bottomless pit supervisor

Vancouver ritual:

incredible energy in the pit. I was near the front (not barricade sadly) centre stage. the phone ban made me feel like every single person in that pit with me was 100% present and engaging back and forth with the band and I was just like -

the whole time mesmerized by Papa's glittery outfits

that was good and bad because I missed a lot of ghoul action (not the keytar solo tho holy shit)

I DID see Sodo/Dew smack Phantom's ass as he walked by once though ;)

and Phantom and Rain reaching out for each other

Phantom WRITHING on that amp jeez

guitar ghouls being silly and not getting out of Papa's way and holding notes too long and refusing to stop etc

not one but two lacy undergarments picked up by Papa that were thrown on stage... and the way he made a big deal about giving them to the security guy at the barricade. iconic

Papa flicking his tongue at us like a gremlin and hitting the yoinky sploinky

seriously I was not expecting him to do a bunch of bits especially with his voice while singing V's songs

but singing my heart out and jumping and throwing the devil horns up and raising my hands up to them all was like as close as a religious experience as I will get haha. I just love the ghouls so much. I think Vancouver was especially energetic because we have waited so long, thank you Papa for apologising even though we know you're a liar <3 ("do I look like a guy who would lie to you?" crowd in unison: "YES" and his stunned face lmao)

sorry Portland but Vancouver showed UP for that concert. The outfits were incredible, 10/10 effort, so much skull paint and full costumes, people seemed mostly dressed "normally" in Portland by comparison lol

also some guy directly in front of me raised his wife up so she could flash the stage near the beginning and then they bolted somewhere else in the crowd. and I watched security drag someone else out from the barrier (maybe phone use?). so that happened. plus people using lighters to wave around without phone flashlights.. I feel like I got the whole 80s rock concert experience.

plus I got a mummy dust $ note from a kind person at the barricade when the show ended :')

Portland ritual

I got AMAZING seats for not too expensive of a price?? and last minute?? I was to the left of the stage a couple rows back from the front so for this show I was actually high enough up to be level with the stage and not just stare up in awe. I was close enough that I got all the really lovely interactions with Phantom and Rain when they were working my side, and I got an amazing view of the ghoulettes. absolute queens I love them so much

Haze and Cirrus vibing with each other and dancing/blowing kisses was mesmerizing. at one point Cirrus stuck her tongue out at Haze and it caught me so off guard cause it looks so silly coming out of the void of their faces

and them skipping gleefully with the tambourines over to Aurora to dance around Rain together was fucking adorable.

I really enjoyed watching the details like the instrument switches - phantom fist bumped the crew member who handled his guitar handovers each time it was so sweet. also how is that man so bendy.

we disappointed Phantom on our side by cheering instead of booing after Sodo/Dew was working the other side.. he was shaking his head and it was so funny because i knew what he wanted but everyone's (understandably) just like WOO GUITARS YEAH

I think at one point Sodo, Rain, and Phantom were all jorkin it too

also want to point out the absolute power of hearing an american crowd in portland scream "the dark facist regime WILL BE GONE" during The Future is a Foreign Land. really cool to feel that energy that obviously isn't the same in the Vancouver crowd -- (even though Papa was making a lot more direct political commentary between songs in Vancouver!)

We GOT ELIZABETHHHHH and Ritual I feel so blessed. Elizabeth sounds so different live! I wanted to hear Faith pretty badly but I will take this. (we got Satan Prayer in Vancouver and I still can't decide if we fumbled the words or knew them very well) The moment I saw the lights go into a colour I didn't remember from Vancouver I started vibrating with excitement

ALSO I WAS ON THE BIG SCREEN during the Square Hammer encore apparently, I didn't see it cause I wasn't watching the screen but the guy in front of me was rocking TF out (as was I) so we got screen time. I wish that was immortalized somewhere.

SO funny to me that one of the official photos features the guy holding his sock up over his head in the pit (Papa said he'd rock our socks off after saying he'd tear us new assholes)

also the group dressed as rats in the pit jumping around was so funny

watching Phantom pick up someone's handmade bat plushie and flap it around at Rain was the sweetest - he put it off to the side by his stage exit so I am assuming he kept it

at the closing bows I cried :'( when everyone else cleared out around us the punk dad in full metal getup next to me gave me a handmade screenprint patch.. I almost cried again because that was so sweet and I'll never forget it

then of course I had to break into my friend's house in seattle at 2am after driving for 3 hours after the portland ritual because he was asleep and his door keypad died