I bought concert tickets over one year ago amidst a wave of mixed thoughts & emotions. One part of me was arguing that I hadn’t been to a proper music concert in over 2 years, & I was totally itching to get back to the concert-attending circuit after such a long absence. On top of that, it was a concert for my all-time favorite rock band The Killers. I’ve already been to FOUR of the band’s concerts (not including the Brandon Flowers concert tour to promote his two solo albums). I was not going to miss such a prime opportunity to see my favorite band in action!

Of course, another part of me was extremely apprehensive about getting concert tickets without much certainty about the future or whatever COVID variant might be rearing its ugly head. I was definitely feeling scared & very worried at the time that I might unknowingly get the virus & inadvertently pass it on to my little bean, who hadn’t been vaccinated at the time (well, vaccines for children under 5 hadn’t even come out yet then). Of course I had been fully vaccinated & boosted, but one never can tell what outside forces might throw a wrench in the plans.

There was yet another part of me that didn’t want to leave my little bean at home. I was feeling a little bit of parents guilt for going out without her, especially when she is so used to our little 3-person family unit always going out together. My compulsive anxiety was gnawing at me in the back of my mind. Will grandma follow all of my instructions for feeding &/or bathing my little bean? Will she let my bean watch too much TV or YouTube videos? Will she feed her too much junk food that won’t even fill up her little tummy? (Grandma loves to eat non-nutritious, junky foods & snacks instead of eating 3 healthy square meals per day.) I almost backed out of going to the concert because of my irrational anxiety. Jian had to keep assuring me that our little bean would be okay, & that we’d have to one day let go of her so we could enjoy an adults night out once in a while.

Eventually the concert date was nearing, & by then, my little bean had been fully vaccinated. Jian & I had been eagerly talking about & planning all the concerts we wanted to attend in the future. The concert’s venue had just posted an update of their very strict COVID guidelines. I was feeling more comfortable attending this concert & having my little bean stay at home. My mom’s sister would be visiting us then, so the timing was just perfect. My little bean just absolutely adores her grand-aunt, & grandma would have an extra person help divide the babysitting duties. Things were falling in the right places to calm my anxiety & ramp up my excitement for the concert.

I hadn’t truly realized how much I missed going to live music concerts with Jian (& my friends too). During the heart of all the COVID chaos & pandemic restrictions & various lockdowns, I resigned myself to the fact that live public events like concerts would be out of the picture for a very long time. I conditioned myself to become a homebody. I used to be a lets-go-out-every-weekend kind of gal. Thinking about this concert was getting me more excited by the day.

Finally it’s time for the concert, & my friends & I are speculating on what songs the band will perform. We are all naming our favorites & hoping the band will play some cover songs as well. They’ve done this at past concerts. Every day Jian was looking at previous concert’s set lists & trying to figure out which order these songs will be performed at our concert. We knew the band would play songs from their two newly released-during-the-pandemic albums, but how many fan favorites would the band sprinkle into their performance? Let’s check out their setlist to find out.

Let me continue by describing the concert overall. The venue was fairly small, a decent attendance size…the concert was held in a basketball arena after all. The stage layout was pretty simple. I guess you can’t have elaborate stage backgrounds & props due to COVID safety, pandemic policies, & supply chain issues. There was ample room for the entire band, including the backup singers. The backdrop was minimal, but super cool. It was mostly a jumbo background screen with really cool visualizers & graphics to go with each song. There were pyrotechnic fireworks for one of the songs (I believe it was for “When You Were Young”). There were also a ton of awesome laser lights throughout the concert.

My group of friends & I sat in assigned seats, in what I guess would be called the mezzanine level of the venue. We sat more towards the side of the stage rather than facing directly towards it. Our seats were some of the best in the house. We were close enough to see the entire band on the stage clearly, but we didn’t have to push up against other hot, sweaty fans in the floor section to get remotely close to the stage. My days of squeezing my tiny little self all the way in the front row are over. I almost always get violently pushed, smushed, or nearly trampled on, all because I’m short & it’s hard for the tall people to see me in the crowd. So I’d try to claim my spot at the front to avoid being stuck behind some Paul Bunyan sized man, but then end up getting stuck said spot, not able to go anywhere…not able to go out to pee. So now, Jian & I will only go to concerts if we are able to choose our assigned seats.

The concert itself was so much fun. The crowd was extremely hyped up.(Being locked indoors for nearly 2 years will do that to ya.) The band didn’t really talk much between songs, or interact with the audience as much as they used to in previous concerts, but I wasn’t really expecting things to be the same as it was pre-pandemic. I was pleasantly surprised at how many songs I recognized (& could sing along to) from the oldies-but-goodies, to the brand new single the band just released 3 weeks ago.

Jian & I were singing & dancing our hearts out. It was a real shame that the people sitting directly in front of us & next to us seemed like they had no interest in being at the concert. They weren’t engaging at all, only politely clapping after each song; some were even sitting the entire time. I’ve only encountered concert goers like this once in my life, & it was at a New Year’s Eve concert performed by Portugal. The Man & Chicano Batman. The married couple next to us bought cocktails but didn’t drink them. They sat down for most of the concert except for the 2 songs they recognized from the radio, & the wife also fell asleep halfway through the concert…like, full on deep asleep. They even left way before the concert had finished. We had fun though. The concert rocked our socks off.

It was fun going to a live group event again with all of our closest friends. We all had a blast sharing a quick meal of delicious hamburgers & tacos, & jamming out together to our favorite songs. It was a fun night out for all the couples in the group who had wee little babes, quietly waiting for their mommies & daddies to come home. Jian & I can’t wait to go to another live concert again. A few of our favorite bands have already had concerts last year, but we were unable to attend. So many of our favorite bands are releasing tons of new & awesome music, getting back out on the tour road again. After testing our child’s limits on being away from us for the whole day, we’re pretty confident to get back to going to concerts again. Who knows which band we’ll see perform live next? Until that time comes, rock on!

Today’s song of the day: