Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get to see The 1975 live in Morrison, Colorado at the awe-inspiring Red Rocks Amphitheatre. As I clearly stated in a previous piece on this blog, I recommended seeing them and hoped that one day I would get to see them again. Well, as you can see from the title of this post, that is exactly what ended up happening.
This weekend I found myself in Chicago, Illinois for the second time in my life with one of my closest friends, and the main purpose was to get to see The 1975 live again. See, when tour dates were announced, we searched and hoped for a Denver date to be on the list, but that just was not in the cards for us.
Until one fateful day when I received a text from said close friend that said:
“I know it’s a shot in the dark, but would you want to go to Chicago to see The 1975?”
While it was a shot in the dark, I still decided to consult my mom (yes, I am 21 and still ask my mom for advice on purchases) and she basically told me to go for it if it did not affect my school and if I had the money. After a great portion of schedule checking, price comparison and phone calls, we had booked our flight to Chicago and bought our tickets for the show.
Before this event, I had been to Chicago once for one day, where I only explored the Navy Pier. Clearly, I was not only excited to see The 1975, but also to get to experience Chicago (but mostly the food, if we are being honest). I tried my first Chicago dog, Chicago-style pizza and Italian beef during my little weekend getaway, and they were all delicious. I could honestly drown myself in Chicago-style pizza and be content, but that is besides the point.
Anyways! After having tons of fun for a few days, the fateful day of getting to see The 1975 live again approached. We got up at 5:15 a.m. in order to get ready and leave by 6:15 a.m. We got to the line around 8 a.m. and snuggled up in a blanket to keep warm from the chilly wind coming off of the lake.
We spent a good 11 hours in line waiting for the doors to open. In the beginning of the day we were given wristbands to help assure that we would not get cut throughout the day. I will say that the Aragon Ballroom probably had one of the best securities I have ever encountered. So we did our time in line, clearly hoping to get at least in the third row. If we could not manage that, we were okay with standing a few more rows back, but more centered. Little did we know, we would end up second row and have such an intimate connection with Matty as he sang over us on the stage.
Looking back on the experience as I write this blog post seems mostly surreal. 24 hours ago, I was sitting in the airport in Chicago trying to process all of the emotions I was feeling during and after the show.
I thought about how genuinely happy I was to see them come out on stage and how hard I danced along with Matty as he made his way around the stage. I also thought about holding my friend's hand and swaying with my eyes closed when they played "Me." I thought about the few times I made eye contact with Matty as we connected on a deeper level. I remember thinking to myself, "This may be one of the better concerts I have been to."
I remember saying pretty much the same thing in my blog post from earlier in the year, but this time felt entirely different. I think this could be because I was a lot closer this time around and at times it felt like it was just me and the band in the room, which is something that I do not usually see achieved.
There was definitely something special about last night and I would definitely say there is something special about The 1975. I cannot exactly put my finger on it, but it is something. It has been so long since I have fully given into the music being played and I am so glad that I did. The 1975 is the perfect band to be yourself to, because chances are the person next to you is doing the exact same thing.
I could sit here and continue to blog about all of my feelings and exactly what I experienced, but I am not sure I even have the proper words. I felt many things over the course of their show and that is something I cannot exactly put into words.
By the end of the night, my hips hurt as if I was 85 years old from dancing so much and I was running on four hours of sleep from the night before. None of that phased me though. After seeing a band like The 1975, it is a little difficult to feel anything negative in your life.
It neared 10 p.m. and just like that, our The 1975 Chicago Extravaganza ended. Sadly, I had to come back to reality today and it was not easy in the slightest.
I will never forget that time that I traveled over 1,015 miles to go see The 1975 live in Chicago.