After the Everyday Life shows back in early 2020, it really felt like we would not get to experience live music again anytime soon. The world locked down, and large concerts suddenly felt like a thing of the distant past.
Everything changed in June 2021 when the band announced they were returning to the stage for a performance on the Today Show in New York City. The second a text popped up on my phone with the news, I knew I had to do whatever it took to be there.
If there was one silver lining to the pandemic isolation for me, it was that it finally forced me to tackle a creative skill I had wanted to learn for years: machine embroidery. With so much extra time spent at home, I ended up buying a small embroidery machine.
Going into it, my naive assumption was that you could simply upload an image, press a button, and the machine would magically figure out how to stitch it all together. I was completely wrong, and I quickly realized I was in for a steep learning curve. But after months of practice, trial, and error, I slowly got the hang of digitizing designs.
By the time Coldplay dropped their Higher Power music video in May 2021, I felt confident enough to try replicating Chris Martin’s new jacket. Looking back now, my first attempt was not perfect, but it was good enough for where my skills were at the time. I jumped straight to work as soon as the video was released and managed to have the jacket finished just in time for the trip to New York.
A Long-Awaited Reunion
This trip was extra special because a few of my non-Coldplay fan friends decided to tag along to NYC for a change of scenery. They enjoy the band’s music, but they usually get dragged along to these events because of me rather than being die-hard fans themselves.
After being isolated for so many months, getting to see a bunch of close friends in person felt amazing. The show served as a perfect, refreshing break from everything the world had been dealing with over the previous year.
After the Today Show set wrapped up, many fans headed over to the filming of the band’s July 4th TV special. Since I was traveling with friends who I knew would not want to wait around on the street for hours just to catch another short taping, I decided to pass my tickets along to other fans. Instead, we spent the rest of the day exploring the city together.
As much as I love these live events, I have always tried to keep a healthy balance between following the band and living my regular life. That balance is precisely what keeps these experiences fresh, exciting, and special. Trying to attend every single show possible would burn me out fast and change the entire dynamic of why I go in the first place.
And no trip of mine is ever truly complete until some totally strange, random thing happens that is almost impossible to explain to my friends with a straight face.
Before leaving town, I wanted to go check out an obscure restaurant I had heard about, which ended up being located in a basement somewhere and was not even open. My GPS was completely useless, and I was getting lost trying to navigate the streets. I happened to look across the street, and Andrew Yang was standing right there on the sidewalk totally alone on the street. He was right in the middle of his campaign to run for Mayor of NYC at the time, but he ended up helping me out with directions.
At the end of the day, finally seeing everyone again and sharing those moments after a long year apart was the absolute highlight of the trip.
