The Summer Set contest!

[Alternative Press]

The Summer Set, Alternative Press and Glamour Kills want to hear your favorite AP Tour memory. Post your experience below and we'll pick who we think had the best! The winner will receive tickets to this year's Vans Warped Tour where they will meet the Summer Set and watch the band play on the Glamour Kills Stage. They will also receive two tickets to both the Glamour Kills tour and the AP Tour this fall.

[Daphne]

"What's Your Favorite Warped Memory" - This was my prompt. I have not yet been to an AP concert. Unless Warped Tour is an AP tour...? I don't know. I would love to go to one! I just need money... Anyway. Here is my story:
Angels and Airwaves are on stage. I'm pumped. It's not Blink 182, but Tom Delonge is SO CLOSE. I get to the front. (Not to the very front where the barrier is; only the tiniest girls can stay there for some reason.) I'm singing along to their songs, jumping, screaming... I didn't know such a calm band would have a mosh pit, but they did. It was pretty big too! There was crowd surfing... Angels and Airwaves fit right in. I was so happy... Until Tom screamed out, "Where are all my pedophiles out there?! Let me hear you screaming!" And of course the two fat, old, sweaty men next to me start screaming. They are twice my weight and a head taller than me. I'm slightly terrified for my life and virginity, but I suffer through the anxiety for Tom. But 5 minutes later this girl crowd surfing hits me in the back on the head! I'm knocked to the ground and everything is dark and fuzzy. I can't move. But the two old men next to me can! They're handling me, but I can't move because I'm slightly paralyzed/stunned. When they have me standing and I finally realize what is going on, I run. Literally run and push people out of my way. I only got to see half of the show... It's not exactly a happy memory, but it's my most vivid.
My favorite memory was probably last year when Chiodos started the Tour in Oregon and Underoath followed. Underoath had us do a "Wall of Death". That was a scary sort of fun!
Another memory was my first year (2007) when 4 guys fell on top of me in a mosh pit and another guy picked me up 2 seconds after I hit the ground. He had pretty eyes...

[becca blair]

The whole AP tour experience is awesome, in itself, but i actually think my favorite parts were not while the bands were performing but during their down time and the ride there. I live four hours away from the date I was going to, so who wouldn't love a four hour car ride with your best friends? We were all super excited to be seeing some of favorite bands that we always to jam to.

My other most memorable part was probably after the show, when everyone was just kind of "chillen". It was a really nice night in columbus. Everyone was super nice. I was incredibly enthralled to meet the summer set, because i was apart of "The Summer Set Puzzle Project". So i got to give one piece out of a huge puzzle to someone in the band. It was cool to be apart of that, ya know? So once the everyone started to come outside, i lurked my way over to the devilishly handsome John Gomez. and after getting countless pieces of that puzzle he was just so excited to get another one. So seeing other people so happy is a pretty good feeling, especially if you had a small hand in that.

i also had mad good hangs with the amazon man, also known as, Josh from Every Avenue.

[marissa auslander]

I loved the whole concert. It was really upbeat and fun. I saw Every Avenue for the fourth time :] But i dont have any special story really about it. I went with my favorite people.saw my favorite bands and had a great time. and when Christofer Drew was talking about how guys need to hold onto their girls he looked right at my boyfriend. I thought that was pretty cute.Thats all :]

[marissa]

AP Tour 2010 was the greatest night of my life. The summer set are my heros and i really look up to them as role models, so it was incredible to see them live. I wore a homemade shirt that said I Love The GoBros on it for Stephen and John Gomez. I also wore my geek glasses and converse to match John:) I got to see Jess up close and waved to her and I saw Courtney doing curl ups in TSS's van. I was a part of The Summer Set Puzzle Project so when I met Josh I gave him my puzzle piece which had a heartfelt letter to the band written on the back. It meant a lot to me that he got to see how strongly I feel towards the band. I also got to meet Brian and he said his leg was doing much better. It was a great night overall. I was front row most of the show, met lots of people, and finally got to see bands that I love. Never Shout Never was great and Every Avenue rocked it. I almost cried when NSN played What Is Love? because my parents are divorced and I always wonder what it would be like if they were still together. Hey Monday tore up the stage and The Cab was amazing as always. I ended up making new friends that will last a lifetime and memories that I will keep with me forever. I even got Dave from Every Avenues water bottle and John Gomez's gutair pick:D By far the best night ever.

[Sara Rosenthal]

Wow. There too many memories were made on The 2010 AP Tour. I should start by saying that Brian from the Summer Set is quite a trooper! The Summer Set band as a whole have come so far in a few years. I still don't know if I was lucky when I witnessed Brian break his ankle jumping off the stage directly in front of me. I guess he misjudged the distance between the stage and the floor. However, he managed to finish their set without breaking his excitement and connection to the audience. In fact, I didn't even know until halfway through the show when Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday announced that he might have broken his ankle to the crowd. That is one of my strongest memories from the AP tour. I'm still bummed that because of his accident, I was unable to meet him. However, I was glad to able to meet the rest of the Summer Set and several members of The Cab and Every Avenue. They all signed a shirt I was wearing and now i just need Brian to sign the shirt so it will be complete!

[Anika Kabani]

The AP tour concert was no doubt the best concert ive ever been to and thats saying something, bc ive been to a hell of a lot of concerts. right after the summer set played me and my friend went out back hoping to bump into them. instead we were held up by a hobo who ransacked our money, but we did get a glimpse of them :) so my favorite AP tour memory didn't involve the bands at all, just the stalkage of them. maybe someday (with warped tour tix *wink wink*) ill actually be able to meet them :'D

[Travis T Thomas]

This is going to be long and I appologize in advance for that but I would really hope that it can be read fully. The best experience I've had at Warped Tour(I know it's an AP Tour experience but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to go so this is the best I have and hoping that this story may change me not having had the oppritunity to attend yet) would have been 2005. I had wanted to go in 2004 with my friends but had to have surgery to correct Kyphosis(curvature of the upper spine) during the summer and had to miss it. Unfortunately during the surgery the surgeon fucked up and hit my spine leading to swelling and resulting in me being paralyzed. After going through physical therapy and being in the hospital for 6 months I finally got out with the goal of going with my friends to next years Warped Tour wheelchair or not.

People thought it was weird and almost insane that I wasn't hesitant for a second about going thinking I was going to get trampled or eaten alive in the mosh pits but I wasn't. Music was and is my life, it's what keeps my head up. I can't go a second without music being on my mind. So in 2005 I went to Warped Tour and had one of the best times of my entire life, I wasn't going to let me being paralyzed slow me down or ruin the experience. I had an absolutely amazing time that can't be described in the billions upon billions of words in the english language. Seeing The Transplants, Big D and the Kids Table, Senses Fail, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold and Gym Class Heroes was immense and complete joy and love. I loved every second of every mosh pit. Even when I ended up out of my wheelchair on multiple occasions with peoples feet on my face. I loved when I got to crowd surf when Avenged Sevenfold was playing. I loved singing every word of every song that I knew.

I can't tell you how much music has kept me positive and the shows that are put on through music make every second of life worth living. Music has forever changed me and continues to change me. Warped Tour is something I love and means a great deal to me just as it does to the thousands of people that attend each and every summer. There is always a reason to stay positive and there is always a reason to find the beauty in life, and for me that comes through music and all that it has done for me. I would not be close to the same person I am today without it. I am really hoping that there is any chance that I can win this contest because otherwise I don't know if I will be able to attend given I am low on money and probably won't be able to scrounge up any cash by the show most likely because I am without a job(but I'll keep doing everything I can to get enouogh money). And I hope you do not take me for any reason as a sympathy case looking for free things, I am as happy or happier than many of the people in the world and love life. I am just sharing my best Warped Tour experience and why it is so meaningful to me. And I am just explaining myself as a person and hoping that it connects with others or at the very least inspires others to see the beauty that music has to offer.

And I also realize that this is about AP Tour but unfortunately I have never been able to attend given different things coming up or because I don't have the money, but I thought I would share anyway because it is that meaningfull and will do absolutely anything(well, maybe not anything but close to it) to get to go to AP and Warped or even one or the other. I hope that it is understood and can be worked around.

[Haley!]

I went twice, but the first show as a whole was incredibly memorable, as cliché as that sounds. I convinced my mom to take me to the Des Moines, Iowa stop of the AP tour during my spring break. We live in Michigan, and I had tickets to the tour a month later, but I didn't want to wait that long to see so many of my favorite bands. So my mom and I ended up driving 30 hours total during the trip, and I had to go on four college visits to convince my mom the trip was worth it. We went to the show, just my mom and I. My mom stayed in the back and I got to the second row. Being able to sing along and dance and scream without worrying about losing track of my friends or having someone I know think I looked like a buffoon was really, really great. I love shows with my friends, but it was just cool to experience it alone. I stayed up front for The Summer Set, Every Avenue, and The Cab, all of which were amazing, and then went to find my mom. This part of the show was possibly my favorite: meeting a bunch of the guys from the bands with my mom, she was so cool about it, she even hugged Joey Thunder from the Cab :] And when I was up at the front for the first three bands, apparently she talked to Alex DeLeon, and even wished him a happy birthday, I was so proud of her :]. Being able to share a show with my mom was really awesome, she knows how much I love going to shows and meeting bands and it was really great that we were able to go to one together, and I know she had fun with it too :] She was so amazing about the whole thing, and she even told me she sang along to "Chelsea" and "Vegas Skies." :]

[emily willey]

Ok, so when The Summer Set first came out on stage, some fat chick punched me in the face. I was not happy. But it was okay because then I heard "The Boys You Do," and me and my friend were jammin' like beasts. Then I almost peed my in my overly tight pants from hysterical laughter because Brian went to take a drink of water, but it was filled with vodka. That was so funny because throughout the whole show, he kept sayin' how his lips hurt and were burning. Then TSS got pranked again because Jersey was talking into the speakers and their earpieces. Then to top it off, all the bands and crew came out on stage with The Summer Set's van seats. It was so adorable, because everyone was dancing and singing together. I think the best part about their set was when they were doing the Taylor Swift cover, Brian was singing it word for word, so it was like, "she wears short skirts, i wear t-shirts." Ahh, I don't know but it was just hilarous. So I have to say, the whole time The Summer Set was on stage and getting majorly pranked was definitely my best memory of the AP Tour Cleveland... My worst memory was when I practically died almost getting sucked into the mosh pit during The Cab's set. I was legitimately fearful for my life.
I LOVE AP! ( just sayin' (; )

[rachel white]

i had SO many memorable moments on this year's AP tour. Some of my best moments were probably when i first walked into the venue croc rock) and i saw christofer drew walking upstairs where the rest of the bands were, and while he was going up he was singing the beatles. it was soo awesome. another amazing moment was probably when i was in the crowd during every avenue's set, and a dude proposed to his girlfriend on stage in front of everyone. i thought it was an awesome idea, and every evenue was so sweet to let his do that! another cool part was when the dudes from the summer set were standing on the floor above us, and pouring jack daniel's on people's heads as they walked by. they're suchh funny guys! hahah. the ap tour is definetly my favorite ive been to in a long time!

[Heather Treaster]

Choosing a favorite memory from the AP tour is so difficult. So I'll just have to summarize my night in extreme detail.

My friends Alex, Abby, Paige and I ran out to Alex's mom's car as soon as school ended on April 28, 2010. We took a two and a half hour trip from our very small hometown to Club Infinity in Buffalo, NY. I had been to a few concerts before this, while my other friends had not. I knew we had to get there early if we wanted to get close to the bands. We got in line behind a girl who was by herself about an hour before the doors opened. We quickly learned her name, Catie, and became fast friends with her. More things than we bargained for happened in that line. Abby and I had decorated pants for the concert (Abby used paint and I used sharpie), writing all the band's names, song titles and anything else we could think of. People from Wonka handed out gummies. Abby thought it would be funny to lick one and stick it to the outside wall of the venue. I did the same with one of mine and put it next to Abby's, making sure their butts were touching. Abby even looked inside the mailbox of the club and found another pack for the four of us to eat together. Paige, who's probably one of the girliest girls I know, had a burping contest with the guys in front of us. That broke the barrier and we began to talk with them. One of them looked at me, covered their mouth and yelled "STU!!!" I was quite confused. He just told me that because I was wearing a yellow shirt, I was a Stu. Alrighty, then. Thank you for a new inside joke, random stranger(:

Two hours later, we entered the club. We bypassed all of the merch stands to get a place where we could see--especially Abby, who's only five feet tall. As soon as we tried wiggling our way up, a girl who stood at least six feet wormed her way right in front of us and just stood there.

"Excuse me." Abby said. "I'm short and I can't see."

"I was here first." The other girl said.

Uhm, actually... you weren't.

Abby and I drifted to the side to sit on the ledge. The others couldn't follow us because everything was just so packed. About fifteen minutes later, the lights dimmed, and The Summer Set came out. Abby and I shouted to every word (we shouted to The Boys You Do as loud as we could, just because we think that song's funny.). Next was Every Avenue. You could tell who the Every Avenue stalkers were, because they did everything they could-push, punch and violate people-to get to the front. There was even a point when the singer began to crowd surf and some girl grabbed his shirt and wouldn't let go. After them, The Cab came on. I wasn't a huge fan of The Cab, but I absolutely LOVED the song One Of Those Nights. Before one of their songs in the middle of their set, they stated that they didn't really play the next song often. Then they asked the audience if they'd ever had just... one of those nights. I began to scream as loud as I could. I was wondering how they could do the Brandon Urie and Patrick Stump parts in the song. I was really excited when they brought out the lead singer of the Summer Set to do one of them.

By the time Hey Monday came out, I was being physically violated by a girl in a crazy orange sweater. Who wears a sweater to a concert? Anyway, I'm pretty sure she enjoyed having my crotch in her butt, because she kept grinding against me. It became difficult to enjoy Hey Monday, but I made sure to scream as loud as I could in attempt to make her move. I even thought about really grinding on her to make her go away-Or at least move up a little-but then I thought if she enjoyed it, she might move closer to me. She moved before NeverShoutNever! and I couldn't have been more relieved.

We stayed at the merch tables for about half an hour, just looking at everything. Everybody grabbed something cool, and we left to go to a hotel for four hours, then leave for school the next day.

Best. Night. Ever.

[allie stevenson]

the whole AP tour was amazing! I went to the Allentown date so i saw when that man proposed to his girlfriend on stage during Every Avenue's set and i thought that was just the cutest thing ever! Also Gunz from the gunz show was there and as a big fan of the show I was really excited for that. also when i was waiting in line to get into the venue the guys from Every Avenue were sitting on the roof and that was funny they were just talking to people from up there. All the bands did really well, too, The Summer Set really got the crowd pumped for the whole night. So after all the bands were done we were just chilling outside and all the bands came out. My friend and I met a lot of the bands and they were all so nice. so basically the whole AP Tour was a good memory i will not forget that night for a very long time. I was so happy I got to go, and it was such a good night and all of the bands on the tour are soo talented and derve every bit of recognition they achieve.