We went to the Movements show last Wednesday and it was GRAND. (I have NEVER used that word to describe anything before, have I woken up in 1924?) I will be honest and say that I bought tickets because Balance and Composure was one of the opening bands and they used to be THAT BAND for me before Kpop changed my entire personality. Not only that, but they were (and still are) my seasonal autumn go-to, mainstays on the “driving to the haunted house” playlist, if you will, alongside The Black Queen. And if I saw The Black Queen this fall, then you better believe I needed to also see B&C! My two forever fall bands!

But then I remembered that I used to LOVE Movements! How did I forget that?? I first saw them open for Pierce the Veil in 2016 and became instantly smitten, bought their debut album at that show and everything. Saw them at Warped Tour in 2017 but that was the last time. They have gotten so popular since then! I know, amazing that the world keeps spinning even when I’m fully fixated on Korea, lol.

I wanted to get there early because Movements had posted on IG that they are selling a special Happier Now-branded b&w disposable camera and asked that people take pictures at the show and then send the scans to them later to be shared on their Instagram. THIS IS SO ERIN-CODED.

As soon as we got in (love when doors open right on time, plus there were only about 20 ppl ahead of us so it went super swiftly), I snatched up the camera plus a Movements tour shirt and B&C tour shirt. I don’t have any of their shirts from the past shows because we were such penny-pinchers then. Adult money, let’s goooo.

I immediately gravitated toward the stage because I felt like I needed to get use of this camera that cost THIRTY DOLLARS. Originally, I was standing way off to the right side. Henry left me to go to the bathroom of course, and as I was struggling to open the camera package, a girl over more to the right center-ish of the barricade looked over at me and smiled. “Tissues?” she asked, watching my public weak-hand struggle.

“No, it’s that damn disposable camera that Movements are selling,” I laughed through gritted teeth.

“Oh! My sister was going to buy that but I talked her out of it. I said we go to enough shows and she doesn’t need to buy all of the merch!”

As we were talking, I was moving closer and closer toward her until before I knew it, I was also at the barricade. Henry came back from the bathroom like, “WTF, nooo” because he hates being that close but you know what? I was having a great time chatting with this lovely girl (Kiera, probably misspelled!) and her sister (Lena, who had also returned from the bathroom by then).

We talked the ENTIRE hour before the opening band, Niis, came out. Henry was like, “Thank god, she found other victims to talk to” and pranced off at one point to procure a soft pretzel and NA beer, which I helped myself to while still chatting with my new friends. Kiera is from Virginia and Lena is from Morgantown, WV. They travel a lot for concerts like us so we had a ton to talk about. Kiera was one of the friendliest and warmest people I have met in a long time and she lowkey reminded me of my therapist a little bit?! BTW I’m always wondering if I’m going to run into my therapist at a show at some point because we like A LOT of the same bands. (Warped Tour Girls 4L!)

Niis (pronounced “nice”) is an LA punk band and I had never heard of them before, but LOVED them.

  

It feels very 90s nostalgic and I’m down.

Next was Midrift – THEY JUST GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL. And hoooo boy did they tug at my sad boi emo heart strings.

Afterward, we (and I mean me and my new friends, not Henry LOL) debated on whether the Abercrombie shirt was worn ironically and I suggested that maybe it was thrifted and then we talked about the Aeropostale and Gap-vibes of the other guy’s sweater. Important barricade discussions, you wouldn’t understand. (Henry certainly didn’t.)

Henry said, “Well, they weren’t terrible.” I passed along his review to my friends who LOVED it. Maybe they would subscribe to Henry’s concert review Substack???

If he had one.

OMFG BALANCE AND COMPOSURE!!

I can’t believe it was only in 2023 that I last saw them – at Riot Fest. But it’s always so much better to see them in a more intimate venue. I was so stoked.

SQUEALING. No really, I kept turning to Henry to squeal.

Here’s my dorky Instagram reel:

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I felt so warm and fuzzy during their set.

Something really sweet but terrible and also incredibly awkward happened after this. Andy wadded up one of the setlists and toss it in our general vicinity. My friends and a girl who had crept up behind us during their set all fought over it, but I did notice that Andy had pointed to the girl behind us before he tossed it, because she was holding up a “setlist please?” sign on her phone.

“Play nice!” the security guard in front of our section said jokingly because nails were out. They ended up tearing it a little during the fight (like it was a bridal bouquet lol) but Kiera ended up the victor. I congratulated her but she was like, “Here it’s for you, because you love them so much!”

I do really love them a lot, and had told her as much when we were chatting earlier. But then I turned and saw the girl standing there, dejectedly holding her phone that still displayed “setlist please?” with her lip jutted out. She reminded me of myself, you guys. Like, it broke my heart. And I didn’t have a horse in that race to begin with so I felt like I didn’t deserve it but I also didn’t need it. I have got to stop pack-ratting! First, I tried to give it back to Kiera but she was like, “No, it’s yours!” and literally I could feel so many eyes on me, waiting to see what I was going to do.

“….do you care if I give it to her?” I asked, nodding toward Sad Setlist-Less Girl.

Kiara said if that’s what I wanted to do, it was OK so I did and the girl was like YAY and I felt a lot better about that also horrible that I potentially hurt Kiara’s feelings!?!? I have never had this type of social crisis at a show before! But the way people were looking at me, it was like I had beat a small child to a fly ball at a baseball game.

I kept asking Henry afterward if I did the right thing and he said yes but I also thought it was so sweet of Kiara to catch that for me, and U G H. What a strange sitch. I mean, she still talked to me after that but I felt like I ruined any chance of becoming friends on socials.

Knowing what you know about me, imagine how hard I dwelled on this all week.

Anyway, they closed their set with one of my faves, Postcard. I used to play the album this song is from on repeat in 2016 and Chooch even made a Musically of this song for me (REMEMBER MUSICALLY??):

I sent this to Chooch that night after he said he didn’t remember this song and he said, “DELETE THIS.” Nope! Instead, how about I POST IT PUBLICLY.

Ugh but then it was time for Movements!

I was instantly reminded of way I imprinted on them in 2016 at the House of Blues in Cleveland! Shit, this was such a great show. The emotions were…emoting.

My favorite non-music part was toward the end when a girl started to crowd surf ON OUR SIDE of the floor which was not in the center, in fact, it was over far enough that it would be considered the safe zone. And no one behind us was ready for it so she got dropped. Henry actually turned around right when this (and she) was going down and reached out to grab her in order to slow her fall, and then complained for the rest of the night about how it felt like she pulled his arm out of socket

A story he’ll probably not tell the grandkids one day. But I will.

“ONE TIME YOUR GRANDPA H DROPPED A BITCH AT A POST-HARDCORE SHOW.”

It was such a vibe. I felt like I was in a trance. In a flotation tank. I thought of NOTHING. My head was BLANK. It was glorious. Sonic therapy.

My favorite part was in the middle of the show when there was an important announcement: FUCK ICE AND FREE PALESTINE. I love that I am in the GOOD MUSIC COMMUNITY.

Meanwhile, I kept trying to take pictures without the flash on the disposable camera but it went off no matter what and if that was bothersome to anyone, well, MOVEMENTS MADE ME DO IT!!!

I did ask the security guard in our section to take a picture of me, Kiera, and Lena and of course the flash didn’t go off that time but I feel like it needed the flash so I had to ask him to do it again! It took both of us to try and get it set up properly and I was so mad at myself because I AM OF THE GENERATION FOR THESE CAMERAS. It’s amazing how quickly we forget how to use these things that we used to carry in our purses ALL OF THE TIME.

Well, I did anyway. I don’t know about you but I always had my Canon 35MM on my person at all times. And back then, usually a camcorder too. Apologies to my friends of the past. I really thought I was a documentarian.

Afterward, Lena snagged one of the guitar picks so I felt a little less shitty about the setlist debacle.

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I’m really excited (and skeptical, the bar is low) to get this developed. I hope that they will let me have the camera part back since it was essentially a $30 collectors item. I go to an actual film lab and not CVS or Walgreens so hopefully they will be chill about it and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guys there listen to Movements.

This is the art from their most recent album, in case you were wondering but were TOO SCARED TO ASK ME because I am so mean.

Anyway, you can see me and Henry on the left hand side, barricade.

IT WAS SUCH A GREAT NIGHT.

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Is October sincerely half-way over already?! I’m in tears. “Time’s flying by,” said Henry, who is sat across from me making serial killer cards while we listen to the Greet Death record that he dedicated a half hour of everyone’s time to getting signed. Ugh. But this album is so fucking good.

Anyway!! Here is a backlog of pictures from my Charmera, which has really gotten around this month so far, starting with Rich’s Fright Farm on October 1.

This is the long walk to the entrance. Once, Chooch and I hid from Janna behind those trees on the right and she would have peed her pants if she hadn’t already peed in a porta-potty.

They have a machine that blows out smoke-filled bubbles and popping them is almost as fun for me as pounding on beach balls at music festivals.

They have this cool lighting package on their stage which is negated by the fact that they play the shittiest West Virginia firehall wedding reception music which then causes people to dance like they’re at a West Virginia firehall wedding reception.

THE HOUSE.

THE EXIT.

Groove Coffee with Wendy! This place had a really cool vibe. My matcha was OK but I would definitely go back and try something else out.

Later that night, we went to Portals of Fear and I got this spooky cookie. It was OK.

The cutie salt and pepper shaker holder at Fredo’s where we had lunch that Sunday.

This cookie at Kinder Being was better than the Portals of Fear cookie plus it was vegan!

Smashing Pumpkins crowd!

Lolev last Friday!

GREET DEATH!!!!

GREET DEATH!!! Ugh this show was so good I can’t stress it enough. Please go listen to them.

AJJ from the back of Spirit while eating pizza.

The pizza!

Dumbo Henry at Spirit.

Last Saturday, we went to Tambellini’s for lunch. They opened a sandwich shop recently on the Blvd where the old Greek restaurant was. I got butterfly pea lemonade and it was SO REFRESHING.

Probably trying to figure out one of my many witty retorts that soar over his head.

Cute little place with AMAZING SANDWICHES. I legit was in love with my Banker’s Sandwich and the eggplant cutlet on Henry’s sandwich was chef’s kiss. It’s not often that I get all worked up over a sandwich but I have been thinking about this all week and need to go back soon.

I have  more to say about last weekend! I’m off again tomorrow so perhaps I will finally get myself caught up with blogging and journaling and everything else that has been slacking in my life, ugh. I am caught up with my haunted house journal though and actually will be starting a brand new one after we go to one tomorrow night! MY LIFE IS SO EXCITING CAN YOU STAND IT.

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Ahhh, last Friday night was so good. SO GOOD.

One of the highlights from Riot Fest for us both was Greet Death. It was our first time seeing them and we both (!!!) fell for them hard. Well, Henry probably wouldn’t phrase it the same way as me. He’d probably say, “I saw them. I liked them.”

So when we saw that they were coming to Pittsburgh, opening for AJJ, I was adamant on going. This was a non-negotiable item on the October agenda.

A few days beforehand, Henry casually asked, “Hey, before the show on Friday, do you want to go to Lolev—-”

“YES!” I cried before his question had a chance to finish pushing its way past the bristles of his moustache. Lolev is MY FAVORITE and I will never say NO.

Lolev is one of the only places I will get a Big Boy beer because I know I will like it.

I love this little table!!

After a cozy hour at Lolev with no annoyances, we walked to Spirit and got there right as doors were opening. This is kind of a new scene for us so I immediately clocked the crowd and noted that they were probably median late 20s to mid 30s so as usual I was still on the older side, UGH. Also, I didn’t get the memo that the color of the night was BROWN and OLIVE and TAN.

I never fit in anywhere I go but that’s OK. At least I’m not Henry and being mistaken for security at every show.

Seriously. Also, I bring him so he can carry my merch.

 

Greet Death was 10/10, better inside than outside at Riot Fest (and they were INCREDIBLE at Riot Fest!), moody, electric, shoe-gazey, flawless and haunting vocals that got under my skin. I think Henry will agree with all of this and that they’re our current obsession.

Also, the crowd was into it while still being chill. I liked the crowd. Usually there is that ONE PERSON but not on this night.

Originally, we were going to just stick around for a few minutes of AJJ but honestly, the vibes were so good overall that we stayed for the whole show and it was the right choice. Spirit is such a good venue with amazing pizza, so after Greet Death, we moved all the way to the back by the bar and ate some pizza at a standing table.

We like each other these days. It’s nice, lol.

Henry was like, “YAY! WE CAN STAND IN THE BACK! LET’S GOOOO!” Usually I will go into shows saying, “I don’t need to be close, we can chill in the back” but then I get there and I’m like “barricade or GTFO.” But I was happy to be close for Greet Death and then let the AJJ fans take my spot near the stage.

It’s been a while since I went to a show where I was only moderately familiar with the headliner so it was nice to enjoy the music while people-watching for once.

AND DID I MENTION THE PIZZA. Yes, I know I did, and now I’m mentioning it again because Spirit really nails it on the pizza front.

 

Then I basically spent the rest of the night taking pictures of the disco ball and observing the couple in front of us who were super PDA and then suddenly started fighting and the woman portion of the duo went and sulked against a wall. I literally could NOT imagine what initiated this because they were totally in love one second, and then she got excited when AJJ announced that they were singing the third song in a love song trilogy about wanting to be a dog and she was like “yay” and started singing it and then looked at him and he didn’t do something or DID do something, I don’t know, but her faced IMMEDIATELY morphed into a dark and scowling landscape and then he took two giant steps away from her?? And then he turned and walked FULLY away from her?

I kind of wish I was the type of blatant Nebby Debby that has the audacity to pry into a stranger’s life. You know, just sidle up next to some rando’ like, “‘sup, I couldn’t help but notice….” Speaking of Debby, my actual friend Debby would probably have no problem whatsoever doing that.

Also speaking of, this reminds me of a Reel I just saw where some lady was recalling her recent BAD HAIRCUT where she went to a new stylist and they were making small talk and the stylist asked her what she was doing later that night and she was like, “My husband is making dinner for me” and the stylist was like, “Oh that’s nice” so she asked the stylist if she has a partner, just trying to keep the small talk going, and the stylist was like, ‘No I’m divorced actually” and the lady was like, “Oh OK how long have you been divorced?” and the stylist snapped, “I don’t think that’s any of your business” and then proceeded to give her a shitty haircut and then BEFORE SHE COULD FIX IT she said, “Actually, I don’t think I can finish this and I think you should leave.”

WHAT THE ACTUAL…

It was such a wild ride.

But yeah, I feel like that’s what would happen to me if I tried to make small talk.

A N Y W A Y.

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After the show, we waited for the crowd to clear out and then we got in line for more merch. I wanted to buy one of their records along with a t-shirt when we first got there but PAPA H was like, “JUST GET THE SHIRT NOW, I AM NOT CARRYING A RECORD AROUND ALL NIGHT.” Ugh.

So, we buy the record and I felt inspired to tell the drummer / merch guy that we had just seen them at Riot Fest and of course I stuttered when saying it even though I rehearsed it in my head while in line, because my nervous adrenaline turns my tongue into a fucking mattress company balloon guy.

He was super nice though and matched my nervous energy, honestly. We started to leave and Henry was like, “YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED THEM TO SIGN IT” because one of the singers was also in the room talking to someone. I considered it and then decided against it. I wasn’t in a talky mood and that takes ENERGY from me.

Henry got super crazy about it though and grabbed the record from me. “I’LL DO IT THEN!” he said, marching back to the merch table. This is what happens when Henry and I now share a band, I guess.

The drummer (Jim) was super nice and brought out a silver Sharpie. I was satisfied with just the one signature but then Henry goes, “THE OTHER GUY WAS JUST HERE,” and Jim goes, “Oh he’ll be back! He went to get some t-shirt boxes.”

THE OTHER GUY?!!? He was referring to the guitarist, Eric. It was just a Henry thing to say though.

We just stood there awkwardly and one of the security ladies was like, “DO YOU GUYS NEED SOMETHING???” because she CLEARLY wanted everyone out so she could leave. Henry was like, “WE ARE WAITING FOR SOMEONE” like we’re fucking VIPs or something, but I got super nervous about this and hissed, “I’M LEAVING!” to him. I don’t know, there was a vibe shift and I felt super uncomfortable standing there.

On my way out, one of the singers, Harper, was coming in with her suitcase so I was like, “Oh great, Henry is going to accost her next,” so I hurried up and left.

I was outside in the cold for about 10 minutes, imagining so many scenarios of Henry being in the way, saying weird things, etc. when HE CAME OUT WITH HARPER. He looked at me, smiled, and motioned for me to follow them.

“Are you with him? I’m Harper!” she said, and Henry looked SO SMUG. She was taking us on a wild goose chase to find the remaining two members of her band so Henry could get AUTOGRAPH COMPLETION.

HE IS ACTUALLY SO EMBARRASSING.

Harper—still rolling her suitcase with her!!!—led us into the lower level of Spirit, where Logan and Seth were finishing up their drinks at a booth in the restaurant. She told them we saw them at Riot Fest and that we were trying to get everyone to sign the record, then she realized she left the Sharpie upstairs at the merch table and left us to stand there awkwardly with them and I wanted to die. I don’t know what my problem is—all of these years doing this shit and I still have the hardest time conversing with bands. I know, I know, they’re just people! I’m people! He’s people! She’s people! We’re people! But I just turn into this basic cardboard cut-out of myself and say the most obvious things.

We did talk about Riot Fest a little bit at least so there was that.

Then Harper returned (oh btw Henry was excited to tell me that when they introduced themselves, she said, “Oh! We’re the Hs!” So he probably wrote about that in his secret diary later that night—OH SNAP THIS WOULD HAVE MADE SUCH A GREAT MEHOOVER LIVEJOURNAL POST!!) with the Sharpie, we collected the last 2 signatures, I apologized for the hassle (of course they said, ‘Oh no, no hassle!’ but bro, I hate bothering people especially when some of them are trying to enjoy a post-show drink and others are literally dragging a suitcase around preparing to leave for the next destination.

Super appreciative that they were all so kind and I really love their music SO MUCH so even though Henry made this such an ordeal, I guess I’m glad he wearing his Ambitious pants that night because now this record is that much more special.

Oh! And Harper talked to us about the Penguins because she was watching the game and said we lost in a shootout which I didn’t even know because I deleted the app to make room on my phone, and she also said her girlfriend is an Avalanche fan and I feel like I will now associate the Avalanche with Greet Death forever because that is how my brain works.

Hopefully Chooch cherishes this one day when he inherits it.

Yeah, go listen to Greet Death, you guys! I can’t wait to see them again (and NOT hassle them!).

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Ahhh, guess what?? Last week, I got to be a stand-in for Kara’s husband Chris at the Smashing Pumpkins concert! I was so excited when she asked me if I wanted to use his ticket because I had been going back and forth for mths on whether to buy a ticket. 

Henry dropped me off and was happy to go home and have a night off from me dragging him all around. Who even knows what he did—watched something dumb probably. Read the circulars (after digging them out of the garbage because I always pitch them immediately LOL).

My hair being unruly as usual. 

So, the show itself was fantastic. Love to see legends up there killing it. The last time I saw the Pumpkins, it was essentially just Billy Corgan as the only OG member. Actually, I can’t even remember what the deal was now but I saw them at the Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead, which is a small theater—why was that a small theater tour?!

I think this was 2014 or 2015. 

 P.S. Also obsessed with Kiki Wong now, she was doing the LORD’S WORK up there, good goddamn.

Before the show started, Kara and I were chatting about how terrible concert etiquette has become, primarily with the CHATTY CATHY takeover that seems to be ubiquitous at nearly every show now. And we totally jinxed ourselves because the three GROWN ASS MEN in front of us proceeded to talk (and I mean TALK) during the entire first set of the show. There was not ONE song that they didn’t talk through! And if they weren’t talking, they were texting / Facebooking / scrolling with FULL BRIGHTNESS LEVEL screens. 

Kara became obsessed with trying to figure out their relationship with each other because one guy was quite a bit older than the other two who looked like they were late 40s. My guess was that they were co-workers who should have either stayed home and watch Smashing Pumpkins videos on YouTube or just gone to a fucking bar, I don’t know. Have you ever tried to talk to the person next to you at a concert? It’s not easy! You have to shout! This is why I just save my comments for afterward, and, you know, also because I paid money to hear a band perform and not the sound of my own voice??

There was a 20 minute intermission between sets (there was no opening band – just the Smashing Pumpkins from 8pm until 11pm, it was GLORIOUS!) during which the three Yinzer bros stood up and continued the coffee klatch. This was fine by us, talk it up, get it all out of your systems! We did have a few loud comments though about how obnoxious it is to talk during a concert and the ringleader (ofc he had on a Steelers hat) glanced back at us so I thought maybe he had taken the hint.

Nope! The second set started and they sat down but continued their conversation at a LOUDER volume. They weren’t even talking ABOUT THE CONCERT. They were talking about NASCAR at one point!

A few songs into the second set, Kara leaned forward and – in a polite tone BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH FRAGILE MEN – said, “You know, some of us are here to actually hear the band, not your conversation” and the RINGLEADER sputtered (literally, I have never had a use for that word until now), “Oh yeah? Really! Yeah well…I paid to be here too!” 

I was on high alert now because this could have easily spiraled out and made him ramp up the yapping to an exaggerated degree, but instead, HE SULKED. Literally, he sunk back lower in his seat with his arms crossed. The guy to the right didn’t even appear to know anything had happened, but the older man in front of me actually turned his body slightly away from the ringleader and focused on the concert for the rest of the time. 

Also in our favor was the fact that they did not appear to be drinking, at least.

Kara said she told her kids, “I’m about to say something to these dorks so if they start a fight with me, record it.” LOL.  

“Big man!” Kara kept saying in a cry-baby voice after his super important and sensitive feelings got BIG HURT by the MEAN WOMAN at the Smashing Pumpkins concert, and I was dying! Props to Kara for saying something. Confrontation is so scary these days, especially for women, and I was quietly cracking my knuckles in case there was retaliation. The worst concert experience I ever had was when Chooch was younger and I took him to see The Summer Set at some small venue in Columbus that was full of fuck ass OSU bitches who were pushing us so hard (we were standing AT THE SIDE OF THE STAGE) and I tried to nicely say, “Hey I have a kid here can you please don’t push us?” and it just made it worse until the guys they were with stepped in and made them stop. But this was after it went on for nearly the whole set. And yes, I know—college guys actually being decent?! Anomaly. It was such a shitty experience though, like, please don’t make me get in a physical altercation in front of my elementary school-aged son, thanks. 

Anyway, the men (I kept imagining that it was the Impractical Jokers in front of us, they were that level of dork) ended up leaving before the end of the show and we just started cracking up so hard as they slithered past us, like a buncha boys who were scolded by their mom.

I know that sounds like it probably ruined the night but it really didn’t—I was so happy to get to be there with Kara and her kids, hearing a bunch of nostalgic and iconic songs that made me feel like I was back in high school riding around with Lisa in her parents’ minivan with the radio tuned to the Revolution and me acting like I didn’t like it because I was in my R&B and gangsta rap phase while secretly clocking certain songs. All these years later and “Today” is still my favorite. I don’t care how stereotypical that is, it’s such a comfort jam for me, and I still remember being a kid and seeing the music video for the first time and thinking it was so cool. 

But yeah, can we all just stop treating concerts like they’re a porch hangout? Save all the talking for post-show drinks! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. 

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Somehow I never posted my Charmera snaps from Four Chord a few weeks ago so here they are!

Henry’s like, “why am I at another music festival….”

Heading North!

Don’t Panic!

Patent Pending! (This band, Heading North, and obv. Pierce the Veil were my favorites that day.)

Eternal Boy’s singer is the founder of Four Chord, FYI!

I loved that downtown Pgh was the backdrop for this festival, and that also Pgh has a pop punk music festival to begin with! When I first went to this thing, it was in its second year and held in a now-defunct club with a 600 person capacity.

Hit the Lights were pretty good.  I have never been a fan per se but they were enjoyable. Luckily there were a ton of legit fans in the crowd because the mic quit working right when the last song started and the crowd carried it. I for one did NOT know the words, LOL.

Driveways had some Michael Myers footage going on in the background. I also thought that it was interesting that they’re from Boston and YOU CAN TELL – the singer does NOT  lose his accent in song. Also, they mocked us because their dumb team beat our dumb team and I was like “Well, joke’s on you because I don’t care for ANY team.” (Football can suck it.)

Meanwhile, later that night, Boys Like Girls said that they were also from Boston, mocked us similarly, but displayed nary an accent. JUST INTERESTING IS ALL.

I was attempting to catch Henry in the act of awkwardly sitting down – it was a slow and painful descent for him each time LOL. I shouldn’t laugh, my back still feels busted from carrying the entire month of September on it. (But was it worth it? OF FUCKING COURSE.)

EW, lol.

One of my beloved beachballs in the sunset.

What a great day, honestly.

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In an effort to stop myself from getting even more behind with life recaps on here, I am going to attempt to liveblog from Four Chord today. Should be super annoying!

We have to leave here around 11 to take the T to Station Square so Henry should be at least happy that we don’t have to deal with parking or driving or getting a hotel. He’s being super curmudgeonly about this though and I guess who can blame him, bro is 61 and just spent three full days at Riot Fest with little to no sitting down, then got dragged to a late show on a work night, and now another all day music festival today, all within the same week not to mention the “there and back” trip to Columbus last week for another show the night before we left for Chicago for Riot Fest.

I guess that’s a lot. Lol. But it was kind of cute because when I was upstairs getting ready, he was in Chooch’s room folding laundry with music blasting and I go, “are you….listening to bayside?”

“I don’t know, it’s a Four Chord playlist,” he muttered, walking past me with an armful of my freshly folded concert shirts lol. I mean props to him for trying to prepare!

11:08am: Well we’re off to a great start – we turned back so I could get my Jean jacket and Henry realized he brought the wrong keys so now he is attempting to break into the house. And HNC is out here making it worse. Never mind he is supplying Henry with a hammer to break into the basement lol.

FYI I haven’t had a window here since 2001 when some kids broke into my house and stole CDs and the landlord never fixed it.

11:36am: on the dumb T now and my stupid barcode thing didn’t scan at first – I hate that they switched from ConnectCard to whatever this newfangled thing is!!! And these annoying bros decided to stand right behind out seats when the whole fucking T is empty and they can kindly park their asses away from us.

One of us is happier than the other.

12:24pm: inside now and immediately lost Henry to the bathrooms. Srsly where is he???

12:29pm JFC he was waiting by the bathrooms because he thought I was in there too ughhhh.

1:05pm: Heading North! My friend Wendi is friends with them!

super good female fronted pop punk!

Shark fact from Heading North! Sharks favorite music is death metal.
also I just hit the beach ball into some guy and knocked his glasses off.

I am an absolute menace with these beach balls. I just kicked one really hard into the back of some kid and Henry was like JFC.
1:28pm: OK fully obsessed with Heading North now. Even when Henry wouldn’t dance with me. Girl pop punk forever leading the way.

now I’m standing alone at the Smartpunk Stage waiting for Don’t Panic and for Henry to look for a hat to buy. His new thing is buying a hat at every concert we go to. FYI.

2:14pm: Don’t Panic was great but I lost my picture because my blog crashed yay.
now it’s Keep Flying and Henry is being annoying.
wait I found it!

and here is Keep Flying.

2:36pm: just stood in the longest bathroom line because men have it easy and women have to suffer. Now it’s time for Patent Pending.

PATENT PENDING I FORGOT I LIKED THEM

 

 

Rishi from Eternal Boy / founder of Four Chord!

 

 

3:09pm Eternal Boy!

 

Why was I crying during Rishi’s DIY speech. Also I have never seen security encouraging crowd surfing.
3:41PM henry is back from resting in the bleachers.

 

 

 

HIT THE LIGHTS!

 

4:16pm Mic broke during last song and the crowd held it down it was awesome.
4:21pm: Driveways!

they’re trying to get rid of tote bags and they’re making ppl crowd surf for them. Henry wouldn’t do it for me lol.

Someone got hurt so they had to stop their last song while security helped them. :/

4:54pm:

FINCH JFC CRYING

 

omg these two little girls next to me went FERAL at one point, shrilling all high pitched and waving to someone on the side of the stage?? They had PTV shirts on and Vic written on their faces so I was like…is it Vic?? But I couldn’t see anyone?! It was so annoying – they were shrieking and waving at what??

5:30: Cartel!

5:47pm food time!

6:10pm my least favorite band Motion City Soundtrack is playing now so we’re taking a rest on the bleachers – my first time sitting since we got off the T at 11:30am lol.
We had to sit through MCS at Riot Fest last weekend while we were eating and that was enough for me.

6:22pm: Henry just sat down so dramatically Jesus Christ.

this girl is walking around asking people if they want glitter and Henry is pissed that they snubbed him.

 

also this beer is not good.

I think I’m so annoyed about MCS because they had like 3 LAST CHANCE TO SEE US WE’RE BREAKING UP tours and then the inevitable REUNION TOURS and it’s just like OK that’s nice but sit down.

6:54pm: Mom Jeans!

obsessed with beach balls today for some reason.

yeah I’m just really in my beach ball sunset era.
7:29pm: strategy is to just stay over at the main stage from this point on because the field is filling up so we can’t see State Champs but we can hear them! Also Mom Jeans was throwing burgers into the crowd so that was gross and I’m glad I wasn’t in direct proximity of that!!

Oh my GOD it feels amazing to sit.
8:03pm: OK I forgot how good State Champs are, bro. Also Henry is currently navigating though the dark crowds to the bathroom. Will he make it back to me?! It could be a Hallmark movie.

Hi I just took a picture with the flash on and that was embarrassing.

8:33pm: Boys Like Girls!

 

I liked them! I thought I didn’t know any of their songs but then I knew the last one. They had a really epic stage presence but there was a lot of filler and he did the whole “You sing this part” crowd engagement but it went on for so long and then the song became like 8 minutes long. But overall, it was really cool to see them and they had a lot of pyrotechnics which permeated my nose with the comforting stench of a kerosene heater while also providing bursts of warmth. (It’s cold now!)

9:03PM: Mayday Parade is playing their headlining set on the smaller SmartPunk stage and then PTV is at 9:50 LET’S GO RIOT FEST DO-OVER!! (But Erin, we don’t know what that means because you have not recapped Riot Fest yet. UGH I KNOW, STEP OFF!)

9:18pm: I think those little girls during Finch were shrieking because the Mayday Parade singer was standing on the side?? I did see him there but forgot that is what he looked like and now that I’m seeing them for the first time in years it’s all starting to click. But it was still super feral – not really necessary to scream like you’re seeing Michael Jackson play in Japan in the 80s.
9:28pm: Mayday Parade just said that they’ve been a band for 21 years WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

11:25pm: We just got on the T with a bunch of annoying Four Chord attendees but omg PTV was magical. This was RIOT FEST REDEMPTION – for one thing, I could actually SEE THEM not to mention I was standing on dry and clean turf and not sinking in thick sludgy mud.

 

Henry actually clapped at one point when Vic told us to and that is the first time he has ever gone along with crowd participation?! And he was tapping on my shoulders. Henry was feeling stuff, you guys. We’re finally breaking him.

well I’m going to post this now and I’ll clean it up + add more band info tomorrow I guess because god only knows how fucked this post is since I used the shitty WordPress app.

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I have no idea what is even happening anymore but Henry and I are not acting our ages at all and it’s so much fun and exciting and also extremely exhausting and painful, LOL. We still haven’t recovered from Riot Fest (all day on Monday I was at the “Sat down to pee at a rest stop and couldn’t get back up” levels of post-festival pain and it’s only gotten moderately better from there) but then last night we had tickets to The Black Queen show at SideQuest which, Henry has to admit this was a great consolation, at least was in our own goddamn city for once. A nice, breezy 15 minute drive to Lawrenceville, woo! It’s been so long since I have been to this venue that it was something completely different then (Cattivo) so I was glad to be back after so many years. It was probably 2016 or 2017 since I was last there?? And I think I was by myself too.

Doors were supposed to open at 7PM but on the way there we drove past a sidewalk sign for the venue that said doors were at 8PM. We parked across from the venue and figured we would just walk up to Butler St. and get a drink to kill time but then, you know me, I started panicking so Henry called and whoever answered inside the venue said doors were at 7PM! So, we walked around for a few minutes and went back closer to 7PM where we almost immediately found out that doors were indeed at 8PM.

There were three women already lined up and I recognized one of them from the Cleveland show in May! Turns out they’ve all become friends from going to so many shows and even have become friends with the band. (I won’t call them groupies because I think that has such a bad connotation and these women did not seem to have any type of agenda, you know?) One of them was from NY and she had The Black Queen friendship bracelets that she was passing out!! I have never been given a freebie at a non-Kpop event so I was eating this up. Henry passed on one when she held out the bag to him, like he didn’t even consider that he could take one and give it to me!? THEY WERE ALL DIFFERENT.

I ended up talking to Cleveland Show girl for nearly the whole hour we waited outside – her name is Sam, she’s from DC, and she travels for these alone because her husband isn’t into it. I love that for her. It was fun getting to talk to someone who also travels for shows (though I don’t and have never followed a band around on their whole tour, if I could do so with BIGBANG, you know that I would!) and she was very cool when I told her that I also like Kpop—you never know, this particular music scene that The Black Queen is a part of attracts a lot of Tool and NIN fans and from my experience you can run into some music snobbery there but Sam was not like that at all. She was so funny, too! Just a very dry sense of humor which I like.

There was also a dicey situation where a big truck was coming down the street – mind you, SideQuest is on a residential road with street parking – and a car was coming up and refused to back down so there was a moment of time where we all stood watching and holding our breath while Sam freaked out about the truck potentially taking off the side of her car that was parked right across from us. Henry relished the chance to dive into Professional Driver Mode and assured Sam that there was enough room on the truck’s right side and it should be fine. Thankfully, it was, otherwise I’d have been embarrassed at Henry’s false declarations!

At one point, we were all sharing our dead pet memorial tattoos with each other, it shouldn’t have been as funny as it was but we were all cracking up at how morbid we were being and I just realized that it might have been the first time I showed someone my Bambi tattoo without getting the swollen throat of sorrow. <3

Then! Jim from Eide’s came out! He was the promotor for this show and came out to assess the line situation and thank everyone for coming out. It was really awesome of him. And then he goes, “Hey, I know you!” and said it was nice to see me :) YOU CAN’T SEE ME BUT I AM BIG SMILING RIGHT NOW.

Finally, after doors got pushed back another 5 minutes, we got to inside around 8:10ish. The time actually kind of went quickly though since people actually talked to us, like Sam’s friend Sarah who reminded me of, and this will mean nothing to anyone reading this, a combination of my retired work friend Debby and my other friend Evonne whom I have not talked to in over 5 years and perhaps this is my sign to reach out??

Inside wall of SideQuest. Also want to remember that the guy checking IDs was super nice and was wearing a TMNT shirt.  You HAVE to have a good personality if you’re wearing a TMNT shirt!! And his looked like it had been THROUGH it.

The bartenders were also super nice. SideQuest was pretty much what I remembered Cativo to be like, I think? I thought perhaps there was a downstairs, I really can picture myself walking down steps there but maybe I’m dreaming as usual.

I had some Sierra Nevada IPA, I don’t know.

Line-standing friends! The one on the left is the one who was passing out the bracelets, I really wish I could remember her name. And then Sam and Sarah. This was before the show started and Steve, the Black Queen guitarist but also super cool human, was setting up. I told Henry that after being at the barricade for TBQ in Cleveland, I was good with standing further back at this show. I had so many nerves at that Cleveland show, you have no idea, it was almost hard for me to enjoy myself (plus I accidentally ended up RIGHT in front of Greg for that whole show and I was slowly dying).

But then Sarah saw me and motioned me over to stand in the space next to her. Of course my forever desperation to make friends won over and I obediently filled the space she saved for me. I could Henry cracking up behind me and then he walked over to say, “OK I thought you weren’t going to stand in front this time!” UGH.

But then I got to take these cool pictures though! OK let’s keep this rolling before I lose steam. The first band was aLoner which is ANOTHER Danny Lohner project, co-founded with vocalist and artist Hannah Vandermolen. How does he find the time?! They JUST debuted live earlier this month so I feel privileged to have caught them so early on. For their live sets on this tour, they have Chris Pennie of TBQ on drums. It was ethereal. I loved it A LOT. It’s a slippery slope between TBQ and goth and I’m not hating on that even a LITTLE. I love that goth music has started to creep back into my life this year. Next we had DILDOX, bringing their electro industrial party to the stage (and also, off!). They were SO GOOD and dancey but in the good, goth way.

Bro, why’d they kind of remind me of Borbo & Prism a little bit. God, I loved them. 10/10 would see again. Sarah and I chatted with the guitarist briefly and OK it was mostly Sarah with me just nodding and agreeing with everything and making me signature, “you were so good!” face.

Henry was still standing behind me for the first two bands but then I lost him during TBQ, because he went to the bathroom and then couldn’t get back to me but by that point I was too enthralled with watching Steve soundcheck for the whole band, who was missing.

It was after 10PM by now and this one total drunk Yinzer was getting PISSED. He kept screaming, “LET’S GO” in his grating Yinzer accent. His sister was with him and she was just as hammered (ask me again why I prefer Kpop concerts to this shit). He kept yelling, “GREG, YOU MOTHERFUCKER, YOU LITTLE BITCH, LET’S GO” like that’s going to make Greg, wherever he was, in some makeshift SideQuest greenroom, sit up and go, “Oh no, that entitled Steelers fan is getting impatient, let me hurry up.” If it were me, I’d be like, “Oh in that case, I think now is a great time to sit on the toilet and play some games on my phone.”

THEN!! Sarah turned around and in her best Ms.Rachel tone asked him to please lower his voice, that it was fine if he wanted to yell like that after each song ended, but that right then he was really hurting her head. “Yeah….I do have a very booming voice,” he said sadly, literally like a cartoon bully coming around, it was insane to watch her de-escalate this in a way that didn’t agitate him or make him want to instigate. So  then his sister started slurring questions to both of us about how many times we’ve seen TBQ (Sarah I’m pretty sure wins the Super Fan award) and/or Better Lovers. But then the brother got distracted again and started screaming things like, “AND HE’S UP THERE NOT DOING JACK SHIT!!!” about Steve, who was at one point OFF THE STAGE and standing behind the drunk guy, talking to someone, and the drunk guy kept yelling directly at him!! Sarah goes, “Um, you know he’s the guitarist, right?” and drunk guy whose eyes were mere glassy slits at this point, slurred, “No he ain’t!” “Yes, he is. That’s Steve, he’s the guitarist!” and then Steve turned around like, “Yes, it me” and drunk guy was suddenly Mr. Manners, shaking his hand and gushing. So ridiculous.

I was actually so embarrassed to be a local at this point. Like, please TBQ, this douche does not represent all of us. OK but finally the rest of the band came out, still without Greg though, and Steve was screaming, LET’S GO GREG!!!! I mean, when we were standing outside, one of the women did say that we were running on Greg’s time now. When you’re Greg Puciato, you can get away with making the crowd wait a little bit though, I’m just saying. The drunk guy called him an unsung hero and that was the only  time I will ever admit agreeing with a blitzed Yinzer who fell down flat on his back at one point during their set, by the way. I didn’t see it but I felt the sudden burst of wind as his body passed mine, and I don’t know if it was his hand or the person behind me reaching out to stop him, but something grazed my side. Henry got to see it and said he actually has no idea how he managed to fall the way that he did. Drunk people always find a way.

Um OK but THE BLACK QUEEN. I can’t believe I got to see them again so soon after my first time! Blessed that Pittsburgh made it onto their second leg because this show was even better than my first one. For starters, I was more relaxed now that those initial jitters were gone. I’m super sensitive about live music, maybe you understand or perhaps you think I’m sitting alone on some new area of the spectrum, but I get super emotional and sometimes I wish I could just be the type of person who goes to a concert and doesn’t care one way or the other but also I never ever ever want to grow out of this because even when it hurts, I love to go through the complete cycle of emotions at these shows.

But also, not just Greg but the whole band seemed so much more personable and chill! At the CLE show, no one talked. They came out, plowed through the Fever Daydream album, said thank you and left. there was no banter, no crowd engagement. Something definitely seemed off because I had seen videos from other shows and it was not like that at all. In fact, I want to say that they didn’t even post about the Cleveland show on their Instagram afterward, like what even….I want to know what was going on!

Meanwhile, drunk guy kept aggressively holding his arms over Sam’s head, trying to get Greg to slap his hands. Greg steady ignored him and that finally a few songs in, came over and punched both of his hands hard and I was dying.  But dude kept yelling shit like, “Yeah, Greg you bitch, let’s go!” and like….who does that??? Aside from drunk, attention-starved Yinzers?! I think this is the same guy I overheard talking earlier about how he went to see Dillinger Escape Plan at Mr. Small’s years ago and Greg jumped off the stage onto his head, so maybe there is some internalized beef there, who knows, but after the show, he had his picture taken with Greg. It was all very strange. Boys are all very strange.

Here are some clips from last night, audio is shit since I was practically on the stage:

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But yeah, as the caption says, HENRY BOUGHT HIMSELF A HAT! I was actually floored. Henry never buys merch for himself. Henry has not one single band tee. But now he has G-Dragon, BIGBANG, and The Black Queen hats!

Oh, can I just casually tell you one more thing? After the show, I was still standing at the stage and Greg came over to say hi to Sam and Sarah and to ask them what other shows they were going to on this tour. I was just like, “OK, I’m going to leave, I’m not about this life,” but then he came over to me too, took my hand and said, “Thanks for coming out, I appreciate you.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

I don’t even think I said real words, just uttered some type of demure mush and then turned around to find Henry.

“I saw,” he said with a LAUGH HELLO THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER.

Anyway, there are no videos online from our show, but this one from the first leg of their tour last spring is so good so just watch it, thank you.

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Passing this cherry fry pie from some weird tiny gas station in Ohio called FuelMart (creative) in the car on the way to Columbus back and forth with Henry like it’s our version of a joint. We had decided on cherry and then idiot Henry who hates blueberry grabbed blueberry and didn’t realize until we left and he had to go back in and ask to exchange it. Anyway this pie was baked by some place called Whispering Pines Bakery which sounds like a Netflix series. When we parked there was an Amish person cruising by in their buggy so I’m imagining the pies were baked by them. It was pretty good!

In case you wondered what Henry and I talked about for 3 hours on this drive it’s been all BIGBANG and FREE PALESTINE.

It’s 5:17pm and we’re at Ethyl & Tank for dinner. Henry tripped SO HARD on the OSU campus that he went soaring through the air and I am so embarrassed.

Henry is sitting facing the window and goes, “I just saw him.”

OK Judy Just Pronouns. Who??

Turns out it was Brian the singer from The Home Team.

”I mean you could have SAID who it was,” I said, annoyance boiling over.

”I didn’t know his name!” Henry said defensively.

”OK you could have said the singer from The Home Team!”

”I COULDNT REMEMBER THEIR NAME EITHER.”

Jesus Christ.

Wow true to form for this area, that place was ridiculous. Kept us waiting forever only for the server to finally come over and tell us that they couldn’t make any of the veg options on the menu. AWESOME! A full thirty minutes wasted. Also the bathroom had a full swarm of flies in it. Disgusting.

So now we’re at Playa Bowl and at least we know we’re getting here. I hate OSU. Michigan FOREVER.

I ate the chocolate and then traded with Henry because the apple butter was weird with açaí.

But now we’re in line for Newport Music Hall (6:21pm) and I have nothing further to report.

10:44PM and we’re standing in this absurd line to pay for parking at the garage which is annoying but holy shit that show was incredible!

This was outside the parking garage which we finally paid our ticket for and are now en route to Pgh, ETA 2:00AM LOL UGH.

But wow, what a great show! I mean BIGBANG has certainly ruined concerts for me for life now but going by pre-BIGBANG standards this was a good show! Brian from the Home Team can SANG.

Henry out here never changing his face no matter what Henry Emotions he’s feeling. FWIW he does like The Home Team. But the drive, not so much!

ZOA attends her first non-kpop concert! She liked it.

Meanwhile I was absolutely OBSESSED with this staff member who I think was the guardian of backstage access while also sharing Henry’s face card. I sent this to Chooch said, “Ew. You can’t convince me that’s not actually him.” Henry was like I DONT SEE IT but then I was laughing myself silly imagining that dude down there looking up at the balcony like, “…Brother?!”

One thing I was meh about was that there wasn’t enough (see also: any) FREE PALESTINE or FUCK TRUMP but the first band, Unity TX, did give us an angry FUCK ICE. I’m sorry but I want — nay, expect, everyone to use there platform now and I will be side-eying those who don’t.

They were so good and got me real belligerent-feeling like let’s go flip over a cop car.
Oh! I forgot add that the last time I was at Newport Music Hall was in 2001 when Shawn and I went to see COLD and someone jumped off the balcony! I just remember being upstairs and sitting all the way at the back of the risers and no one else really was back there.

Henry down there creeping from his cave.

Heart Attack Man was next and I liked them! They reminded me of Citizen or Joyce Manor, that kind of band. So basically three very different bands on this tour which we love to see.

The girl next to Henry REALLY liked them. My throat had sympathy pains.
Speaking of the girl next to him, everyone around us on the balcony pretty much kept to themselves and maintained a good level of spatial awareness. During the second band some people arrived behind us and I worried at first that they were going to be TALKERS but they weren’t annoying at all and one of them had a big Victorian-like fan that she was using to fan herself and her friend but we were also benefitting from it.

12:04am We’re driving through a wicked lightning storm and I hate it so much.

We got home around 2:15AM after shockingly only making ONE stop at a Love’s outside of Columbus. Henry just powered through the whole 3 hour drive, fueled by whatever energy drink du jour he was chugging and a loud BIGBANG playlist. I did the Lord’s work by staying awake out of solidarity. 

I’m a real peach like that.

Anyway! Here is a video of the two openers, Unity TX and Heart Attack Man:

 

And some snippets of (some) of my favorite The Home Team songs:

Well, that’ll do it. I fear this is going to turn into a music blog for the next several weeks/mths because we have Riot Fest coming up this weekend + too much more all in a short span of time and I’m concerned about my age showing up because even just after last night, my back was SCREAMING at me on the walk to the parking garage, ughhh. But was it worth it? OH GOD YES. This band has been on constant rotation for me since last spring after having a moderate level of appreciation for them but then hearing an acoustic version of Walk This World and I was like, “Oh, it’s like THAT, is it?” So yes, 100% worth it to see them live. Even after Chooch was like, “Why are you guys coming home after that and not just going to Chicago?” and I was like….wait….yeah, why didn’t we plan it that way, we’re so stupid. But then I remembered that I originally only took off Friday & Monday from work but then later requested off yesterday and today and Henry has the whole week off so yeah, we could have done that. Idiots.

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SETLIST:

• • • • • ACT I BIGBANG
          • • FANTASTIC BABY
            • HANDS UP
            • TONIGHT
            • BLUE
            • LOSER
            • IF YOU
            • BAD BOY
            • BAE BAE
            • HARU HARU
            • LIES
              • Band interlude with “La La La” “Fxxk It” “Flower Road” “Alive”
        • ACT II CHAOS
          • • UNIVERSE (Daesung solo)
            • WINGS (Daesung solo)
            • HANDO-CHOGUA (Daesung solo)
            • LOOK AT ME GWISUN (Daesung solo)
            • BAD (Taeyang solo)
            • RINGA LINGA (Taegyang solo)
            • LIVE FAST DIE SLOW (Taeyang solo)
            • POWER (GD solo)
            • CRAYON (GD solo)
            • CROOKED (GD solo)
        • ACT III COSMOS
          • • BANG BANG BANG
            • STUPID LIAR
            • SOBER
            • WE LIKE 2 PARTY
            • BiiiG
            • HOME SWEET SWEET (GD’s song featuring Daesung and Taeyang)
        • ENCORE
          • • MY HEAVEN
            • SUNSET GLOW
            • LAST FAREWELL
            • FEELING
            • FLOWER ROAD
            • STILL LIFE

OK, it’s now or never. This is going to be a mess because I’m still in the *SCREAMS IN HANGUEL* stage of my post-concert depression but what better time to do a recap I guess?

First of all, I have never been to a stadium concert before. I don’t think the Stray Kids one last year counts because that venue in Toronto was weird and didn’t seem nearly as big as MetLife. Once we got to our section and started walking down the steps, I was like, “WHOA.” (Please also remember I do not go to football games, LOL. I have never even once set foot inside Heinz Field or whatever the fuck they’re calling it these days.) I never even really went to ARENA concerts before I got into Kpop. I’m a small venue girlie! I like my bands relatively unknown, I guess.

So, this was next level.

We were in section 115, row 21, seats 1 and 2. I had the presale code because I’m a true VIP (no literally, I pay to be in BIGBANG’s fan club because I’m a kid) but I refused to get floor seats. I did that for Stray Kids and we couldn’t see anything! I do highkey regret not splurging for one of the VIP packages but there was no soundcheck with any of them though!

Anyway, sometime after 8PM the video for BIGBANG’s new single BIIIG was playing on the screen and then suddenly the volume was jacked up and everyone was like LET’S GOOOOOOO!! This is my favorite thing about big shows (Again, never have seen non-Kpop concerts in big venues – aside from Bon Jovi and Phil Collins in the 1990s LOL – so I don’t know if this is a universal signal for “show’s about to start, people” or if it’s just a Kpop thing? Chat, comment and let me know lol). I started crying and mewling, “OMG OMG OMG” immediately. Nothing could have prepared me for this moment.

Ten years, you guys. Ten years. Because of course they were last in the US in 2015 when I was only equating Kpop to “fun workouts, yay!” If only I was one year sooner.

Once the opening VR ended, they came out to FANTASTIC BABY! EVERYONE WAS SCREAMING! I have never felt more connected to strangers ever in my life at a concert but you could just FEEL 50,000 people being healed at once. It was party vibes from then until 11PM.

My pictures and videos are shit because WHO CARES?? I WAS FANNING MYSELF OVER BIGBANG AND CRYING AND DOING FACE-SPLITTING SMILING AND PINCHING MYSELF AND JUST BEING IN ABSOLUTE AWE.

Henry even stood up the whole time! (Except during the breaks but even I was sitting down for those too.) I hate that I always have to stress this but Henry genuinely likes Kpop but even moreso he sincerely LOVES BIGBANG. He was folding clothes in Chooch’s room over the weekend blasting them! Right now as I write this, he’s singing BANG BANG BANG to Penelope!

Let’s ask him what his favorite part: “I don’t have a favorite part, I liked it all.” OK. Great talk.

I think for me, my favorite part was literally just being in the same place as them after ten years of fanatically watching their live performances on YouTube and wishing that someday I could see them and feel that energy. It is everything I imagined it would be plus so much more. Their charisma is unmatched. They are considered legends for a reason – they are effortless performers, our unsynchronized kings.

AND THEY ARE SO FUNNY! Their banter — OMG I finally got to see them fuck around with each other in real life and it was like 50,000 of us were in on inside jokes all night long. Daesung mocking us for mumbling the Korean parts. Taeyang saying, “No. Don’t tell me to take it off” and talking about being old. G-Dragon recognizing Those LED Girls and just looking like he was having the best time being back on stage with his brothers.

They ALL looked happy. Like BIGBANG never stopped. Like no time has passed.

AND DAESUNG BROUGHT THE TROT TO NEW JERSEY! Trot is like traditional Korean pop music, like easy-listening soft rock for old Korean people. But Daesung loves to sing trot and even PERFORMED HIS TROT SONGS AT COACHELLA. It was the first time trot was ever performed at Coachella and WE WERE FREAKING IT OUT! It was such a “OH HE DID THAT!!” moment.

I never thought I would get to see Daesung in real life!! And my favorite part is that his styling during this comeback is so similar to his look for the FXXK IT comeback era which is when he quickly my first BIAS:

This was 10 years and he still looks that good!

I feel like after every song, I turned around and mouthed, “HOLY SHIT I’M DYING” to Henry.

From finally hearing Daesung’s live vocals, watching Taeyang dance, and literally having religious moments over G-Dragon’s entire aura (THAT MAN IS TRULY ONE OF A KIND), the overstimulation was real.

Is this what Beatlemania was like??

“Lies” is one of my favorite songs of all time and I actually had to stop listening to it during the “dark years” for BIGBANG because it upset me too much. I am so happy to be able to enjoy it again and SEE THEM PERFORM IT LIVE!!

Taeyang’s solo set was majestic – “Bad,” “Live Fast Die Hard” and ofc “Ringa Linga.”

GD did “Power,” “Crayon,” and “Crooked” and I know this was a BIGBANG show but HOLY SHIT, seeing GD’s solo performances will never get old to me. He is mesmerizing. I follow a GF Fashion account and love to see them posting the designers and costs of everything he was wearing. Usually that stuff sickens me but with GD, I’m like, “YES KING” because he doesn’t seem like an entitled asshole about it.

I use this app called Minutiae and you get 5 seconds to take a picture of what’s in front of you, no filters, whenever the notification comes through. I’m usually ALWAYS AT HOME but this time I WAS AT BIGBANG!!!

I loved seeing Jiyong so happy and free.

I was texting my friend Lauren about this the next day because when we used to work in the office, I sat behind her and we would gush over GD’s fashion together. She was one of the few people who was genuinely nice to me about my…lifestyle transitioning lol and willing to watch Kpop videos, etc. Anyway, I was like, “Yeah and he was wearing an I <3 NY shirt that probably cost $5000.” But then the GD Fashion site was like, “Actually…” so I had to send it to her, like, “Well, I undershot that one.” LOL. It was like $7000+!!! KING.

 

Taeyang doing the full bow at the end. I’m crying.

Some of my favorite moments:

• GD remembering Those LED Girls from his Ubermensch solo concert last year in Newark. I love these girls – they’ve popped up at so many Kpop concerts I’ve been to over the years. I’m not sure if this is accurate but I feel like they started doing this at NCT concerts? Anyway, I love how GD says “stop it”!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/zMt3oGetrFU?si=-bdxBOtieZU8SIWf

• Daesung jokingly mocking us for mumbling the Korean parts LOL. Bro, the struggle is real though. I have been trying to learn Korean since 2017 and even though I can sing these songs in my head, my tongue does not want to cooperate when it’s time to belt out loud.

• OMG my stomach hurt from laughing – it was like a comedy show in between songs with these three:

G-Dragon’s Instagram story used a Backstreet Boys songs AND at one point, when he said something about carefully planning the comeback step by step, he paused and started singing NKOTB’s Step by Step:

Jeff Benajmin wrote a really great recap for Billboard: BIGBANG Celebrate 20 Years at MetLife Stadium Concert: Best Moments

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OMG Henry has decided to contribute! Here are his favorite picks of the night:

Henry is a super fanboy for BIIIG; anytime it comes on in the car he turns it up:

OMG I’m so happy he included this one because I loved it so much too – Daesung is such a shining diamond:

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I can’t believe it’s over. I have been having the best time commiserating with other post-concert depression afflicted VIPs on Threads, where all of my BIGBANG content actually gets engagement. I’m at LET’S GET BIGBANG TATTOOS levels of hysteria right now. (Henry and I have actually talked about getting a matching GD peaceminusone daisy on our hand so maybe we will do that at some point?!) I just want to run around my neighborhood and scream STAN BIGBANG but all my MAGA neighbors will be like, “Stan what now? Is this a new rifle manufacturer I should know about?”)

It’s crazy the amount of nostalgia I felt for something that I have only been into for 10 years. There is something about the older BIGBANG songs though that actually make me feel like I had experienced it in real time back in the early 2000s. Ugh, I really wish I had. You know, I always blame Henry for this because before he moved in with me, I used to have all of these TV channels and some of them were Asian so in like, 2000 and 2001 I was watching Kdramas and Kpop videos without even knowing it was Korean, just that I was obsessed with it. But then Henry moved in and eventually was like, “WE PAY TOO MUCH FOR CABLE, A LOT OF THESE CHANNELS ARE UNNECESSARY” and cut back on it but in doing so, all of my Asian channels were taken away. (He wasn’t talking about those ones when he wanted to cut back, but the Asian channels were a part of whatever deluxe packaging he wanted to get rid of. To be fair, we did not have much money back then, LOL.) But yeah, I think about that sometimes because what if I still had those channels and got to be there for BIGBANG’s debut in 2006??? (See also: The year of Chooch’s debut.)

I was desperate to see them and now I’m desperate to see them AGAIN. G-Dragon said that this is just the beginning and they have more new music coming so FINGERS CROSSED that this wasn’t just a once in a lifetime moment for me.

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I am sure I have written about this at some point but I thought it would be worth repeating before getting into the meat of the BIGBANG concert to give more context to what this meant to me. It’s so much more than just their music.

OK, PICTURE ME CRACKING MY KNUCKLES HERE REAL QUICK.

So, in 2015 I started accidentally doing Kpop cardio workouts, having no idea what it was, just that I was having so much fun. I liked the music but it was also the aerobic rendition of the dance moves and the instructors that kept me coming back. I wasn’t actively looking up the music videos or anything. This was STRICTLY AEROBIC.

Then, in early 2016, we had a ton of trauma involving my aunt Sharon and my grandparent’s house. She had basically become incapacitated and after years of not allowing anyone in the house, my brother and mom had to break in after she wasn’t responding to them. Long story short, she had been HEAVY HOARDING, ended up in the hospital and went from bad to worse to gone in the span of a several months. We also found out that the house was no longer in the family and belonged to the bank. Months and months of cleaning out the house (and it’s…not a small house) and trying to salvage what we could, plus a fallout with my brother and TONS of repressed grief flooding back sent me on a scary spiral. I was so depressed and stressed that even people at work were like, “No offense but you look really…tired.” I had TONS of gray hair sprouting out left and right on top of it all plus I had all but completely stopped doing my Kpop workouts and started stress eating.

By the end of 2016, I thought maybe it would help to have a Xmas party because in addition to my personal strife, TRUMP had just been elected for his first term and we were ALL going through it. I was making a playlist for it and Henry was like, “JESUS CHRIST, what kind of a playlist is this!? It sounds like funeral music!” because I was purposely filling it with goth and sad boy emo. To be a shit, I sneered, “FINE, I’LL ADD SOME KPOP THEN!” and threw on some stuff that I recognized from my workouts.

This essentially had me revisiting those workouts and then becoming mildly parasocial obsessed with this one girl—Jellybeannose. She made a few routines that I genuinely liked but admittedly most of her videos were too advanced for me because they weren’t the aerobicly watered down versions of choreo but the ACTUAL choreography from various Kpop videos. It turned out she used to go to various Kpop conventions and MC this thing called “random dance” where they play 20 – 30 seconds of popular Kpop songs and if you know the dance, you run out into the middle floor and do it. At some point she had won a dance competition or something which had her going to KOREA. Now look, I still at this point was not into Korea at all, knew nothing about it, had still never even watched a Kpop video. I was just ALL ABOUT THE FITNESS. So, now she’s in Korea and posting these vlogs on YouTube and I’m sitting here like, wow, I have never really paid attention to Korea before outside of horror movies….

At some point that December, she had a video where her and two friends were so excited because a new BIGBANG video had come out, so they filmed themselves reacting to it. Now, this was 2016, so unlike reaction videos today, you couldn’t see what they were watching, the camera was just showing them. And they were POPPIN’ OFF over this video. Rolling on the floor screaming about G-Dragon, who had what hair color. So after this, I said to probably just my cats, “Well, now I have to watch this video and see for myself.”

The song in question:

When I say I was hooked…

I don’t know where Henry was at the time but I distinctly remember him coming home (probably from THE STORE) and screaming at him, “YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS, I’M OBSESSED.”

And from there it was, “I wonder which one is G-Dragon?”

And then, “I wonder what’s so great about G-Dragon…..oh. I get it now.”

And then, “I will never learn their names.”

And then, “Kang Daesung was my first bias but now I love G-Dragon and his Korean name is Kwon Jiyong.”

It didn’t take long for Henry and Chooch to get on board. Soon we were watching variety shows that BIGBANG had appeared on, like Running Man and Knowing Bros. And then Henry’s looking up flights to Korea “just to see.”

But the thing is, I was at rock bottom in 2016. Maybe I was having suicidal ideations. I felt lost. Angry. Sad. Traumatized. Losing my grandparents’ house–the house I spent most of my childhood in and held only good memories for me–was gone. My aunt Sharon, who I was estranged from, was gone. There was no closure. Every day felt like one continuous nightmare.

Then this shiny group of Korean guys with pastel hair came into my life and opened up a whole new world to me, literally. I became so interested in Korean culture SO QUICKLY and felt this odd sense of comfort and familiarity which is crazy because I obviously had never been to Korea before and I had never even considered going there. But the language did some kind of magical massage on my brain (and heart) and suddenly I was a new person, with a new lifestyle and interests. I was so excited to come home from work every day, eat Korean food and watch K-dramas after doing K-cardio. I had 10 years worth of BIGBANG backlog to dive into on YouTube. Music shows. Award shows. Variety shows.

Maybe saying “BIGBANG saved my life” comes off as super melodramatic and eye-rolly, but at the very least, they CHANGED my life. I never want to go back to how I was prior to this.

Of course, right after I started “stanning” them (another thing I quickly learned about then!) I also learned about Korea’s mandatory military requirement and how Kpop idols aren’t exempt. And just my luck, one of the BIGBANG members was set to enlist early in 2017, so soon after I got into them.

From there, it’s been scandals and heartbreak galore, to the point where it seemed like BIGBANG was never getting back together. I would never get to see them. VIPs (their fandom name) were depressed but refused to give up. We kept holding on, even when BTS’s shitty and toxic fans tried to create more scandals and rumors, cyber bullied VIPs, etc. while their stupid  group rose up and took BIGBANG’s top spot during their hiatus.

It’s been a long and depressing 10 years, and to be honest, after awhile I couldn’t even listen to their music anymore because it hurt so much.

One of the members was involved in a scandal so big that actual documentaries were made about it (one of Chooch’s friends watched it and texted him like, “Hey isn’t G-Dragon that guy your mom likes?” and I was so excited that he was asking Chooch and Chooch goes, “Yeah but it’s because he watched something about the Burning Sun scandal.” UGH.) and another member literally had to go on military trial for MARIJUANA ACCUSATIONS and ended up in the hospital in a coma after overdosing because of the fucking stress of it all. Thank god he survived, but he left the entertainment industry after that, and only just recently came back (he was in season 2 of Squid Game!) and just put out a solo album too! Unfortunately, he officially left BIGBANG.

Last summer, G-Dragon did his solo tour and teased a BIGBANG reunion because this year is their 20th anniversary. We already knew that he is still very good friends with two other members—Daesung and Taeyang—but he kept dropping these little hints that it was going to be 4 of them. So, we all really thought he was going to get T.O.P. to come back.

But, it didn’t happen. And you know, I think most of us normal fans are at peace with that now. T.O.P. is thriving on his own and we’re happy about that, and BIGBANG is back as a trio and while that was hard to accept at first, it’s actually really awesome seeing them so happy together.

They made their official debut as a trio at one of the end of the year Korean awards shows when Daesung and Taeyang came out to perform Home Sweet Home with G-Dragon, a song on his solo album that features them. Then they also did two old BIGBANG songs together and it was UNREAL. The younger idols in the audience were freaking out so hard!

Anyway, when BIGBANG announced their world tour a few mths ago, I was so excited but also super emotional about it because HOLY SHIT WAS I FINALLY GOING TO GET TO SEE BIGBANG?! Even if it was just three of them, BEGGARS CAN’T BE CHOOSERS!

All of this should help you understand why I was legit SICK TO MY STOMACH on the drive to New Jersey Friday morning. Literally, I almost three up. Sure, maybe some of that was because I drank too. much coffee in a very short time frame, but I think nerves and crazy heightened emotions had a lot to do with it.

This was more than “Oh look, Erin is being fucking sappy about music again.” This was something that felt so unbelievable to me, something that I had resigned myself to accept was never going to happen. I was grateful that I had gotten to see G-Dragon and Taeyang solo, but hearing BIGBANG songs performed live was not in the cards.

Literally the whole drive there, I kept thinking, “This isn’t real, this isn’t real.” And yet….

*************

After a light lunch at some place called Third Wave Cafe (I had an acai bowl and who cares what Henry had, I was too busy ignoring the loud college baseball players next to us and watching the women’s doubles US Open finals) we were able to check in to our hotel, get ready, and then immediately go to MetLife Stadium a bit after 3PM. Henry had prepaid for parking and they said the lot was opening at 3:30, but it was already opened when we got there, AND there was already a huge line for early merch which was was the whole reason why we got there early. WTF MetLife.

But first! On our way through the parking lot to the merch line, WE HEARD DAESUNG SOUNDCHECKING ONE OF HIS SOLO SONGS – UNIVERSE! I started crying IMMEDIATELY. My first time hearing Daesung’s voice in real life?!

I’m going to keep this next part short and sweet but early merch wasn’t supposed to start until 3:30 but apparently opened early so by the time we got in line around 3:15 it was already outrageously long (though—it didn’t LOOK that long) and the line was cut off shortly after we got into it.

It ended up being THREE HOURS in that line, under a cloudless sky, the sun beating us while we were down. There was not one happy person in that line after the first hour passed, ESPECIALLY the girl right behind us who was basically standing on our backs she was so up in our space!

After hour two, Henry finally got out of line to fetch waters for us because I was legitimately starting to sway and my mouth was so gummy. Then some asshole MetLife white male yelled at him for trying to get back into line when EVERYONE was doing it. YOU CANNOT FUCKING DENY US WATER, YOU DUMB FUCK. So Henry went to the other side of the line and got back in that way. It wasn’t cutting! We were letting people back in the whole time because groups of people were sending one person out to get food and drinks. No one was being nefarious about it.

Long story short, nearly everything was sold out by the time it was our turn, but I got a shirt and Henry got the hat we wanted and we would never stand in line for that long for ANYONE ELSE. And trust me, you should have seen the merch lines inside so it was either get it out of the way with plenty of time to spare before the show started or wait for doors to open and risk missing part of the concert.

It was annoying but I don’t blame BIGBANG. This was equal parts the stadium and YG. Like, know the demand! Nothing should be selling out. Kpop fans in general are coming with $$$ to spend. We are prepared. I was ready to drop a ton on merch but in the end I had to buy some of the things I wanted online, so whatever. It is what it is! At the end of the day, I was still seeing BIGBANG so who cares if I couldn’t get the super amazing cool beautiful BIGBANG canvas jacket that I had my eye on. :/

Seeing the same people for three hours like cattle in a corral was wild. And yet we talked to no one somehow. Although this one girl was talking about G-Dragon’s dog and I was SO TEMPTED to whip out my phone and show her the picture I have of him when I was staying at G-Dragon’s pension in 2019, LOL. Henry was side-eying me because he really thought I was going to lose control and do it because she was really annoying but in the end I didn’t want to look like an asshole. (I am an asshole though.)

Finally out of the merch line! The gates had been opened for an hour by then so we had no problem getting right in, no line.

“Henry take a picture of me in front of the BIGBANG sign.”

Henry takes picture and doesn’t even say, “hey you can’t see the whole sign move over.” I REALLY want to keep bringing him to concerts because he’s my merch holder but I need someone else to come who can actually take a picture like a normal person with thumbs. I don’t understand what his issue is.

I made him take another one obviously!!

We got to our seats around 7PM, an hour before it was starting. I was so excited!! Actually being in our seats was helping me calm down.

Oh also, at one point when we were in the merch line from hell, Henry said all whinily, “Why didn’t you get VIP? Did you have the option to?”

Are you kidding me? This man is now begging for VIP tickets after frowning in the past about the cost of them!?

“I don’t know I was trying to not go in debt like I was last year with the G-Dragon tickets?!” Jesus Christ, Henry. YOU go through the Ticketmaster presale turmoil next time!!

You guys. This is me waiting to see BIGBANG IN THE FLESH. NOT ON YOUTUBE.

Henry failing to take a cute picture of me again but I kept this because I liked my hair (shout out Gemma at Bella Salon—KARA IF YOU ARE READING THIS I THINK SHE IS THE ONE WHO DID YOUR HAIR FOR YOUR WEDDING???).

And now perhaps some Charmera snaps??

Henry still hasn’t recovered from the merch line, LOL. It’s amazing how tiring just STANDING for three hours can really make you. I haven’t even stood in line for a roller coaster for three hours. Not even airport lines. BIGBANG, you really are something.

Their new 20th anniversary light stick was sold out at our merch booth and apparently most of the inside ones too but luckily I had my old BIGBANG bang bong. I brought my G-Dragon daisy bong for Henry to use too lol. (He actually held it through the whole concert but wouldn’t wave it.)

I was being so fucking annoying and I don’t care. I needed pictures of myself to document this monumental moment in my life. OMFG I SAW BIGBANG!!!!!!?!@@><

This was still a bit before it started but it was sold out. Usually they will say it’s sold out and then you look on Ticketmaster and there are still a ton of TicketMaster Platinum and resell tickets but this time there were just a small handful of resells and they ranged from $1500 to $5000. Fuck you.

So yeah, the number I saw was something over 50,000. That many VIPs all in one stadium, it felt like a homecoming. And what I loved about it was that it was an older crowd and almost seemed split 50/50 men and women. In fact, there were two guys next to Henry, lightsticks and all! I only mention this because I think Kpop in general has a reputation for being something that mostly only girls like but just like G-Dragon’s concerts, there were tons of men shamelessly wearing BIGBANG shirts and hats and waving their lightsticks. The man on the other side of me had a special edition BIGBANG Japan lightstick! I was so jealous!

There was a girl in front of us who turned around and smiled at us when we bumbled to our seats (Henry the oaf nearly trampled two girls in our row) so when Henry went to look for a lightstick (he failed that mission but came back with beer), she turned around and started chatting with me. WONDERFUL PERSON! And I know I called her a girl here but she was actually 45 years old and looked like she was in her 20s! Her name is Marina and she came there that morning from DC on Amtrak. She was actually born in France though and spent a lot of her childhood in Morocco because of her dad’s job so she knows Arabic too. This came up when she asked me if I knew Korean and my response was, “Yeah, in my head,” lol.

I didn’t get a picture of her because then Henry came back and killed the vibe, but here’s the back of her!

I’m sad that we didn’t exchange socials because she was super sweet, but she left right before the encore.

I can’t stress enough how magical it was to be under the same….sky? as so many VIPs. I know most of us have really been going through it because being a BIGBANG fan has not been easy these last 10 years. In fact, I remember standing in line for the Kang Daniel concert in Toronto, chatting with the person in front of me. When she asked me who my favorite group was and I said, “BIGBANG,” she gave me the most sympathetic purse of her lip and said, “I’m so sorry.” Thank you? LOL.

This was so healing and cathartic for a lot of us. I know it. CONCERT DETAILS FORTHCOMING!!!!!! IT WILL BE ANNOYING!

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I fear that I will never recover from last night you guys was that even real did I really actually see MOTHERFUCKING BIGBANG?? The EMPERORS of Kpop?! Your idols’ idols?! The pioneers of “paving the way”? The ones who walked so others could run? They are untouchable. True artists and I am AWESTRUCK.

We’re on our way home now, after stopping by Chooch’s Dunkin’ in Philly to drop some stuff off for him (not drugs, just a bicycle pump and jeans – boring) and I can’t stop thinking about last night.

It’s going to take me a few days to collect my thoughts on here but in the meantime here is what I wore! Nothing too flashy—I’m more comfort-concerned than fashionably creative (but goddamn there were some AMAZING cosplay outfits last night).

G-Dragon (and Taeyang) were born in 1988 and G-Dragon often wears Seoul 88 Olympics hats and is famously obsessed with the number 8. I bought this jacket on eBay last year in hopes of someday having the opportunity to wear it to another GD concert or BIGBANG (I was really high-hoping at that point!).

My shoes are GD’S Peaceminusone Paranoise Air Force 1s but I ended up not wearing them because they’re not broken in and good thing I swapped them for my Vans because we ended up standing in a merch line for 3 hours outside in the blazing sun before doors opened (this is not hyperbolic – it was probably actually longer than 3 hours but the sheer unbridled joy of the actual concert wiped that bad memory from the brain bank).

Also!! We made a friend. Well, Henry did. Her name is Michelle and she was staying ah our hotel. Henry was in the elevator with her earlier that day and they were talking about how they’re both going to BIGBANG and she was nervous about getting back so he offered to meet up after and give her a ride. Thank god she trusted him because when I finally met her after the concert, we started yammering on to each other like we were old friends and it was the most organic and natural conversation I’ve had with a stranger in a long time! We’re IG friends now and she said she is making me an honorary Korean which was the best end to an already incredible night. I am FLOATING today.

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I waited my whole Kpop life (10 years!) for this day and it is finally here – we’re on our way to see my ultimate #1 not-just-Kpop but all-time band (tied with the Cure). BIGBANG IS FINALLY HERE!

I’m not liveblogging because I just want to listen to them the whole there while looking out the window dreamily.

I CANT WAIT TO BE WITH 50,000 OTHER VIPS! I CANT WAIT TO SEE DAESUNG LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME! I CANT WAIT TO HEAR “LIES”! I CANT WAIT TO CRY WITH EVERYONE ELSE DURING “HARU HARU” AND “STILL LIFE”!!!

I’m a mess.

P.S. Henry said he is most excited for “BIIIG” and “Fantastic Baby” – he likes the anthems the most!

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Saturday night had us doing another “Who knows what this even is” event that I found a month ago when looking up local shows to check out. As usual, I did the bare minimum research, enough to determine that I liked what I heard, and then bought tickets. (Ah, these $15 non-Kpop local shows have had me spoiled! You should see my PayPal Credit balance now that Kpop concerts are picking back up, UGH). Four small bands promoting a 4 way split release? In the words of the great Truman from Pappo’s, “LET’S DO IT.”

We got to Bottlerocket a bit before doors and chilled at the bar. This place is AMAZING. The 70s vibes are chef’s kiss! The wood paneling made me feel swaddled in a cloth cut from my childhood. The old school game shows playing on the vintage TVs around the bar were fantastic alone but when it switched to BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS I was wigging the fuck OUT. You guys, that was my SHIT. I can’t remember what TV station played a weekend long marathon of this in the early 00s but I watched it all until my eyes turned bloodshot and I walked away with a concerning crush on ROBERT CONRAD and the addition of “hullaballoo” to my already stupid lexicon.

Coincidentally, one week before this, we were at that Sleazy Femme Film Fest at the Glitterbox. In the Kentucky drag queen documentary from the 80s, he referenced BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS!!! Granted, it was in a disparaging sense, but still!

This Kennywood poster is fucking outstanding.

Too much Steelers stuff though.

Gays for Carter!

My hair looks nice now at least (Thanks, Gemma!) but my face still looks old and haggish. Can’t have it all. (Not on MY salary, anyway!)

Bottlerocket’s thing is hotdogs. First, Henry was like, “ME NO NEED DOG-DOG. ME ALREADY EAT DIN-DIN.” But members of some of the bands were sitting across from us, openly and heartily enjoying a buffet of hotdogs so Henry’s will power eventually crumbled faster than his face whenever I’m doing something that makes him frown.

“That one kid just ate like 5 hotdogs in a row,” Henry frowned, and then ordered his own shortly after. Color him inspired.

I had to send action shots to Chooch who responded: “Ew don’t send me this.”

I felt super comfy here. Woman at the door was really nice, bartender was really nice. Ambiance was nice. It was just NICE.

After our recent Roboto experience, we were heavily scrutinizing every person that walked in, trying to determine if they were connected to any of the bands and if we were, once again, going to be the outliers. There was a healthier crowd this time overall but I do think we were still the outliers LOL.

OK, enough small talk! Let’s get into the bands because I am now obsessed with all four.

First up was Kwarter Zip from right here in Pittsburgh! They introduced us to their brand new drummer, Josh, who had to learn all of their songs in like 2 days when their original drummer quit. They said the only bad thing about Josh is that he’s from Philly and a Flyers fan, “so that sucks.”

Then Josh said he needed a second to fix something before they started the next song and the singer goes, “Our new drummer, Josh, everyone. He’s from Philly and he needs a second.” I don’t know why this was so funny to me but I’m also the same person who has been obsessed with ringer tees and the word “hullaballoo” ever since one weekend watching Battle of the Network Stars.

I really liked them! Good, solid Pittsburgh emo.

The next band was Lofting (from Lancaster!) and the singer was the “kid who just ate like 5 hotdogs in a row” LOL. I laughed to myself over this then quickly grew concerned and hoped he wouldn’t barf up there.

He did not.

And they ended up being my favorite band of the night (all of the bands were so good though!!).

I sent Chooch one of the videos I took of them and he goes, “Wow, they’re allowed to do that in Lancaster?” LOL.

One thing I will say, since there were so many hotdogs being doled and ingested by all, the hotdog stench was unhinged in the area around the stage. At the bar where it was actually being cooked in a gas station-style rotating box thing? No stench. Near the stage? Smelled like fermented Ballparks. Like everyone at their hotdogs and then collectively sweat the juices out through their pores. It was incredible to witness, in a Biblical, 1000 ft tsunami wave sense. Like three-day old cookout garbage left out to fester in humid conditions, only the odor was being emitted from concert-sweaty armpits.

MMmm.

I was holding my breath a lot.

Third band was Be Safe from Frostburg, Maryland and their style of emo is the kind that breaks hearts but then kindly helps you sweep up the pieces. Did that make sense? Do you even come here expecting sense, though?

This evening was giving me such mini-Bled Fest vibes and I was loving it so much.

In between each band, I rejoined Henry at the bar. He never moved once except to use the bathroom. Every time I came back, he had a new war story for me (“I don’t know what this lady is doing but she keeps standing so close to me and it’s bothering me!” or “That one girl has been walking around talking to everyone.” Incredible updates, truly.)

Last but not least, Short Fictions from Pittsburgh! This was Henry’s favorite band of the night although he did say, “They were all good. I liked them all. It was good.” They had a video of hamsters playing in the background, and the singer was talking about how his hamster (“Hammy, because kids are so fucking creative”) died when he was in third grade and not only did his mom go to the school and have him called to the office to tell him, but she also brought Hammy’s corpse with her. This made me think about how I had two hamsters in high school and then one ate the other because the pet store people didn’t think to tell me, a teenager, that hamsters shouldn’t cohabitate. I think that’s a trauma I haven’t properly processed.

(One of my hamsters was a girl and I named her Bizzette after Bizzy Bone from Bone Thugs n Harmony which is a detail I need you to know.)

The singer reminded me of my friend Wonka in a way.

Anyway, they’re playing at Bottlerocket again on 11/15 so maybe Henry will be inspired to go see his new favorite band again and beast another hot dog??

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Of course I bought the split release too! What a great night at a great venue with great bands.

And real quick, we’ll end with my Charmera snaps from the night:

HENRY’S HOT DOG. It had coleslaw and “bottlerocket” sauce on it.

Hot dog mastication in progress.

Kwarter Zip.

Lofting.

Be Safe.

Short Fictions.

No bad moments, no complaints, not a bad seed in the crowd.

The infamous four-way split!

 

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I have loved all of the concerts we have gone to this year and how they have been in such varying genres that it’s almost whiplash-inducing. But I have been ACHING for Kpop. The last one we went to was Key in December of 2025!!! There just haven’t been any of the “big ones” touring this year that will make me shake my wallet out like a spiritual summoning and since NO KPOP CONCERTS ever happen in Pittsburgh, I can’t justify road-tripping for a nugu group that I only semi-stan just to get a Kpop fix.

But you guys!!! In two weeks, I am going to see my ULTIMATE GROUP, MY FOREVER #1s, THE GROUP THAT GOT ME INTO KPOP AND KOREAN-EVERYTHING TO BEGIN WITH:

THE LEGENDARY BIGBANG!!!

Oh, I am SICK TO MY STOMACH over this one. Even Henry is totally stoked for it. JFC I never thought I would get to see them in real life!!

I am going to be insufferable (even more than usual) when this happens.

Then, I just TODAY got tickets to see TAEMIN AGAIN!!!! This time he is performing at arenas, as he should. I am so excited for this. However, I only bought one ticket so Henry will be sitting alone wherever he is able to get a ticket for on the day of, lol. This one is in October. I’m so happy and grateful, my heart is filling more full just at the thought of being around Kpop stans again. (The normal ones.)

This fucking angel baby:

Prior to this, Ten (WayV / NCT / SuperM) announced a N. American tour and I got us tickets to see him in Baltimore! They were $60 each! Literally the cheapest Kpop concert tickets I’ve ever bought (this was artist presale but I think even face value is that cheap) which is CRAZY because Ten is my ult NCT bias (tied with Haechan). I had the privilege of seeing him with SuperM in 2019*  but never with WayV and never solo so I am SHAKING over this one! It’s three weeks after Taemin, in November!

Just knowing that these are all on the horizon has me feeling more myself than I have all year and I am READY to break out my lightsticks and scream my throat raw!

(Not Kpop but we’re also seeing the Korean band LEENALCHI at the Warhol in November, as well! I’m so happy! Remind me of this post next time I’m whining and complaining about something dumb.)

*I think this may have been the last Kpop concert went to with me. :( It was also my first time seeing Taemin!

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“What kind of bands are these, now?” Henry deigned to ask when we were on our way to Mr. Roboto for that night’s Casa San Jose fundraiser show. It’s almost like he’s  afraid to ask so he just waits until the last possible minute.

I was only able to find stuff from 90 Seconds til Midnight and The Give & Take online, but I liked what I heard and knew that Henry wouldn’t object to any of it once it started. But, Brenda…when we got there, one of the bands was sound-checking to an empty room. It was 7:30 at that point.

And it was just us and the sound guy in there. We sat down on a bench against the wall and I immediately felt so awkward. But then another person arrived!

And it turns out he was the friend/photographer of the first performer and would end up leaving right after that. But it was still nice to have someone sitting next to us so we looked less fish out of water.

Eventually, 4 girls and a guy came from the back of the venue so I was like, “Oh thank god, people were just chilling out there until now,” and felt less cooked. UNTIL I QUICKLY REALIZED THAT THEY WERE ALL FRIENDS / GIRLFRIENDS OF 90 SECONDS TIL MIDNIGHT.

It was almost 8pm at this point and nothing was happening except for the band fucking around on stage and getting photos taken. So I joined in with the photo taking session.

“Where are the other people?” Henry hissed uncomfortably.

This was around the point where I admitted to Henry that when the ticket guy was checking us off the list, I glanced at what appeared to be only 4 names on it but I didn’t want to say anything because THIS HAD JUST HAPPENED TO US earlier that week at another event — why do I keep choosing these random events that no one knows about?!

Really definitely 100% positively not fitting in at all but still being so happy to be there LOL. (Well, one of us was happy to be there. Henry is wearing his, “Why do you keep doing this to me?” face.)

Henry being like, “WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS THAT WE’RE HERE FOR AGAIN?”

Soundcheck photoshoot.

My aunt Susie also loves shelties and had two of them when I was a teenage: Coco and Pebbles! She had Coco first and when she got the second one and asked for name suggestions, I said, “Pebbles!” and was only moderately joking, but she liked it and kept it! And that has been the story about my aunt and her Shelties.

Eventually, The Give and Take arrived and mentioned something about car issues. I really enjoyed their set, but it was just me, 90 Seconds + their entourage, and the Give and Take’s photographer that were standing in front of the stage. Henry was like, “I’mma stay sat for this” and there were two youngish girls also sitting down as well. Plus some tall random guy who was giving me The Crow vibes kind of but in a 2026 sense. I can’t explain it.

After The Give & Take, the Crow guy got on stage!!! I had no idea he was one of the performers.

Um…

I don’t know what to say about his set aside from that it was pretty uncomfortable to watch. He rode the backing track like a life boat through the entirety of the first song and then afterward said his live vocals don’t do it justice. I was fighting for my life to hold it together, Steve. There was no one blocking me from his sight—it was still just me, the other band and their small entourage.

I was trying not to film or take pictures of him because I could feel the girlfriends of the other band side-eying me, not in a catty way, but like they were genuinely wondering why I was there. Like, “someone bought tickets to this show, holy shit?!” and I didn’t want it to look like I was making fun of this guy who they were all clearly bros with. He seemed troubled, to say the least, and after the first song, he launched into a 4 minute monologue about how he suddenly fell ill last summer out of nowhere, flu-like symptoms, bad headaches, no one could figure it out.

Eventually, he found out he had Lyme disease and now part of his face is partially paralyzed.

Afterward, Henry was like, “Who was that story for, if everyone else there knew him? Was that story just for us?!”

Maybe?!

Then he said he has been compared to MGK but that he doesn’t need to copy him or anyone else because he’s 24 and has “lived a life.”

Oh Francis, I was screaming on the inside. I had to grab my sides with curled fingers because sometimes inflicting pain upon myself is the only way to curb the chuckles. It was like being in church again.

I just filmed a short snippet but honestly, props for this guy for having it in him to get up there on a stage and he did have some good beats. It just wasn’t for me, no hate.

Henry remained seated during this set and was actually hunched forward with his head in his hands for most of it but he sat up as soon as I snapped this. There was one teenage girl remaining and she was also sitting in the same position. I think she left before it was over though.

The one nice thing about the evening was that each band got on stage immediately after the last one so there was little to no down time. Whoever the next band was on the flyer, they weren’t there that night, so after Skyrah was done doing the mashed potato on stage, 90 Seconds Til Midnight came on. You guys, I liked them! They were energetic and fun. They had some covers but their original songs were what I liked the most.

Henry actually stood with me for this, amazing, what energy, give this guy a participation trophy.

In between songs, the singer goes, “I know pretty much everyone in this room. I know you, and you, and you….I don’t know YOU guys though, nice to meet you.”

So I WAVED TO HIM AND YELLED, “Hello!” like a FUCKING SOCCER MOM WAVING TO HER KID ON THE FIELD I AM SUCH A FUCKING DORK.

And when that happened, EVERYONE TURNED AND LOOKED AT US. It was so embarrassing but also one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me at a show and I was squealing, trying to keep it together. It was all I could do not to immediately text Chooch and tell him. (Don’t worry, I spammed the fuck out him afterward and he was like WTF WHERE EVEN WERE YOU.

Like, “why can’t you just stay home and knit like other moms!?” Lol!

I sincerely can’t remember the last time I felt this much of a DORK ALERT at a show or anywhere in public for that matter. I mean, I was wearing jeans and an old t-shirt from my brother Ryan’s pee wee soccer team (yes, I stuff myself into Youth t-shirts, is that a crime) yet somehow I felt like I looked to them like I had just popped in on the way to go grocery shopping. I could have been the mom to pretty much anyone there that night except for the first singer who said he was in his 40s (BRO, WHAT’S UP!) and the soundguy.

“I COULD HAVE BEEN THEIR GRANDFATHER!” Henry cried, but honestly I don’t think these people were that much older than Chooch, calm down, Henry.

“Go to local shows,” they said. “Support local music,” they said.

I genuinely enjoyed them, though, and would like to come out and support them again but maybe I will try to bring like 10 people with me!?

Also, I was glad to be supporting Casa San Jose because FUCK ICE FOREVER. FUCK DONALD TRUMP AND HIS REGIME. FUCK FASCISM TIL THE END OF TIME.

Anyway. We bolted out of there as soon as it was over. Part of me wanted to stick around and say hello or whatever, but I was so giddy and also suffocating from the awkwardness of it all, that I think we both wanted to just get the fuck outside. And once we were on the sidewalk, we started cracking up.

“Jesus Christ, Erin!” Henry laughed. “Why do you keep putting us in these situations??”

I’ll tell you, I hate a crowd as much as the next antisocial person, but there is something even worse about being one of the ONLY people in a crowd at a performance, because it’s almost like YOU are the one being observed. When there are only like 5 or 8 people standing there, the eyes are going to land on you at some point, ESPECIALLY when you’re the only one that the people on stage DON’T KNOW.

I actually felt like I was under a spotlight and it was exhausting. Like, I was hyper aware of my facial muscles – was I doing resting bitch face? Did I look critical? Were they worried I wasn’t enjoying it? So instead, I overcorrected and I think I looked like I was auditioning for the next installment of SMILE.

What’s even funnier to me is that usually when something like this happens, you’re not noticed at all, you know? You’re just a blurry face in the crowd so you might walk away with some funny memory of something that the rest of the people there had no idea was happening. But in our case, while we might reminisce about this years later, like, “Remember that one time we looked like NARCs at that Roboto show?” the band might also have their own side of it that comes up someday, like, “Remember when those random parents showed up at our show for no reason and no one knew who they were?!”

I don’t know, it feels less funny now that I’m typing it out but Henry and I fucking laughed about it for days afterward. I never thought I would find myself in a more awkward concert situation than the Kurt Travis house show but this one was EXCRUCIATING. Hilarious (and with mostly good music) but so painful. If it hadn’t been for the the pre-show beer lubricating my nerves, I think I might have left. Glad I didn’t though! Even when Henry was shooting, “I hate you” daggers at me from his eyes, lol.

The next one is this Saturday and hopefully there are more people there, pray for us.

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