Last night we went to see Jackson Rathbone and his band 100 Monkeys perform at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver. Hastings and Main isn’t the greatest area for young girls to be hanging out in an alley after midnight… but, I digress.

Jackson (”Japer”) and his band rocked out to a jam-packed venue of screaming fans, in front of some of his fellow cast mates and friends Nikki Reed (”Rosalie”), Elizabeth Reaser (”Esme”), Paris Latsis (Paris Hilton’s ex), and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.

Check out the HD video above to see Jackson and the 100 Monkeys perform an improvised song (with a suggestion of “Acorn” from the audience), and see Nikki and Paris get cozy as well as Elizabeth Reaser and Stephenie Meyer in the video.

It was a neat venue… I thought they did a nice job with the stage setup and the lighting. Shadows, vibrant coloured lighting, and tall dark angular shapes danced across a back screen as the band played to hundreds of photo flashes going off every minute for the duration of the show.

After two opening acts, the band was escorted on stage from an upstairs VIP room by more-than-necessary security and played for about an hour and a half.

Nikki, Paris, and Liz were there right at the start, watching with friends from a VIP booth overlooking the stage. Nikki and Paris were very close and “touchy touchy” during the evening, often leaning in close to talk and giggle, touch cheeks and discretely kiss (sadly, no picture but I saw it with my own eyes).

Jackson looked suave with his white fedora, skinny black tie, lightly pinstriped white shirt, and grunge jeans.

Band members often switched instruments, and Jackson played every instrument on stage over the course of the evening.

Here’s a look at the entire VIP booth that was there… recognize anyone else?

Liz looked like she was having a blast the whole time.

I love these silhouettes of Jackson against the show lighting.

Stephenie Meyer was also there, mingling with the crowd at first unnoticed, and then eventually escaped to the VIP booth once she was discovered, mobbed and flashed… *sigh* I love Stephenie. Getting to talk to her last year and take pictures with her definitely had Amy and I fangirling last year. (Check out my older Twilight-related blog posts)

Nikki, Paris, Liz, and Stephenie all left halfway through the show. I’m not sure why, that is pretty uncharacteristic of them… but I would guess that it had to do with the insanely hot and sticky temperatures inside the theatre. We were on the ground floor close to the concrete walls where it was cool, and we were sweating. Jackson and his band were dripping with sweat, and I would guess the VIP booth way up in the air was even hotter, forcing some of the cast members to leave a little early.

I love Liz’s sexy black thigh high boots (so hot this Fall, right?) and backless dress.. Nikki had on some cool shoes with a tunic adorned with a large sequined/studded flower and tights. Paris had a hat, wife beater (hmm, not so hot) and jeans. It was quite a climb to get from the booth to the backstage, so here are some fun shots of everyone climbing down to leave. They left through the backstage which tunneled through to the front door and took a taxi home. Some of my friends got a signature and photo with Liz in the front.

The end of the show consisted of us (and a few other girls and paps) waiting in the back alley to see them leave. Some friends got photos with Ben G from the band, and then shortly after Jackson exited the theatre quickly surrounded by 4 bodyguards (was that really necessary?) and hopped into a vehicle with Scott “The Scientist” (also played that night) and gave us a little smile before taking off. We were surprised that he didn’t stop to say hi to any of the fans, as Jackson is normally very fan-friendly.

Fun night, great performances, and neat to see the cast again. Sorry for the lateness of the post, we were out till 4 AM last night

You can always follow me on Twitter for more updates, or check here to see my other blog posts with Twilight cast members and live set filming. There are more photos on my Flickr as well that I didn’t post up here.

This one’s going to be a bit of a mixed post to cover my Sunday.

First it was off to the Shark Club to watch the Canucks play St. Louis for Game #3 in the first round of the playoffs. Pics at the end of this post.

I received an e-mail from the street team leader of the Dills telling me to go out tonight to watch Sage perform at Metropole in Gastown. So Allan, Amy, Mandy, Tara, John, Ranelle and myself headed out to Metropole to check it out around 10:00. Sadly it was SUPER dark in there (much darker than the 100 Monkeys) concert and all my photos turned out dark and blurry. A real shame.

Sage from the Dills was awesome! She had a great voice, both chill and uptempo songs, and her song “Dawn” was great… it should really make it into New Moon! Unfortunately her guitar broke at the beginning of the show so she had to borrow the opening performer’s guitar.

Although her band wasn’t there, she had the “Phantom Dills” play in the background and sang and played her guitar for the fans there. She told a lot of great stories and kept a chill vibe going the whole night. She looked stylish in a green striped blouse, black high-waisted trousers and knee-high black boots.

I asked her if I could take photos of my show and she said that was cool. Nikki Reed herself came out and sat right in front for half the show to take photos of her friend, support her music, take videos, and dance along to the music. What a great friend! They were talking/shouting to each other during the show the entire time, and Nikki was giving song suggestions.

Here’s a video of Sage performing. It’s really dark but you can still hear the great music. During the flashes you can also see Nikki and Taylor Lautner.

Near the end of the night, Sage serenaded and sang to Taylor. It was really cute. Taylor looked very casual and cool in a plaid shirt, distressed jeans, and rockin’ plaid sneakers.

Nikki, Taylor, and Kristen (with those fabulous glasses) kept in the roped off area for the most part.

Kristen and Taylor didn’t pose for pictures and left at the end of the show, I’m guessing to keep the spotlight on Sage.

Sadly this photo of Sage didn’t turn out, I had turned the autofocus off on my camera and forgot that I did, so half my photos (including the photo I am in with Nikki) were blurry.

Nikki looked awesome in a white and black striped shirt, a gray scarf (popular with the Twilight cast it seems!), blue jeans, and ankle boots, with a long brown leather jacket.

Both Nikki and Sage posed with fans for 10 minutes. Nikki picked up Sage’s guitar for her, and they both eventually took off out the side door.

Fun night! It was really good music and it was the perfect way to end the weekend. Here’s a picture of Mandy, Ranelle, Amy, myself, and Tara (from L to R).

Here’s some pictures from the Shark Club earlier…

We cheered on the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Blues, taking the Canucks to a strong 3-0 series lead. Canucks looked pretty shaky in the first period, and were lucky Luongo kept them in the game. Second and third period they looked a lot better, even without Mats Sundin. Impressed with the Canucks penalty kill.

It was Kyle and Lindsay’s birthday so we had a good-sized group out and made a little noise at the bar.

And that’s the end of the weekend!

IF any cast members would like their photo removed, please let me know and I would be happy to honour your request!

It’s been a long past couple weeks since Amy and I, and friends, started visiting the Twilight sets. I’m pretty exhausted. This may be the last of it for us

My morning alarm went off 30 minutes ago… but here’s the catch — we just got back home. Yup, we were out all night at the Cullen House set. We saw the new outfits for the birthday party scene. And yes, to Amy’s excitement, Rob was there. Let me explain.

We’d been meaning to visit the Cullen house set in North Vancouver for some time now. Amy and Ranelle managed to guess the location of the set (thanks Ranelle for all the update!).! However… with work and Canucks playoff games though, it just didn’t work out and we weren’t able to visit until tonight after the (awesome) game.

We rolled up to the set tonight at around 12:30 am to find it packed with about 30 teenage girls. Some even camped out in sleeping bags, lawn chairs, etc! Wow, crazy! We knew that it would be about their “lunch time” when we got there since they were shooting overnight, and so we hoped to get some glimpses of the cast leaving in the vehicles for the catering site.

After a few blinding headlights and lots of waiting, believe it or not… yes… Rob Pattison (Edward) and Kristen Stewart (Bella) streaked by in their car.

We couldn’t see too much of the set, except that the parts of the house we could see looked quite like the one in Twilight. It was surrounded by a forest… completely lit up by the filming below. It was actually really surreal.

Another car drives by, and here’s a strange one: Edi Gathegi (Laurent) and Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria). I wonder what they were doing there. Were they visiting the set? Were they filming a scene for Eclipse? Were they filming a new scene for New Moon that wasn’t in the book? Hmmmm….

Everything died down at around 1:00 AM once all the cast had taken off for lunch. The entire sidewalk of girls emptied, down to pretty much us four (Amy, Mandylicious (so cool in person!), Mel, and myself) and a group of young girls in sleeping bags. The security guards had been super strict for the past 3 days and no one was even getting a real glimpse at anything. At this point we weren’t really sure what to do. I was pretty burnt out myself, but Amy hadn’t seen Rob yet and it was Friday night after all… so we decided to stick it out.

We made quite a few Tim Horton’s runs that night for hot tea. We were cold, really cold. I wasn’t planning on camping out like that so I was freezing as I wasn’t really dressed appropriately (my hockey jersey and a mini skirt and leggings).

But we did it. We froze our asses off until 6 AM in the morning and wow, were we ever rewarded!

The teenage girls took off, and we were the final four. We were just about to give up hope when some headlights blinded us and a white SUV pulled up… but instead of screeching off like normal… they SLOWED DOWN!

We saw Peter roll down his window…

And believe it or not… Peter Facinelli (Carlisle), Kristen Stewart (Bella), and Nikki Reed (Rosalie) in full hair and make up got out of the van! Peter said, “We just have to get out and give you girls hugs for waiting all this time!” Hugs all around. Kristen asked Amy how long we’d been there, and Amy said “10 minutes” at first and then eventually told her the truth. Nikki was just beaming… she looked great and her new wig looked amazing.

We were super excited to see they were in full hair and makeup, all dressed up in the new costumes for the Birthday Party scene!

Peter looked absolutely stunning in person in his “vamp” look. Wow, he honestly looked a little supernatural in person. It looked like his outfit was a gray cashmere button up sweater, a gray and white striped scarf, over a white checked stiff dress shirt and an ice blue textured tie, with gray slacks. Very sleek!

Kristen and Nikki were covered up, but they both looked great. Kristen was wearing a bathrobe to keep warm over the birthday party dress which was cleverly covered! However… we have clues. It appears she is wearing a frothy light blue and turquoise striped cocktail dress. You can see in the top picture with her and Rob that the bottom of the dress is ruffled and layered. Looks very pretty from what we can see! Nikki has an amazing warm smile and she is so gracious. She beamed at us the entire time taking photos and waved when they left. We’re not sure about Rosalie’s outfit… any guesses?

I made sure to get Amy, Mandy and Mel in a photo with them.

Thanks for taking photos with us!

Soon another van pulled out and Jackson got out! He also wanted to thank us for hanging out for so long and he also gave Amy a big hug. Mandy let him know they were at the concert on Tuesday and Jackson seemed stoked about that and mentioned the other shows coming up.

It was so neat to see the cast members with their makeup and contacts, especially after seeing them at the concert/bar as “normal” people having fun.

It looks like “Jasper”’s outfit for the scene will be a handsome dark blue button-up collared dress shirt, a bold square belt, dark blue jeans, and some really great black oxford shoes with a stacked heel, pointed toe, and matte leather. Nice! Jackson looked very sexy.

So of course we snapped a couple photos with Jackson!

And last, but not least…

Rob Pattison’s car pulled up and stopped in front of us with Rob and Ashley Greene. You can see that “Edward”’s outfit for the scene consists of a sharp black blazer, a charcoal ribbed heavy sweater, and tight gray jeans. Unfortunately we can’t see Ashley’s outfit. I’m guessing that jacket isn’t part of it?

They rolled down the window and Rob exclaimed in his accent, “You guys are crazy!.” The girls got pretty excited and snapped a couple rare pics. Rob and Ashley smiled at us and put up with our photos and said bye to us before leaving. Very cool of them to roll down the window and say hi! Amy mentioned how uncomfortable Rob is about photos, so that must have been tough for him to do but we really appreciated it! And they both looked gorgeous.

And that’s it! We were super stoked, very tired, and definitely impressed again by the graciousness of the cast and the opportunity just to see them. And those outfits look GOOD! I’m excited to see the scene in the movie.

And now, it is time for bed. It’s 9 AM and I need sleep. Goodnight

Once again, I apologize for the diversion from the surfing and snowboarding posts… but I have to talk about my favourite book/movie series! Amy, Kim and I strike again with the Twilight – New Moon cast at Jackson Rathbone’s band’s (100 Monkeys) concert tonight! Big thanks again to Amy for the invite… you’re the best. We saw… Ashley Greene (Alice), Kellan Lutz (Emmett), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper), Peter Facinelli (Carlisle), Kristen Stewart (Bella), Taylor Lautner (Jacob), and Nikki Reed (Rosalie). Yay!

If any of the cast reads this and wants me to remove any photos of them, please let me know. I know it’s a privilege and not a right to get photos with you and I respect that!

We headed down to the Backstage Lounge at Granville Island, to check out 100 Monkeys. Jackson Rathbone sings, plays guitar, and the keyboard with his band. Let me first start out by saying… the band was amazing. The music was great and they put on a really good show. Also props to the management of the Backstage Lounge… they did a good job of keeping things calm.

I can’t even begin to tell you how nice the cast was. They asked for us to wait to take photos until mainly after the show because they didn’t want to take the spotlight from Jackson’s band, and they were incredibly kind, classy, and friendly. And they mostly hung out in the crowd all night, just enjoying the show like everyone else. Mindblowing! Kudos, Twilight cast. You really are a one-of-a-kind group. Thanks for putting up with us fans!

Let me go through the night in chronological order in as much detail as I can possibly remember (Amy and Kim, fill any in if I missed some!)…

*deep breath*

When we first arrived at the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island it was pretty empty. We had a few drinks and some food, and soon we spotted Jackson Rathbone and his band, just a few feet away from us in the corner milling about. We asked for photos and they kindly declined saying they would take some after the show. (They made good on their promise!)

We watched the opening band who were pretty good and kept an eye out for any activity. It was really neat to see Jackson for the first time. He seemed very casual and comfortable with his band.

After the opening band was done, we headed outside for some fresh air, and also walked up the street where we encountered some “paparazzi” who were waiting for the rest of the Twilight/New Moon cast members to arrive. I met the guy who takes all of LaineyGossip’s photos and he seemed pretty cool and had a LOT of equipment. There were also a number of other men who had binders full of photos they wanted the cast to sign so they could sell the photos. Hmmm. One even claimed that Jackson had signed 28 photos for him the other day.

After about half an hour, we were lucky enough to see Peter, Kristin, Taylor, Kellan, and Ashley entering the club. Jackson was there to meet him, after texting them instructions (?) or timing. They were all incredibly stylish and even better looking in person. Not to mention very kind and friendly. Taylor (TEAM JACOB… Mmmm) showed up in his usual mysterious hoodie and jeans, Kristin wore a blue jean jacket and looked pretty casual.. Ashley looked super sexy in a tight black leather jacket, black purse and tight black pants and heels with bright red lipstick… Peter wore a burgundy leather jacket (wow!) with a nice pair of jeans, and he wore a baseball cap inside at times. Jackson was dressed in a suit and sneaks for his performance with the band, and Nikki had on a nice jacket with jeans and some boots. Kellan definitely looked handsome with a toque, scarf, black leather jacket, black V-neck t-shirt, and grey/black pants.

The group headed inside, but we managed to snag Peter for a photo. Unfortunately this photo turned out blurry which is a real shame, as Peter has just the most mesmerizing eyes and smile in person! He was a real class act and stayed outside to take some photos with fans while the rest went inside.

Inside the bar they had a small table in the back which was gated off. They had a bodyguard who was doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone away. I asked if I could buy Kellan or Jacob a drink, which was of course declined by the bodyguard, but he mentioned I could try if they decided to get on the dance floor.

So we took our places on the dance floor to watch Jackson’s band perform on the stage. They were AMAZING! Up tempo songs, great lyrics, and quite a variety in melodies. Very impressed!

And lo and behold, a few minutes later I turn to my left and I am shoulder to shoulder with Peter and Ashley. I dance a bit and don’t bother them so they can enjoy the show. Soon, Kristin and Taylor with Nikki make their way to the very front and set up right in the centre of the stage. They hang out there for the entire show.

I notice that Peter seems to be standing by himself, so I ask him if he’s got enough room or if he wants to move up closer to the stage. He says he’s got lots of room. I ask him if he’s enjoying Vancouver, to which he responds yes, very much. I thank him for his time and go back to watching the show.

The ENTIRE cast (well, aside from Rob) is basically standing a foot from me, so Amy, Kim and I watch the show and stealthily steal some looks at the cast. They all look happy to be there, and seem to be partying and enjoying the music. I’m so happy they were able to mingle and just party.

15 minutes later and I’m standing right beside Ashley Greene and her boyfriend? Not sure if it’s her boyfriend or a close friend. Pretty sure they are dating. I am later told it is Boone from LOST. I thought I recognized him somewhere! He’s wearing a cool bowler hat, and him and Ashley are dancing closely. It was amazing to see them so intimate and absorbed in each other in the midst of a huge crowd of Twilight fans.

They dance together all night, and look very happy and peaceful. Ashley looks over at me for a second and I take the opportunity to tell her she looks beautiful and that they look very cute together. She seems genuinely flattered and surprised, and says thank you a few times. I leave her alone, but another fan asks her for a photo, so I couldn’t resist. I blacked myself out here because I looked pretty goofy. Ashley really embodies what I would always imagine to be a classic Hollywood starlet… she’s got that timeless look, and she is incredibly charming.

Meanwhile, Jackson and the band rocks out. Check out the video. You can see Ashley in the black shirt to the left, and Jackson calls out his manager, the “Bananager” (VERY COOL band manager, we got to talk to him quite a bit).

Some time passes and I find myself in the middle of a bit of rowdy banter between Peter and Kellan. Although Jacob is my favourite character in the book, I may have to say Kellan is my favourite actor from the movie. I finally get a chance to talk to Kellan, and no one else seems to be talking to him or disturbing him. I talked to him for a good ten minutes about snowboarding, the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler, Mammoth, and Vancouver. He really has a killer smile, and he’s a great conversationalist. Very down to earth. And not afraid to party!

The show is winding down… I notice Jacob and Nikki have their arms around each other all night. Probably a friendly gesture, but it is nice to see the camaraderie between the cast.

Kristin and Nikki are talking pretty much the whole night. They seem so close!

Kristin and Jacob hang out a bit, and I definitely get some of my Team Jacob fill.

Eventually the show wraps up and we get a few more photos with the cast members. Thanks for taking photos with us!

The first group heads out to the patio, and then into cabs.

Meanwhile, Kellan hangs out with us and takes some photos, and does some really funny stuff. Wish I could have gotten a video of him. He’s pretty much exactly what I imagined Emmett to be. He’s silly, goofy… he used his scarf to make a ninja outfit and tried to scare different groups of girls. It was hilarious.

Eventually the second group heads out, and ended up having to hide behind dumpsters to escape the paparazzi when they realized there were no cabs left. Eventually they got into one and made it away safely. Phew!

We hung back a bit for photos with Jackson and the band, and the Bananager! Awesome! Thanks guys!

All in all a great night. We felt super lucky to see the cast there, and even happier that they were so friendly. I really enjoyed getting to see my favourite characters from the movies come to life, and getting to see some glimpses of the real people behind them. It was so dark that most of my photos didn’t turn out, or were grainy, but we still had an amazing time and lots of good memories. I think Kellan giving Amy a HUGE hug is my favourite one! Bulging biceps anyone?

Well, it’s 4 AM and I’m off to bed! I have an all-day work conference starting at 9 AM. Hope you enjoyed the story and the photos