#travel notes

you may (or may not) know me as a zhou shen shooter and it is true that he's the reason I started listening to music recreationally and still is like 50% of my current music intake. however! a few yrs into my zs-only music diet I started branching out. and by branching I mean listening though the discographies of artists whose names i was familiar with (very few bc i was raised under a rock). thus, I became a fan of my chemical romance like twenty yrs after their heyday. rly i'm at most a 路人粉, but hey that’s more than I can say for anyone except zs.

i only found out mcr was touring was bc i saw an ad like a week before their show here <- aforementioned rock lifestyle. actually apparently they were also in my area last yr, and i'm soooo not bitter that i didn't even know, it's totally fine that i never got to see mcr execute ppl onstage. whatever!!!

i went with the friend who first introduced me to mcr :) and by introduced i mean he wore a black parade shirt semi-often, which i guess reinforced the name into my mind enough that i didn't just banish it into the ether like i do with most pop culture knowledge i encounter. and then later remembered them when i was branching. and now we're here.

apparently ppl were handed postcards when they went in? we got there a bit late, so i guess they ran out or something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ my friend later found one on the floor though so at least she got one. it's, like, a photo of a battlefield or something? honestly looks quite cool

the concert itself was rly good, 10/10 experience!! i vaguely knew beforehand that there was like, a storyline to the tour or whatever, but tbh at the time i didn't want to look into it. i've never even looked up the lyrics to any of mcr's songs despite having no idea what they're saying like half the time, bc i always thought that if i fed any interest i had in them i'd get Too Into It and frankly i don't have the energy to spare. mission failed though, concert experience so good it has me looking up mcr lore. ugh.

even without an execution like in the 2025 tour (still not bitter about missing it), they went all-in on the theatrics. i kind of mentally tuned out all the story parts bc i was still in my trying not to get Too Into It era (technically i still am, i'm just relaxing my definition of Too Into It), but it was just a really entertaining show besides.

memorable moments: near the end, a guy ran onstage on fire. there was this this creepy ass eyeball that i guess symbolized the prison surveillance/enforced the will of the oppressive (fictional, in-universe, but not unlikely a commentary on the real american) government. gerard way stabbed a guy multiple times and ate his organs. one of the band members lovingly fingered his guitar onstage, we watched that for like a good few minutes. at the beginning there was a moment where the band('s characters?) took medication and one of them unzipped his fly and put the meds in there. awesome pyrotechnics. and ofc gerard way's (character's?) generally tortured demeanor, that guy has some real stage presence (also, is it just me or does he sound rly different in person? especially his speaking voice?). if you can't tell, the only band member i can reliably identify is gerard way bc he sings.

panopticon moment ^

also, just, the general concert vibe that i am learning i really really enjoy. yay for socially-accepted screaming with strangers!! also, i like when they have a lil fun with the live songs!! i think bc the last two concerts i went to were for artists i wasn't that familiar with, i wasn't as wowed, but this pretty much recaptured the way i felt when i saw zhou shen, since i actually like the performer(s) and know the songs and such. a lotttt of fun!!!

and also like when i saw zhou shen, now that it's over these guys are legit taking over my mind. i really don't wanna get into them for real, but i'm watching videos on their concert lore now. the only music i can stand to listen to is theirs. i broke my own rule that i set for my own good and started looking up the lyrics to their songs. it's getting dire i really need to get outta here.

I grew up doing very small car trips. I think the most I've spent on the road before was 10h and it was the worst time of my life. You see, in Brazil we don't really tend to take on veeery extensive road trips like it seems like people do in the U.S., and now I understand why.

First of all, most of my anxiety was rooted in at some point needing badly to use the restroom - this may be a little TMI, but I think my anxious peeps may agree that when we need to go, WE NEED TO GO. I was so pleased to notice that the number of gas stations and rest stops was borderline excessive most of the time. Yippie!!!

sidenote: whoever invented rest stops should have the right to live freely in this universe, cause having access to vending machines and clean bathrooms is a must for me.

Second of all, in Brazil, at least where I grew up, the roads are filled with twists and turns that always made me dizzy and got me sick at some point. However, here in the U.S., most roads are quite straightforward, with very few delightful exceptions!! I loved the portion where we passed by the mountains (I think that was in Tennessee??).

I guess this could be a good point to mention my favorite states and the ones I would rather skip. I loved the drive through Tennessee and when we got to Michigan, everything seemed so damn bright and clean. On the other hand, I would rather skip the chaos of driving through the Atlanta area in Georgia and the nothingness the road offered us in Indiana (which I slept through most of).

All this to say that I am so damn proud of myself for getting out there and so damn thankful for the wonderful support system my husband gives me in stressful situations like this!!!

On Sunday, we made our way back home and survived yet another 18-hour drive. RAAAH!!! Getting home felt amazing, and I feel like I am still sort of tired from the trip, but I can definitely say it was worth it. My plan was to add more pics here, but I juuuust realized they didn't really save to my photos cloud...

If you wanna see a little photodump from my Florida to Michigan road trip, I'll leave a link to my Instagram down here.