Thoughts

I barely went to shows in the first half of the year. We were super busy and out of the city often. However, the shows I were able to get to were some of the most life-affirming I've been to. There were two standouts I have to talk about:

The National & Patti Smith

This was my favorite show of the year. I was surfing the internet and saw that this was happening at MSG in two days. We didn't have any plans and I was able to get tickets on StubHub for pretty cheap. Laura and I went with no real expectations other than a date night on a Friday. I'm not biggest National fan. I enjoy their album Trouble Will Find Me. I'm also not the biggest Patti fan either, but I enjoy her as a NY institiution and her book, Just Kids. I have a lot of respect for the two acts. As we arrived, I determined that I want to drink red wine at this show. Something about that felt right for The National. I got my wine. As I walked back to my seat, the Patti Smith band started performing and Patti howled into the microphone. Without even seeing her on stage, my body felt full chills and I started to tear up. Soon, the band was in an instrumental portion of the song and Patti yelled, "Do you fucking feel that?!" I felt it. It was undeniable. I started crying back at my seat and didn't stop for the rest of her set. Her energy, power, and positivity was one of the greatest things I've seen live. I want to be like her at her age: full of life, shouting, and channeling everything I have into what I do.

After that, somehow, the National matched her power. I was thoroughly impressed and it clicked their music into place for me. I feel like I understand it on a different level now. I cried multiple times into my wine once again. Particularly the song "I Need My Girl." It was wild.

Hotline TNT

I grew up seeing bands in all sorts of spaces: kitchens, VFW halls, art galleries, gyms, you name it. Once I moved to New York, that slowed down. It's been years. In the summer, Hotline TNT threw a show in an abandoned subway tunnel. It was fucking sick. It sounded like shit. It was super hot out. Bats were flying over head. Dirt was being kicked up and inhaled. It was packed. And it was perfect. Its good to see people are still throwing shows in unique places.

I saw them again a season later on the 65th floor of Rockefellar Center, the Rainbow Room. Talk about opposites. The city was in the background. The floors were carpeted. People were served cocktails and wine in stemmed glasses. It was completely bizarre but completely cool.