Concert Log

Concerts I've Been To (With Brief Thoughts on Each)

5-8-2016 X Ambassador in Boston, Massachusetts

This was a private show for the Business Professionals of America 2016 National Conference. It took place at Fenway Park, but not on the actual field for some reason- back in the concession stands. It was lowkey kind of ass. I wasn't really a big X Ambassador fan to begin with, and the audience was a bunch of sweaty nerd ass teenagers grinding on eachother, so I kind of just sat in the actual stadium the whole time on my phone. Womp womp.

10-12-2018 Paul McCartney in Austin, Texas

I told myself and told myself that I wasn't gonna go to ACL. It was my freshman year at UT, I was broke, and as far as I was aware I wasn't super into concerts. But fuck, as a lifelong Beatles superfan, after hearing people raving about Paul's performance on Weekend One of the festival, I just had to splurge and buy one of those scalped tickets for three times its value a couple days before Weekend Two. I tried to copnvince everyone to go with me, friends and family alike, but no one else wanted to cough up the money to go- but it was worth it, because even a 3x too expensive ACL ticket is about a million times more affordable than Sir Macca's nosebleed seats. And I skipped pretty much the rest of the festival to camp out in front of his stage and get real fucking close. It was so worth it. I was surrounded by old people and stoners and old stoners, screaming the lyrics and crying my eyes out in true Beatlemaniac style. The effects were amazing (holy SHIT those fireballs during Live and Let Die fuck so hard), the graphics were awesome (except for the Johnny Depp bit which is and has always been weird), the tributes were heartwrenching, and I had an amazing time.

10-12-2019 Billy Joel in Arlington, Texas

This was a great show. I love Billy Joel, and he sounded as great as ever, even though he was bald. Just goes to show that bald people are people too. I didn't realize how much he was going to talk about his ex wives, but that was a solid chunk of the show. Unfortunately I was stuck up in the nosebleeds, but that just means I got to see a badass lightshow. The effects were awesome and I cherish every laser beam that went into my eyeball. This was at Globe Life Park so I was pretty far back, but it was a whole lot of fun. I do wish he had played more of the songs in Glass Houses, which is by far my favorite album of his. He asked at the beginning if we wanted to hear the obscure songs or the hits, and everyone cheered for the hits of course, but I do wonder...

1-8-2022 Mother Mother in Austin, Texas

My friends Ozzie and Ki came from out of town for this one- out of the country, actually, in Ozzie's case. Mother Mother played at the historic Scoot Inn, a charmingly small venue compared to the stadiums and parks I'd been to so far. They took way, way, way, way, way, WAY too long to come on stage- their opener, Dylan, was cool, but not cool enough to stand up for a couple hours for. Damn, my feet were already fucking killing me by the time Mother Mother took the stage. But they rocked. There was so much energy in the crowd, even after they took way way way etc too long to play, and they did all their hits, all the songs that the tiktok enbies wanted them to play. They definitely played my favorites. And a few new ones which I wasn't as into- but this was before Hayloft II came out, thank god. Our uber home was the craziest man in the tallest truck.

5-13-2022 Paul McCartney in Inglewood, California

A short trip with my dad right before graduation. I had begged and begged for him to go with me to see Paul back in 2018- my dad was the one who got me into the Beatles, after all, and I knew he would just love it. He couldn't take off then, though, and it took years of badgering and telling him that Paul's gonna die soon before the stars aligned and he gave in- and took me with him! Thanks to a mixup with some football tickets my mom had bought him for his birthday, he suddenly had a huge nonrefundable account credit on some ticket website. Enough to put towards two floor tickets for McCartney's Got Back tour. To be honest, it was pretty much exactly the same show that Paul put on for ACL four years prior. But I loved it again, save for the aforementioned Johnny Depp part, and I know my dad really enjoyed it too. Paul had taken a break from performing during COVID (he is an old guy), and actually... to me those four years made a big difference in the quality of his performance. Not that he was bad, by any means, but he just sounded... older. He wasn't really singing most of it so much as kind of chanting the words. But it was exciting, and full of hits, and I was incredibly thankful for that once-in-a-lifetime concert to happen to me twice- I never would've expected it.

9-26-2022 Harry Styles in Austin, Texas

Stop. Stop. I know what this looks like. No, I'm not a Harry stan. My mom was going and asked me to come and offered to buy my ticket- and I'm not gonna say no to that. Also, my college roommate WAS a huge Harry stan, so my mom bought her a ticket too as a graduation present. Nosebleeds, again, but honestly? All things, including my personal meh feelings for the guy? It was a pretty kickass show. He's fucking charming, I'll give him that much, and his more recent songs have caught my attention more than the watermelon sugar shit (but he played that too). His outfit was funny and fangirls kept throwing shit at him. I seriously thought he was gonna slip on some boa or cowboy hat at some point. He did catch a hat, wear it for a verse or two, and then throw it to a completely different part of the crowd, which I thought was funny. He also picked this one dad out of the crowd who was there with his daughters and kept talking to that guy the whole time. His opening act was Gabriels, which was a POWERFUL band, I was seriously having a great time when they played. That vocalist kicked ass.

10-9-2022 Paramore in Austin, Texas

Another ACL moment. This time, I was last-minute going for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But I got there early enough to catch Paramore's concert, and holy shit am I glad I did. Hayley Williams has so much charisma and energy, and the band did really great, especially considering they were just coming out of their 5 year hiatus. It was hot. In every sense of the word. It fucked so hard, and I immediately added a shit ton of once forgotten (by me and me alone) Paramore songs onto my Spotify playlists. And some of their new releases. Unfortunately I didn't get very close for this one because I wasn't there early enough, but I wasn't too terribly far- all in all I do hope to see them again at some point.

10-9-2022 Red Hot Chili Peppers in Austin, Texas

The big reason I went to ACL in 2022- RHCP, baby. After Paramore finished, while all the people with sense were heading off to the other stages to catch other amazing artists performing, I squirmed my way up closer and closer to the empty one in preparation for RHCP. It was sort of worth the wait. I wasn't quite as close as I'd managed to get for Paul, and these TALL ASSHOLES managed to push their way right on front of me, so I couldn't see for part of the concert- but then one of their friends came up tweaking hard (directly on my back) and asking to go home, so I got just a little bit closer and a much better view. It was a great show, with all the hits and funny commentary and Flea handstands I could ask for, but it ran SHORT. Super short, with several worthy songs left out, including my personal favorite, Under the Bridge. So short, in fact, that the entire crowd left pretty disappointed and angry, with a ton of people flat out refusing to believe the concert was actually over- because, like, what the hell? Their time slot was 2.5-3 hours or so, and they played for 1.5. People were grumpy as hell walking out of that park. I got some merch tho.

6-6-2023 Duran Duran in Austin, Texas

Oh yes. My mom's favorite band, Duran Duran. They played every song on the CD that's been in my car since Highschool. They dedicated my favorite song, Ordinary World, to Ukraine. They gave a shoutout to women and LGBT+ and POC in the middle of Texas- granted, it was Austin, but still! The graphics were fucking amazing, Simon Le Bon was hilarious and had this awesome fuck-me fuck-you attitude, and every one of their songs is just so perfect to belt. Even the songs I usually SKIP on the CD in my car were just awesome. And the opening acts also fucked amazingly hard- Niles Rodgers and Chic played a medley of all of the hit songs he's produced over his career in a deliciously 70s fashion which I took a shit ton of video and pictures of. The second opener was Bastille, which I didn't even realize at first- I'm not super into all of Bastille's music, but the last song was Pompeii which was one of my FAVORITES when it came out and was amazing to see in concert. All in all just an AMAZING show from everyone involved, even from up in the nosebleeds.

2-9-2024 Beetlejuice the Musical in Austin, Texas

Not quite a concert but whatever!!! This was a bucketlist event for sure. I've been wanting to see this show for, like, six YEARS! I will say, this wasn't the New York version with the original cast that I really dreamed of, but it was aboslutely the next best thing. I knew all of the songs but did my best not to sing along, because again, Not A Concert. The in-between dialogue sections were hilarious. The set was gorgeous and creative. The props were great! This is very much, like, millennial humor (no offense, millennials, I am not your enemy), but it's just deliciously self indulgent in a way I really appreciate. The speakers were a bit loud, and there was some distortion because of it, but overall it was a great show and a dream come true. I bought a sandworm plushie at the merch table. I almost shelled out to go back and see the show AGAIN a couple of nights later but decided against it.