A few weeks ago, I went to see one of my favorite bands of teenager-dom for the fifth time. Yes, the fifth time. No, they didn’t have a new album. No, they weren’t playing with any other acts that I knew. I just wanted to see them again, because after seeing a band repeatedly, I kind of decide that I personally know them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funny thing is, I hadn’t actually ever met this band before — usually after seeing a band again and again, I will stay after the show at least once to talk to them. So this time, I was determined. So determined, in fact, that I bought a ticket to the show plus a VIP pass to partake in a Q&A and get my picture with them. Two months in advance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naturally, I was stoked I’d be finally meeting this band, but like I said: two months in advance. When the show finally arrived, I confess that I hadn’t given it much thought. I thought about the logistics — when I’d get to the venue and so forth — but not the meeting nor the show itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other VIPs and I waited in a separate line for what seemed like eternity. When we finally got into the venue, we had only about 20 minutes for the Q&A, when we were told we’d have an hour. All was forgiven as soon as the band came out, though. It was like seeing my old buddies — the lead singer trying to get the most attention, as usual; the guitarist, the awkward sidekick from Copenhagen, with an accent; the drummer, the soft-spoken New Yorker mediating the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What to ask them? I wracked my brain trying to think of something interesting or clever. In the end, I finally mustered the courage to ask, and it was the last question of the session: Which bands have been the most fun to tour with? The drummer responded right off the bat with my all-time favorite band, Bad Suns (I happened to see the two bands play together in New York City). I could have died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tried not to cheese too hard (as I always do) when I got my picture with them. It was strange giving them each a hug. It was like I had broken our protocol — we jam out for two hours, them on stage, me below, and then go our separate ways. As I said goodbye, I quickly had to ask the drummer what his go-to Dunkin’ Donuts drink was (years of Instagram following will teach you about a person). Cold brew with just a dash of milk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What really got to me, in the end, was the concert itself. I guess I should have expected as much. Because without listening to their music in the proceeding weeks, I knew every dang line of every dang song they played. I screamed my heart out, I danced my heart out, and I acted like the 17-year-old I feel myself to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t personally know the members of New Politics. But I know their story, I know their personalities, and I know their on-stage mannerisms. I can predict what they’re going to do during any given song, because I’ve witnessed their routine over and over. I imagine it’s no different than feeling you know someone after reading not just one, but multiple biographies about them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe if I ever break into the music industry, I could actually know<\/em> New Politics. For now, I’m satisfied with the interactions I’ve gotten (and pretty dang pumped that I ended up on their Instagram that night). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few weeks ago, I went to see one of my favorite bands of teenager-dom for the fifth time. Yes, the fifth time. No, they didn’t have a new album. No, they weren’t playing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ponderings"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1529,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/excrcl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}