MY Summer in Concerts

All year I was looking forward to summer for the two concerts I had lined up, but the summer took a twist and led to some sporadic last-minute purchases. I had only planned to see Niall Horan and Noah Kahan, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start off in the magical month of June. 

My best friend Ashley and I had waited patiently all winter to see Niall Horan at the Xfinity Center on June 15th, and let’s just say my boy did not disappoint. The second he came on stage we were done for. This was a childhood dream come true. I was too young for my parents to let me see One Direction the last time they toured, so we’ve slowly been collecting their concerts like Infinity Stones. I saw Louis Tomlinson last summer, and now Niall has been checked off the list as well. Harry Styles and I have beef (ticketmaster and Harry won’t let me get a ticket and trust me, I’ve tried), but anyway, back to Niall’s concert. Del Water Gap opened for him.I only knew a few of his songs, but he was unnerving and silly in the best way possible. Then Ashley and I died as Niall came on and were revived only by the end of the night . I screamed and screamed when he pulled out the harmonica, as I was waiting all night to hear “You Could Start a Cult” and then I died. Seeing Niall live felt like that overwhelming feeling of holding a new puppy and you feel so much love you just wanna squeeze it to death, I truly couldn’t stop smiling. Our One Direction stan hearts were healed as we sang “Night Changes” and danced the rest of the night away. 

Earlier in May I got an email from Ms. Lana Del Rey asking if I wanted to attend her Fenway One Night Only show on June 20th. So of course my sister and I splurged because – Lana Del Rey! I’ll start by saying the concert was amazing, I took it as her apology to the East Coast that Coachella is so far away. So she pulled out all the stops with the theatrics and brought out the yodeling kid, and Steven Sanchez, and Quazo where they debuted their new song “Tough”. It was crazy, she was gorgeous, sounded angelic, and was over 2 hours late. At the very least the concert was eventful and unforgettable. It was so hot that my sister almost passed out, so we had to buy overpriced water, then a thunderstorm hit and everyone on the field had to be evacuated. She couldn’t play if lightning was striking and it was on and off. Until finally, because we voted on her Instagram poll, she came out at 11 and played a one hour show. It was amazing, but then because it ran late, once my younger sister and I got to our parking garage we found it locked up. The garage closed for the night at 10. At one a.m. on the sidewalk in Boston I call up my dad who’s an hour and a half away on Cape Cod to come get us. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy the next day driving me back up to get my truck, but that’s a story for another day. 

I forgot to mention that over the summer, I went to the best concert of my life, (and I saw The Eras Tour last year, so I’m not saying this lightly). I got the tickets back in September, and it was finally time to see Noah Kahan at Fenway Park on July 18th. My sister and I were pretty high up near the Green Monster, but had the perfect view of the stage and for when Noah appeared on the Green Monster and sang “If We Were Vampires” with The Lumineers! What made it so amazing wasn’t Noah bringing out Gracie Abrams to sing “Everywhere, Everything” (IT WAS AH), but it was the sheer excitement and joy I could feel radiating off him that he was playing Fenway and I felt like a proud mom. It was the loudest stadium I’d ever been in and I felt truly seen screaming to Noah’s music with my sister and a bunch of strangers. 

Faye Webster was the perfect way to end my summer of concerts on July 27th, as this was unprecedented for me and a sporadic last minute purchase and before this I’d only been to five concerts in total. Faye had very chill vibes, my friend Shelby and I sat on the grass of The Stage at Suffolk Downs playing UNO before the concert started. The minions made an appearance along with lots of bubbles and I couldn’t have been happier when singing “Kingston”. A true concert isn’t complete without Taco Bell to soften the blow of a two a.m. drive home. 

I’m forever grateful for the concerts I got to experience this summer and they were truly the only thing keeping me sane after a long day of telling kids “don’t eat that” at the summer camp I worked at. I urge anyone and everyone to seek out live music as much as possible, whether that be a local band or flying to your dream concert. As a professional people watcher I do have to say that the fans at Lana stuck to the deep red aesthetic the most and were the most cohesive, but I loved the Noah Kahan fits the most, because everyone looked so comfortable in their overalls and cutesy dresses. I have no clue what I’ll do with myself next summer as I have no concerts lined up yet, but emphasis on the yet! 

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