CTRL+ALT+DEL Tour Los Angeles

By Alexx Shaner

Crash & Burn Blog

8/28/22

Credit to @sleepingwithsirens on Instagram

Sleeping with Sirens, one of my favorite bands was performing at the 1720 club in LA on August 4th. I already bought tickets for the Santa Ana show on the sixth, but my gut said to buy a second set of VIP tickets. I remember getting them in June, with the money I had gotten from my parents for getting decent grades. I spent the money instantly and bought a set of tickets to see them in LA. I was really excited, the band had done so much for me as a person.

The reason why I did this so impulsively was because of how much the band meant to me. I had my fair share of stuff at the beginning of 2022, and I remember how much the music helped me. I had dealt with a stalker friend, a horrible very short relationship, my mental health decline, and just the stress of school I was experiencing. I always had dealt with mental health issues, but that year tested how much I was willing to do just to keep on going. I did discover the band when I discovered My Chemical Romance, but I didn’t get fully invested as I am now until late 2021. Yes, other bands have helped me… but then the music just hurt when I listened to it because I shared that interest with someone who hurt me. When I listened to Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil, I had never felt so heard in a song before. Listening to Better off Dead, Save me a Spark, The Strays, With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear, Roger Rabbit, Leave it all Behind, Talking to Myself, How it Feels to be Lost, & Who Are You Now, made me feel something I had never experienced with any other music I had listened to. I collect magazines, and most of my collection is dedicated to the band and the lead singer, Kellin Quinn. I automatically was connected to him, because for a while I remember him and the band being my only source of serotonin. The first time I listened to Better Off Dead, I cried for at least a half hour. I felt like I was the girl in the song because at the time I felt at a low point. The other songs all have important meanings to me, but I will elaborate on that in a future blog post.

I was mostly alone the whole concert, so I was nervous at first. But luckily, I made a few friends who kept me safe. Thank god I made friends with the guy next to me, I would have been pushed around even more than I already was. We were waiting for them to come on, and I distinctly remember how Kellin stood directly behind us. It was funny, he seemed to enjoy surprising everyone though. He got on stage with Nick Martin, who is the rhythmic guitarist for the band. They played With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear acoustically, I was tearing up the whole time. It felt so unreal seeing the band that saved me, right in front of me. Seeing Kellin in person made me feel so many emotions, I couldn’t even describe them. Then the rest of the band walked out which included Justin Hills the bassist, and Matty Best the drummer. Kellin said, “It’s about to be punk rock as fuck in here, I’m excited.” Everyone had a lot of good questions, I remember someone asked what their favorite Smashing Pumpkins song was, and that was when I discovered Nick was equally as obsessed with the band as I was. He said that he really liked Cherub Rock, and I would say that mine had to be either By Starlight or Disarm. Kellin was on the floor laughing at Matty’s favorite song, and Justin was saying how he would never get married. My highlight of the q/a, was when Kellin called on me to ask my question. I completely stuttered the whole time, because of how nervous I was… but I remember the response that he said. I told him that I was 16, and wrote a book and that I was a singer/songwriter in my band. I asked him how he wrote when he was having a block because I was having writer’s block for songwriting at the time. After completely stuttering, he told me that he distinctly remembered when he was younger and how he barely had money for food at times. He told me that those years were some of the best of his life, and you just have to remember and cherish those years. He also told me to keep doing what I was doing and try to just write what I could and when I could. They seemed kind of shocked at how much I could write, and Nick said that I was writing so much I just probably had trouble getting it all out. Kellin also said he was proud of me, which made me so happy that I could barely comprehend it. I also got to give them the vinyl that I had painted for them, which was extremely cool.

After the openers opened, it was time for the boys to come back on stage. I was extremely hot at the moment, and I felt like I was dying because of how hot I was. This was probably because I only ate a piece of pizza and I was dehydrated too. But I do remember yelling at a dude because he was touching my neck, and I made sure that he didn’t touch me ever again. When the band came out, the energy was awesome. The pit opened up pretty quickly, and everyone was having a great time. I was getting so dizzy, but once the song that meant the most to me came on I lost it. Before Better Off Dead, Kellin gave a speech about the song and he reminded everyone that they are loved and that they all love us. He said that if you’re feeling alone and you relate to this song, they are proud of us. I was already crying, and I was holding my arm nervously because of how I felt. It made me feel less alone, less scared of growing up, knowing that they were proud of us. Hearing that song the first time, completely changed my perspective on what I was dealing with at that moment. I was crying the whole song, and I only cried more when they played Roger Rabbit. I don’t remember much of the rest of the show, because I quite literally felt that I was dying. They closed the show with Do it Now, Remember it Later & If You Can’t Hang. It was one of my favorite shows, but the Santa Ana one definitely topped it. I was so thankful for what a great experience I had, and I look forward to more. I added a few photos at the bottom I took, plus some additional credits. The links at the bottom are for the SWS Instagram. I added my own Instagram accounts, plus additional info. Thanks for reading my first article, I hope you subscribe :)

• Alexx Shaner

@thecrashandburnblog on Instagram

@ptvsirens on Instagram

@sleepingwithsirens on Instagram

@kellinquinn on Instagram

@nodirectioncasa on Instagram

@justinnfjk on Instagram

@matty_best on Instagram