Looking back to my pre-fangirl life, 8123 is possibly the reason why it started in the first place. My band addiction started with A Rocket To The Moon (a band which was part of the 8123 family before they broke up; watched them at Bazooka Rocks II for the first and last time). Since ARTTM was almost always playing with The Maine and This Century, I started listening to them too and I haven't looked back since.

The 8123 Tour was originally The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon, This Century, Brighten and Lydia's Tour in North America. Due to insistent demand from Filipino fans, PULP Live World was able to bring it to Manila last January 12, 2014. Sadly, ARTTM, Brighten and Lydia were not part of it anymore. So The 8123 Tour Manila only consisted of The Maine, This Century and Nick Santino.

Anyway, on to the concert proper or pre-proper. As soon as the details were announced, Roee and I reserved for the PULP Royalty (PR) package right away. The PR package consisted of a VIP ticket, meet and greet with all of the bands, picture with all of the bands taken by the official photographer, personal laminate ID, baggage check-in, priority queue, magazines, official The 8123 Tour poster and more, and that's only for a total of Php 5,000! Other fans pay tens of thousands of pesos to see their favorite artists (which doesn't include a meet and greet btw), and I get to meet mine for only 5k? Who's the clear winner here? Haha jk

I met This Century first and took the selfie above! I lalalalove Sean. He was so cute and all goofy, I wish could keep him in pocket!

My main goal that night was to have a selfie with The Maine's drummer Patrick Kirch and I got it!!!!!!! (Kahit na walang selfie with other bands as long as I have a pic with him okay na ko actually Haha) He was sooooooo kind! I asked if I could take a selfie with him and he immediately said yes, but I was having a hard time clicking the button on my iPad mini so he was the one who pressed it. He took 4 identical pictures of us. Haha silly Pat! Then I asked if I could get a kiss from him and without having to finish my sentence, he kissed me on the cheek right away! If it's still not obvious enough, Pat Kirch is one of my favorite people in the whole world!!! You see, I have a thing for drummers, and him being so nice and having nice hair is always a plus Haha. And oh, did I mention he's following me on Twitter? One night before going to sleep, I tweeted something like, sometimes I feel that I'm bestfriends with Pat but then again, he doesn't even know me personally. I woke up to a follow from him the next day!

Almost barricades!!! We were at the second row!

Nick Santino. Sorry, I don't have a clearer picture of him since I only brought my iPad with me. He was good doing his own thang with his acoustic guitar! But to be honest, I like him more with A Rocket To The Moon. Someday, someday.

And this, I had to take a picture of. I prefer the drummer. Always.

Then it was time for This Century! Prior to The 8123 announcement, I didn't know any of their songs so I tried to learn as much as I can before the concert. And I must say, hearing them sing their songs live is so much better! Their set was so full of energy that, at one point, I was already having a hard time to breathe. A girl even collapsed in the middle of their set! But Joel Kanitz couldn't help her since the whole concert was being filmed. Yes, you've read that right! That was the surprise of The 8123 family to Manila. The PULP crew filmed everything- from meet & greet, concert proper and the after signing, just like Anthem For A Dying Breed!

Joel's face and biceps were so eye-catching, but Sean caught my eye the most! I love 'em funny and goofy people.

While waiting for The Maine's set to start, I was already thinking of leaving the pit since I couldn't take the heat anymore, but I'm glad I didn't. Their set was all sorts of fun and gloomy at the same time (yes, that's possible with them!).

Having to hear my favorite songs from Black and White to Forever Halloween felt so surreal, I would have slapped my self in the face if I could. Lol

I wasn't able to take a picture of the crowd since I was at the second row, so I grabbed this picture from PULP. Look at all those people!!!!

Post-concert selfie as we were getting ready for the signing. Oh btw, since I was Pulp Royalty, I got to be at the start of the free signing line too (PR is the only way to go, really). All the bands did a FREE signing for everyone who went to the show until 2 am!!! The signing was also held at Skydome in the stage where all the members sat down on a long table. Basically, we just have to held out anything that we wanted them to sign. The bouncers kept on repeating that only 1 merch should be signed by everyone! Lol there's like 3 different bands out there -_- so I sneaked in some merch because no one wants The Maine's EP signed by Nick or Joel, right? I mean, what's the point of signing if it is not their own merch, anyway? Haha

Meet and Greet picture with This Century (I look horrible but whatever! Haha).

with The Maine <3 Look at how Kennedy and Pat tilted their heads to meet mine ahhhhh :")

and with Nick Santino, the former frontman of my absolute favorite band A Rocket To The Man who started this craze of mine. He's doing solo now and calls himself Nick Santino and The Northern Wind and I'm happy for him!

As John O'Callaghan would put it, I don't think I even have to say this but you guys are part of the 8123 family! Needless to say, 8123 MEANS EVERYTHING TO US. Also if you missed the show, I have compiled all the videos I took that night- everything's in this link. 

That's it for now and I hope to see you at the next pit!

Quennie Barrameda © The 8123 Tour Manila | SM Skydome, SM North Edsa | January 12, 2014