December 20th, 2019 - I saw Greta Van Fleet for the second time ever. Only this time I got on a plane, traveled to New Orleans, and spent the first two days having the time of my life. When it’s the day of a concert, I spend every second of my day anticipating the night that was awaiting me. The morning of the Greta Van Fleet show had me feeling rather sad. Why? Well, here’s my story of the day turning from tragedy to the best night ever.
On December 18th, two days before the concert, I was up and ready to head to the airport to embark on a 45 minute flight from my hometown, Houston to New Orleans. Usually, that is a five hour drive, so I forget why we decided we wanted to fly instead. This was my second time traveling to New Orleans for a concert that year. Back in May, just six days before my 22nd birthday, my nana and I traveled to New Orleans by car to go see Paul McCartney in concert. Man, was that an amazing early birthday or what? I certainly had a blast that night. If you ever get the chance, go to New Orleans for a concert.
Anyways, back to this story… Right when I was leaving to go to the airport, I approached my 14 year old Tabby cat, Alex, who proceeded to meow at me as I walked up to him. Like he always did. I picked him up, gave him a kiss on the head and said, “Bye” and that I’ll see him soon. Little did I know, that was the last time I would ever see him.
Fast forward to two days later: December 20th, the morning of the concert. It was 7:00 AM and I woke up maybe 20 minutes before and I couldn’t find myself going back to sleep. I was tossing and turning at that point. My stepdad then called my mom and he dropped the bomb on us. Alex died in his sleep that morning.
“Alex died?!” I remember hearing my mom shout out. Hearing that itself caused me to jolt up. I was in a state of shock, to say the least. Not long after, my mom went to go embark on her solo journey while I got ready for the show. It didn’t take long for me to actually start crying after she left. I cried and cried and cried for what felt like a long time. It came close to putting a damper on my typical happy concert mood completely. I was also going home the very next day so I was especially dreading coming home to no Alex.
After an hour, I gave myself a pep talk. I told myself that no matter the circumstances, I was going to have fun no matter what. So I spent the next several hours getting ready, eating food, and playing music. While my sadness didn’t go away completely, I still managed to get myself pumped up.
Several hours later, my friend Sage and her mom picked me up from my hotel and we went to the venue. We arrived two hours and thirty minutes before the doors opened. When we entered the venue, I was amazed. Despite getting there two hours and thirty minutes before the doors opened, we still managed to get in the second or third row on the floor.
After the opening act, Aaron Lee Tasjan played his set; I found myself anticipating more and more, the moment I would get to see the four men who changed everything for me up close. Finally, the lights dimmed and I swore that my heart was in my throat. Seeing Josh walk out and throw roses into the crowd had me feeling completely speechless. I was at such a loss for words that I couldn’t even focus on catching a rose. As a matter of fact, Sage and her mom caught one at the same time and it broke. Her mom later gave me a petal, which I still have in my concert ticket scrapbook. (Shoutout to Talitha.)
As the show went on, I found my mood escalating; I was absolutely ecstatic and so, so happy. That happiness was something I didn’t think I could have felt twelve hours prior. Nothing could make me sad in that moment. All I could focus on were the four incredible men in front of me. I had managed to capture a clip of Josh looking and smiling at me during ‘You’re The One’, to which I made an embarrassing gasp sound in response. Experiencing that exact moment added further happiness. It was almost as if he knew I needed it.
When the show ended, I participated in a group photo with some of the most incredible people. All of whom contributed to adding more happiness. Rex, Lisa, Sarah, Sage, Talitha, everyone - Thank you so much for adding that much needed happiness.
I think about that night a lot and honestly, I’m glad that I went and had a fantastic time. Greta Van Fleet gave me the happiness I needed that night and I will forever be grateful for that. You can turn a sad, tragic day into the best night of your life.
