On November 16th of 2021, 100 Gecs and Underscores performed at the Marquee Theatre in Phoenix. I bought my ticket when I was still in Kansas. I didn't have any friends in Arizona yet so I was low-key stressing about how I would get to Phoenix from Tucson because I did not bring my car to Tucson. Luckily, some KAMP members came through and let me carpool with them (shout out to Annika for driving). Leading up to the start of the concert, there were some unnecessary difficulties that we had to endure.
One of those difficulties was that there was no free parking! It was incredibly dumb because there were lots open, but security had coned them off so that people had to either pay to park in the Marquee lots or pay to park in the parking garage beside the Marquee. What made this even more frustrating was the fact that the Marquee lot was filled by the time we got to the venue, but they still blocked off the free parking lots that were nearly empty. Even though we had to pay to park in the parking garage, we were able to get a fairly good parking spot. So, that was kind of nice.
Another problem that my good pal Annika mentioned to me about the Marquee Theatre was the lack of proper ventilation. Thinking about it now, I have to agree. The show hadn't even started yet and the air was already incredibly hazy. The pit was maybe halfway full of attendees, and I was already getting a rank sweat mustache under my mask. This problem only worsened once the show started, and everyone was cramped together. By the time the show was over, I think I had the sweat of about 20 different people on my body.
Besides those little hiccups, I had the absolute time of my life at this concert. After two concert free years, 100 gecs was a great concert to attend. One funny little thing about the 10,000 gecs tour is that they had a different opener for different dates. Even funnier, the font they used to reveal these openers was illegible. So, the opener being Underscores was a complete surprise to me. That being said, I still enjoyed their set. My favorite song that they performed during their set was "Second hand embarrassment" from their album fishmonger. At the end of their set, they opened up a pit, which gave me the chance to move up front for the 100 gecs set.
I may be biased because I am a hardcore 100 gecs fan but I loved 100 gecs' performance. It was what I would expect it to be in the best way possible. Their energy was absolutely amazing. They played a great selection of songs that include "stupid horse", "ring tone", and an acoustic version of "gecgecgec". They also had a fun little moment where they were playing what I think was a funky xylophone-esque instrument. I couldn't see it.
I was in the front center section of the pit, so I experienced most of the moshing. It was fun, but at times it was clear that others did not know mosh etiquette because someone, including myself at one point, would fall to the floor and they weren't paying attention to help get that person back on their feet. But the security at the front of the pit were very attentive and did a good job making sure everyone was alright. The security also passed a lot of water which was great because the lack of ventilation made everyone incredibly hot and sweaty.
The concert came to an end after 100 gecs performed "800db cloud". This is my favorite 100 gecs song so it literally made my whole night when they performed it. Overall, I would say that it was a fun concert. I think the concert would have been inifinitely better if it was not at Marquee Theatre. The crowd was a bit overwhelming, but I expected that because I haven't been in a pit like that for a couple of years. After the concert, we bumped into more KAMPers so shoutout to them. If 100 gecs has another concert in Arizona (or Kansas during one of my breaks) I will definitely be sure to snag a ticket.
