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FSM, Manchester Roadhouse
8th June, 2003

I think maybe the reason I wasn't as excited as last time was that it was a Sunday, and Sundays are just naturally slow, unexciting days. And also possibly the fact that Quinn wasn't there to excite me! So Dad and I set off on our journey at about sixish, and a while down the road he asked me if I wanted to put FSM on. Which obviously I did. But the CD player in our new car scares me so I let him do it.

We were in Manchester some time after seven, and then came the always fun task of finding the damn place. We ended up down the wrong end of a road, but at least we didn't have to turn around on a one way street this time! Once we were headed back in the other direction, Dad began to recognise places from last time, and I spotted a sign for Newton Street, and we turned down there. I saw the queue starting to form and I was like "there it is!" and so this time he managed to turn down the street towards the car park without much trouble. We walked back towards the Roadhouse, and were in the (fairly short, at this point) queue by about twenty past seven. I spotted SemiColon from the board - recognised his hair from last time! - but didn't go and say hi. I also saw Zu at the front of the queue, or at least I think I did, he was quite far away! And no, he wasn't queuing to get in, he was just chatting!

They let us in about ten past eight, and the guy checking bags told me he wouldn't bother checking mine as it was too small to get anything in. He obviously hadn't been informed of it's tardis-ness then! So I got to the bottom of the steps, handed in my ticket, and the girl told me I'd need ID if I was wanting to drink at the bar, which I wasn't, and I said, "no, I haven't got any, it's alright." Because I wasn't there to drink at the bar, I was there to see the band!

Once we were inside I made a beeline for the merch table because I *wanted* a copy of Live & Unheard Of, damnit, and I got my copy! I stared at all the stuff while Dad went to get the drinks, adding up how much stuff I could afford. I still need to buy a copy of Marlene, actually, to complete my collection. But that's off the subject.

Dad was offering to buy me something alcoholic but I just wanted Coke. I think he though I was bizarre. So when he came back I bought a new t-shirt - I'd been wanting a vest top like I'd seen at the last gig, but they didn't have any the same, and I liked this long sleeved one I spotted. So I bought that. I also wanted a couple of posters but I thought I'd wait until the end of the gig to stop them getting squashed.

Dad and I stood right at the front until the first support band came out, and they were quite good. Dad went off to stand in the corner away from the speakers, but I wasn't planning on giving up a spot right at the front! They were quite like Duck Sick, my friend Dan's band. When they announced that their first song was going to be "funky cheese and dirty laundry" I knew there was going to be something Duck Sick-esque about them, but when they started, I was surprised exactly how much like them they were! If only the lead singer (who was quite yummy) had been a bit more barmy, they'd have been like a DS tribute band!

Sonara (the main support act) just scared me. Like, really, really scared me. Very very loud, I was right next to the speaker and they deafened me way more than FSM did. Lots of head banging type stuff, and just … scary!

Finally, sometime after ten, FSM came on. During Sonara I'd seen all of FSM standing offstage watching and taking photos of both the band and the crowd. I noticed exactly how much like Christian Kane Derrick was looking, which is definitely a good thing. Had a scary moment when I thought Steve had grown a very scary beard, then looked closer and realised that it wasn't Steve at all, it was just a guy.

They played All I See first, which is one of my total fave FSM songs. I could see the set list on the wall, which kinda took some of the surprise away, but I didn't care! I knew what songs they were going to do! They followed that with Say It and She Knows (which is my favourite FSM song of all FSM songs) and then they did Hold Me, Empty and Prison. After a bit of chat, asking who had the new album yet, they played Darker Days and Dilate, followed by Believe, which is a new one. I think. I was getting a lot of "buzz buzz buzz" as they were talking due to my closeness to the speaker.

And then they did Stars Come Down, Thrown, and Pain. And the look on Derrick's face at the beginning of Pain was like "yeeeeeeah! Paaaaaaaaain!". So they did those, and then they left. And then we all started chanting 'Rio, Rio, Rio, Rio" and they came back on and did Rio. Zu was laughing at me during Rio because I knew the words and I don't think he was expecting someone my age and teeny size to know *all* the words to Rio! And then they finished off with Sway, which also rocked.

So I pushed through the crowd to Dad, thinking it was going to be too late and he wouldn't let me get stuff signed because he was wanting to go home. But he said "Go on, get in the queue then." So I legged it before he changed his mind! I found the queue, in which I was about fourth, and then he held the place while I went and bought a copy of the new poster, and another copy of my Pain one. When the lads came out, there were a large number of people pushing in, but never mind! I still got up to the front pretty quickly. Chris told me he'd seen me up front, next to the speaker, and was I deaf now? And I said yes, but only in one ear. He signed my stuff - Welcome Home, because I got my copy signed for Selina last time and then bought myself another one after, Live and Unheard Of, and my new Pain poster. And then Derrick signed it, and then Zu, and I got a photo with him (topless this time!) and then Tad gave me a big hug and sweated all over my Welcome Home, which he actually wrote on it! And then Steve signed stuff, and it was all very fun.

And then we went to get in the car and drove to the exit of the garage we'd parked in and the metal gate was down. So Dad went to try and figure out how to get out, and then this other car drove up beside us, put their ticket in the machine and the barrier *and* the main metal gate went up. And Dad was like, 'oh! That's how you do it!' and got back in the car and we drove home. We drove past an on-fire car and before that, a fire engine that was obviously lost and looking for the on-fire car.

So we got home not long before one, and I went to bed, because I had a German listening exam to do the next day with my new one-sided deafness.

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