“I stood in line for seven hours on the streets of Boston.”

So I have a favorite band, and they are a year older than I am. 33. 33 years old. September 16th, 1989 is when they formed, and they are called The Pillows. They’re a Japanese alternative rock band and when I say alternative rock… They’ve had a lot of years to experiment, so they’ve tried all sorts of different mashups of genres and all sorts of stuff, meaning I don’t like every album of theirs. But they are interesting to say the least, and I definitely recommend giving a listen to every single one of their CDs, one of their albums, because if you’re into alternative stuff, you’ll probably find something you’ll like. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics, you’ll vibe with the music and you can kind of, with music, get a feel for what the song is sort of about, like the emotion of the song, even without understanding lyrics, right? Generally. And with them, I think definitely so. That said, I discovered them when I was, I want to say 11 or 12 years old. They did the soundtrack with a few other artists, but for the most part, like I’d say like 90% of the soundtrack, was by The Pillows, and it was for an anime called Fooly Cooly, also known as FLCL. It aired on Adult Swim in 2001 or 2002, 2003, in there. Only six episodes, but it was a passion project, meaning everything involved in it, people put their all into it. They put every effort they had into it because it was something they loved. And that included getting The Pillows for the soundtrack. The Pillows are a very popular band in Japan. They’ve played at the Budokan which is like the freaking Mecca of bands. Like that’s the venue you go to if you mean anything at all to culture there; they play there all the time. There’s even an anime character named after the lead singer, Yamanaka Sawako, which is a play on Yamanaka Sawao, who’s the lead singer. Anyways, point being, prolific band in Japan and I became an instant fan and their music has guided me through a lot of my life. Discovered them when I was like 11 or 12 and I am 32 now. So back in 2018, they decided to tour America. And I knew this was coming because they announced seasons two and three of this anime. And I knew it, I just knew it, I knew it in my gut. I had followed the band for years at that point and knew their sort of like touring MO. And so I waited, and sure enough 2018 they’re like “We’re coming to America.” So I and my boyfriend planned an itinerary going to a friend’s wedding in the area that they were playing and I bought tickets. I got front row, standing room only, with some other fans that we ended up going to dinner with after the concert. And I describe the concert as like a religious experience, a spiritual experience. Unless there’s a possibility they might come to the US again, because there’s a fourth season announced for that anime, that show, and I’ll do my darnedest to get there, but I might not. I live in abject poverty now and it was very expensive to go there and I didn’t even foot the bill last time. Good chance, I won’t get to see them again. That said, I knew that before and after that concert, and I stood in line for seven hours on the streets of Boston waiting for this concert to start. It sucked. I sat, I stood. I sat on the sidewalk, which I was wearing a very short skirt, so… I went into a local, oh what do you call it, a bodega or something and got newspapers to sit on. Like, my butt hurt, it was cold. My legs, my knees, my feet hurt, everything. And that’s even before the concert started. But holy crap, that line got so long. They sold out of the original venue and had to book a further venue with more capacity and also sold out of that. The line, I mean, it was hundreds long. Again, I waited in line for like seven hours with like five, six other people that were there even before me. Like we’re talking eight, nine hours here. And that is the longest I’ve ever waited in line and it was definitely worth it.