"BMTH epitomise how not all superheroes need capes, and show that music is the most important superpower"
My entry was submitted and I had to wait until 4:45 to hear whether I won.
I left home to go to Festival Hall at 3:00pm on the warm Wednesday afternoon, and amidst getting slightly lost on my way to the venue (as I always do), I made it there just before 4:00. I momentarily forgot that I had actually entered the competition, because I was sidetracked by a white minibus driving by with Tino Arteaga from Of Mice & Men in one of the passenger seats. I nervously left my spot in line and awkwardly ran in the general direction of the bus, where it was pulling up near one of the entrances of Festival Hall. He was surrounded by fans and was letting us take photos of him and with him. As I got my photo taken with him, he said to me that I was good at taking selfies and for once I was like, actually I am...kinda. Anyway, here's the photo I took with him:
The show itself was absolutely spectacular (note: I'm going to make a master post after Warped Tour about all the concerts I've been to from July-December much like I did for the first half of the year-so don't get me wrong saying that meeting the band members was more important as the show, because the show went off!), and especially when Bring Me The Horizon were on, I couldn't believe that I was going to meet them in a very short period of time.
As the house lights turned back on at the end of their set, I got this raging sense of excitement-the moment had arrived! I walked to where I was told to meet the band's manager, who greeted me with open arms. He took me downstage and I was convincing myself to stay cool and to not cry and to not freak out and all that jazz, and then we turned the corner into their green room. I nervously poked my head around the corner to see Oli Sykes sprawled on a couch immediately spring up and walking in my general direction. I decided to this time remember to introduce myself to band members because I have forgotten on the occasions where I've met My Chemical Romance, All Time Low and Jaime Preciado from Pierce The Veil. But before I could even open my mouth, Oli had scooped me into a massive hug and congratulated me on winning the competition. I then introduced myself (it's really funny hearing British people say my name-they don't say EleanOR but ElenA and usually it really irks me but I really didn't care this time around) and Matt Nicholls and Lee Malia came and gave me hugs and hi-fives, and the three asked me questions about myself and the concert that they had just performed, only to be joined after by Matt Keane and Jordan Fish, who gave me more hi-fives and hugs. The manager took a photo of me and the band, which you can see here:
After that, I unfortunately had to part with these lovely British blokes. Oli gave me one more hug as he and the guys told me it was a pleasure to meet me, and hopefully they'd see me at shows in the future and maybe meet me again. I thanked them again for giving me the opportunity, and I left the green room on the biggest of highs. In two months I have met two of my favourite bands, I don't think life can get any better than this!
It was an absolute privilege to meet Bring Me The Horizon and Tino Arteaga. I extend my thanks to the bands who performed such an amazing show, and to Soundwave Tours for putting it all together. And of course to the team at BMTH, who showed me once againthat somewhere amongst all the crap that goes on, good things can happen to me-and every cloud has a silver lining.
