The Simon Tonekham Statesman

This is one of 3-part series on the concerts that the author have attended in his lifetime. Using the archives, Simon revisits the time on the concerts he went and what experiences he encounter. The opinons expressed are those of the blog writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the parties involved. Viewer discretion is advised.

On a fair day on May 13th, 2006, I attended the concert of my lifetime. I went to see Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects live in concert. They were among the acts of the “Blackclouds and Underdogs tour” along with October Fall, From First to Last and on certain dates, Hawthorne Heights and The Hush Sound. The bands on the 2nd leg of the tour were performing at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. Earlier in the day, I have opted to go and see Fall Out Boy down at Yonge-Dundas square. They were performing for a free show sponsored by icoke.ca. The crowds were very massive and some of them were pushing and shoving to each other and I couldn’t withstand the massive crowds so I have to stay away from a safer distance.

After that, I went to HMV down on Yonge Street because The All-American Rejects were doing an autograph session and I was very excited to see the band. I signed my “Move Along” CD to the guys and I exchanged handshakes with them. Once that was done, I happily walked down on Yonge Street and heading towards Queen Street to MuchMusic HQ, where Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects were appearing for a special MuchOnDemand taping.

From my experience, the crowds were massive and some were standing on the street cheering for the band! I didn’t stay for long and I have to make my massive journey on the 501 streetcar and then I have to transfer to the 511 streetcar deadhead to Exhibition Place and Ricoh Coliseum.

I told my sister early that she has to meet me at the Ricoh and she met me there. We got in and we found our seats from there. If I remembered correctly, October Fall and From First to Last were performing first (yes, Sonny Moore, the former lead guy was a member at that time). The bands were okay, but later on to my surprise, The All-American Rejects were performing through my eyes! I couldn’t remember what exact songs they sing, but the songs that I know that were singing were, “Move Along”, “Dirty Little Secret” and “Top of the World”.

After the All-American Rejects performed, Fall Out Boy comes on stage with full colours! I really like how the guys were performing very well. My favourite songs were, “Sugar We’re going down”, “Dance Dance”, “A little less sixteen candles, a little more touch me” and “Grand Theft Autumn (Where is your boy tonight)”.

Despite the great performance, I had an awesome great time at the concert. I bought a Fall Out Boy concert t-shirt complete with the tour dates. The t-shirt features a few people in the background kissing and hugging and one guy who is standing behind a ladder and holding a broken mirror, looking at the sky at the top. Also in the background were a black cat. That’s all the details I can give to you.

After the concert has ended, many fans were making their massive exodus out of the Ricoh and they were going home by their means of transport (at that time, the Don Valley Parkway was closed off for maintenance and concert goers have to find a way home). On the public transit side, many fans took the streetcar home, while others (my personal favourite) take the GO Train home. They were battling against one Ticket Vending Machine down at Exhibition Station, since the other was broken at the time. When our train heading east arrived, many fans tried to get themselves into the train and the conductor says this, “All Aboard, Passengers! We don’t have much time!” (or something like that) – that’s my most humourous quote of that day. These pictures that I took on the day of May 13th, 2006 brought me back memories of the time that I want to increase my punk rock intake. These bands were very popular among fans.

Anyways, that’s how my concert went for me, I had an awesome great time at that concert, but it wasn’t a year later that Fall Out Boy were headlining a tour that is very massive and to kickoff the summer concert season! More on that next time.