This past weekend I had the privilege to finally see "The Weekend Riot (TWR)" live in Philadelphia at the Foundry at the Fillmore. For those of you who don't know me too well, I live in Springfield, Missouri. That's about 1,113 miles between my home and the venue!

Well this all started because I got into a car accident last year. I was on my way to Grow Wild Tour 2015 in May of that year and about a little less than an hour from the venue I hydroplaned, hit a mile marker, and rolled off I-44, landing on the service road near by. (But that's a story for another time.) The Weekend Riot was going to be at this concert in St. Louis and I was really looking forward to meeting TWR. I luckily walked away from the accident with just a few scratches and bruises, but I was obviously unable to go to the concert. Since then, TWR has toured but they have not been to Missouri and when they weren't too far (in IL), I was unable to go because of school.

As soon as the guys announced their hometown headliner in Philly, I tweeted about how I "lowkey" wanted to go to Philly so I could finally see them and meet them. It was in that moment, that my friend Bethany who lives in St. Louis and is a fan of theirs as well, messaged me this:

It was this that the planning of this trip to see The Weekend Riot began.

Just to give you some insight on the band, "The Weekend Riot" is a two-man pop group consisted of musicians Johnny Costa and Bruce Wiegner. Both sing, but Johnny plays the ukulele and Bruce plays the guitar. They released an EP last year called "Remember This Night" that contains their five songs. Every Monday, they release a #RiotMonday on YouTube which is usual a cover of a popular song. The guys will either walk around outside various places, covering songs or will do impression videos where they both write down different people for the other to impersonate while covering a song. They also release #NoFilterThursday which is a sort of behind the scenes, vlog-styled videos showing us some of the life of TWR.

(That person that's noticeable from the blue-ish lighting is actually me as this week's #RiotMonday was a video of their song "Hands in the Air" live from the concert!!)

Now, this idea of seeing TWR was nothing but an idea we had. I never imagined we would actually go see them. Not only would I be able to finally see them live, but Bethany and I would get the opportunity to meet our internet friend, Natasha. It was with Natasha's help that we were even able to consider actually going. Natasha lives in Pittsburgh which is about 5 hours from Philadelphia and she was kind enough to let us stay with her. Once we had these plans into the works, Sara came into the picture. Now, Sara is from Michigan and she drove from Ann Arbor to Pittsburgh to meet up with the rest of us. Sara being the bomb dot com, was the driver who made it possible for us to get from Pittsburgh to Springfield, PA. I knew Sara, but I didn't really know her like I knew Nat or Bethany, but with this trip, we became friends instantly. We even got to the point where Bethany and I were the "children" of the group and Nat and Sara were both the "moms." With this, Sam also came into the picture. Sam is from Springfield which is about an hour outside of Philly, and was super amazing and awesome and helped all four of us travel to the venue as we took a trolley and a subway. Let's just say there was a lot of traveling with this trip.

Bethany and I had originally planned to drive there as it would be cheapest, but we decided it would be quicker to fly, even though it would cost more. We were supposed to get in around 1 a.m. to Pittsburgh as I had to drive to St. Louis (where we flew out of). Well, lucky us had delays in both our flights so we arrived in Pittsburgh at 4 a.m. Five hours after our arrival, we found ourselves on the road to Springfield. We had about an hour to prepare ourselves for the concert at our hotel, to then leave to meet with Sam and travel an hour on public transportation.There was a lot of traveling to say the least...

We arrived in Philly with time to spare, but of course it had just started to downpour and none of us were dressed for the rain or prepared in the slightest. Luckily, there was a Dollar Tree right next to the subway stop. It was then that this group of five (Nat, Sara, Sam, Bethany and I) became Poncho Squad.

We headed out with umbrellas and ponchos hoping to get to the venue as soon as possible as we were only eight minutes away. However, with the rain only getting worse, we ended up getting sent the opposite direction of the venue after we asked someone for help.

With wet hair and soggy shoes, we made it to the venue, but man at this point, we were all question our sanity and asking ourselves if TWR was worth it (which they definitely are). VIP tickets in our hands, we made it into the venue and got to listen to an amazing two song acoustic set.

Following this, singer/songwriter Sarah Barrios was first to open and she killed it! Not only was her voice something else, but she was super sweet when talking to people at the merchandise tables. After her performance, Walkney was the second opener. With their rocking music, I found myself jamming along by the end of it. Both of these openers did a great job, but I couldn't wait to see The Weekend Riot back out on stage as I had waited a little more than a year to see them.

Johnny and Bruce made there way back to the stage and boy was I speechless. I was not only in awe, but I was so hyped to see them. I had glow necklaces, glow bracelets, and party hats on, looking like I was ready to party and/or rave. I may have looked weird, especially to those who didn't know me, but I was having the time of my life as I sang along with TWR. They performed their five songs off their "Remember This Night" EP along with covers and mashups they've done for #RiotMonday.

Then, all of a sudden they along with the rest of the band (they were doing a full band performance), just walked of stage saying they'd be right back. We were all a little confused, but they came back like five minutes later in different outfits and no one was prepared for it. They continued their performance and did silly things like sing the jingle for Education Connection's commercials and playing instruments they don't normally play at their concerts. Ex: Johnny, who knows how to play the sax, but normally doesn't play it at their concerts, acted out one of his vines. They were just being themselves and I couldn't have imagined it any other way.

Their entire performance was overall amazing and despite how much time and money it took to plan and actual see them, it was well worth it. I not only got to meet the guys after waiting so long, but I actually got to meet some of my internet friends in real life. I would never had thought a few months ago (before the planning that is) that I would have been able to experience what I did. I also met some other awesome people who I knew from Twitter for the first time in real life like Kelsey, Jordan, and Neena, to name a few.

With some of their new merch, cute pics of the squad and with the boys, and endless memories from this weekend, I experienced something special. Music brought me this. I've discovered other amazing artists and made even more amazing friends who love said musicians as much as myself. Without these two guys, I'd be missing out on a lot. So, I'll dedicate this one to you, The Weekend Riot.

Yours truly,

Lilo