“This is loud, this is cold, this is endless and I know growing up has just begun. But there’s a place we could find where this pain is useless and we’ll forever the be the young.” – Yellowcard
I’M GOING TO SEE YELLOWCARD TONIGHT!!
And because I’m so excited, I can’t think. Can’t work. All of my thoughts are crowded out by how excited I am for this concert. (This post is not at all study abroad related and if you happen to stumble upon it, you may dismiss it).
When I was in high school I remember the song “View from Heaven” being really popular. That was 5 or 6 years ago (when you put it in a number like that, 5 or 6 years doesn’t feel that long ago but it feels like forever ago…) By the time I was a freshman in college I had 5 songs by them on my computer…I can still remember them…: View from Heaven, Waiting Game, Only One, Breathing, and How I Go…
I used to listen to them (those 5 songs, I mean) at night when I couldn’t sleep. Over the last 3 years my love of Yellowcard has steadily grown and grown…to a point where for about 6 months they were all I listened to. They’re still 90% of what I listen to. I feel like when I say that…people judge me. “All she listens to is Yellowcard? That punk-rock band from Jacksonville?” Most people probably think of them from their Avondale days of occasional scream-o music (I must interject that that was their onlyyy song like that). In the last 11 years or so that Yellowcard has been around (with Ryan Key as their lead singer), their music has evolved a lot. If you listened to all of their albums in order (see the following list) you’ll really hear the difference:
- One for the Kids (01)
- Ocean Ave (03)
- Lights and Sounds (06)
- Paper Walls (07)
- When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes (11)
And while I could go on forever discussing the merits of their albums, musical style and lyrics, it all really boils down to an intense, extreme love of Yellowcard. They sing about very pleasant things, in fact. Believe (off Ocean Ave.) is about 9/11 and the firefighters who didn’t give up their endless search for victims. Dear Bobby is about lifelong love (Key actually has his grandfather reading letters to his wife..it’s touching). It goes on and on.
My favourite song has always always been Only One though. I know you’re going to judge me again when I comment about my like of Eminem, but much like you can hear Eminem’s passion in his raps (that’s why I like him, by the way), you can hear really extreme passion in Only One. The chorus goes “Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you…you are my only one.” And I do…scream my lungs out, when I sing that song. It’s one of those songs you just…turn up really loud when you’re alone and just…sing.
On their last album, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes..they have this great song called Be The Young (see lyrics above) and while they’re all in their 30s now and married (except Ryan Key..I secretly hope he’ll marry me), they sing about life and how it’s like a tonne of bricks and how it would be nice if we could just forever be the young. Be carefree. At such a crucial point in my own life, on the verge of moving out and getting a real job and being a “grown up” I feel torn between many things…where my life is going in general. What’s God’s plan for it? So I listen to Be the Young a LOT. It makes me feel better.
Where’s this all going? After years of devoted love of Yellowcard and many missed concerts, I’m going to see them tonight in Manchester. It’s kind of funny how it takes coming to Europe for me to do a lot of things…see the ocean…find independence and freedom…see Yellowcard. Everytime they were in Cleveland I would think to myself “oh, I’ll see them nextttt time they’re in Cleveland” but I never do. With the release of WYTTSY, Yellowcard broke a three year “hiatus” and are touring again. This is my chance to see them. It’s time. I remember when they were in Cleveland this summer I passed on the opportunity because no one could go with me…and then I saw they were doing 4 shows in the UK at the tail end of November..when I’d be here. I debated whether or not to get tickets…and kept checking online to make sure they weren’t sold out…and then in October I found someone to go with me…and I was about to buy the tickets offline when…they sold out! Did a quick eBay search and found 4. Doubled checked with the friend who was going with me, and after he said yes (like the title…when you’re through thinking, say yes), I went back to eBay…only two left! It was like a sign from God I had to go. So I bought them at the end of last month. After months of debating it. I bought them. And now I’m going (with a different friend, it turns out).
I won’t say this is my “life dream” or anything, but it’s been a 6 year dream in the making. While I usually feel stress/guilt when traveling or even hanging out with my friends…I feel no stress or guilt today. All I feel is 100% pure happiness. Excitement. Joy. All of the feelings I felt when I saw the ocean for the first time here. And that’s what I want to get back to. I want to forever be the young.