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hehe i usually don't do anything super interesting with my time, so this journal is mostly meant for my random thoughts (hence the title "rambles"), but this first entry can be a little exception. i went to see my favourite band a few weeks ago!! it was so cool!!!!!!!
so julie is a shoegaze band and my current obsession. i get tongue tied trying to explain exactly why i like the things i'm obsessed with, so i'll leave that for another time, just know this band is my life force. i only discovered them a few months ago, but it was love at first sight. now i start foaming at the mouth whenever i see people talking about them.
they performed in new zealand as part of their tour on february 6th! it was at a music festival in auckland, so tickets were expensive and i had to travel there, but i was very lucky that the money wasn't much of an issue. it was actually pretty easy to find transport and accomodation. the only real hurdle was my anxiety...
it's weird and kind of annoying how every time a musician i like has come to my country (read: two times), it's happened in february. that's when our school year starts, so all my friends who are in university don't have time to travel, obviously. i would have been a lot less anxious if i could go with a friend, but i didn't even bother trying to invite anyone because they said no last year when this exact thing happened. i just decided to make this experience some impromptu exposure therapy for my debilitating anxiety.
(after i got back one of my best friends was like "i actually would have gone with you if i knew charli xcx was going to be there," so oops.)
i'd never been to a concert let alone a music festival before, so the scariest part was not having any clue what to expect. the gates opened at 12:30 and julie was performing an hour later. i was kinda annoyed about that but GOD WAS IT A BLESSING. the crowds were so small!! i got there early, and while we were waiting, they were playing the guitar and bass parts for clairbourne practice and skipping tiles, my two favourite songs. it's funny reading the texts i sent my friends while i was in line because it was truly the most exciting feeling ever.
i booked it over to their stage as soon as i got in and stayed there the whole hour before their performance, so i was in the very, very front, i was so happy. it didn't feel real when they walked on stage, i was just transfixed the whole time. they're really good at creating an atmosphere! it literally felt like we were transported to a different world during their performance. i think that's the thing that makes me most passionate about my favourite artists — it's like their music contains an entire universe that you're only getting a small glimpse of. it's addictive. i wish i could hear the track that played before they started again, it was so mesmerising.
also it's just unbelievable how talented they are!! seeing it up close was insane. especially alex, she was so crazy. i have no idea how she was able to jump and spin around so much, all the while singing and playing an instrument, with her hair covering both of her eyes. i don't know how it's possible for people to be that talented and cool. it was the most starstruck i've ever been, and i don't know when i'll be able to experience anything as amazing as that again.
i remember all the songs they played, of course!! they all sounded so good live and all the emotions are still super fresh. the order in this list probably isn't 100% correct but let me try to convey even the smallest bit of how i felt during the performance.
i wish i could have heard them play clairbourne practice. they sampled its outro in the intermissions but they didn't play it!!!!!!!!!!!! AGH. whoever got the drumstick dillon threw into the crowd at the end, i hope you cherish it forever. i really wish i got it. sigh... i'm also sad it didn't seem like they were selling any merch at the festival. i'll have to buy it online when i can afford shipping.
i got pretty badly sunburnt. the sun was beating down on us that day and of course there was absolutely no shade in the audience area. i did bring sunscreen and i made sure to reapply it frequently like a good sun smart kiwi!! ...but i was wearing an off the shoulder top and evidently i wasn't very good at applying sunscreen on my back. my face and legs were totally unscathed though so i count that as a win. my shoulders were in excruciating pain every time anything (including clothes) so much as brushed up against them for like a week though. ouch.. they're still kind of red 2 weeks later. i started being even more diligent about wearing sunscreen every day after that. it was totally worth it though. i got to see julie.
and i listened to julie all day as i was taking the bus home because i'm very sane and normal about this band. knob hits so much different when you're literally staring at empty fields while listening to it on repeat. i was really glad to be back home at the end.