Mono no aware (物の哀れ) is a Japanese phrase that loosely translates to “a sense of nostalgic wistfulness and the awareness that nothing lasts forever.” This is also the motto of the synthwave band The Midnight and it perfectly explains how I feel when listening to them and this whole genre of music.

I was trying to remember how this new generation of synth found me, and I think it was over the summer of 2020 when we were in the midst of Project 1980s Dream Kitchen. We were constantly soundtracked by 80s music that summer for inspo, primarily YACHT ROCK. I think YouTube picked up on that algorithm and started to slip in some “retrowave” playlists into the mix. I had no idea there was this new evolution of synthpop / synthwave / futurewave / retrowave /whatever wave as long as it’s backed by synth going on! I was hooked. It became something that comforted me during the pandemic and continued to provide happiness even afterward while I adjusted to the new norm of working from home.

I am constantly nostalgic for the 80s, I loved my childhood, I loved being with my Pappap, at his house, swimming in the pool, eating grilled cheese in the kitchen or at the Blue Flame. I loved going on errands with my mom in her old Pontiac Grand Am, Rick Astley or Michael Jackson on the radio, her yelling at me for spilling McD’s sweet and sour sauce on the car seat. LOL. The 80s were the best. And this music touches on that sweet spot in a way that I cannot get enough of! Get me an abandoned department store to roller skate through in the middle of night, STAT.

The Midnight is arguably one of the pioneers and heavy hitters of this synth renaissance so when they announced their tour last November, I bought two tickets ASAP. April 25th finally arrived (Chooch’s birthday, no less!) and I had butterflies in my stomach all day—I WAS SO STOKED FOR THIS! So far, Ollie Wride has been the only synthwave artist I’ve seen live. I guess because I got into this through YouTube playlists, and there aren’t official videos showing the bands/artists, it never occurred to me that these were touring musicians, if that makes sense? Like, it has always been my comfort background music during the day, and every time I turn around, the TV is usually showing an illustration of a 1980s Ferrari cruising into the Miami sunset. You know the ubiquitous retro 80s scene.

The Ollie Wride show was very small, at the Crafthouse, well under 500 people I would say. And the crowd was mostly older and pretty much what I would expect.

The Midnight is on another level though, which I had NO IDEA because again – I have been appreciating this music in my own little bubble and had no idea what the scene was like, or that there even WAS a scene. Well, there is. Enough of a scene that The Midnight sold out the Roxian. And the crowd was very diverse. Way more dude-bros than I would have thought, but we’ll leave that for the next post! This one is just to appreciate the Midnight and the whole scene they represent because it is a breath of fresh air. The perfect balance of throw-back and current.

But first – New Constellations!

They’re from Portland, OR and immediately proved to be the perfect complement to the Midnight. Harlee Case can SANG. For just two people, they were super high energy and got us all going immediately – I loved them! I always give the opening bands my full attention but even if I wasn’t one of those people, I don’t see how anyone there could have ignored them. They were so good!

But OMG, the Midnight. It was SURREAL seeing them in person, on a stage, right in front of me! The Midnight is technically just two people—Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and Portland–based Danish producer, songwriter, and singer Tim McEwan. Did I straight up copy that from Wiki because I am a tired Elder working from home with a cat on my lap while having a tough time stringing together full sentences without typos? Affirmative.

But they have a full touring band that includes Justin Klunk on sax (my FAVORITE member of the Midnight’s touring band!). He was AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE. (Sorry, this show came one day after we say Project Hail Mary and three days after I read it, so…lol.)

There was a cluster of sax fans in the pit and every time there was a sax solo, they would thrust these mini blow-up saxes into the air – it was fucking PRECIOUS. And at one point, Justin jumped off the stage into the crowd and I thought he was just going to go over to his fan club, but then he ended up continuing around the floor and walked past where I was standing too!

And OBLYVN on synths!!

She has this nasty keytar when she performs with the Midnight and I was obsessed.

Harlee came out to sing on “Jason”! Henry, who wasn’t standing near me, but was all the way against the wall to the left side of the stage, was tasked with video duty for me. I found out later that he had three beers (he was standing right next to the bar) and it shows in some of the videos he took, LOL!

My all-time favorite song of theirs’ is Sunset and that was the last song they performed – everyone went feral over it! That song IS SO GOOD. It makes me feel so alive while also missing Drew so much—she was always with me in the beginning stages of my retrowave phase so I can’t help but associate this music with her. In fact, there is one song by Kalax that I 100% cannot listen to at all anymore because it makes me crippled with hysterical, messy sobs thinking of her.

But this song, though, it screams 1980s summer vacation to me.

I loved that they began and ended with this background which is so similar to the images used in the retrowave playlists on YouTube IYKYK.

SETLIST:

1. Sanctuary / Love Is an Ocean
2. Friction
3. Gloria
4. Lost Boy
5. Deep Blue / River of Darkness
6. Energy Never Dies, It Just Transforms / The Comeback Kid
7. Shadows
8. Jason
9. The Right Way / Explorers
10. Heartbeat
11. Change Your Heart or Die
12. Heart Worth Breaking
13. Los Angeles
14. River of Forgetfulness (Medley) / Endless Summer / Lonely City / Synthetic / Crockett’s Revenge / Kick Drums & Red Wine / Crystalline
15. First Night In Paris
16. Good in Red
17. Vampires
18. Days of Thunder

ENCORE:

1. Summer’s Ending Soon
2. Sunset

I was so sweaty by the time it was over! What a workout.

Reunited with Henry, lol.

Some quick afterthoughts:

• I hate the Roxian for real
• Henry actually really enjoyed it and said he knew a lot of the songs (I mean, he lives in a house where this stuff is played on a loop, how could he not)
• I saw someone here that was so hilarious to me, it warrants a separate post
• There was such a random convergence of demographics in the crowd that it’s made me uber curious how others discovered the Midnight / the genre
• What a fun way to celebrate the anniversary of my C-Section incision!