Confessions of a Concert Junkie

On Thursday I went to go see All Time Low for the fourth time (so two of those were at Warped Tour, but it still counts). A few days before the show I had a crazy realization. I was going to see All Time Low on May 14, 2015. May 14^th rang a bell and it only took me a moment to realize why. On May 14, 2005 I went to see Green Day for the first time. It was my first real rock concert. And 10 years later, on the dot, what am I doing? Going to another rock concert. It was perfect.

All Time Low at The Pageant St. Louis May 14, 2015. Photo by @christie_road91

 

I sat outside the pageant on Thursday, headphones on (listening to The Early November if you’re wondering), coffee in hand, I was so relaxed in that moment. I was a pro at this. I sat there confident and calm and I couldn’t help but remember my recently realized anniversary. 10 years before this moment I was 13, going to see my favorite band in the whole world and pretty much ready to puke with nerves. I snickered a bit at how much had changed.

And let’s be real here, a lot has changed. I’ve done things over the last ten years that at 13 I only dreamed about. I’ve been to nearly 50 concerts (49 if we’re being specific) and I’ve met 28 different bands/artists. These were the things I would hear about people doing, but I never could figure out how they accomplished such a feat.  Now I know how easy it can actually be.

I always had a love for music and for the community surrounding it, but back when I was still a newbie it terrified me. I didn’t think I was cool enough to actually fit in there. Sometimes I still don’t feel even close to cool enough, but I have found my place. When the idea of home still seemed imaginary to me I found a home in music, a home in going to shows, meeting bands and making new friends. For a good chunk of my life music felt like one of the only stable things.

On May 14 2005, I stood outside the Municipal Auditorium wearing a green t-shirt and black jeans (because those were Green Day’s colors, right?) looking around thinking I’d never have a place in this world that I so wanted to be a part of. And on May 14, 2015 I sat outside The Pageant sipped on my coffee and thought about how I wish I could tell my 13-year-old self that I was being totally silly. Anywhere where the music was good was where I belonged.

10 years later and I still have that stupid shirt.

So here’s to an awesome 10 years of being totally addicted to going to shows. Hopefully there will be many, many more.

If you like this blog, check me out on social media and give me a follow. Also if you’re ever seeking concert advice, I’ve got plenty to give: either shoot and email to me at thetracksatchristieroad@gmail.com or send me an ask on my Tumblr!

Also check out my sweet instagram photos from All Time Low:

#statechamps opening for #alltimelow tonight at the #pageant #stl

#tonightalive opening for #alltimelow at the #pageant #stl

Another one of #tonightalive from last night. #alltimelow #thepageant #stl

#issues opening for #alltimelow at the #pageant #stl

And of course #alltimelow at the #pageant #stl. More to come.

Jack last night. #alltimelow #thepageant #stl

Alex and #cassadeepope singing #RememberingSunday. #alltimelow #thepageant #stl

Alex and #cassadeepope singing #RememberingSunday. #alltimelow #thepageant #stl

Why I Love Green Day

10 years ago on December 26, 2004 I sat in my Mom’s van with my family driving back to Kansas City from St. Louis where we had just spent Christmas with our extended family. One of the gifts I received that year was a little blue portable radio. For a good portion of the drive my brother and I flipped through stations listening to different songs. I remember us listening to the song “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” by The Black Eyed Peas with our parents giving a curious and disapproving look.

After a while the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day started playing. Up until this point I’d never heard the title or knew who it was that sang this song; it was just an unnamed song that I was kind of obsessed with. Now Green Day’s name was attached to this song I loved and, while this was a very small moment, it was a small step towards a much bigger musical journey.

My awesome Green Day wall that lived above my bed from 2005 – 2008.

10 years ago, as of a yesterday, my eyes were opened to my favorite band of all time: Green Day. After hearing that song in the car that day I desperately wanted to hear more Green Day, even though I’d kind of been dissing them three years prior to that after my Dad had played me Dookie in an attempt to get me interested. All of that no longer mattered.

If you read my blog about American Idiot, then this story probably sounds a little familiar. Shortly after this is when I decided to purchase American Idiot and lose myself to it. I became rapidly obsessed with them and it wasn’t long before I was telling the world that they were my favorite band, and in all honesty they really were. Despite have numerous “favorite bands” before them, none managed to grab my attention and hold it the way Green Day did; none sunk so deep into my core that it changed who I was, opened my eyes to the person hiding underneath all the costumes I put on every day. I was never more myself than I was after Green Day took over my life.

In the last ten years I’ve stopped wearing costumes and stopped doing things just because society told me I was supposed to. I’ve discovered more bands, been to more concerts, met more people and done more things that at one point just seemed impossible. Green Day pushed me to pen my own songs and to pick up a guitar. They gave me the drive to want to be in a band and they still push me to write about all of the music I love. They gave me music that was real and since then I’ve loved music more deeply. The person I am now owes so much to them. For all of that, they are my forever favorite band.

Let’s be real here. I met Fall Out Boy this year. That seemed like only a dream to me 9 years ago.

I still remember when my dad told me that Green Day would probably be “it” for me, that they would probably always be my favorite band. At the time that idea made my heart swell; I loved them so much and I never wanted to stop. On the “Bullet in a Bible” DVD there is a fan on there that gave a sentiment about how they had been a Green Day fan for 10 years and I just remember thinking, “that’s incredible, I want that.” Here I am 10 years later, and I’m so proud to say that Green Day has been my favorite band for 10 years and they will be my favorite band for many more to come.

If you liked this post please give me a follow here and on my social media. Hell, If you really like this post, share it. I would flip if this made it to Green Day. It would mean to world to me if they could see how important their music has been for me in my life.

Me at the Green Day concert in 2013.

 

Have a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ll see you in 2015!

10 Years Later: “American Idiot” Revisited

I think this has been made super clear on this blog: Green Day isn’t just my favorite band, they are now somehow part of who I am. This all began one late night nearly 10 years ago with a lyric booklet in hand and punk rock chords meshed with harsh lyrics bursting through my speakers. To this day I’m fairly convinced that I was not the same person by the last notes of “Whatsername” as I was at the energetic opening of “American Idiot.” Love it or hate it, American Idiot, was a pivotal record for the misfit and angst-filled kids of my generation.

“I walk this lonely road…”

Like many other young adults, American Idiot was an album that came out of nowhere at the right place and the right time. In late 2004 I was 13-years-old and in the first half of my 7^th grade year. I wasn’t cool, I was barely liked at all. For some reason I was the butt of a lot of jokes that I wasn’t even in on. I dressed weird. I was that crazy girl that sang to herself on the bus. The mere notion of wanting to date me was a joke.

Up until this point in my life I tried my hardest to be what everyone else wanted me to be. I tried to dress like Lizzie McGuire (she was cool, right?). I listened to the radio and knew all the same songs the “cool kids” did. I talked to these people in class and sat with them at lunch. All for nothing. I was met with mocking, rumors and subtle exclusion. Worst of all, in the midst of all this trying to be what I thought I was supposed to be, I had no idea who I was.

Merry Christmas, Idiot!

By Christmas 2004 I was very familiar with the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” considering it was played on the radio in the midst of an endless loop of hit songs. Me and one of my good friends at the time were wildly obsessed with the song. I think I even remember thinking that it was my favorite song (I feel the need to note that this was a pretty shallow title for me at the time). When I received a gift certificate for F.Y.E. for Christmas, in the back of my mind I knew exactly what CD I should buy, it was just a matter of if I was ready to take a musical leap of faith. Clearly I was, although, I almost played it safe and bought a Christina Aguilera album; there have been many times where I’ve pondered what my life would have been like had I made the safe choice. I didn’t make the safe choice, though.

I was so excited to listen to this new “edgy” album that I popped it in my little green CD player and pulled out the accompanying booklet. Who knew that when I hit the “play” button, my whole world would change?

That was an uncomfortable night for me. It wasn’t an experience where I pushed play and found myself jamming and loving every song. Instead, I soaked in every lyric and every note trying to examine every part of this foreign experience and understand it to the fullest. I felt slightly dark and dirty, like I was doing something wrong. Despite all that, I didn’t really find myself fearing this raw sense of anger and rebellion, I was fully intrigued by it. I wanted to know more, to understand more. I felt ripped out of my comfort zone, but weirdly enlightened. I think the experience made me uncomfortable because I was finally confronting an anger and a loneliness that I had spent a long time burying. That may have been the first night where I no longer hid under who I should be and was exposed for who I actually was.

American Idiot 10 Years Later

10 year GIF I made for the occasion.

In honor of the 10^th Anniversary of American Idiot (as of yesterday) I decided to revisit this essential album of my adolescence. I made the experience authentic with a late night listen and by pulling out that old tattered booklet. This time I was able to sing along to every song, and you better believe I did! Listening to this album again nearly 10 years after my first listen was equally nostalgic and eye opening.

I listened to tracks like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and thought “Huh, that was me 10 years ago, I just didn’t know it yet.” I felt Billie Joe’s pain and grief during “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” since I now could relate to that sense of loss and dread. I finally noticed the call to action in my favorite American Idiot track “Letterbomb”: “Standing still when it’s do or die, you better run for your f**king life! It’s not over till your underground, it’s not over before it’s too late. This city’s burning, ‘it’s not my burden.’ It’s not over before it’s too late.” Feeling like, despite what some may say, this album is still relevant to the scary post 9-11 world we still live in.

Now with 10 years more experience, this album means so much more to me than a simple gateway into punk rock. It spoke to the kid I was 10 years ago even if I wasn’t fully aware of it at the time. In many ways, it still speaks to me now. This album will always be important for me. Even another 10 years from now I can see myself coming back to this album and remembering the door it opened for me.

It’s not the amount of copies American Idiot sold or the amount of airplay its singles got that make this album a classic and a pop punk staple. It’s the fans it created, impacted and completely changed that solidified its place in rock ‘n’ roll history.

Fellow Green Day fans, follow my blog and my Twitter and Tumblr pages! What are your thoughts on American Idiot? Let me know in the comments!

Also check out this really interesting commentary about American Idiot from Consequence of Sound.

And this sweet love letter to American Idiot.