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I remember when I first heard of Kodaline. My friend, Kevin, texted me, saying have you heard of Kodaline? I didn’t know if this was a TV show, a movie, a book. It was a band. A band that I would later search up in my ITunes library and discover that I already had their first album downloaded, but never listened to. It had been a free download at the time. I listened to High Hopes first in Kevin’s car driving home from Southgate. This is a classic Kodaline song. It’s absolutely beautiful. And then, I listened to Talk once I got home and I was forever changed. Ever since that day, Kodaline has remained one of my favourite bands. I’ve never gotten sick of them. They were always the first band I would play if I didn’t know what kind of music I wanted that day. They were my sad songs, they were my late night thinking songs, they were my night time driving reflection songs. They were everything to me.
I never thought I would get the chance to see them live. They were a small Irish band at the time, unknown by many. But then, in December, they announced that they were coming to, yes, Edmonton. I couldn’t even describe the excitement that I felt at this time. I bought my tickets on the spot, at my friend’s Christmas party, not wanting to waste a single moment. $22.50 was all that stood between me and this band.
Then, their new album, Coming Up For Air, came out in February. I held such high hopes for this album. Ha, get it? It was these incredibly, unsurpassable high expectations that allowed me to be slightly disappointed for this album. But then, I heard some of the final tracks. How could I be disappointed with an album that included War and Moving On? Once again, these songs changed my life. They were beautifully constructed spurts of genius.
When the day of the concert finally arrived, I guess you could say I was excited. I always find it difficult to really fathom the idea of seeing someone you’ve admired for so long. It didn’t hit me until I walked into the venue and stared up onto the stage. As I stood right next to my stage and imagined Steve Garrigan standing there, singing his lil’ heart out, that’s when the excitement finally hit. This would be the moment when I would finally see Kodaline live.
After the opening act, around 10:00, Kodaline finally stepped onto stage. There they were. Standing a foot in front of me, there they were. It was surreal. This moment that I had dreamt of so many times, it was finally happening. They opened with Ready. A song that I hadn’t even considered for their opener. I was convinced that they were going to do Honest, but Ready couldn’t have been more perfect. They played a good mix of songs from both albums. They did High Hopes early on, surprising but equally as magical. The concert flew by, each song better than the last. I was in a trance. I just let it all sink in around me. Here I was, standing right in front of my favourite band while they sang my favourite songs. What more could I ask for? But there was one thing missing. They still hadn’t sang Talk. I didn’t really expect them to. It wasn’t at all one of their popular songs. Few people considered it their favourite. But I needed to hear it live. Then they announced that they were going to do their last song. I was devastated. I knew that they wouldn’t play Talk in their encore. It wasn’t an encore type of song. They started to play Big Bad World as their final song. Big Bad World is a wonderful song, just not comparable in any way to Talk. I had to admit I was a tad bit dissapointed. But who could blame me? Talk was MY song. I needed to hear it. And then as I was listening to Big Bad World, the song suddenly changed. I thought my ears were tricking me at first. No, that couldn’t be Talk. But yes, yes it was. The lyrics of Talk rang in my ears. He was playing it. They were playing it. After that, I couldn’t wish for anything more. The concert was complete.
Then they came on and did their encore. They finished up with Honest and All I Want. Classic Encore songs. And then suddenly, the concert was over. The band walked off the stage.
But the nice thing about small, relatively unknown bands? It’s a lot easier to meet these bands. I was convinced we should wait outside the venue to try to catch a glimpse of them. Kevin was adamant that we wait inside. So we did both. We waited inside and sure enough, Steve came walking in. But he was with security guards and we didn’t get a chance to talk to him, let alone really see him. He was gone in an instance. He said he was coming back so we waited a little longer. He appeared again but then disappeared. We were losing hope. The security guards then told us that we would have better luck if we waited by the front doors outside. So that’s what we did. The wait was excruciating. I’m a patient person. But when you’re waiting to meet your favourite band, it can be a tad bit difficult. Every time the door opened, my heart jumped. But time after time, it was a roadie loading instruments onto the bus. Then the opening band, Little India, came out. Nobody was excited. I took a picture with them. The bassist was extremely good looking. He was on a whole other level. After that we continued the waiting game. And then, finally the drummer of Kodaline, Vinny, came out. Nobody recognized him at first. I think we were all a little dazed, thinking it was too good to be true. He signed my wristband and we took a selfie. After that, Mark and Jason, the guitarist and bassist appeared. We took pictures with them as well. They were incredibly sweet. And then Steve walked out. Everyone went crazy. We all got our pictures. He was incredibly nice as well. He didn’t talk much, just smiled all cute.
And then they all boarded the tour bus. That was that. I had just met all four members of my favourite band.