Music
Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, boygenius | November 19, 2018 | Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO We're taking a little jump here, to the most recent concert I attended. As with a lot of my concert ticket purchases in the last year, this one was an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment purchase. My friend Abby was up in Greeley to visit me and and my roommate Nat since she was no longer attending UNC. We had talked late into the night, and as with most of my long conversations, eventually we came to the topic of music. And I found out that neither of them had ever been to a concert at a small venue. As a passionate advocate of the small venue concert, for its musical intimacy impossible to feel at an outdoor amphitheater or concert hall, I told them that they had to attend a concert at a small venue, and I meant immediately. I hopped on my laptop and looked up the tickets, which I had been eyeing for a few weeks because Lucy Dacus has long been on my "Concerts to see" list. Because the tickets were only $23, nobody put up a fight, and we all agreed we would be attending the concert. A few weeks later, we purchased the tickets and we were set for November 19th. Cut to the day before the concert. Abby had come up early to stay the night with a few of her other friends. She was going to come over the next day, and sleep at our apartment after the concert. And Nat, the ballsiest procrastinator I had ever met, was freaking out about an Annotated Bibliography that was due the day after the concert. She kept saying that she couldn't go to the concert anymore, and I kept telling her the one day was plenty of time to complete an Annotated Bibliography which, while tedious, doesn't take too long to do. But still, she stayed up until four in the morning working on it and didn't finish. Thankfully she finished with a few hours to spare and said she was indeed coming, which I told her she always had been. Come to find out in the car, she had attempted to sell her ticket last minute the night before, she told us laughing. But I was far from laughing. Having been ditched at the last minute many times in my life, I was completely pissed. So the night started out pretty sour. But things quickly turned around. My friend Laci was also going--she had bought the tickets last minute instead of trying to sell them--so we met her in line and chatted a bit, with her and a few of the other concert-goers, before the doors to the Ogden finally opened and we all funneled in. Nat, Abby, and I started at the merch table while Laci went to go save us a spot up front. At every concert I have attended, I have purchased a shirt to commemorate the event, but it is after this concert that I have decided I need to cut back on my merchandise purchases. As usual, I bought a shirt, but I also bought the Lucy Dacus record, because my collection was in desperate need. Yet, that meant I spent a whopping $50 on merch, double the cost of the ticket itself. Plus, then I had to keep track of a huge LP for the remainder of the concert. Getting merch before is the right way to do it if you want to avoid the crowd after the concert and the possibility of being left with only an XL option in the shirt you want, but when you have a merch problem like I do, it can be highly inconvenient mid-concert when the crowd is shifting and you have to make sure the vinyl stays securely at your feet. With my Lucy Dacus shirt and vinyl, Nat with a Julien Baker shirt, and Abby with boygenius, we headed into the space and found Laci in the front row (who then went and got a Phoebe Bridgers concert, so we had one for each artist). We chatted until the lights dimmed and Lucy Dacus came onto the stage. First up was Lucy Dacus. Of the three girls, Lucy Dacus is by far my favorite artist and the reason I had wanted to attend the concert in the first place. But tragically, she was only the opener, which meant that her set consisted of a mere five songs. And of those five, she did not play my absolute favorite, "Nonbeliever." Additionally, and I don't know if the sound guys were off or if we were just standing in a spot of shotty acoustics, but it was really hard to hear her voice over the sound of the guitar (which was a consistent problem throughout the night). That said, it was still an amazing set, and when she played "Night Shift," another one of my favorites, she blew away both me an the rest of the crowd--who hadn't known her before the concert I'm sure but would look her up after, no doubt. More than anything her set reaffirmed that I no doubt be snatching up tickets to her headlining show as soon as it happens. Next up was Phoebe Bridgers. I absolutely love a few of her songs, but the songs that I love are really the only ones I know. And as always, I tried to learn more before the day of the concert, but it just came up on me way too fast. So mostly I just swayed to the ethereal sound of her voice and marveled at her gothic beauty. And when "Motion Sickness" came around I did belt it out. And I do have to say, she did a cover of the Gillian Welsh song, "Everything is Free" which was absolutely breath-taking. I had seen a cover of done by Courtney Barnett only a month before (a post of that concert to come) and although I generally like Courtney's music better than Phoebe's, Phoebe's soft and angelic cover blew Courtney's out of the water. Last up was Julien Baker, who I must admit, was the one I had been least excited for coming. Of the three, she is the one I know the least--meaning I do not know a single one of her songs. Plus, after a full set by Phoebe, since the two of them were co-headliners, I was pretty tired. We had already been there for two hours and my feet were starting to ache. Plus, while Phoebe's ethereal voice is hypnotizing, that power also makes her sound very lullaby-like, making my eyes heavy by the end of the set. And she and Julien have a very similar sound so I knew in the next hour, we were in for more of the same sounds to lull us softly into a standing sleep. So I definitely was struggling during Julien's set to forget my aches and get lost in the music. And I know I wasn't the only one. I could see it on Nat's face--her running on four hours of sleep, I can't even imagine. And Laci was so exhausted that she started to feel sick and had to leave in the middle of the set. Still, as much as I was feeling it too during that set and so having a hard time keeping focus, I could appreciate what an incredible artist Julien is. Her guitar and piano-playing is amazing, and the way she can belt out a note is astounding. The set definitely didn't turn my on to her music as an artist, and I left with the same personal ranking in my mind--Lucy, Phoebe, and then Julien--but I am so glad I got to see each of them perform. After Julien's set ended, I was completely dead. Laci was outside in her car, Nat was half asleep, and Abby seemed pretty tired as well. But the best was yet to come. I am still so sad for Laci that she missed it because it was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had at a concert: boygenius. A couple weeks before the concert, these three girls had released an album together called boygenius. This six song EP is a beautiful melding of their cool and ethereal sounds, my favorites being "Bite The Hand," "Salt In The Wound," and "Ketchum, ID." I was desperately hoping that they would play at least one of these three. They came out in their signature black blazers and played the entire EP. And from start to finish I was absolutely captured. I kept hoping during Julien's set I would get the second wind I have never failed to get at a concert after the main act comes on stage. It just didn't happen for her. But during this set, I had more energy than I had at the start of the night. Still the songs were slow and ethereal but it was just such an incredible performance, it brought me back to life. And to end it, they played Ketchum, ID, one of my favorites, but with a twist. They huddled in a group to the left side of the stage, with one guitar and no mic. The crowd fell eerily silent as they called out their plan to sing it without a mic and for us to join in at the chorus. In the front row, I had to strain to hear their soft voices, but there was not a peep from the crowd as we all listened to their perfect voices in harmony. Then, as instructed, we all came in for the chorus, "I am never anywhere / Anywhere I go / When I’m home I’m never there / Long enough to know." It was the single most beautiful moment of my life. Even though this was the softest and most slow concert I have ever been to, when the show concluded on that note, I was left with the same post-concert high as always. I went on and on to Abby and Nat about how incredible the boygenius set was and I waited around the stage to snag a setlist, which I proudly got, though a girl had tried to grab it right out of my hand as the crew member was handing it to me: After that, Nat, Abby, and I went to breakfast at a little diner downtown and then headed home, me the only one fit to drive at such a late hour, still hopped up on my post-concert high.
Though this concert was unlike any concert I had been to before, in some good and some not-so-good ways, the boygenius set cancels out all else as one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. I don't think anyone in that crowd will ever forget that moment we shared during Ketchum, ID, least of all me.
0 Comments
The Unlikely Candidates, Vinyl Theatre, Misterwives, X Ambassadors, Young the Giant, Cage the Elephant | July 9, 2016 | Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, Greenwood Village, CO
After the terrible year I had leading up to the Summer of 2016, I felt that I deserved an extra fun summer, so I booked myself up for four concerts in the two months we had off of school. The first of these concerts was not just one band, however, but a festival called Big Gig which had a line up of six bands, four of which I was a huge fan of. With two of my best friends, who had come to fill the role of those I'd lost the previous summer, and knee free from the brace that had been on it for eight weeks due to an ACL/meniscus repair surgery, I was ready to kick off my summer of concerts with my first festival. And despite this knee injury, I was planning to go hard now that I knew what concerts were all about, meaning jumping, screaming, dancing, and generally just going crazy to the music. My friends and I made sure to pick out the perfect concert outfits together and headed up early. Before the big bands took the main stage, Big Gig was giving local Colorado artists the opportunity to play on a small stage outside of the amphitheatre and I wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to see live music. Beginning at noon, this pre-show of about three or four bands was absolutely scorching. Thankfully, we were standing in grass or else our shoes might have melted to the pavement, but there was not a cloud in the sky to shield the blaring sun from beating down and soaking us all in sweat. I could tell my friends were miserable, and between each band they made sure to elaborate how hot they truly were, but I was too captured to notice how hot and likely dehydrated I was. Unfortunately, I cannot recall a single one of these bands names, but I remember thinking that each one who came on was better than the last, and all of them had sounds that I was really able to jive with. There was one with a somewhat folksy sound that I remember being my favorite. Once the last of the local bands exited the small stage, we headed for the main amphitheatre where the large crowd who had skipped out on the unique pre-show opportunity was flooding in. As a final local band who had won a contest to be on the main stage played, we got some tacos from a food truck and found our seats, taking this opportunity to sit down and stuff our faces. For me, this was the first point where I started to notice the heat exhaustion setting in. So despite my strong belief that an audience should be on their feet and present for the opening acts, I will admit that I sat through The Unlikely Candidates and Vinyl Theatre to recharge. But that didn't mean I wasn't absorbed in the music, taking it all in. I particularly enjoyed Follow My Feet and Trampoline by The Unlikely Candidates. The two friends that I went with and I have jammed to those songs in the car many times since we attended Big Gig and heard them for the first time. By the time Misterwives came on, I had recharged enough to get back on my feet, and although nearly everyone else in the amphitheatre remained in their seats--everyone in our section anyway--I was prepared to dance and sing my heart out to songs I'd danced and sung my heart out to in my room many times. Though I had bought the tickets originally for Young the Giant and Cage the Elephant, Misterwives was a pleasant addition to the setlist. Misterwives was one of the early bands I had discovered when I first began musical exploration. I have a vivid memory of painting my room grey with my mom while Misterwives' album Our Own House played in the background. Their live show didn't disappoint, even if the level of excitement in the crowd fell short. These were people who hadn't even been out in the heat since noon like me and my friends, yet they couldn't be bothered to get onto their feet. This is when I began to catch on to the large portion of the population's indifference to openers. Next up was X Ambassadors, who I wasn't as into as Misterwives, but which my friends knew better so I made sure to scream along with them to Unsteady, Low Life, and Renegades. Their performance was definitely good, but two and a half years later doesn't stand out enough in my mind to elaborate further on their performance. I do remember the sun going down during this performance, and the night was a welcome gift which expelled the last of the heat exhaustion from my bones and built the excitement inside for the two bands to come. I love Young the Giant. Absolutely love them. Everyone loves Cough Syrup, and that song doesn't even begin to reflect the true beauty of their music. Just watch one of their In the Open sessions on Youtube, and you'll hear the beauty I mean: It seeps out of their songs. My friend and I who were obsessed with Young the Giant--the other not so much--were pumped for Titus Was Born. The Home of the Strange album hadn't quite dropped yet by the time of the concert, but this single had just come out and is the epitome of Young the Giant beauty. Sky dark, lights streaming up through the amphitheatre, most people around us finally on their feet, I screamed like a mad man when the band came onto the stage. But then, the ultimate tragedy occurred. The family sitting in front of us, who were now the only few not standing, were all four playing on their phones and talking to each other throughout the entire performance. The brightness on their screens was on full blast, because why wouldn't it be? I tried as hard as I could to ignore them, to lose myself in the music, but there was no way to focus fully on the band I loved with these completely ignorant and rude people and their stupid screens. Titus Was Born, though performed beautifully of course, was not half of what it could have been thanks to this family. So to that family, I'd just like to say, you should have sat Elsewhere (Home of the Strange pun for those of you who don't catch on quick). But really, why did you come to a concert to sit on your screens the whole time? My other two friends just as irritated as me, the three of us moved after Young the Giant had left the stage to new seats. Though amphitheatre tickets have assigned seats, I rarely stick to where I'm placed. In fact, I don't think we were in our actually seats all night. And there are enough people who leave early to miss out on post-concert traffic to move forward as the it gets later in the night. (To those people, I would say you're no better than Screen-Obsessed Family. What's the point of coming to a concert if you dip out before the band you've come to see has completed their set, or even started?) With some new seats away from the blaring lights of phone screens, I was buzzing, so ready for Cage the Elephant to come out. It was nearly ten but I had as much energy as I had had all day. I could feel dried sweat on my skin, my feet hurt immensely, and my newly reconstructed knee was more than a bit sore, but I felt great! And then Cage the Elephant came onstage. This time, the world did truly fall away. Though I love a plethora of Cage the Elephant's songs, I am in no way their biggest fan. Yet, the degree to which rocked out to their performance would have made anyone think I was. My friends laughed at me when it was over, saying they couldn't tell who was going harder, me or the girl to my left. Both of us were banging our heads, thrashing our bodies around, screaming out words to our favorite songs, and generally just freeing ourselves to the sounds of beautiful music. And Cage the Elephant's live show permitted going this hard: It was excellent. Spiderhead was a particularly fun one to scream to. Same with Teeth. But the best one by far was Come a Little Closer. I don't even really remember specifically what it was about this performance blew me away so much. It's not even really my favorite song--that spot's reserved for Cigarette Daydreams. But I remember clearly the feeling that Come a Little Closer created inside of me. I felt weightless. My head was pounding and my body was aching in the dull way of a long day before the pain has really set in, but my insides felt nonexistent. It was as if I was inside a cloud, not on one but suspended in the middle of it as the purple lights of stage keeping me suspended inside. Maybe you think that's some artistic bullshit for the sake of writing a more creative piece. Believe what you will, but that's how I felt in that moment, and it was absolutely transcendent. It was like I finally understood what live music could really be--something you can never get through headphones. The concert ended and I was still floating on my crowd as we left the venue and I drove my friends and I home. It had been such a long day--twelve hours of non-stop music. Yet I was not the least bit tired. I rode home on a concert high that lasted at least a week, one day for each of the incredible bands that I had seen plus one for the experience as a whole. What a way to kick off my summer of concerts. Twenty One Pilots | September 27, 2015 | Red Rocks, Morrison, CO
After seeing Twenty One Pilots at the Forecastle Festival in 2014, I knew I had to see them again live, this time with a plan in mind and not on impulse (as wild and wonderful and fun as that was). So as soon as tickets went on sale for the Quiet is Violent tour, I purchased 2, with the idea in mind that I would take one of my two best friends, though neither of them had ever heard of Twenty One Pilots--still relatively unknown despite this being the start of the Blurryface era that got them their name. As these tickets were purchased months in advanced, I had time to decide which one I would bring. Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing that that summer, one of the worst in my life, both of them would drop me and I would be left feeling friendless and scrambling just a few weeks before the show to conjure the name of someone I could bring along. I finally landed on a friend from my soccer team who was not so passionate about the same music as me, an avid Country fan, but was nice enough that I believed she wouldn't laugh in my face at the offer, which I still considered as a possibility, feeling pretty low about myself around this time. She didn't laugh in my face; in fact, she said yes (although a free concert ticket is probably not something most people would turn down). So on the night of September 27, my mom drove us up to Morrison, Colorado. On the way there, I played my friend some of their music since she had never heard a single song, and we chatted casually, but it was in no way what I imagined the leading moments to this concert would be. Still, when my mom dropped us off and we began our climb up to the venue, I left behind everything that was imperfect about this night and focused on what I had been looking forward to since I had seen Twenty One Pilots the last time: the unmatched feeling of watching your favorite band live, especially when your favorite band's live show is absolutely incredible. Also incredible is the view upon entering Red Rocks. It's breathtaking, though for some reason, I didn't take any pictures to commemorate my first time at this beautiful Colorado venue. Maybe I was too caught up in the beauty. That's what I'd like to think anyway. To add to the negative aspects of the night, the opener for the show was more than a bit disappointing. Up until this point, I had never seen an opening act, but since then I've come to know that I usually love the opener and if I don't know them already, I look them up afterward because they blow me away. This opener was not that. It was Echosmith, a sound that seemed to me to be far from that of Twenty One Pilots. They weren't very passionate and to my great surprise, no one in the audience paid attention, hardly anyone even stood. That nobody paid attention to the opener is something that I have come to learn as a fact about concerts--which is ridiculous by the way, can I just take a moment to say that if you go to a concert because you're passionate about music, why would you so rudely talk through the opening band which you might find you like? Anyway, all of this to say, Echosmith didn't impress. But then it got dark and the excitement started to build, and oh by the way, it was the night of the Blood Moon which began to occur moments before Twenty One Pilots would make their way on stage. And everything that was wrong with the night up to this point--really, everything that was wrong with my life and the terrible year I was having--faded away when Tyler and Josh made their way on stage, under the Blood Moon. The rest is a beautiful blur of music flooding through me, singing and jumping along to incredible old and new songs, and screaming at all of the amazing aspects of their live show--not just the platform drums from the last time but Tyler climbing up on top of a box to sing Car Radio, and appearing out of no where on a rock (which apparently you get fined for if you climb but I guess he didn't mind) to sing Migraine. Where the time before, I had not known what to do with my body, this time, the experience took hold of me and I lost myself, dancing and singing and moving my arms freely. My friend was beside me acting as the awkward first-time-concert-goer that I had been previously. But when it ended and I was left with my first post-concert high, I asked her how she enjoyed it and she said she loved it, would have to look them up once she got home. I wonder if she ever hears their songs on the radio now, sees the success they've had, and thinks of me bringing her to see them live before they made it big. I hope she does. I take great pride in loving them before the world did. A few weeks after that, the terrible year I had turned around, and I became friends with two people who I went to many future concerts with, never again scrambling to find someone to go with. But really, I think it turned around that night. Because even if I had no one else, I had music; because of Twenty One Pilots, I had music. And anyway, once they started playing, everyone else faded away. Twenty One Pilots | July 18, 2014 | Forecastle Festival, Louisville, KY This may not have been the first concert I ever went to, but it is where I like to begin. Before I found Twenty One Pilots in 2013, music had never really meant much to me. Just like any kid, I was into whatever music my parents liked or the pop hits on the radio. So yes, I had seen the Go-Go Girls when I was young, and I went to see Hunter Hayes at the very end of my Country phase, but this concert is the first concert that I really went to. I was in Kentucky with my dad and brother on a pretty impromptu trip to see my Grandpa. Because of the unplanned nature of the trip, we hadn't really scheduled any activities. For instance, on the night of July 17th, we were just wandering around the streets of Louisville aimlessly. And ironically, we came across the opening gate for the Forecastle Festival, which none of us had any clue about. Like the silly tourists we were, we took a picture in front of the sign without looking into what it was, and moved on with our night. The next morning, in our hotel room, I was scrolling through Instagram, when I came across a post from Twenty One Pilots about how they were playing at the Forecastle Festival that day. "Dad, oh my god, Dad! I have to go!" I said immediately. I had discovered Twenty One Pilots the year before, 2013, and had become obsessed. Their sound was like nothing I had ever heard and I felt that the deep and dark lyrics really resonated with the angsty teen I was turning out to be. They were the first good band I had discovered on my own and they were the jumping off point to discovering a lot more. I owe my passion for music to them. And here I had the chance to see them live before the rest of the world even knew their name. It was fate, I was sure. My dad was skeptical, but because we had no concrete plans, he agreed to go back to the front gates of the festival and see if we could buy some cheap tickets from scalpers. We stood outside the gates for an hour and there was not one person selling their tickets. As the time for Twenty One Pilots to go on stage neared, I started to get desperate. I was so close to seeing a band I truly loved, hearing music I truly cared about, and experiencing something unlike anything I had ever experienced before. About five minutes before the start of the show, my incredible father went to the ticket booth and paid $100 for a day pass so that I could go to a music festival in a state we didn't live, all alone, age 15 to see a single band. I don't think I've ever hugged him so tight in my life. And then, I rushed in, picking the first spot in front of the stage I saw. A minute later, the band I idolized came onstage in front of a crowd of people who, besides me, didn't know them. And of course, it was incredible. Their live show has always been a staple of Twenty One Pilots, and as their popularity has grown, the production value has only increased. But here, at this festival, they were still unknown and so trying to distinguish themselves in front of people who wouldn't necessarily love everything they did, so they went especially hard. Trees was by far the best. It is, to this day, one of my favorite songs, and is always an incredible moment at their concerts--Tyler and Josh in the crowd on platforms banging drums. Here, it was especially incredible because it was the song I had blown through my headphones so many times, live. It was someone I idolized only twenty or so rows of people away. It was true passion and raw vocals and unforgettable memory and everything that live music from then on became for me. I was fifteen, as I've said, and had never been to a concert before, so of course I was completely awkward. I didn't know what to do with my hands. I was hyperaware of the drunk adults around me, like the man who offered to let me get on his shoulders, to which I replied, terrified, "No thank you." I bounced a little bit but I didn't really set myself free and dance because I didn't know how. I pretty much just stood there. But that's okay, because I stood there in awe and absorbed it all. And once it ended, I walked back out toward the gate, still with that awe, where my dad and brother were waiting for me, chatting with a security guard. That security guard, one of the few who knew Twenty One Pilots too, asked me, "What was your favorite song?" "Trees." "I like Car Radio." "That one's amazing too." And there the memory rests with me: My first concert. |
M. RiggsThe music that moves through me. |