It's Never Ending!
So Warped Tour July 22 at Hartford was probably one of the best days of my life. I got to see a bunch of amazing bands, but the highlight of my day hands down was meeting Of Mice & Men and Austin Carlile (twice)! Luckily I got to the venue early enough so I could get a ticket for their signing since they were only giving out 100 of them. When it came time for the signing, I was waiting in line at the Trojan tent for a good amount of time, but I was still completely nervous. I had a bunch of gifts to give to the band, since they are my favorite of all time and helped me through so much. When I got to Austin, I was extremely nervous because there was so much I wanted to say to him. I gave him his presents (Star Wars plushies, a drawing and a letter) and he was so ecstatic! I was so glad he enjoyed them. He even got all happy about the drawing of a Charmander I drew on his letter too :p But he saw my Aspire and Create shirt and asked, “When did you get that shirt?” “I got it a couple weeks ago online” I said. The print was faded and the bottom was rolled up because the thread came out. He then took his sharpie and started writing “Give her a new shirt. -AC” on my arm. He told me to go to the Aspire and Create tent so I could get a new shirt for free when he was there for the meet and greet at 7:00 (and hugs and photos). I told him I would definitely be there! He gave me a high five (I was wayy too afraid to hug him at this point, haha) and I left, almost bawling my eyes out cause I was so happy.
When it came time for the meet and greet, I convinced my friend to come with me. Unfortunately, the merch guy saw the massive amount of people there and told everyone who didn’t have a bracelet to meet Austin to leave. I was so upset because I didn’t have a bracelet to go meet him, but my friend reminded me that I basically had a personal invite to see him so I could get another shirt. We were waiting in line and the merch guy kept telling people to leave the line if they didn’t have a bracelet or a personal invite from Austin (pissing many people off in the process). But basically Austin didn’t care at all so many people stayed who didn’t have either. Eventually, my sister came up and saw me and my friend waiting in line and told me to give her my phone so she could take pictures. While waiting, she brought my phone up to take a picture of the tent and as soon as she did that, Austin looked at her and basically posed for it haha. After waiting about half an hour it was my turn to see him again. He hugged me and whispered in my ear “I love you.” I told him I loved him too and all of a sudden I heard my sister scream “KISS HER!” I got SO embarrassed that she just yelled that to him and got extremely flustered. He then had to explain why he couldn’t kiss any fans but he was like “you can kiss me, I just can’t kiss you” and I almost freaked out, so I just kissed him on the cheek. He then took my phone from my sister and we took a couple pictures. “You still need that free shirt!” he said so he gave me a replacement. I hugged him again and thanked him for being an amazing person.
I’m sorry this is so long, but this was literally one of the best experiences of my life. It’s very rare to see someone who has such a big fanbase to devote the time and effort to their fans. This is why I love Austin; he has helped me through some of the most difficult times of my life and he cares so much about his fans it’s unbelievable. I wish more people in the music industry were like him.
