At Their Very Best (Human Pursuits 19/12/22)
Traveled south of the border to get emo at The 1975's show in Seattle
SEATTLE – If you’re lucky, one day, you might find yourself driving down the highway in a large rental car. And your favourite songs will be playing on the stereo and the day will be clear and sunny and there will be no snow, which is a relief because you had been worried about that. And you’ll make it to the border in good time, and when you hand your passports to the agent she’ll ask “Why are you going to Seattle?” and you’ll tell her “For a concert” and she’ll say “Oh for the 1974? There’s been a lot of you today” and you’ll laugh because she almost got the band’s name right and because there’s a comfort in knowing that you are part of something, and you’ll tell her thanks as you drive away and you’ll really mean it. And you’ll keep driving until Leah tells you there’s a 1950’s style burger stand called Boomers just off the highway, which is great, because you were starting to get hungry, and so you’ll take the exit into Bellingham. And you’ll pull into the stall and a kid who looks about 20 will walk over to the car wearing a blue medical mask, which you didn’t think Americans did anymore, and he’ll ask for your order. And you’ll tell him “Boomer burger and a peanut butter shake for me, a Cajun inferno burger and vanilla shake for her, and an order of onion rings” and then he’ll go away for a little bit, and when he returns he’ll be carrying a bag with steam floating off it like something out of the funny pages. And you’ll hand the onion rings to Kristyn in the back seat and then quickly scarf down your burger and before your stomach even knows what hit it you will turn the key over in the ignition and head back onto the highway. And as you merge back onto I-5 Leah will tell you that Americans call them “hard ice cream shakes” and not “milkshakes” and you’ll laugh. And the sun will start to set and you’ll follow the brake lights south until the Route 99 tunnel spits you out and you look up to find downtown Seattle shimmering like some PNW snow globe. And there will be white Christmas lights lining 4th Avenue all the way to your hotel. And you’ll check into the room that the three of you are sharing and you’ll change clothes before going down to the lobby bar for a drink and some chicken kebabs (because the burger and shake simply wasn’t enough food). And you’ll cab over to the venue, which is some weird theatre near the football stadium that has metal bleachers that are first-come-first-serve and a cordoned-off bar you can’t take drinks out of. And you’ll hang out there for a bit and debate buying a tour poster but then remember that the dollar is shit and the merch lines are long and so instead you’ll go into the crowd. And the lights will dim and the curtain will drop and you’ll stand there, maybe one hundred feet from your favourite band on the planet and you’ll get misty-eyed because part of you wondered if you’d ever get to see them again, and because you survived the terrible thing and so did everyone else here, and they all love the exact same thing you love and even though there’s a drunk guy yelling “Matty, I love you Matty” you can’t be that mad because you also love Matty just as much as professes to – and maybe even more, though you would never ever tell him that. And you’ll hold your fiancée close as The 1975 plays your favourite songs–the same songs you listened to in the car on the ride down–and you will have the wherewithal to realize “This is what happiness feels like” and you’ll try to imprint that feeling somewhere in your memory for later when you really need it. And the band will play for two hours and they will sound better than ever before, and you’ll know this for certain because you’ve seen them on every tour, and you’ll take a bunch of photos on the disposable camera you purchased back home in Vancouver and most of them won’t turn out but the ones that do turn out will look exactly how you thought they would. And you’ll laugh when Peyton, who met you all at the venue, glances over and says “They truly are at At Their Very Best,” and you’ll have no choice but to agree with her as per usual.
And you will feel very lucky indeed.
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