first concert of the year baby

 I turned 26 this weekend. It feels much the same as 25, as 24, as 23, as 22, as 21, and so on and so forth. I have been the same inside since I gained consciousness. 

Anyway, we went to Minneapolis. If you want to Get Away and you're from North Dakota, you go to Minneapolis. We had a concert on the 15th, and then we spent my birthday, the 16th, at the Mall of America spending exorbitant amounts of money because holy shit that's the best Hot Topic I've ever been in in my life. 

But the concert. 

I'm gonna be candid here, man--I think it might have beat out Slayer. I've been saying that November 19, 2019 was the best night of my life since that night, and guys--guys--guys. This was my first real pop-punk concert where I was like, in GA and guys--guys--guys. And it was only forty fucking dollars a ticket.

So the lineup. 

Three openers. 

First up, This Wild Life. I really had no idea about this band and like, they were fine. They did a cover of "I Miss You" that sent people over the edge a little, but other than that--fine. It was fine. 

Second up, STORY OF THE YEAR. !!! Until the Day I Die !!! Ahhh!! The frontman was so good at crowdworking, too. Man. Man! First couple of crowdsurfers here, a little pit, you know, all the good shit. We were pretty close; about eight-to-ten rows back from the barricade? This shit was full of people, too, and most of the tickets were GA. But they were great. Oh, man, they were so great. 

Third up, the band I was most excited for: Mayday Parade. Now, these guys, I frequently mix up in my head with Taking Back Sunday, who are objectively better, but Mayday Parade is still a great emo-pop-punk group. And oh my lord. Oh my GOD. They played Anywhere but Here, which I wasn't really expecting but was way fucking glad for because that's my FAVORITE one, the frontman was jumping around like he's not almost 40 years old, the man looks exactly like he did fifteen years ago. Man. Man. Man. 

And the headliner. I saw fucking Yellowcard. YELLOWCARD! It was the 20 years of Ocean Avenue tour and I just--YELLOWCARD?????? Oh man. Ohhhh man. It was so good. It was so good. At the end, man, when they finished out with Ocean Avenue--this was two days ago and I am STILL riding that concert high. I don't film a lot at concerts because I don't like to be That Person, but I keep going back to my like, ten second clips of each band and just like. Man. I'll see if I can embed the vids below.