And This Is How It Starts...

I don't like being that person, but I'm going to be that person because it provides some sort of timeline for this post and since my life never functions on timelines because I'm a forgetful person, I figure that for this one time and one time only I should embrace my memory. How's that for a run-on sentence?

I heard the song "The City" by The 1975 soon after it came out in late 2012. It was the original version and I was very confused because I couldn't understand a single damn thing that Matty Healy was singing. Was he even saying the words "then you know where the city is?" Regardless of my general confusion of his pronunciation that has lasted to this day, I was into their music from the start. I remember anxiously waiting for their debut eponymous album to debut (I think I even did a horrendously written review of it on that music blog that I tried to start that one time until I finally accepted that I was physically incapable of writing about music).


All of this can just be summed up into this: I've been into The 1975 for a while and I haven't had a chance to see them at all. Their tour dates just haven't aligned with my schedule or current location, so I've always had to live through everyone else's photos and snaps of the concert that I've been dying to go to for years. My opportunity finally came and there was no way in hell I was going to pass up the chance to see one of my favorite bands live in concert. Not on my watch!

They did two nights at The Rapids Theatre on May 30th and 31st in downtown Niagara Falls, which is even more convenient for me than any Buffalo club. The venue itself deserves a shoutout because there is not a bad place to be in that club. The bar is spacious, there's elevated areas on the left side and a balcony up top like a proper theater. It originally opened in 1921 under a different name, but it has been functioning under its current name since 2009. Pretty sweet, huh? The sound in there was absolutely fantastic and I would see a dozen more concerts there if the right bands were coming.

I have to give some shoutouts to the two opening bands, Colouring and Pale Waves. I unknowingly had been listening to them for the past few weeks because they'd been all over my Spotify Discovery playlists. I meant to look both of them up before the day of the show, but with moving and what not, it slipped my mind. So bless you, Spotify, for keeping me in the know without me knowing it. You're the real MVP. Highly recommend listening to both of these groups because they're both incredible in the studio, live, and have really cool stage presence. I was hardcore bopping to Pale Waves, especially during "There's a Honey" AKA their only song on Spotify currently.

When it came down to The 1975's performance, I didn't know what to expect. For years I've been watching live videos online and concerts through my friend's lenses at their own shows. Was I going to be able to rock out? Was I going to sway and stay stagnant? Was Matty going to go on pretentious rants in the middle of the show? Was I going to be the odd one out? All valid fears in my eyes, but lo and behold, it was like a normal show. That's not to make it seem any less special, but to just make it feel like something not to be worried about. That usually happens to me before a show. I get all nervous and worried for absolutely no reason. It's just a concert! As special and wonderful as concerts are, they're just concerts.

They played a good mix of songs from both albums, though there were some crowd favorites missing AHEM AHEM WHERE WAS "ROBBERS," HUH!?!?! I digress, the setlist was a good combination of their fun tracks and some of their more experimental and instrumental tracks that left the band taking us through a musical journey.

I don't have My Song with every single band. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It really depends on the band, how I discovered the group, and how deeply I delve into their music. My Song is just one of those songs that for some reason makes me feel some feels, whether they're good or bad. It's the song that I know all the words too, all of the note changes, everything I could possibly need to know about the song. The song that I belt the words out to in my car for absolutely no reason at any given time. My Song might not even be my favorite song by the band, it's just the one song that I feel weirdly attached to for whatever reason.

 For One Direction, "Story of my Life" is My Song (odd choice, I know), for Augustana, it's "Twenty Years," and Andrew McMahon, it will always be "Konstantine." Sometimes bands play My Song live, sometimes they don't. Sometimes I don't even realize that I have a song by them. It become crystal clear that My Song by The 1975 is "Sex" because when I heard the first guitar chords, I think I honest to blog lost my sh!t. I was not physically prepared for the three minute journey that hearing that song live took me through.

It was easily one of the most fun concerts I've been to in a while, though I have an inkling part of that is because me and one of the friends that I went with always have the best time at concerts. I mean, we figured out how to dance like crazy people at an Arctic Monkeys concert. We can have fun anywhere, so much fun that sometimes the bands like to point and laugh at us on stage (I see you, Allstar Weekend and Action Item). If you have a chance to see The 1975 live, do it. It's a show that's all about the music, which is really refreshing.