Music has always been a major part of my life. That’s just a well known fact about myself, as well as so many people. However, this year has been different for me in terms of music. Somehow, it really became even more important to me - which I did not think was possible in any way.
I live in Texas and I would say that the rockiness of this year really started when the winter storm happened. Being without power in the freezing temperatures for over two days was certainly not how I wanted to spend my days that week.
I lost almost all signal on my phone during the blackout, so for two days - I was without music. That may not seem like much, but for me - music is how I get through everything. I had so many songs stuck in my head during those two days that I just relied on the music being played in my head. When the power finally came back on, I spent pretty much my entire night listening to everything that was stuck in my head.
Two months later, I finally got a taste of live music for the first time in a year. I traveled to Florida to see The Living Street, at the same bar where I first saw them and met them.
I shared in my reflection piece about the experience that being around them again and watching them perform put the biggest smile on my face and that it was the happiest I had been in a while and it really was.
At the time, I had been living in a hotel - thanks to the winter storm damaging my house. It felt nice the first two or three weeks, but the loneliness washed over me and the depression started to sink in. So when I reunited with The Living Street, it brought over a sense of happiness. It was one of those times where I just could not stop smiling and for that - I am grateful for them bringing that happiness to me.
Nothing made me happier than watching two people I consider to be inspirations to me and also great friends of mine perform the music that made such an impact on me and my life. Nothing made me happier than just hanging out with them again after a year.
After coming home from that wonderful trip and I moving into another hotel, I started feeling really motivated about writing and just kept writing and writing. I wrote everything from my reflection piece on my reunion with The Living Street to gaining courage and writing about my abuse story for sexual assault awareness month to different music reviews. I felt like the music just motivated me in some way and pushed me to keep writing and writing and I felt great about it.
In late May, just two days before my birthday, Greta Van Fleet’s Strange Horizons tour went on sale and I already knew that I wanted to go to the Nashville concert, so I bought a ticket. Simple story, huh? Well, something else happened.
In BANDED’s Slack group chat, fellow banded writer, Sara shared a link talking about an independent radio station in Nashville hosting a giveaway for front row seat tickets at the night one concert.
“I never win these things so I’ll just participate for fun,” I remember thinking. I was proven wrong several hours later, when I saw that the station pinned my comment on their post and messaged me on Instagram and said that I won.
To say I was in shock would be an understatement, but I was so beyond thrilled. Honestly, what an amazing birthday present!
Days before the show, the station called me and upgraded my tickets to the pit. That upgrade made me feel especially stoked.
Finally, Nashville came and I met up with another fellow Banded writer, Kiki. After two years of talking, this would be our first time ever meeting in person. We met at the hotel and our first in-person greeting was us running to each other, hugging each other and shouting out, “It’s all happening!”
The next day, we spent our day at the Musician’s Hall of Fame, we walked down Broadway and listened to some live music while eating lunch, as well as experiencing our first ever Grimey’s experience.
Then the day of the Greta Van Fleet show came and we spent most of our day in line. Once the gates opened for us to go through, it wasn’t necessarily easy for me and my mental health at that very moment.
When my ticket was scanned and I was let in, I felt so overhyped and overwhelmed that the second I found a bench, I sat down and just started sobbing. I actually even began wondering if I was worth the pit at all.
Thankfully, I got past that and met up with Kiki - as well as other fellow Banded staff; Sara and Angel. When we were allowed to go down, I finally made it to the rail.
It was my third Greta show, my second pit experience and my first rail experience, on Sam’s side too!
I had a surreal moment sometime later when I looked over and spotted one of my favorite modern rockers, Tyler Bryant. Ironically enough, when Kiki and I were at Grimey’s the day before, she spotted a Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown vinyl and pointed it out to me. So I approached him and talked to him for a minute and took a picture, I give meeting him a solid 100/10 because he is a total sweetheart.
There was also a moment where Josh came running into the pit, handing out roses and I managed to become one of the lucky people to get one. Despite the panic I experienced prior, that experience was one I’ll never truly forget.
Those are just some of the major music moments that really meant so much to me this year, but it just shows that music played a huge part in my life this year and it was in a way I never imagined before.
Now, I have four concerts lined up over the next four months: The Aces on December 17, Marcus King Band in February, Yungblud in early March and traveling to Cincinnati for Greta Van Fleet - where I’ll be experiencing it with most of the Banded staff!
I wanna thank The Living Street for playing a major role in my life this year and for the amazing reunion in Apalachicola, Lightning 100 for selecting me to win the Greta Van Fleet tickets, Kiki for an unforgettable first Nashville visit and third Greta experience, and my Banded family for being so amazing.
Let 2022 be a bigger year for music.