Worcester, MA

I thought no show could top our Toad's Place show in New Haven. Boy was I wrong.

The Palladium in Worcester is an impressively large venue. It has a lot of open air, a large balcony area, and a huge stage. The barricade was formed as a half moon in front of the stage instead of the normal straight line. It's almost as if the Palladium was facilitating circle pits.

The concert was sold out at least a week before we even arrived in Massachusetts. It was Minneapolis cold when we stepped outside of the van and loading our gear in was a frigid task. Our dressing rooms were on the 79th floor (actually it was the 4th, but it seemed farther) and had a lack of light, heat and a door on the bathroom, but who needs that anyway?

I walked outside 20 minutes before doors opened and the line to get in stretched an entire block and then wrapped around the corner. I have no idea how many people were around the corner but I am guessing more than 2 and less than 5,903. I checked my phone as I was out there and the Weather Channel said it felt like -4 degrees. I saw people in shorts and tshirts because they didn't want to bring coats into the venue.........and there were still 20 minutes till the door opened! I talked with the people at the front of the line and they said they had been there for 3 hours. Throughout this tour I have been continually impressed with the dedication of fans.

Fast forward an hour and twenty minutes and we are walking on stage. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause. If I had to put a time stamp on when people started moving it would look like this 00:00:02. Right from the get go, I knew it would be good. The one good thing the Palladium did was light the crowd every now and again. This served a few functions. First, it was for people to see what they were doing since there was a lot of dancing, moshing and circle pits. Secondly, it was for bouncers to see what was going on in the crowd and lastly it served as a way for us to see what was going on because the stage lights usually make it hard for us. The cheers, dancing and crowd reaction all seemed greater in Worcester.

After we played, we had security that would walk us where ever we needed to go since the crowd was so packed. We didn't really need it, but it was a nice perk of tour.

There are 3 factors that made Worcester my favorite show.

1) We all, personally, played one of our best sets.
2) The crowd reaction.
3) The most profitable night of the tour.

I can't wait to play the Palladium again.

-Dunnigan TTV