating his hips against me in a rather crude way, so I danced with him for a while; it was fun! In my picture with him, we are striking a rather raunchy pose, which made me hysterical, and he kept making demonic noises when having his pictures with Maggs and Lozz. Tears of laughter flowed.
>> Vincent: A New York bassist. He was brilliant as he constantly looks terrified. I didn't manage to steal from him either; I didn't have the heart cause he was so cold. I hugged him to warm him up and he liked this. And he refused to accompany Stitch to the pub cause he was 'talking to these guys' (i.e. Maggs, Lozz and I!) I absolutely loved him to pieces.

We also met a lovely Welsh boy called Jarrad, who made an innuendo out of just about everything I said. He was a sweetheart though, and I'm still chatting to him, so that's nice. A new fwend!! We met Jack from Murderdolls, and I exclaimed, "C'MERE SEXAY!!" before pulling him slightly over the fence in a rather enthusiastic hug. His reaction was, "WOAH, HEL-LO!!" and a laugh. I loved him, he was a lovely, lovely guy. And we also met Roman, who dished out picks to Lozz and I, before turning to Maggs and saying, "I have no picks, but I have this if you want it." It was a really shiny pound coin. This was so amusing that Maggs had to take it XD I had to kiss Roman on the face for being so generous! Unfortunaltey we didn't get to properly meet Joey or Wednesday, which is understandable. They're the only original members left in Murderdolls and would've been SLAUGHTERED if they came outside.

Back at the hotel, we stayed up til past 3am, being insane (the pics show the disgusting debauchery that went on) and went for a stroll with Monster to get chips from the kebab shop. The only people out were drunks and insomniacs, and the chips were AMAZING, but I felt ill all night cause I'd been living off Monster all day. I got a couple of hours of kip and in the morning we made up The Wrath Of Sleeping Corey Taylor, and Maggs said, "All jokes aside about him being a genius cause he cut his hair off.." which made me laugh a lot, as it reminded me of Lozz calling Corey a GENIUS. We also made up the whiny 'WEDNESDAYYYY.' which I now use when I'm stuck in a rut.

Click here for a public Facebook album containing the amazing pics from the entire trip. On Saturday we trailed around and looked in shops and had a laugh, not to mention getting a box of Krispy Kremes, omfg yes. AMAAAAZING etc. I'm happy even though I'm suddenly really ill -_-' TYPICAL.

-- Kayleigh