I don’t know about you, but I had always been hesitant about going to a concert alone. I mean, I’d wondered Lollapalooza solo before..but that’s not quite the same. A few Sundays ago one of my very favorite bands Phantogram played a show at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa. I had bought my tickets weeks in advance, hoping I could find a buddy who actually liked Phantogram to tag along. Unfortunately my friends don’t seem to have very good taste in music and no one wanted to go. I was faced with a decision, miss seeing one of my favorite bands or go see them but possibly feel awkward. Guess what? I went to that concert and had the BEST time! I was nervous for sure and standing around waiting for the bands to come on was totally weird (thank god for cell phones) but once the concert started everything was great! The best part about being at a concert solo is getting to dance and flail and whip your hair all over the damn place because, who cares? You’ll never see these people again (in most cases).

The opening band Bad Things was great! I had only ever heard their song “Caught Inside” (which I love) and I really like all the other songs they played, their album is definitely worth a good listen. The singer was VERY flaily, which was entertaining. At one point he hopped into the crowd and kind of purposefully ran into people..pretty sure the majority of the crowd didn’t know whether to cheer him on or call an ambulance (he seemed pretty out of it..see video). Meanwhile the majority of the females in the room were shrieking “I LOVE YOU SHAUN WHITE” and Shaun White ignored them, probably trying to avoid too much attention (he is an Olympian after all!) until the singer of the band said “Shaun! they said I love you….say it back” to which Shawn very quietly said “I love you too”. It was pretty funny.

Then the lights came up and the chatter commenced for a bit. Two very sweet, much taller guys (shout out to Fred and Josh!!!) decided to be amazing and let me stand in front of them (I didn’t have that great of a view for Bad Things). After that point the concert became way more enjoyable. The room went dark and gorgeous Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter come on stage along with the other band members Nicholas Shelestak, and Chris Carhart came out on the stage and opened with “Nothing But Trouble“. For the longest time I regretted not getting to see them at Lollapalooza a few years back (I still kind of do) but seeing them recently made me realize I wouldn’t have been able to hear songs like “Black Out Days” or “Bill Murray”. Phantogram’s newest album Voices is SO good and seeing those songs performed live was UHmazing! The most memorable part of the show was when Sarah and Josh came out to play Bill Murray, Sarah was dressed in this amazing cape/robe thing covered top to bottom in sequins! They played a bit of their song and as soon as they got to the chorus the room went black and the mirrors pointed all of the gold lights at her, turning her into a HUMAN DISCO BALL (insane right?!) it was quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen at a show.

Over all Phantogram rocked my world. They sounded great, the energy was perfect..not to mention the awesome merch they had! I HIGHLY recommend seeing them while they are on tour, and I will most likely be checking them out again in a few weeks at Lolla! Check out some of the (many) pics and a few videos I took from the concert…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.