Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby (except getting late to a CAS concert)
Turns out concerts don’t wait for you 😂. My friend and I arrived at the concert at 8:25 PM. The show schedule says it will start at 7 PM. That’s a solid hour and a half of them probably playing the best songs while we’re not there. I’m pretty sure we missed three or four songs.
They’d already played “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby,” and it hurts 😭. I got over getting late fast because they played “K” (which I used to think was called Krystal), “Sweet”, “Sunsetz”, “Apocalypse” and “John Wayne”.
Watching them live was like suddenly realizing that you’ve been too tense for a long time and now you can finally relax. Their music makes me feel like I’m floating and dissolving at the same time. There’s something about watching live concerts too… knowing it won’t last forever makes you want to feel it more. Just me dropping some random deep thoughts heehee.
Last year I went to an Olivia Rodrigo Concert. I’ll be writing down the things that I remember so far from what happened on that day. To be honest a lot has already happened to me so this isn’t going to be a perfect recollection of what happened.
What I do remember is starting the day with a cold Yumburger from the night before. I gave one to my friend in case he hadn’t eaten. We left Lipa around 10-something. Somewhere along the road, we stopped for McDo for lunch. I’m just glad we already ate, because the group chat from our van was blowing up with “we might be late” panic, and I can’t deal with stress on an empty stomach. Before heading back, we grabbed some water.
On the way someone managed to plug their phone into the van speaker and they played Olivia Rodrigo’s songs and some from Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. The people in the van were belting the songs like they were about to headline the concert themselves. It was loud, chaotic, and weirdly wholesome. Maybe they were warming up their vocal cords, before the concert.
We got to the venue around 1-ish and had to hunt for my other friend under the unforgiving sun. I forgot to bring a fan and an umbrella. Thankfully my friend came through like an angel with an umbrella and a fan. Once we found her and got in line for the concert. It was hot like the sun-is-cooking-my-soul kind of hot.
When we got in, we looked for our gate and ended up on the side but close enough to the stage that when people screamed, I felt the sound physically enter my skull. I’m not even kidding, I thought my right eardrums were going to retire. Then Olivia came out, and its like I was hit by a truck in the best way. I watched her, and for a moment, I wasn’t thinking at all. She was stunning. She was beautiful, beautiful in a way that made you reevaluate what you thought you understood about yourself. And when she performed Brutal and Jealousy, Jealousy, I don’t know—I felt weirdly emotional. I left the concert slightly deaf, deeply confused, and very inspired. Would absolutely do it all over again.
You should definitely listen to this playlist! I’m sooo excited to share this playlist soon as I started listening to it again today.
I made this playlist last 2020 while I was painting my walls grey with limewash at that time my cat Church was still a baby back then 🥹. It took me like 2 to 3 days to finish painting my room, and I can confirm this playlist is the best playlist to listen to while doing DIY stuffs.
I don’t really know what genre these songs fall under, but for some reason it reminds me of Ken from Barbie?? If Ken had a playlist, it would 100% sound like this HAHA.
Also, random but in the Barbie movie, he actually sang one of the songs from this playlist “Push”. My interpretation of the song is that its about a guy who gets pushed around and taken for granted by a girl so he wanted to push the girl around and take her for granted too but he can’t because he loves her.
Anywayyy here’s the playlist — please pleaseee listen to it!! You won’t regret it!
I keep forgetting to write a post about this. It’s late, but here it is. This is me trying to recall that experience with my questionable memory. This was a year ago.
I still can’t believe I did it — I went to a Coldplay concert alone. Its the first real concert I attended as well if we’re not counting the Parokya ni Edgar concert I watched in school. I had no idea what to expect and where I got the guts to attend it by myself. But here we are. All I know is that I really want to go.
I think I first discovered them in high school. Then in college, I would download all the soulful music I could find and listen to Coldplay along with The Fray and The Kooks during my commutes. My favorite songs from Coldplay back then were Fix you, Viva la vida and SHIVER! During an event I attended at school, I remember a band playing “Everglow,” and that’s when I started liking that song too.
The tickets sold out fast on the first day so I though I wouldn’t be able to attend the concert. I also missed my chance to book for the second day because I wasn’t aware of it. But then, in a twist of fate (or pure luck), I found a listing on Carousell, and the seller happened to be nearby. The universe wanted me at that concert, I thought. After securing the ticket, my next challenge was figuring out how to get there.
On concert day, I felt relieved that everything was well-organized. I didn’t get lost or have an internal meltdown. Standing in line was… awkward especially when you’re alone and there are groups of people around. I brought food, but eating while waiting for the line to move felt weird. I feel like a peasant who was just handed a meal. But of course, I still ate after sitting down. Hunger always wins.
The concert opened with Jika Marie. I love her hair. She’s so cute, and her song “Balang Araw” stayed with me. And then Coldplay started, and suddenly I was being spiritually cleansed by sound waves.
I had this internal battle about recording during the concert. Initially, I didn’t want to. I wanted to live in the moment, not through my phone screen during this what might’ve been a very important time of my life. But while waiting in line, I overheard someone saying how they regretted not recording their previous concert. So I recorded but tried not to look at my phone, not caring if my jumping or movements would mess up the video.
For “Sky Full of Stars,” I only recorded when the song was about to end. I wanted to actually feel it. And it was everything! I don’t want to write down cliche phrases describing the Coldplay concert experience like it being like a sensory overload or comparing it to having an orgasm, but I can’t find another way to describe it. It’s really what it is.
I was already walking to the parking lot when they played “Fix You.” The song was drifting through the night air, and suddenly I was crying while walking alone. I was singing along having my main character moment: “Tears stream down your face and Iiiiiiiii… lights will guide you home and ignite your bones. I will try to fix you.” Thankfully, there was nobody near enough to hear my tragic, off-key singing.
How am I supposed to recover from all that? 😭 It was so magical. The experience was more than worth its price.
Despite the emotional ambush, going alone and surviving the night was incredibly satisfying. On that same day, I read a quote about solo travel and not waiting for other people to see the world. It wasn’t about concerts, but it pushed me even more to just go for things, even if I have to do them alone. I hope I get to attend another Coldplay concert—and this time, I’ll stay till the end. And hopefully, I’ll get a chance to hear them play Shiver and afford the VIP ticket 🥹🙏
