[Sent: September 17th, 2022]
I asked you on Instagram, “What was your first concert you attended?” Below are some of your answers:
My friend and I were standing behind a line of girls our age when I realized that in order to enter the building, our tickets needed to be scanned successfully. There was this small worry dancing in my mind that the scanners would detect our tickets to be fraudulent and we wouldn’t be allowed in. I wouldn’t be allowed to witness; at a reasonable distance but still in the flesh, my at the time “future husband.” The “future husband,” whose posters were taped to two sides of my bedroom wall, had no idea I existed. And yet, I knew his date of birth, his favourite candy, and named my Build-A-Bear after his middle name.
The house lights were a similar colour to the inside of my eyelids when I closed them under direct sunlight. We were all chanting his name - the name of our “future husband”. Then the stadium went black and the white lights flashed onto the stage, which was accompanied by the roar of our desperation. A wave of needing to bawl my eyes out washed over my face and it was as if I had found what I was looking for all along. This was my first concert at 16 years old. I admit it, it was Justin Bieber. There’s a bit of shame that lurks around the corner but as I look back on that moment, I wonder if it might be similar to how those ladies (hello binary) felt in the black and white movies, screaming over the heartthrob of the decade who may have been strategically placed into the music industry. The heartthrob who always has the right answers, and the right look, and the right lyrics.
(I wish I had photographic evidence of this concert to show you but I’m happy to say that any and all photos have been permanently deleted. Above is my childhood bedroom with Justin Bieber's face everywhere)
My immigrant parents played reggae music in the basement, which caused the floor to vibrate. I would listen to the top hits as a kid but felt out of place mentioning to my parents the desire to attend the concert of Avril Lavigne, for example. I recall my peer groups seeing Avril Lavigne or Hillary Duff specifically in concert and thinking to myself, “How are you even allowed to… we’re like 9 years old…” For the life of me I couldn’t remember how we even accessed the information on pop star tour dates. I asked my friend who reminded me that we mostly heard about them on the radio:
As I grew older, I began questioning my choices in mainstream music. I wondered what my mostly white friends' parents were listening to when they were growing up (hi friends, love you!). I would hear names like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones, and started listening to alternative rock radio stations where I discovered a new world of music. After meeting Brendon, I was introduced to local music scenes and was
inspired by many. One of them being a band called, Zinnia, who was playing at Bar Robo a couple of years ago. We entered the venue and we were greeted by a very kind door person who chatted with us, laughed with us, and finally accepted our payment. Then the door person appeared on the stage and turned out to actually be the vocalist of Zinnia. She stated that she is usually accompanied by her full band but one or two of the band members were unable to attend so it was just her and the guitarist. Their stage presence made everything still, like the inside of a freezer that was left open with the light turned on. Brendon and I were in the front row and she kept looking us in the eyes and singing into our souls and it was so comfortably isolating. There was one song where she was stomping her foot and it felt like my heart had reset and was beating to her stomps. I was so mesmerized by her that when Brendon mentioned he wanted us to go and say how wonderful her performance was, I agreed but said nothing during the conversation. I was silent. I literally had no words.
Elton John concert September 22, 2018.
Some other concerts I’d love to attend are (for my own future reference or if you ever see that these artists are performing close-by and want to be a nice person and inform me wink wink nudge nudge):
Cat Clyde
Japanese Breakfast
Norah Jones
Natalie Prass
Vulfpeck
Weezer (that Pinkerton album is fresh)
Yebba
Also, speaking of concerts... we have a life drawing performance happening at Live On Elgin on Thursday, October 13th, 2022. Be sure to get your tickets in advance since we have a maximum capacity. Can't wait to see you there!
I believe we will also being playing a set on October 1st for Tunnel Fest and more details will be coming soon on our social media :).
*Kiss sound* *Kiss sound*
Tiffany
Unsociably High
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