#concert review

First of all, I know it’s been literally a month since this fest took place, but I really wanted to write about it and didn’t have time before so, it’s whatever, right? Let’s just pretend it was yesterday!

I know tons of people attend festivals not because of the artists and bands that are gonna be there (or it’s not their main concern at least), but because of the experience, the partying, to hang out with their friends and to have a good time, basically, but I’m not one of them.

I’ve been to Lollapalooza Chile twice, and it has always been about the music. This year, it was mainly about Imagine DragonsandThe Killers, two of my absolute favorite bands in the whole wide world.

You know what? Before the festival, I wasn’t even planning on making this post, but as I was leaving Imagine Dragons’ set, I was trying to make sense of all the emotions I was feeling, and thinking of the best way to express them, to express my love for them and my endless gratitude.

So that’s how I came up with this idea: my top 3 bands that I saw at Lollapalooza in Santiago de Chile on March 16^th, 17^th and 18^th.

3. Imagine Dragons

What an iconic bunch of musicians y’all, what an iconic group of legends. I first started listening to Imagine Dragons back in early 2014, and they’ve been amongst my favorite bands ever since. I saw them live in 2015 on the Smoke + Mirrors World Tour, and that was the first concert I ever went to alone. Also, they’re the only band I’ve ever seen more than once. Safe to say they have a pretty special place in my heart.

Now, onto the actual concert experience: that day I arrived at 3pm, ish, and their set was supposed to start at 8:15pm. Therefore, I intended to see other bands in the meantime, but, when I approached the stage Imagine Dragons was going to play at, I realized I had a real shot of being really close to the front, which is THE GOAL, as every fangirl/boy can attest to, so I just stayed there, but I decided to position myself at the side barrier instead, so I could get some shelter from the sun and besides, it was still a good place to be.

Throughout the entire set, I was pushed up against a lot of people I didn’t know, I was sweaty, out of breath and tired, but also the happiest I had been in a while.

Seeing the ever-present smile on Dan’s face and knowing we as an audience made that happen, everyone around me passionately singing every word and filling every small bit of silence with loud screams, it all brought me so much joy.

Even though they barely sang Smoke + Mirrors tracks – my favorite album by them – and sang a lot of their newer stuff – which I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of – it was the best experience, and I’m eternally grateful to them, for being humble, kind, charitable, loving and so frickin’ talented.

I feel like I can’t even put into words how much I love them and how much they really mean to me but oh well, I tried!

Bonus: Dan passed right by my side and I touched his shoulder, UNFORGETTABLE!

2. Kaleo

I had heard about Kaleo before, because they were openers for The Lumineers (my absolute favorite band), but I wasn’t at all familiar with their music, other than listening to their album a few times before the festival.

I must say, I was greatly surprised! They played at an alternative smaller stage, right in the dust, but oh boy, I think they honestly deserved to be at the main stage. Even if no one knew them, everyone would’ve loved them by the end of their set, just like I did.

I know for a fact a lot of the audience there didn’t know them, but that didn’t stop us from having a hell of a good time! Everyone jumped up and down, not caring about all the dust flying around, and clapped along to every song. 

Honestly,Kaleo’s music is AMAZING and I still go back to it today. It makes me so happy knowing they left with a good impression of our country and with a bit of luck, they’ll be back sometime soon. Yet another incredible band to come from Iceland! :-P 

For sure check them out if you haven’t!

1.   The Killers

Do I even need to explain why The Killers are like, the best thing to ever exist?! (I love being dramatic lol)

I only learned about this band in early 2016, by seeing Brandon Flowers’ set in Lollapalooza, but since then they slowly started becoming one of my absolute favorite bands, so obviously, I was looking forward to seeing them for the first time this year, and they did not disappoint!

Their set was full of classics and iconic anthems, like the popular ‘Read My Mind’and ‘Mr. Brightside’, that I’m sure most people have heard before, and it also contained two of my favorite songs by them, ‘Run For Cover’ and ‘For Reasons Unknown’, both of which I sang at the top of my lungs, surely annoying everyone around me, but not caring a bit :-P

The only slightly disappointing thing is they didn’t play a lot of songs from their newest album, ‘Wonderful Wonderful’, a masterpiece in my opinion, but they did play all of their most popular and best songs so, no biggie!

Probably my favorite moment was right before ‘Mr. Brightside’, when Brandon went ‘Santiago, we have to go now’, the whole crowd went ‘NOOOOO’, ‘you gotta go back to your lives’, ‘NOOOOOOO’, ‘we have to head to Paraguay’, ‘NOOOOOO’. Truly iconic and to be honest, a big fat mood!

Anyways, that’s the end of it, I don’t know if it was somewhat interesting, hope it was, but thanks for reading if you did!

:-)

New blog post up at Harmonic Distortion! 

Kyo’s voice is unique, and not only from the perspective of a synesthete.  Where other rock singers might shriek or growl, Kyo is capable of producing sounds that are chillingly inhuman.  And even when he does sing, he has a voice like mist.  It’s ethereal and pervasive, colorless but distinct.  It smells like cold.  It makes me feel the way I do in the moments just before falling asleep with my cheek pressed against a car window at night, only vaguely aware of the damp cold burning against my skin or of the glitter of approaching headlights caught in the fringe of my eyelashes.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  And in the trance-like state induced by the performance, Kyo’s voice was like the fading stain of breath upon a dusty mirror inside that beautiful, terrifying house. 

You can read the rest of the article hereatHarmonic Distortion~

New blog post up!  Sukekiyo is one of my favorite bands, and no other group affects my synesthesia in the same way as they do.  I wrote a concert review about their June 13th live at the Tokyo International Forum to tell you about it ~

I’ve explained sukekiyo to friends in the past as the auditory equivalent of walking through an abandoned house in the middle of the woods during the height of Autumn.  It’s all there: the damp, sweet smell of decaying leaves; the cool, clear air; the mist rising off of a nearby lake and tangling with the half-naked trees.  It’s everything beautiful and distinct and melancholy about the season, coupled with the breathless trespass of wandering the faded halls of an abandoned house.

You can read the rest of the article here, at My Harmonic Distortion.