On Friday at around two, my parents, sister and I got in the car and made the ninety minute or so drive to Philadelphia to see the band fun. perform live in concert at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts as part of their Most Nights summer tour.
Believe it or not, it was the first concert I'd ever been to. As I write this, I'm wonder if I've struck you all as the kind of person who goes to them all the time, especially ones for singers/bands most people haven't heard of, or have heard of, but haven't actually listened to them. Believe me, after Friday night, I want to be that kind of person.
Anyway, so. fun. Yes, that's the way their name is stylized. Let's do a quick background check- fun. are the artists of the immensely popular "We Are Young" and "Some Nights", the former of which won the Grammy award for Song of the Year.
They are made up of Nate Ruess (right), the lead singer, an Arizonian, Jack Antonoff (left), the guitarist, a New Jersian, and Andrew Dost (center), a player of multiple instruments (mainly keyboard), a Michiganian (I think that's how you'd say it). Apart from that being maybe the most use of participles ever on this blog, each of these talented gents were members of another band before subsequently leaving to join fun. in 2008. Despite their being most known for their second album, "Some Nights", and the two songs I mentioned from it, they have also released an album called Aim and Ignite. They wrote a song for the HBO series "Girls", and have done several Christmas covers.
I think that's a lot of the reason I like fun.- they're a pretty big deal in the public eye; however, they're hipster enough to have a college-aged fanbase and plenty of awesome songs that you don't hear about. Oh, and did I mention that Nate Ruess is INSANELY attractive?
Yep. We're getting married, in case you were wondering.
Anyway, back to the concert: after about forty minutes of sitting in traffic, which was painful, as we would be about two minutes away from the venue without it, we were able to get to the concert and park on the lawn across from the ampitheatre. As we walked toward the gates, I started to get a glimpse of the personnel who were arriving- a big influxof people, despite our getting there just at the start of the opening act. It was a lot of hipster, artsy college-age kids and twenty-somethings.
Once in, the challenge of finding a seat arose. Our seats were on the lawn, which, despite their connotation of "nosebleed seats", had a pretty good view of the stage. Plus, they were right under the jumbo screen. However, the term "lawn seats" is rather broad- you could have sat anywhere. Our options were a bit limited, though, as most people had already gotten there. Under some sort of divine providence, however, I was able to secure a spot at the front of the sloped lawn. Here was the view:
The performers you see on the stage are Tegan and Sara, a Canadian sister duo who opened for fun. They were quite good. They performed until about 9, and, at the point, the roadies took to the stage to set it for fun. This took a rather long gtime- fun. didn't go on until 9:30, an hour and a half after the start of the concert. I was pretty thankful for this, as I spent some of this window with my dad getting a shirt and using the bathroom- now that was an unpleasant experience. A.) The woman's line was so long that some girls were going into the men's room (it went by pretty fast, though). Not to mention, B.) the bathroom was about 1,000,000 degrees; no less than the outside temperature, I might add.
But, oh God, once fun. came on, it was all worth it.
I don't really remember how they made their entrance; it seemed like they just sort of appeared in the left corner of the stage, all wearing white tuxedos and singing the intro to "Some Nights" in front of a piano helmed by Andrew. It was at this point that it actually it me: oh my God, I'm at a fun. concert. A real, live, actual fun. concert. It's such a strange sensation to see a group of people for so long in music videos, televised award shows, and iTunes acoustic sessions, and then to see them in the flesh, right in front of your face. You think to yourself, "That's not just a pixilated hologram. That's. Really. Them." I'm not afraid to admit I got chills upon pondering this.
Anyway, after the climax/ending of "Some Nights Intro", Nate's amazing belt of a high C, the stage went dark for a few moments, until...
(Sorry for the atrocious quality) That's the "explosion" that occured on the stage screen when the guys ran out from the wings, changed from tuxedos to casual clothes, and bursting into "One Foot". It was so amazing.
Well, the rest of the concert went as you'd imagine it would go. fun. played a bunch of their songs from both of their albums, including "Carry On", "At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)", "Why Am I the One", "It Gets Better", "The Gambler", and "Walking the Dog". They also covered "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones, and some song called "How Far is Heaven". Also, Nate dropped an F bomb on multiple occasions, but that was okay.
Yes, Nate cut his hair. :(
As expected, "We Are Young" was the last song they sang, which was especially awesome because, at the part when the hook starts ("I'll carry you home...TONIIIIIGHT"), the stage lit up with the word FUN written in light bulbs behind them. It was so cool. Then, they broke into "Barlights", I believe, which was when Nate actually went into the crowd. I was so hoping- perhaps praying is a better word -he'd come up to the lawn in an attempt to prove my dad wrong; however, he did not, which was no skin off my back, as the stairs he would have climbed had been crowded with fangirls like me, thereby decreasing my ability to see him. The atmosphere was so pumped up at that point.
Of course, "We Are Young"/"Barlights" was hardly the last song. Just seconds after the "thank you"s and "good night"s, the band reentered the stage for a performance of the song from which the title of their tour comes: none other than "Some Nights". We stayed until the end of that song, then made a point to leave the ampitheatre so as to beat the crowds. Unfortunately, this enabled us to miss the real last song, "Stars". Now that I think of it, though, it was probably smart; "Stars" is about eight minutes long, which would have put us especially behind. Plus, as we were making the trek back to the car, we could hear it perfectly well.
At this point, the time was about 11:00. Sure, I was tired, but there was no way I could sleep in the car after something as big as that (I rarely sleep in the car as it is). I was so stoked; plus, the big yellow glowstick my dad had bought was casting a loud glow that illuminated the car.
As we cruised up the highway back home, my mind was swimming with thoughts:
- "That was fun.. It was really them."
- "Wait a second... Nate didn't do the cool think with his voice in 'Some Nights'!"
- "Sweet mother of God, I can still feel the humidity clinging to my shirt."
- "Now that I think of it, 'The Gambler' is actually a really sad song..."
- "Oh, hey- I just saw fun.."
So, yeah. One of the two best nights of my life.
I said "one of", you'll notice. The other one is another story entirely...
****************
I took all of the pictures in the post except for the following:
First fun. pic: npr.org
Nate Ruess, close up: tumblr.com
Nate Ruess, lights in the background: weezer.com
Nate Ruess, hands crossed: zimbio.com
(Dear God, I used a lot of Nate Ruess pictures in this post...no regrets, though!)
