Heyyy everyone and happy Hump Day! So last night was the AWOLNATION concert at the House Of Blues in Cleveland and it was seriously the best night of my life. I was accompanied by my beloved big sis, Kristen, thanks to the two tickets that my oldest brother bought me for my birthday!! From beginning to end my night was perfect…Allow me to explain. 😉

So the doors for the show opened at seven and Kristen and I arrived at the venue around twenty after six. The line was already pretty long when we got there, but we were still fairly close to the door. I’m just happy that we got there when we did because literally five minutes after we showed up the line started to stretch all the way down the street – talk about lucky! The doors finally opened and after we had our bags checked and tickets scanned, I rushed into the venue to get the best standing spot humanly possible…and I did! I was about three feet away from the stage and had an INCREDIBLE view of the entire show! As I mentioned yesterday in my post, Family Of The Year was one of the openers for the show, but I had no clue who the other opener was – and I still don’t!

The first opener started promptly at eight which was nice because by the time we got situated we only had to wait about a half hour or so for the show to start. I didn’t care for the first opener at all, whomever they were. Their lyrics were so completely stupid and I’m pretty confident that they were playing on pre-recorded tracks because there was sure a lot of music heard when none of the band mates were playing their instruments. Either way, I didn’t like them and thankfully they were only on for like a half hour. But for that entire time, I definitely had Resting Bitch Face Syndrome.

Family Of The Year came on at nine and I was very excited to hear them play because I enjoy their music. It’s not like I know all of the lyrics to their songs or anything, but I’m glad I got to see them perform. I heard many people complain about how Family Of The Year’s beachy vibe didn’t really fit in with AWOLNATION’s style and I actually have to agree. They put on a lovely, chill performance however it really did nothing to amp people up for the headlining act. If I had to choose an opening act for the Run tour, I think I would have gone with someone like Everything Everything or Miike Snow because of their vaguely techno sound as well as the fact that they’re much more upbeat. Does this critique take away from Family Of The Year giving a great performance last night? No, I still really liked it. Would I have preferred to hear a different band before seeing AWOLNATION perform? Yes.

Family Of The Year crooned until about nine forty-five and AWOLNATION’s set started right at ten. Needless to say, I was freaking the fuck out. They began their hour and fifteen minute long performance with “Run” and before I get hella into detail about the show, check out the lighting that kicked off the night:

^^^ So rad!!!

So yes, AWOLNATION blasted off their dance party production with “Run” and the rest of the night was all a mesmerizing blur of terrific music, lighting, and a whole lot of dancing and jumping around from there. I’ve heard from friends who have seen AWOLNATION live and from different reviews that the front man, Aaron Bruno, is an amazing performer – and I one hundred times agree. His showmanship was an honor to witness. I’ve heard many times that Aaron is a fan of random screaming and dancing maniacally on stage and he provided us with nothing less last night. He had this insanely brilliant ability to make everyone in the audience feel welcome – even my sister who had never heard one of their songs before. By the end of the night she was in the crowd dancing and screaming along with the rest of us. And that, boys and girls, is what makes an incredible lead singer.

The set list contained basically everything that I hoped would be performed, which included: Run, Not Your Fault, Windows, KOOKSEVERYWHERE!!!, Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf), Sail, Jump On My Shoulders, Kill Your Heroes, I Am, Burn It Down, All I Need, Dreamers, Like People, Like Plastic, and a special full length performance of Knights of Shame. The songs listed was what my night consisted of in it’s entirety but not in that order. How lucky am I? Very. What I liked the most about this set was that it contained only upbeat songs. I mean none of AWOLNATION’s music by any means is low key, even their slower songs, but because those weren’t included in the set the night was filled with constant energy and a whole lot of fun. I couldn’t have picked a better line up of songs if I tried, however, I am slightly disappointed that “Wake Up”, “Jailbreak”, and “Soul Wars” wasn’t included. Honestly, I just wish they would have performed both of their albums back to back! I think one of my favorite songs of the night was hearing “Knights Of Shame” in its entirety – I especially loved hearing Aaron performing the rapped part of the song!

Another major highlight of the night was when AWOLNATION did “Not Your Fault”. Aside from “Sail”, that was the first song my brother introduced me to by them and it still remains one of my all time favorites to this day. Everyone in the band performed incredibly well and they were all so fun to watch. Kristen and I were discussing after the show about the athlete quality stamina that the AWOLNATION guys must have – I mean I know I was exhausted after dancing for an hour and fifteen minutes straight, but I couldn’t imagine how they feel after a show! I seriously don’t think I stopped moving at one point during the concert…This bitch was dancing, jumping, head banging, singing, and screaming up a storm. I just couldn’t help it though! There’s something so magical about being able to sing along with one of your favorite bands and I was just overjoyed. This childlike euphoria kept myself going for the duration of the show, but by the time it was over I was literally drenched in sweat and the only thing that kept me going on the three block walk back to the parking garage was the promise of Taco Bell and water shortly after!

Seeing AWOLNATION live was absolutely everything that I hoped it would be. They sounded simply incredible live, I daresay even better than on their albums. It was also so fun to hear Aaron pepper all of the songs with his random screaming. I’ve been imagining last night for a very long time and it exceeded my expectations by a long shot. For the one hour and fifteen minute concert I felt unashamed to scream out my frustrations during “Windows” and dance like a crazy person during “Burn It Down”. It was like I was in this safe haven where no judgement was being passed because everyone was cutting loose and allowing the amazing music and positive messages to take control. It was one of the best nights of my life. Seriously. I got to spend an evening listening to my favorite band with my favorite person AND I got to eat my favorite food after the concert! What more could a girl ask for? (And BTW, the TBell was magnificent!)

^^^ As you can see from the pics, the lighting during the show was awesome! And Aaron Bruno and the rest of the guys are all a bunch of babes. Hubba hubba.

After an amazing night at the show, eating in the Taco Bell parking lot, and a forty-five minute drive home Kristen and I ended our festivities with some sweet, sweet cuddling. Best. Night. Ever! I hope all of you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it and if you have the opportunity to see AWOLNATION live, then I would jump on that immediately! What was the last concert you went to? Are you going to any shows or festivals this summer? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah