an example of the tension that fans saw in fall 2008
So Ryan and Jon usually ran the shows in 2008. But here's a clip from the first night of the fall tour where Brendon was able to talk more:
It was straight up stressful to watch this season at times. Am I saying it was all bad? Absolutely not. There were tons of fun moments (and the band's drugs probably helped lol). But it was still stressful to see the obvious tension between the two halves of the band (the context in this post is helpful).
I knew some fans who had left the fandom already in early 2008 because they couldn't handle watching the way that Brendon was being treated... like it just wasn't fun. I liked all four band members and was trying to give everyone some understanding & grace as they navigated a lot of changes, but it was still hard to watch at times.
side note: There's some info towards the bottom of this post, but it's also helpful to have a solid grasp on what the band was like each month and watch them evolve over time because every month built on the previous one... you can't take something out of context or only look at one moment.
I think the band's Shout cover best illustrates the season of fall 2008, its changes, and how it could be SO fun while still having some obvious tension. During the Shout cover, Brendon had more audience interaction and free reign of the stage during an energetic song, which so many fans were thrilled to see again since it felt like the Fever era (which a lot of people still expected from this band). Here's a general overview of how the Shout cover went throughout the tour:
I know that's long, but there are so many different timestamps that could illustrate some tension that it's easier to just show the whole thing.
I think this contrast between Brendon onstage in spring & fall 2008 is kind of relevant too, with how he became more confident.
Basically, it looked like Brendon was actually starting to put his foot down and push back, while some fans were upset that Ryan still seemed to be essentially bullying Brendon to keep him in place. Meanwhile, a lot of us were concerned about Spencer. He was visibly going through a rough patch in fall 2008. Many fans who met him offstage said he definitely wasn’t sober, even in the middle of the day. Brendon also seemed to be subtly checking in on Spencer during some of the band’s appearances. I don't know if this moment of the band leaving the MOD balcony is relevant, but fans still pointed out how Brendon had his hand on Spencer's back:
The band talked about how they'd been writing while being on tour that fall. Ryan also mentioned this fall that they were “learning to work together,” which was the same phrase he used in 2005-2006 to talk about the fighting and/or challenges when Brendon didn’t follow his instructions well enough.
Spencer explained a bit more about the fall 2008 season during a 2011 Alt Press interview:
“[Ryan & Jon] were wondering why we weren’t excited about working on their new songs. Brendon was also working on songs, but they never wanted to work on his stuff. Ryan and I had been best friends for 11 years, so it was really tough to have the stuff going on affect the live show.”
Here’s a quote from that same interview where Brendon talked about fall 2008 too:
“We realized we weren’t on the same page musically. Spencer and I wanted to do one thing, and [Ross and Walker] had other ides. We didn’t really see eye to eye. Music is so personal to us that it started changing the way we treated each other while we would write. It wasn’t helping anybody.”
Anyone who claims that the band was all happy & perfect & totally getting along in 2008 just wasn’t paying attention. The split was a really long time coming and it was kind of a relief tbh (again, check out the link in bold towards the top). I'm glad that we're past that season and that the band members were able to go in the different directions that were fulfilling for them.
Ryan told MTV right after the split was announced that “Musically, it got to a roadblock, and we were going one way and they were going the other.” In another MTV interview in summer 2009 Ryan said “We were all just going in different directions, musically. That’s it.” And that’s exactly what we had been seeing unfold very slowly.
