Vintage Panic!

(hopefully u don't mind me publishing this ask if not i can delete!!!)

i have no idea when this ask was sent!! i'm sorry for it being probably years late!!

honestly it was a mix of emotions! i had only met one band prior, coba starship, and their m&g was not super organized. it was supposed to happen before the show and for some reason was postponed until after, and then they sat at small bar high top tables where you were free to approach each member at random to chat/ask for a photo/get a picture etc.

panic!'s was much more organized. i met them in 2008 at the rock band live tour. i won m&g with the pre-sale purchase of my ticket. my friend and i arrived to the venue early to wait in line, then zack iirc called all the m&g people over to form a new line and give us wristbands. he went over some ground rules and made a few jokes. i was intimidated by him because i heard hears he could be mean but he was fine to me each time i met them (i don't say that to discredit people who had bad experiences just that mine was not). we then were brought into the venue and stood in a line around the room. the band entered and people waved/said hi. you could feel an energy shift of nerves/excitement.

each person first approached the table they had set up and had a quick moment to talk to the band and get an item of your choice signed. the band would only use black sharpies that they had, i remember a mom being upset they couldn't use her silver sharpie to sign a black t-shirt but zack said there had been instances of sharpees being tampered with in the past so they only used their designated sharpees and he would not budge.

as i waited in line i took a few pictures of the band while they were at the table and zack flashed his flashlight at me as a way to tell me to knock it off and i was shaking lmao

when it was my turn to approach the table i first met spencer who was very friendly, asked what the pin i was wearing said, and joked about signing the item i brought. at which point i have to mention it was a steak dog toy. idk. then i met brendon who at the time was wearing sunglasses someone had given him. he joked "is that a t-bone?". i think he and ryan both said hi too but honestly i was blue screening and shaking so my memory is bad. ryan said "i don't think i've ever signed a steak before!" my memory of jon is that there wasn't really much interaction beyond him signing the item.

after getting your item signed you then got back in line and after everyone was done the table was moved and then each person/group got to have a photo taken with the band taken on the device you brought yourself. most people at my m&g smiled for their photos so as i handed my camera to zack and approached the band i asked if we could make faces and the band obliged. after that i grabbed my camera from zack. i can't remember if we were able to leave right after or if we waited for everyone to be done because my body was in fight or flight mode lol but i remember texting members of my friend group to find out where they were so i could meet up with them again.

overall it was cool and i'm glad i have a memory/photo with pre-split panic but it also was kind of jarring to meet people i idolized. if you had said to me before that, "you know those are just some guys in a band, right?" i would have been like, "obviously i'm not an idiot." but it truly made me realize they were just guys lol also i feel like the dream~* is to meet your faves but m&g's have a mildly awkward vibe to them. like they are transactional interactions (you paid for tickets/photos vs a normal human interaction). idk it wasn't a negative experience but it definitely made me less of a delusional fan if that makes sense. i also was newly 18 so i think i matured a bit. idk i hope this makes sense.

and then like 8 months later the band broke up. :-)