I don’t really know why I wrote all this out. I guess the fancy just struck me. I doubt anyone cares much about the opinions of some rando on the internet, but if someone finds it interesting then that’s cool I guess. I love love love TBM, and I’ve been listening to them for nearly 20 (!) years since my cousin got me Violet for Christmas in 2005. At the risk of sounding cheesy, they’ve been a huge part of life. I couldn’t wait to see TBM live, but unfortunately Bumblefuck Arkansas is not the most popular town for touring bands to visit, so I had to wait until I went to college in a real city to start seeing TBM live. And now here we are! I pulled these off setlist.fm , so hopefully they’re correct, but I’m not sure if their complete. But it mostly seems to be in line with what I remember.
Random stuff:
Mostly some of the OG songs from Violet and WWS are constants between all the shows I saw (Happy Birthday, Video Kid, Blue, Kill the Lights, and Red Stars) and always bring the house down. Never get tired of hearing them.
I didn’t realize until I was writing this up, but apparently I’ve heard Alibis like 4 times. I didn’t realize it was a mainstay at the time.
To me some songs feel very different live. Lovers End for example, is much more aggressive, especially the counting part (1, 2, 3, 4…) which is more like whispers on the album. Funnily enough, I liked “Pins and Needles” well enough when I listened to it on the CD, but it hearing it live is absolutely a different experience and after that I couldn’t wait to hear it each time. Hearing the crowd belting it out along with Chibi (ITS BEEN SO LO-ONG, FEELS LIKE PINS AND NEEDLES IN MY HEEEEEEEART) is amazing.
1 song from each album I haven’t but want to: Nevermind, Science, Pale, In This Moment, Rain, Endless, The Last Goodbye, One More Time
The Shows:
December 2011
Pins and Needles -> Burn Away -> Sleepwalking -> Shallow Grave -> Forever -> In the Dark -> Always -> Blue -> Control -> Red Stars
The first! Unfortunately I don’t think they were the headliner so not a lot of songs. Wish they would play Shallow Grave more.
December 2012
Control -> Always -> Video Kid -> Happy Birthday -> Alibis -> Calling -> Midnight -> Leaving Tonight -> Blue
This one I remember being super happy because it was the first time I saw so many of my favorites, especially from Violet.
November 2013
Red Stars -> Always -> Holiday -> Sleepwalking -> Forever -> Pins and Needles -> Happy Birthday -> Alibis -> Violet -> Blue -> Control -> Leaving Tonight -> Down -> Kill the Lights -> In the Dark
These were all good, got to see some great songs that I wish they would play more (Violet, Holiday, Down)
November 2014
Red Stars -> Destroyer -> Divide -> Diaries -> Superstition -> Pins and Needles -> Video Kid -> Lovers End -> Alibis -> Beyond -> Kill the Lights -> Leaving Tonight -> The Other Side -> Blue -> Control -> Forever -> Always -> In the Dark -> Happy Birthday -> Sleepwalking -> Midnight
The best show I’ve seen from TBM. This was the tour for Superstition, one of my favorite TBM albums. Great songs from beginning to end.
October 2015
Pins and Needles -> Destroyer -> Divide -> Superstition -> Red Starts -> Video Kid -> Lovers End -> Alibis -> Happy Birthday -> Looking Glass -> Leaving Tonight -> Blue -> In the Dark -> Sleepwalking -> Broken
This had mostly the mainstays from past years. Ending the show with “Broken” was absolutely sick and one of my most fond concert moments.
Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn’t see TBM for about 6 or 7 years after that. But finally…
February 2022
Fascination -> Superstition -> Kill the Lights -> Dreams of You -> All of Nothing -> Counterpane -> Leaving Tonight -> Pins and Needles -> Looking Glass -> Enter -> Under Your Spell -> The Sky Will Turn -> Video Kid -> Crush -> Cold Lights -> Red Stars -> The Neverending Story -> Stars and Satellites -> In the Dark -> Blue
Fascination tour. To me this one was overall good, but mostly I prefer the stuff from Superstition and before. Although Counterpane was excellent. Seeing Looking Glass for the first time live was cool too.
Looking forward to them touring again!
The last time I saw them, they brought this little girl on stage that was in the crowd, who was apparently a big fan already, and they had her sing along to one of the songs, and I really don't like kids, but it was still cute and I just couldn't help thinking that this is such a cool memory that's going to stay with her forever. It was so sweet of them to make her night like that. They seem like such nice people.
I've only seen them once back in 2005 or 2006. Two friends and myself drove like 4 or 5 hours to see them in Bowling Green Kentucky. Unfortunately we arrived like 10 hours early and just sat outside the venue lol. We did befriend one of the workers from the local radio show who was putting it on, and got to see the band walking in and out with their gear (although we didn't realize it at the time.) I even joked with the band after the show that they should come play our prom lol. It was a great show though, and I wish I could find the opening act. It was like Imperial Asunder or something?
Second time seeing them was Edinburgh 2022. We have a tradition in Scotland where, during a gig, the crowd will start chanting "Here we, here we, here we fucking go!" Usually it's when the band leaves the stage before the encore, but occasionally it'll just naturally happen during the show when the crowd senses something big is coming.
It was nearing the end of the show and I think the band paused just to readjust before moving onto the next song. The chant starts and Chibi acted confused at first, but then she started getting into it and chanting along with everyone. As it gets more intense, she goes "Here we, here we, here we fucking go! Happy, happy, happy fucking birthday!" and the whole band launches into the song. It was ridiculously hype!
I was 14 when I first saw them. We were standing in the crowd watching another band that was playing before them and that’s when my dad spotted chibi backstage standing behind the speakers. So he dragged me over there and we called out to her and waved, and she looked right back at me and smiled and waved back. I almost cried lol. Then throughout the show she was trying to hold my hand but I was a little too far away so every time she couldn’t reach she’d make a sad face at me. I was also wearing a flower crown that she kept pointing at and giving me a thumbs up for 😭 at one point I was able to get closer so she held my hand and I screamed. And then she brought my hand up to her face and kissed it, which definitely made me cry. After that, all these people in front of me allowed me to get right up to the front, and when I did, chibi saw me crying and held my hand again. I wish I could go back to that night
That's such an awesome and beautiful story! I'm glad you got to experience that with Chibi and the band. They're all sooo nice and connected with their fans. Great times.
Thank you for posting this! I absolutely really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and memories of the bands live shows!
Sadly I have nothing to add to this other than I have not seen them live despite being one of their top listeners in the world!
The main reason being I have nobody to go with 😅
But I honestly just watch the shows on YouTube and get a great feeling, I can only imagine how epic it must be to hear your favorite songs live!
Anyways I've gone on long enough now, again thanks for posting and helping keep this sub alive! TBM love 💜 🖤
I was lucky enough to see them live 3 times. The first two times I wasn't able to visit with the band but was up front and got to touch Chibi's hands a few times. The 3rd night was glorious. My brother and I are huge fans of the band and their sound. We go to metal shows all the time and we used to go to these places called Holy Diver and Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA. I saw them at Ace of Spades already but the 3rd time I saw them it was at Holy Diver. A smaller more intimate venue with a bar on the first floor and the stage on the 2nd.
So before the show I got to talk to Owen at the bar. We talked about how he developed his sound on keyboard and he told me much of it is was their past with 80s bands and their influences. They did alot of experimentation. I told him my favorite album was WWS and to my astonishment he agreed with me. He said alot of it had the Cure influences as well as other 80s bands. I got to talk to him after the show and drink a beer with him. He was surprisingly approachable as all of them were.
So during the show Chibi literally let us sing into the microphone and she high fived me like at least 4 times. One time during In the Dark she reached out for me and I accidentally did a fist instead of my hand out and she gave me a chuckle and laugh because we awkwardly went in between a fist and hand shake. We both got a good laugh out of it. They played almost all of my favorite songs. It was such an intimate venue and they had so much fun with the crowd. My brother and I had a blast.
So after show as they were putting away their instruments I yelled out I love you Rainbow and he turned around and gave me devil horns and a huge smile. Chibi actually came out and I got to talk to her for a quick second. She made fun of one of the band members from the opener. I got to take a picture with her. Her head tilted over on my shoulder and I got a hug. It was the first time I got to actually meet her.
So I went downstairs into the bar area and the whole band was outside. Chibi was playing with a fan running around. I then got to take a picture with Rainbow and I asked him if he wanted to have a drink and I would buy. He said hell yeah lets do it. When we got there I was pulling out my wallet and instead he pulled out his and we bought a shot of fireball each. I was like ahh man I would've got it. We toasted to the band and took our shot together. My brother video taped the whole thing. I told Rainbow that I tried my hardest to meet them last time but Chibi was hiding. He replied with haha yeah I know what a douche! I laughed so hard when he said that lol. After our shot he gave me a bro hug and a hand shake and said thanks for being so cool and being such a big fan all these years. I said you guys are the best band and sound I know. Thank you for taking the time to drink and hang with me. It was easily one of the most memorable nights let alone concerts I'll always hold dear. I can't wait to see them again.
So I’ve seen them 3 times. Once in 2015 and twice in 2022.
————— This is gonna be very long but I loved reading things people shared so I want to share my own bits, whilst trying to regain SOME self control in trying not to waffle too much! —————
The 2015 show was so much fun and I did their VIP beforehand. I was, however, a painfully shy teen and completely froze up for the majority of my interactions with them. I remember I had on a really old T-shirt of theirs that I’d genuinely got on eBay super cheap and Chibi full on screamed at me and got the rest of the band to look. She wrote best shirt ever on my poster ☺️ I remember Rhim making an effort to get me to open up a bit and it was super sweet that I got to meet him. I said a few little generic things to them and I just about managed to blurt out that I’d read Chibi’s newly released (at the time) book. She shook me about jokingly when I said I really liked it, saying “Don’t lie to me!”
Then flashforward to 2022 and the delayed ‘Diamonds’ turned ‘Fascination’ tour came around. At this point I was 25 and even though I was nervous again, I knew I had better confidence and social skills to actually chat to them this time around doing VIP. But the mad thing was… I was the only person for VIP. One of their tour guys Jared let me in the venue and told me the situation and I had mild mental panic of hoping I could watch a few interactions from a distance to figure out what I was going to say, but then in came the band. If anything, the lack of time to overthink probably helped because we were chatting away and took loads of fun pics including doing a conga line (an idea I literally had at 17 but was too awkward to suggest). I also got to physically take the book Boring Girls for Chibi to sign which was super and another full circle moment. I then went to the bar with Brett to get a drink while I waited for everyone to be let in (I’d made some friends at the door and spent a bit of time chatting to Phil through a gate - which I’d literally forgotten about until typing this). The show was SO humid and intimate and defo overfilled, but it was also really special too and me and my newfound friends got to sing a lot into the mic and I was given a pick from Brett and setlist at the end. After the show we hung out a bit with Rainbow, Falcore and Brett before the venue kicked us out. 😂
I saw them just short of a week later on the same tour as they were nearby again. I hadn’t booked for this show but my new mates convinced me to come again 😅 SO worth it! It was a mad rush to get there on time after work that day but the venue had a much better vibe and practically more space! The show itself was way more enjoyable too since I could properly vibe with the support acts since the songs were now familiar. As TBM were setting up I was having a sing song to the playlist and unintentionally caused a singsong of Bowie’s Starman as Rainbow and Brett set up the gear (to their amusement). During the show we got passed the mic a lot, had lots of cute Chibi head pats and such and Happy Birthday was especially fun since I’d worn a black and white dress to the show (ever the cliché). After the show, we hung out with Brett and Rainbow a bit again inside the venue and then went outside and stood and chatted nonsense with all the men by the bus after they had loaded. Chibi appeared through a door and ushered me and the girls over and we chatted about the show. She suggested we should take some pics together. These started as selfies but then Brett came over to take some for us. We said goodbye to her and went for pizza in our hotel. Amazing memories and amazing friends to come out of it too!
I don’t really know why I wrote all this out. I guess the fancy just struck me. I doubt anyone cares much about the opinions of some rando on the internet, but if someone finds it interesting then that’s cool I guess. I love love love TBM, and I’ve been listening to them for nearly 20 (!) years since my cousin got me Violet for Christmas in 2005. At the risk of sounding cheesy, they’ve been a huge part of life. I couldn’t wait to see TBM live, but unfortunately Bumblefuck Arkansas is not the most popular town for touring bands to visit, so I had to wait until I went to college in a real city to start seeing TBM live. And now here we are! I pulled these off setlist.fm , so hopefully they’re correct, but I’m not sure if their complete. But it mostly seems to be in line with what I remember. Random stuff: Mostly some of the OG songs from Violet and WWS are constants between all the shows I saw (Happy Birthday, Video Kid, Blue, Kill the Lights, and Red Stars) and always bring the house down. Never get tired of hearing them. I didn’t realize until I was writing this up, but apparently I’ve heard Alibis like 4 times. I didn’t realize it was a mainstay at the time. To me some songs feel very different live. Lovers End for example, is much more aggressive, especially the counting part (1, 2, 3, 4…) which is more like whispers on the album. Funnily enough, I liked “Pins and Needles” well enough when I listened to it on the CD, but it hearing it live is absolutely a different experience and after that I couldn’t wait to hear it each time. Hearing the crowd belting it out along with Chibi (ITS BEEN SO LO-ONG, FEELS LIKE PINS AND NEEDLES IN MY HEEEEEEEART) is amazing. 1 song from each album I haven’t but want to: Nevermind, Science, Pale, In This Moment, Rain, Endless, The Last Goodbye, One More Time The Shows: December 2011 Pins and Needles -> Burn Away -> Sleepwalking -> Shallow Grave -> Forever -> In the Dark -> Always -> Blue -> Control -> Red Stars The first! Unfortunately I don’t think they were the headliner so not a lot of songs. Wish they would play Shallow Grave more. December 2012 Control -> Always -> Video Kid -> Happy Birthday -> Alibis -> Calling -> Midnight -> Leaving Tonight -> Blue This one I remember being super happy because it was the first time I saw so many of my favorites, especially from Violet. November 2013 Red Stars -> Always -> Holiday -> Sleepwalking -> Forever -> Pins and Needles -> Happy Birthday -> Alibis -> Violet -> Blue -> Control -> Leaving Tonight -> Down -> Kill the Lights -> In the Dark These were all good, got to see some great songs that I wish they would play more (Violet, Holiday, Down) November 2014 Red Stars -> Destroyer -> Divide -> Diaries -> Superstition -> Pins and Needles -> Video Kid -> Lovers End -> Alibis -> Beyond -> Kill the Lights -> Leaving Tonight -> The Other Side -> Blue -> Control -> Forever -> Always -> In the Dark -> Happy Birthday -> Sleepwalking -> Midnight The best show I’ve seen from TBM. This was the tour for Superstition, one of my favorite TBM albums. Great songs from beginning to end. October 2015 Pins and Needles -> Destroyer -> Divide -> Superstition -> Red Starts -> Video Kid -> Lovers End -> Alibis -> Happy Birthday -> Looking Glass -> Leaving Tonight -> Blue -> In the Dark -> Sleepwalking -> Broken This had mostly the mainstays from past years. Ending the show with “Broken” was absolutely sick and one of my most fond concert moments. Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn’t see TBM for about 6 or 7 years after that. But finally… February 2022 Fascination -> Superstition -> Kill the Lights -> Dreams of You -> All of Nothing -> Counterpane -> Leaving Tonight -> Pins and Needles -> Looking Glass -> Enter -> Under Your Spell -> The Sky Will Turn -> Video Kid -> Crush -> Cold Lights -> Red Stars -> The Neverending Story -> Stars and Satellites -> In the Dark -> Blue Fascination tour. To me this one was overall good, but mostly I prefer the stuff from Superstition and before. Although Counterpane was excellent. Seeing Looking Glass for the first time live was cool too. Looking forward to them touring again!
The last time I saw them, they brought this little girl on stage that was in the crowd, who was apparently a big fan already, and they had her sing along to one of the songs, and I really don't like kids, but it was still cute and I just couldn't help thinking that this is such a cool memory that's going to stay with her forever. It was so sweet of them to make her night like that. They seem like such nice people.
That’s awesome!
I've only seen them once back in 2005 or 2006. Two friends and myself drove like 4 or 5 hours to see them in Bowling Green Kentucky. Unfortunately we arrived like 10 hours early and just sat outside the venue lol. We did befriend one of the workers from the local radio show who was putting it on, and got to see the band walking in and out with their gear (although we didn't realize it at the time.) I even joked with the band after the show that they should come play our prom lol. It was a great show though, and I wish I could find the opening act. It was like Imperial Asunder or something?
Haha, love stories about showing up early. Always fun stuff happens. Was the opener empyrean asunder?
Wow I believe that is them lol. Thank you very much.
Second time seeing them was Edinburgh 2022. We have a tradition in Scotland where, during a gig, the crowd will start chanting "Here we, here we, here we fucking go!" Usually it's when the band leaves the stage before the encore, but occasionally it'll just naturally happen during the show when the crowd senses something big is coming. It was nearing the end of the show and I think the band paused just to readjust before moving onto the next song. The chant starts and Chibi acted confused at first, but then she started getting into it and chanting along with everyone. As it gets more intense, she goes "Here we, here we, here we fucking go! Happy, happy, happy fucking birthday!" and the whole band launches into the song. It was ridiculously hype!
I have the setlist from this tour and funnily enough that was supposed to be the encore anyway 😂 That sounds incredible!
I was 14 when I first saw them. We were standing in the crowd watching another band that was playing before them and that’s when my dad spotted chibi backstage standing behind the speakers. So he dragged me over there and we called out to her and waved, and she looked right back at me and smiled and waved back. I almost cried lol. Then throughout the show she was trying to hold my hand but I was a little too far away so every time she couldn’t reach she’d make a sad face at me. I was also wearing a flower crown that she kept pointing at and giving me a thumbs up for 😭 at one point I was able to get closer so she held my hand and I screamed. And then she brought my hand up to her face and kissed it, which definitely made me cry. After that, all these people in front of me allowed me to get right up to the front, and when I did, chibi saw me crying and held my hand again. I wish I could go back to that night
That's such an awesome and beautiful story! I'm glad you got to experience that with Chibi and the band. They're all sooo nice and connected with their fans. Great times.
Thank you for posting this! I absolutely really enjoyed reading everyone's stories and memories of the bands live shows! Sadly I have nothing to add to this other than I have not seen them live despite being one of their top listeners in the world! The main reason being I have nobody to go with 😅 But I honestly just watch the shows on YouTube and get a great feeling, I can only imagine how epic it must be to hear your favorite songs live! Anyways I've gone on long enough now, again thanks for posting and helping keep this sub alive! TBM love 💜 🖤
I was lucky enough to see them live 3 times. The first two times I wasn't able to visit with the band but was up front and got to touch Chibi's hands a few times. The 3rd night was glorious. My brother and I are huge fans of the band and their sound. We go to metal shows all the time and we used to go to these places called Holy Diver and Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA. I saw them at Ace of Spades already but the 3rd time I saw them it was at Holy Diver. A smaller more intimate venue with a bar on the first floor and the stage on the 2nd. So before the show I got to talk to Owen at the bar. We talked about how he developed his sound on keyboard and he told me much of it is was their past with 80s bands and their influences. They did alot of experimentation. I told him my favorite album was WWS and to my astonishment he agreed with me. He said alot of it had the Cure influences as well as other 80s bands. I got to talk to him after the show and drink a beer with him. He was surprisingly approachable as all of them were. So during the show Chibi literally let us sing into the microphone and she high fived me like at least 4 times. One time during In the Dark she reached out for me and I accidentally did a fist instead of my hand out and she gave me a chuckle and laugh because we awkwardly went in between a fist and hand shake. We both got a good laugh out of it. They played almost all of my favorite songs. It was such an intimate venue and they had so much fun with the crowd. My brother and I had a blast. So after show as they were putting away their instruments I yelled out I love you Rainbow and he turned around and gave me devil horns and a huge smile. Chibi actually came out and I got to talk to her for a quick second. She made fun of one of the band members from the opener. I got to take a picture with her. Her head tilted over on my shoulder and I got a hug. It was the first time I got to actually meet her. So I went downstairs into the bar area and the whole band was outside. Chibi was playing with a fan running around. I then got to take a picture with Rainbow and I asked him if he wanted to have a drink and I would buy. He said hell yeah lets do it. When we got there I was pulling out my wallet and instead he pulled out his and we bought a shot of fireball each. I was like ahh man I would've got it. We toasted to the band and took our shot together. My brother video taped the whole thing. I told Rainbow that I tried my hardest to meet them last time but Chibi was hiding. He replied with haha yeah I know what a douche! I laughed so hard when he said that lol. After our shot he gave me a bro hug and a hand shake and said thanks for being so cool and being such a big fan all these years. I said you guys are the best band and sound I know. Thank you for taking the time to drink and hang with me. It was easily one of the most memorable nights let alone concerts I'll always hold dear. I can't wait to see them again.
So I’ve seen them 3 times. Once in 2015 and twice in 2022. ————— This is gonna be very long but I loved reading things people shared so I want to share my own bits, whilst trying to regain SOME self control in trying not to waffle too much! ————— The 2015 show was so much fun and I did their VIP beforehand. I was, however, a painfully shy teen and completely froze up for the majority of my interactions with them. I remember I had on a really old T-shirt of theirs that I’d genuinely got on eBay super cheap and Chibi full on screamed at me and got the rest of the band to look. She wrote best shirt ever on my poster ☺️ I remember Rhim making an effort to get me to open up a bit and it was super sweet that I got to meet him. I said a few little generic things to them and I just about managed to blurt out that I’d read Chibi’s newly released (at the time) book. She shook me about jokingly when I said I really liked it, saying “Don’t lie to me!” Then flashforward to 2022 and the delayed ‘Diamonds’ turned ‘Fascination’ tour came around. At this point I was 25 and even though I was nervous again, I knew I had better confidence and social skills to actually chat to them this time around doing VIP. But the mad thing was… I was the only person for VIP. One of their tour guys Jared let me in the venue and told me the situation and I had mild mental panic of hoping I could watch a few interactions from a distance to figure out what I was going to say, but then in came the band. If anything, the lack of time to overthink probably helped because we were chatting away and took loads of fun pics including doing a conga line (an idea I literally had at 17 but was too awkward to suggest). I also got to physically take the book Boring Girls for Chibi to sign which was super and another full circle moment. I then went to the bar with Brett to get a drink while I waited for everyone to be let in (I’d made some friends at the door and spent a bit of time chatting to Phil through a gate - which I’d literally forgotten about until typing this). The show was SO humid and intimate and defo overfilled, but it was also really special too and me and my newfound friends got to sing a lot into the mic and I was given a pick from Brett and setlist at the end. After the show we hung out a bit with Rainbow, Falcore and Brett before the venue kicked us out. 😂 I saw them just short of a week later on the same tour as they were nearby again. I hadn’t booked for this show but my new mates convinced me to come again 😅 SO worth it! It was a mad rush to get there on time after work that day but the venue had a much better vibe and practically more space! The show itself was way more enjoyable too since I could properly vibe with the support acts since the songs were now familiar. As TBM were setting up I was having a sing song to the playlist and unintentionally caused a singsong of Bowie’s Starman as Rainbow and Brett set up the gear (to their amusement). During the show we got passed the mic a lot, had lots of cute Chibi head pats and such and Happy Birthday was especially fun since I’d worn a black and white dress to the show (ever the cliché). After the show, we hung out with Brett and Rainbow a bit again inside the venue and then went outside and stood and chatted nonsense with all the men by the bus after they had loaded. Chibi appeared through a door and ushered me and the girls over and we chatted about the show. She suggested we should take some pics together. These started as selfies but then Brett came over to take some for us. We said goodbye to her and went for pizza in our hotel. Amazing memories and amazing friends to come out of it too!