Last night was one of the highlights of my life. I went to see (in order of appearance) Cry of the Afflicted, Pierce the Veil, As Cities Burn, Mayday Parade, and Emery.

Now, the whole thing started off in a negative way. We only had one trusted and responsible driver (me), 8 people who wanted to attend the concert, and one vehicle that could only fit 7 people in it. Needless to say, I called everyone up Wednesday and asked if they were really wanting to go to the concert. Eventually, I asked Josh, and he agreed not to go. I felt like such a horrible person, because I knew how much he's been wanting to see these people, just like the rest of us.

Once yesterday got here, we all headed to school, then to the annual "Legacy Kids Walk-a-Thon" that our school puts on. Once that was over, we all met at a friends house around 1:30 pm to head over to Atlanta. We stopped a few places along the way: once for a bathroom break and snack run and another again for a bathroom break and more substantial food. We got into the Atlanta district at probably 5:00 EST (we left 2:30 EST). I, of course, was rather nervous driving in downtown Atlanta traffic, which I had never really driven in before yesteday. Miraculously, the traffic wasn't all that bad, but we still had trouble finding the places. After a few missed turns and crazy U-tfurns, we actually found the venue, called the Masquerade. We parked, then went to pick up tickets and get in line.

We entered in not too long after 6:30 EST, and the first band, Cry of the Afflicted, started not too long after that. Of course, upon first entering the place, we headed straight for the merch booth. I picked up an Emery and a Cry of the Afflicted shirt right off the bat. When I bought the COTA shirt, I met one of the people actually in the band. Turns out he was the lead singer/screamer. I was going to go back and congratulate him later on such an awesome performance, but I never got the chance.

I had never really listened to the next band, Pierce the Veil, but anyone who can cover Michael Jackson's "Beat It" in such a way as that is good in my books.

As Cities Burn, on the other hand, was fantastic. They played every song I wanted including "This is it", "Empire", "Wrong Body" and even through in an oldie for us real fans, "Bloodsucker Pt II" as their finale.

Mayday Parade was entertainging, but again, they would have been better to me if I knew some of their songs.

Emery, on the other hand, absolutely owned face. I really have no other way to put it other than that was the best show I think I will ever see. On more than one occasion, the whole band switched instruments and played more songs. The screamer/pianist pretty much walking on the crowd with their support. At any one time during Emery's show, at least two people were crowd-surfing and there was at least one mosh pit going. The whole crowd was jumping, swaying, head-banding, and singing to every song they played. They played a few of my favorites including "Walls" (final song), "Studying Politics" (encore), "What Makes a Man a Man", "The Party Song", and "The Ponytail Parades."

Three words: best.show.ever.

The bassist/back-up singer from Emery actually left a message on Josh's phone, since he couldn't make it to the show. However, the shirt all 7 of us pitched in to buy for him was stolen amidst all the pushing and shoving. I also didn't get to meet any of the band members because my sister wante do wait until -after- the show, when the lines are longest, to buy a t-shirt.

But there will definately be more chances to meet them.

We didn't get back in town until 2:15 am, Central time.