2023-06-30

i went to a live show in person for the first time! i'd previously only seen japanese bands via livestream, which is how i became infatuated with live music during pandemic, of all times. i finally chanced upon one of my favorite native bands touring in a nearby city and i snatched up tickets so quick.

i say "favorite", but the truth of the matter is that my metric for "favorite" extends as far as "having more than one song by them on my spotify playlist". i've been collecting songs i like via spotify's discover weekly almost exclusively for around 5 years now; it's like picking berries. only once in a blue moon do i find a song that i like so much that i check out the artist, and it was this that led me to collect an unprecedented 4 entire songs from thank you scientist, a band whose sound and genre are more succintly described by just listening to them: here's my famed disappearing act, the first song i encountered by them and my long-standing favorite.

i somehow managed to convince my sister to come along despite my disproportionate fanatacism for a band whose discography i've only listened to in full one time while berry-picking my top 4 favorites, and despite none of the three bands in the lineup being remotely close to the type of music she likes, and despite thank you scientist only being one of the supporting acts. i suspect she was more interested in the novelty of live shows, since she'd never been to one either.

(in my defense, i ended up giving their discography another listen-through, and picked out a handful more songs to love. they have a fascinating talent for making the ear-wormiest lines in the choruses.)

this upcoming Event gave me impetus to get around to expanding my jeans pockets so i could hold my phone and wallet in there instead of bringing a bag. the extensions turned out ugly as sin and are actually still shorter than i wanted, but i have removed the possibility of being impaled by my phone when bending my leg 5 degrees, so it's an acceptable improvement. top lesson learned: 15 year-old safety scissors are not better than fabric scissors.

i also got nail polish! i have previously only gotten my nails painted in a "i was at a friend's house and they wanted to use me as a dress up doll"-type scenario. present day me felt like it fit with my vague idea of a live venue's dress code— this was misguided, but i felt cool. which meant the music will sound better, obviously. i picked out a nice dark green that would match just about anything in my wardrobe. i think i want to try wearing it regularly. top lesson learned: don't use really old top coat. it will be in the sludge stage of drying for ten billion years and your sister will try to hotfix it with quick-drying nail strengthener in the car on the way there and you'll forget it in the car door during a hot week and it'll be a whole thing. just get new top coat.

so with that entirely necessary prep work done, myself and my sister headed into the little indoor venue, where we learned even my casual flannel was overdressed in the sea of band t-shirts. i did consider buying a shirt from thank you scientist's merch table, but 30 dollars apiece was more cash than i didn't bring and none of the designs really spoke to me. i was a little sad not to have a memento from my first ever concert, though i could consider this journal entry a homemade one.

after scoping out and swiftly passing on the overpriced alcohol, we wandered to the half of the floor closest to the stage, which was only about a third filled at our early arrival. we drifted around trying to find a place to settle in to stand— at one point we considered the suspiciously vacated center area that had a perfect view of the stage, and later understood why we might have been encouraged not to stand there. (it was the moshing zone.)

the stage was so small that the three drumkits— one for each band— couldn't sit in a row, so one was pulled to the front. one in the back was larger and ominously covered in a tarp. i have recently been quite taken with drums, so my sister and i posted up towards the side closer to the drumkit up front.

we stood for something like an hour listening to what might be described as fairly palatable rock elevator music until the opening act, rivers of nihil, came on. they started rather abruptly, and right away the thrum of the drums tossed all my little organs around, so i looked behind us for a space to retreat some distance and found that the venue was packed from wall to wall. it was a little alarming that this size crowd (a sold-out performance, i later learned) was in such a small venue. surely it's a fire hazard or something!? at any rate, my sister and i saved ourselves from the most intense vibrations farther back. thankfully there seems to be an etiquette among concert goers to be mindful of those needing to get through, and we had no trouble establishing a new spot.

we also discovered and an incredibly peculiar sensation and independently described it as fabric on top of our shoes, as though someone had dropped a jacket, which in actuality was some result of the sound vibrating through the floor and our feet. it became less noticable over time. it's minutia like this that made me glad i decided to come; you can't very well google such trivial details of an experience, and i have many fanfics about anime boy bands to write in trivially detailed prose.

the opening band was not either of our tastes, least of all my sister who has most recently been known to listen to german pop music, but we are both skilled in the endeavor of finding things to like. the drummer, the only member we had a consistent view of behind the heads of other attendees, was handsome, had a beautiful voice for the clean vocals, and was enthralling to watch drum since he was unusually placed on the front lines.

my sister recorded a clip or two from each song. i felt a little nervous about her doing that, as i'm not sure i saw any other phones doing the same more than a couple times throughout the entire night, but i suppose her minimal use was respectful enough to avoid scorn. and of course i was secretly glad for it, as i have little memory to speak of and it was fun to look over the clips afterward.

the set change took an agonizing 15 minutes after the opener finished, not helped by the fact that their drumkit had to be disassembled and removed from the stage entirely to make room for the next band's seven members. i've no perspective of the average time for this scale of live show, but i'm certainly more used to the lightning-fast, well-planned affairs of japanese lives, a stunning example of which involved a costume change and makeup application in 7 minutes. i typically see them change bands in as many seconds as it takes for the first to walk off and the second to walk on.

all that said, my sister and i had great opportunity to find a closer spot. i felt more confidence in our resistance to the shocks since we'd endured a heavy band for 40 minutes and i knew what to expect from the beloveds i came for. we weaseled our way up, battling an oddly placed trash bin, and i noted that the entire audience seemed to be shuffling around so the next band's fans could have a turn getting the views they want. it was a relief that this seems to be part of a norm, as i'd no idea what i would be encountering at a free-standing live show compared to the theatre-like seating of the japanese lives i watch.

my sister somehow exploited her small size to the fullest and wormed to a single spot at the front railing, with myself left standing just behind with a lovely view of some tall guy's broad frame. i batted her shoulder, "i paid for the tickets!!" and she just gave me her doe-eyed little sister look and we agreed to swap positions if they played one of my favorite songs. to myself, i thought it good that she was up there since she'd be recording clips with a great view, lol. (many of these clips were unfortunately pervaded by a staff photographer wearing a junji ito slug girl shirt. at least the obstruction was one of good taste.)

(a quick note— both of us wore hearing protection! we both have hideous tinnitus already and weren't eager to worsen it by standing nearly an arm's length away from one of the speakers without some form of protection. we ordered earplugs from loop, though i don't recommend these if you have trouble fitting things in your ears like i do. i've heard other brands are more comfortable. but they did work really well; my hearing and tinnitus feel just the same as they did before the show.)

our shared spot was directly in front of the trumpet player (whose name was helpfully supplied by an enthusiastic fan that yelled "I LOVE YOU JOE!!!!!" in between songs). to the left was the saxophonist, and between and behind the two of them was the bassist (who also had a theremin!). the three of them turned out to be the most fun and energetic of the night, so my sadness at being at the opposite side of the stage from the guitarist and electric violinist was quelled.

the vocalist and the guitarist, from my quick wikipedia readup on the Band Lore™, are the only original members out of the seven. they certainly had a more seasoned and serious air when they performed, which was a bit of a shame considering their spotlight instrument roles and the somewhat playful vibe of the rest of the band. guess it's gotta have a balance though— can't have too much silliness in one group.

(that said, all of them danced whenever possible. the saxophonist here switched to some kind of electronic instrument for certain songs.)

it turned out one of the songs they played was new! they haven't released an album since 2019, and only scattered singles and an EP since then, so i was glad to know they're still working on stuff after their huge member changes. here i was extra glad my sister was up front to take videos so i could relisten to it later.

the same enthusiastic fan from earlier cried "CAVERNS IS MY FAVORITE SONG!!!!!" following the band playing just that, and it just so happened this was one of the songs i'd added to my playlist after my second listen-through. then the vocalist said their next song was one of their older ones, evoking an interested "oooo!?" from the crowd. as soon as he'd said the title i had my hands on my sister's shoulders growling "GET OUT OF THE WAYYYY" so i could watch one of my original top 4 songs— mr. invisible, which was coincidentally also the first song i'd used to pitch the band to my sister.

it took this long to strike me what a mental distance i'd crossed since discovering the band via spotify years ago. back then, i intentionally and resolutely avoided learning anything about the bands behind the berry-picked songs on my playlist, as i felt it would "interfere" with my "listening experience" (in other words, i wanted the imaginary music videos i imposed on them to remain pure of any background information at all). at some point i'd reluctantly begun sharing some of the music i liked with friends, which caused me to look into them and draw connections between the bands and the genres spotify served me, browsed reddit threads asking for recommendations for related bands, and eventually i'd stumbled on the fact that this band was performing live very close by. i'd gone from feeling immense bitterness when spotify showed me a photo of this band in my yearly wrapup to literally seeing them in person. wild!

all that to say that this song is one i ascribed to my ocs having hot delicious sex and i was about two meters away from the guys that wrote it and they didn't even know.

in between songs, the vocalist was like "joe over there— i think joe has something to say, why don't you share it with everyone, joe?" and the joe in question stepped up to the mic, allowed a pause to gather himself with perfect comedic timing, and then delivered a quick, high-pitched noise. artistic recreation:

thank you for the profound message, joe.

the rest of the set was really enjoyable. i noticed a lot of people singing along, which was cute. my sister later told me that the tall guy standing to our left, who appeared to be a diehard fan of the headlining band and had posted up at the front railing since door opening time, was observed to have written down some lyrics and the name of thank you scientist in a phone memo. it delighted me to know a new fan may have been obtained so organically, especially considering thank you scientist has such a different sound from the other two bands in the show.

by the end of the set, my sister and i had been here for almost 3 hours, and the headliner band— between the buried and me, whose style is heavy like the opening act— was set to play one of their albums in its entirety. we opted to get the hell out of there. i felt a little rude ditching like that, especially because in retrospect it seemed like quite a few people had only come for thank you scientist and were leaving as i was, but i think the headliner still had the largest audience anyway going by the lines at the merch table i'd seen earlier.

it was fun! it's not something i'd do often, if only because it's a bit of a hassle to arrange transportation at the late hours live shows typically run at. plus i'm a vulnerable little suburban creature with no clue how to navigate a city where most venues are.

before even going to this live show, i got an email from the venue that another one of my "favorite" bands, hail the sun, announced a tour and would be stopping by. i bought the ticket instantly depsite having a measely one song from them on my playlist (IN MY DEFENSE i knew the vocalist from two other bands he was in, from which i have more songs). except this time when i did a justification listen-through of hail the sun's discography they became what i think is my favorite band for real, because i keep revisiting the full albums and grabbing more songs each time. they've drip-fed three songs from their upcoming album that the tour is meant to promote and i've loved all three of them, so i'm now in a very rare state in which i'm actively following and enjoying a band's new releases. i'm planning to get a 50 doller hoodie with a cool design and i might even preorder the cd of the new album. unprecedented!!

i'll probably type up more about hail the sun when i journal about seeing them live, as they've suddenly become a hyperfixation of sorts. it was funny getting so intoxicated by their music in the days leading up to thank you scientist's show; i felt kinda guilty like, "aren't i getting excited about the wrong band!?", lol.

if you liked the sample thank you scientist songs linked throughout this entry, i'll also share my remaining two favorites from my top 4 for completion: carnival and amateur arsonist's handbook.

shoutout to the convenience store across the street for existing after my sister and i had been unexpectedly forced to toss our unopened water bottles before entering the venue. the drinks we bought were the most quenching of my life.