✿ 11th february : house of vans ✿

well this was a lovely little surprise for us! shortly after tickets for the smoke + mirrors tour went on sale, we found out that imagine dragons were going to be at bbc radio one for the live lounge on the 12th of february. cue the planning for marnie to come down. the same day we found that out, i saw a post about an exclusive showcase for the album at the house of vans the day before, the 11th. a train ticket for marnie was booked that evening, and we entered every single ballot we came across. did we win? did we hell. of course we didn't but that didn't stop us from trying our luck.

when the day rolled round, i'd taken the day off work so i could go hang around the venue and see what the deal was. i got to waterloo at about 11:15, but couldn't figure out where the hell the venue was. google maps seemed to be adamant that i was in the right place but i couldn't see it ANYWHERE. i was in what seemed to be some kind of legal graffiti area (turns out it was exactly that: london's leake street) but with no apparent venue. i found my way to the top, and saw a poster on a door saying 'house of vans' so figured that would be as good a place as any to set up camp, as it were. it was about 12 in the afternoon by this point and i was still the only one there as far as i could see. a few minutes later, aurelie of imagine dragons france came and sat with me and it turns out she and her friend had been sat in the car after driving up from paris that morning. a member of security came out and told us we couldn't sit there, and also that if we didn't have tickets for the show then we wouldn't be able to get in. that didn't deter me though! we moved to another door slightly further up the road and sat there for another few minutes before a much nicer member of staff came out to tell us we needed to wait in the tunnel i'd found previously, as the entrance was down there. he also advised me to stick around as there's a chance they'd be able to let us in due to the fact there'd be no-shows and people under 18 who wouldn't be able to get in.

aurelie headed back to her car, so i went down to have a nosey at the area. i saw them loading in some equipment, so guessed that was the entrance to the venue. i couldn't stick around there though as i got no mobile signal in that specific part of the tunnel so i sat at the entrance to it and kept an eye on the door and the vehicles coming in and out. eventually a few other fans showed up so i went to speak to them, and they turned out to be really nice! and they implemented the number system, which was a bit of a novelty for me as its usually us doing that. it was getting really close to the gig and there was still barely anyone around which was so surreal, and of course we still didn't have tickets. one of the guys who was putting some posters up inside came to have a bit of a chat and i just told him that i didn't have tickets and i'd been here since 12, and that marnie was coming down from glasgow and would be getting here at about 6:30. he saved the day though and said he'll be on the door and will let us in, no questions asked! what a babe, thank you (its a shame i can't remember his name, caleb or something...) martha and her friend rowan came along and joined us shortly after too.

my housemates kathryn and hayley came along after work as they'd agreed to come meet us to take marnie's stuff back to our place so she wouldn't have to deal with it during the gig, then eventually marnie showed up at 6:30. we joined our place in the queue, which still wasn't even that big, and kept an eye out for the guy who said he'd get us in. there was the general queue stress - what time are we going in, how come there's another queue over there etc etc but it all went pretty smoothly.

once we were in, we secured our usual spot despite it being the weirdest, smallest venue ever. it's an indoor skate park, so there's ramps and stuff littered across the floor and the barrier was maybe 20 people wide? but we made it and it was glorious.

we had about an hour's wait until the dragons hit the stage, and when they did it it was just magical. opening with it's time, i'm surprised i didn't burst into tears. somehow i kept it together. they played a much bigger mix of songs than i thought - lots of new ones with a good selection of oldies too. rocks, the river, demons, radioactive, on top of the world. new songs included shots, gold, i bet my life, i'm so sorry (ACTUAL JAM), summer... they all sounded absolutely incredible live. we almost broke our necks to i'm so sorry, and i don't think i've ever jumped as hard as i did during i bet my life. the only thing missing was ryan - at the time they were on stage we obviously didn't know that he'd decided to move on as he posted his announcement after the show - and it made the experience a little different to normal as we didn't have the little interactions we'd seemed to develop. it didn't hinder the boys though, they still put on an absolutely insane performance and we can't wait to see it in a proper, big arena!

the show was being livestreamed too, which was embarrassing. the cameramen were laughing at us all night over how enthusiastic we were, and you can watch it here if you're interested.

there was also an art exhibition in the venue, featuring the incredibly talented tim cantor's work for the album. all the pieces are so insanely detailed and it was lovely to be able to see them so close up and read about each piece.

despite finding out the sad news about ryan that night, we still had an absolutely wonderful evening and we are so lucky to be able to say we were there! here's to the tour.

love,
the wolfpack
xo

✿ 22nd august : belfast ✿

upon landing in dublin, we realised just how exhausted we were from travelling and barely having a break. the original plan was to get the bus over to belfast and pretty much just set up camp in the queue for belsonic at whatever ungodly time in the morning we would've gotten in at. my body was practically shutting down at the thought of that, it was cold and dark and we were cranky, i was getting paid in around 15 minutes time so i just said 'fuck it' and booked a room in a hotel near dublin airport. thank you laterooms.com!

then we had the mission of getting to the hotel, there was apparently a shuttle bus but everyone we asked seemed to know nothing about it so we got a taxi instead. eventually we got there, checked in and collapsed in relief. a bed! granted we were only going to be using the room for about 5 hours by this point but it was still a luxury for us. cups of tea/coffee/hot chocolate, running through the hallway in our pjs and attempting to print out our gig tickets. cue the printer breaking and having to get the nice receptionist man to help (and probably terrorising him) by letting us into his little office bit to use his computer... then FINALLY we could get into bed. but not before a few laughing fits and watching the video i got of the stolen dance cover in hamburg.

3 hours of sleep later we got up to catch the shuttle bus back to dublin airport to make our way to belfast. two words: soggy socks. went to ask for a hairdryer and the same bloke was on the front desk, he must have thought we were insane.

we got to the airport in plenty of time for our coach and had a freezing cold wait once we purchased tickets but we made friends with the ticket man. eventually our coach pulled up and we got ourselves comfy. it took less time than we expected to get into belfast! we had a 15 minute or so walk through town to get to the venue and we passed a boots so thankfully i could pick up some tights as my outfit for that day didn't take into consideration bitter winds...

eventually we stumbled across the venue so we had a little wander and scoped it out before taking refuge at the front of the queue with two other girls who were there and ended up making friends with! we ended up doing our make up whilst sat on the pavement because we kept panicking that all these blacked out people carriers were the band... haha.

the day passed fairly quickly, it started getting very cold and a little rainy though so we took a trip to primark to buy blankets and an umbrella, with a quick stop in mcdonalds to get changed and get a hot drink to warm us up a little. when we got back martha was there which was lovely as we hadn't seen her since bournemouth! tina came along eventually too, and martha offered to let us keep our bags in her hostel room so we got a taxi over there and sorted our stuff out. a fairly big queue was beginning to form by this point and people weren't really sitting in any specific order so we decided to do the numbering system - surprisingly it went down really well and everyone got really into it and excited by it?! security got on our side about it too which was incredible because that rarely happens. belfast was so well organised.

with the number system firmly in place and security arranging us into an actual queue formation with barriers, we had the freedom to walk around and stretch our legs and keep ourselves occupied. food runs, nosing round at the back etc. we bumped into a few of the tech/roadies round the back (jared, peaches and eric) who were trying to hail a cab... oh, bless. we explained to them that it doesn't work like that in ireland/the uk, you have to phone for one. so we phoned for a taxi for them and got talking. we told them about how we'd been to so many shows and that belfast was our 15th and 16th shows and how we'd missed out on drumsticks and plectrums etc because people would steal them off us and they were like 'oh well i guess we'll have to give you something for that tonight then' - so lovely!

eventually the time comes for us to get ready for the gates to open, meaning we all have to stand up and psyche ourselves up.

eventually we're let past the first gate and file into lanes. marnie was a lane over from me but thankfully the girl in the lane between us agreed to swap so we could be next to each other. the staff at the end of each lane were so lovely and we had some nice conversations with them which was great at keeping our minds off what was about to come. not that we had any reason to stress...

ticket scanners eventually come out, but they appear to have completely missed our end three lanes and just as they're about to start letting in the lanes we have to protest and i started crying (tiredness and stress, my god i am an embarrassment) but thankfully the security here actually listen to the people they're dealing with and the main guy got the stewards to hold up the lanes until we got scanned and even then let us get a little bit of a sneaky head start once we were in the clear.

it was a nice smooth run (well, speed walk) to barrier, we had first pick of where to be so of course ended up slap bang in the middle. there was such an incredible atmosphere once we all made it to the barrier - everyone knew each other and we were all just so happy! there was even enough space to do a quick bar run and get drinks for people and get back into my space without a problem - incredible. 

eventually the show is about to start and we saw a local talent (whose name i forget right now). the lead singer and i shared an awkward moment where he sang at me and i knew literally none of the words - nor could i even try and understand what he was saying down the microphone. after those came soul sister dance revolution - a band from the netherlands - who were SO good. incredible energy and the whole crowd around us was enjoying it. 

after ssdr, the dragons were up next. it was taking ages for them to come on stage though so we were all getting really antsy then eventually the intro music started up and the lights came on and the atmosphere was buzzing with energy. i don't think i've ever been so excited to hear that opening melody as i was right then. we laughed, we cried, we rocked out harder than we ever have before. it hurt, but it was worth it.

so much happened during the show but i can't even find the words for it all. there was a moment during one of the earlier songs where ryan bent down behind his keyboard and put his hand up to his head like a shark fin and we just lost our shit and waved around this ridiculous stuffed shark that we'd bought as a gift for him. every single person around us was enjoying themselves to the max, whether they knew the lyrics or not. people were jumping and having fun which is all that matters in the end!

then it was time for the cover song. i don't know what myself and marnie we were expecting, we were desperately wishing for stolen dance again but had given up all hope with it being a song by a german artist. then as soon as the first notes of it started we just went mental, you should've seen the smirk on dan's face when he saw us look at each other in disbelief! special moments during their cover of with or without you, marnie's regular breakdown during the river and mine during it's time. i promise, we're normal.

i swear, we could not have asked for a better end to the run of shows we've done this summer. all the stress and sleepless nights were made more than worth it in that hour and a half.

once the boys went off stage, jared jumped down and appeared in front of us with a drumstick each for myself, marnie and martha. another of the roadies tried to give us a setlist but some idiot behind us ripped it out of the hands of the security guard. we headed round to the back where we found out they'd all left except ryan so we stuck around a while longer, we wanted to say thank you to the crew and stuff anyway. eventually he came out, stopped the car he was in and jumped out to say hello to us. we finally gave him his little shark which we'd attached a little thank you note to, had hugs and said our goodbyes until the next time. :(

there's no telling when the next time will be, it could be in four months or it could be in a year. we're holding out hope for as soon as possible, not knowing when one of your favourite bands is going to be touring next is an awful feeling, especially when you've gotten so accustomed to seeing them so often.

but now they're away to work on album two, and from what we've heard so far (battle cry, warriors, all for you) it sounds absolutely amazing. hopefully it won't be too long until it's finished and released and they're back on the road for another tour! we're ready and waiting, whether our bank accounts are or not!

until next time,
the wolfpack
xo

p.s. keep an eye out for tales of adventures past from the night visions tour!

✿ 20-21st august : berlin ✿

after a 3 and a half hour bus ride, we finally made it to berlin. the journey started off nice, lots of legroom and it was nice and toasty but about halfway through the extra legroom got annoying (i know, right) and the temperature just dropped so i had to pull out my towel to use as a blanket. not ideal, but it worked better than nothing. i managed to get a little bit of sleep but it ended up not doing much to help in the end.

we had some trouble figuring out how to get to our hotel so we ended up just going to the venue and making our way from there since it was meant to be a 15 minute or so walk. oh no. it ended up being around 25 minutes walk away. we passed through a cute street full of pretty shops but then we hit a dodgy part of town before finally getting to our hotel. we passed dunkin donuts (DDDUNKIN DDDONUTS!!!) on the way and got overexcited. once we got there, it was around 11am so we checked in, had showers and got ourselves ready before heading out again to go queue.

once we got there we saw there was absolutely no system to the queue at all. it was similar to main square, with the different lanes, so we just picked the empty one and plonked ourselves down. a few minutes later a girl comes over to us to say she recognised us from the london shows back in november and it turned out to be the lovely natalia from russia that we'd met back then. she joined us which was lovely, we thought we'd never see her again!

the day passed without much drama, it was quite warm which was nice and it stayed dry! it got a little stressful towards the end though because there was no security at all until the gates were about to open and everyone was kind of just pushing in where they could. some girl next to me who'd shown up half an hour before the doors opened decided she was going to try and push me out of the way?! no. marnie and myself split up across two lanes so we both had equal shots and eventually they started to let us through. i say us, they let the first 4 lanes or so go through but the stewards in front of mine and marnie's lanes were taking the absolute mickey and kept making us step back even though there was literally no space for us to move, and then took their sweet ass time tearing our tickets! so annoying. eventually we got in so i absolutely pegged it - oh my god. why are citadels so awful to run across?! gravel and cobblestones, never again. i saw a space on barrier so i focused myself to that but then some little 14 year old decides to grab my hair because i'm running in front of her which slows me down and she overtakes me - so childish! we ended up second row though which although annoying due to queueing all day etc etc we can't really complain too much. thankfully the people in front of us were short so we could see perfectly!

the same german guy as the night before in hamburg was supporting again, georg auf lieder. he came and gave out free copies of his cd to the crowd - cute! and then of course nico vega again. i swear we are so in love with them, they're incredible! if you ever get the chance to see them, do it. you will not regret it.

once again it was almost time for the dragons to come on stage. we just went crazy, nobody else immediately around us seemed to be doing anything and we ended up scaring away a lot of people and had so much space around us. there were some people behind the women behind us who kept pushing us for no apparent reason? all the usual happened, they covered the milky chance song again and we decided to do the macarena (including the turns since we had so much space!) and by the time we were facing the front again i looked up and caught them all pissing themselves laughing at us.

they also did a cover of i won't back down by tom petty which was awesome! it honestly makes me feel sad when i see people on the front row doing nothing though. a lot of people just seemed to be stood still, more focused on taking photos and videoing everything than actually enjoying themselves. i can't really speak for everyone but i'm fairly sure a band doesn't want to look out to a crowd and see people watching the show through a phone or camera screen... i kid you not, one girl on the barrier in front of us was actually texting her friend throughout the whole thing. irregardless, we had fun and went all out for the boys as always - it isn't a gig if you don't have sweat pouring down your back and a sore neck from headbanging!

at the end of the show ryan threw his towel at me... and platz threw marnie a drumstick but the 14 year old that ragged my hair before grabbed it off her, ugh. it took us about 40 minutes to get out and we got a drink of water that ended up being sparkling water so we just threw it because who even drinks sparkling water?! eventually we got out and headed to the bus to see if we could say hello. cue sitting in front of the tour bus making shadow puppets with our hands from the headlight beams.

a few people were waiting then some security man came round and said they'd all got a shuttle back to the hotel so most people left but we stuck around a bit because we wanted to at least say hello to the crew and natalia had a couple of things she wanted to pass onto them too. good job we did stay, because within 10 minutes they roll up! well, minus dan, but we had a nice little catch up/chat with wayne, platz and ben and told them about our adventure from hamburg to berlin and how we're getting to belfast for the gig there... we got some quick selfies too and they were amazed by the front flash on snapchat, bless. (god bless the black and white filter!)

we had a letter to give to the guys that one of the girls we met in portugal had asked us to take so we gave it to wayne who accepted the responsibility of getting it to the other guys as well. natalia gave them the artwork she'd made of them and a three-headed dragon from a russian cartoon that the guys all seemed to have fun with pressing the button and making them speak hahaha.

after that we ended up making our way back to our hotel. we were headed the same way as natalia so we got the train to lessen walking time then said our goodbyes at the station. do you realise how good it felt to sleep in a bed that night?! oh my GOD, heaven.

//

the next morning we had to be out of our hotel by 11am so we got up early(ish), got ready and headed out to go put our luggage in the lockers in the main station. but not before getting dunkin donuts!

our flight wasn't until late that night so we had almost the whole day in berlin to explore. we ended up going to madame tussauds (mainly because i just wanted to see miley and i could get us in for free anyway...) and the sea life centre (to see the sharks, of which we saw none, but again free entry!) before taking a walk down to alexanderplatz, met a lovely lady named sandra that i knew from twitter, then had a glass of beer in a little german pub before making our way back to the station.

brandenburger tor

tussauds fun!

walking down alexanderplatz - berlin is beautiful!

sea life

german beer in the cutest little pub/café!

once we got to the station we had currywurst for dinner before heading to the airport. after a delayed train we got there with plenty of time to spare. too much time, berlin schoenfeld airport has nothing in it either so we just had to sit and wait and wait some more.

dunkin donuts + currywurst make us very happy girls.

we ended up breaking into fits of laughter whilst waiting to board our flight, everything seemed so much funnier than it actually was. our flight went without any major problems and before we knew it we were in dublin! yaaaaay.

adventures to be continued...

love,
the wolfpack
xo