Concerts

Fan Art Friday: Highly Suspect

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I suppose more specifically, it is Johnny Stevens from Highly Suspect, but still. Despite sitting on this drawing for such a long time, I was really pleased with how it turned out. I even dabbled with different pen colors rather than black! Still Papermate though. Anyways, I decided to post this drawing because I’ve had some social media interactions with Johnny Stevens this week and it makes me really happy. Also, this could be an homage to the band since my sister and I were supposed to see them in April before COVID ruined everything fun in this life. Enjoy 🙂

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Concert Review: Imagine Dragons

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I’m going to start by being honest. At the beginning, I was a fan of Imagine Dragons, and I’ll still sing to newer songs on the radio, but somewhere along the line I discovered that first graders unanimously liked the band, and I that turned me off hardcore. Sure, I’m a hipster in that way, but selling out just really turns me off. So, when I heard however many months back that Imagine Dragons were going to basically be performing in my backyard for the Pro Football Hall of Fame week, I briefly looked into getting tickets. And then I saw those prices.

But fate has a way of working its magic, and one of my really good friends had the hook-up last minute! So I went, and I had a grand old time! It was the closest to a VIP experience I’ve ever had, so that meant close parking, shuttle golf carts, unlimited food and drinks, and oh yeah…fourth row floor seats! The closest I’ve ever been to the stage for a name that big was four years ago when I saw One Direction (no regrets!). It was awesome!

Despite the fact that there were way too many children (Dan Reynolds apologized for swearing at one point), a small thunderstorm delay, and a little bit of rain, nothing got too pushed back and the evening was still very pleasant. I think opener, Bishop Briggs, got shorted on her set, but she made the most of her time belting out her radio hits with swagger. Since I’ve seen her live once before, I wasn’t too disappointed, and she seemed genuinely giddy being able to play this venue.

Imagine Dragons took the stage a little while later and opened with their mega-hit “Believer,” and then pretty much belted out hit after hit for the rest of the set until they ended with their first mega-hit “Radioactive.” Front man Reynolds took a few beats in between some songs to talk about self-love, mental illness stigma, and a moment to acknowledge the horrendous shootings in El Paso and Dayton. All in all, I recognized about 90 percent of the songs played, and was slightly disappointed that “Shots” and “Sucker for Pain” were shortened, acoustic renditions. Ultimately, I was nervous that the band wasn’t going to sound all that great, but the certainly proved me wrong!

An A+ experience for sure!

2018 Rewind: Top Albums, Concerts, Books

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Since we’re only one day into 2019 I figured it wouldn’t be too bad to take a look back at my favorite albums, concerts and books of 2018.

ALBUMS:

  1. Underoath, Erase Me – This was quite the comeback! The first album from the band with original drummer Aaron Gillespie in a decade and it was a banger (a head banger that is!). All 10 tracks are a hit with standouts being “It Has to Start Somewhere” and “I Gave Up.” I was also a big fan of all the added clean vocals from lead singer/screamer Spencer Chamberlain.
  2. MGMT, Little Dark Age – I have loved this band since the beginning, but I will say that the duos last two outings were less than. Give them four years and they come out with a wickedly awesome record! It was rocking some serious disco/70s vibes and I was digging it. Standouts for me on this record included “One Thing Left to Try” and “When You Die.”
  3. The 1975, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships – While that album title might not be as long as their 2017 release, it still has just as many jams. I keep finding that they are reinventing themselves with every release, and the band has become a little less elusive since appealing to the masses. They have not sold out despite their ever-growing teeny-bopper fan base (makes me sad) by being themselves and creating some great work. Tracks you should check out would be “Give Yourself a Try” and “Love It If We Made It.”
  4. Avatar, Avatar Country – This Swedish heavy metal band really took concept album to the next level with this release. Singing all about hailing to the king with some serious shredding, this album managed to make me a real fan. My sister introduced (forced) me to them and I’ve seen them in concert countless times. This is a very enjoyable record. Go jam to “Avatar Country” and “The King Wants You.”
  5. Fall Out Boy, Mania – Aside from Folie a Duex, this is probably my least favorite record from them. With that said I liked most of the songs, just not the particular vibe. They still put on a great show and they’ve got an extremely large catalog of work, so I can’t fault them for experimenting. My favorites from this include “Young & Menace” and “Wilson (Expensive Mistakes).”

CONCERTS:

2018 was an ambitious year for me – I managed to attend 28 concerts/festivals! That’s a lot of live music! Below are my three standout shows from the year.

  1. Arcade Fire’s Everything Now Continued Tour was by far my favorite show this year. Even though I wasn’t crazy about the opener, the venue was an hour and a half away on a work night, and it was humid as hell I still had a crazy awesome time! The set list was a whopping 25 songs and they played all of the good ones. I caught myself dancing, which I literally never do at shows – that’s how immersing this show was! The last time I saw them was back in 2014 in a much larger venue, so if you get the chance to see them somewhere a bit smaller – DO IT!
  2. Foo Fighter’s Concrete & Gold tour was also quite magical. My sister and I had got my dad tickets for Christmas 2017 for a show happening in the middle of July! We also splurged on some closer seats and it was well worth it. The Struts opened things up with the small library of songs they have, but they have such strong Queen vibes that they totally killed it. Then the Foo Fighters played for three hours!!! It was amazing.
  3. Warped Tour’s final cross-country tour was also a gem to be at. While I’ve experienced better line-ups and it was ungodly hot, it was still a blast. My sister also took part in one of the TEI workshops with Chris Motionless of Motionless in White (an exceptionally nice guy!). The food was on par, and the performances were all solid. I may not have cared too much about the line-up, but you could tell that the bands there were really grateful to be included on this last hoorah. Best performances were Underoath, Motionless in White, 3OH!3, and Silverstein. R.I.P. Warped Tour.

BOOKS:

Really brief reviews here – I don’t want to ruin anything!

  1. Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage – As far as first novels go, this one was trippy. Told in alternating perspectives by mother and 7 year-old daughter, it’s hard for me to ever want kids after reading this. Like ever. It gave me very strong We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Omen vibes.
  2. You by Caroline Kepnes – Yes, I was influenced by the fact that this was getting made into a TV show starring Penn Badgley, but this book was gripping. A story about a stalker, told by the stalker, who wouldn’t really consider what he was doing as stalking. Doesn’t get more unsettling than that.
  3. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware – I am a big fan of all novels that Ruth Ware has written in her short career, so it was no surprise that I was going to like this outing. Set in present day, there is a case of mistaken identity, some serious inheritance, and a very intense plot twist. While it gets a bit wordy and repetitive, you’ll definitely be itching to know how it ends.