BFD by 105.3

 By CATO

On May 13th, 2018, I was supposed to go to Portland. By noon, I was going to be celebrating my cousin’s college graduation, eating Japanese food and visiting my good friends in Olympia, Washington, while simultaneously skipping a concert I thought was a week later in date. I was going to have fun.

But as life would have it, at noon on May 13th 2018, in actuality, I was asleep on the BART train I took to Concord, California on my way to see the ALT 105.3 BFD concert held once a year at the Concord Pavilion.

Usually, I hate stadium concerts. They’re big and outdoors, you can’t see the artist, and the amount of children under the age of seven rivals that of your local library and park. The only good stadium show I’ve been to has been to so far has been Beyoncè, and the ticket cost more than my left kidney and it was Beyoncè, of all artists. It’s obvious she would be good. But I figured for the cheap cheap price of $20, seeing over five performers wasn’t a bad deal. I’d never been to the Concord Pavilion before, and despite the fact that my Uber driver got a ticket and I took a nap on the way to the show, I thought Concord was a cute city.

To be honest, when we got to the venue, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting something along the lines of Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, and the amount of food stands with different choices available didn’t even compare to that. There was only one menu to order from, and garlic fries were apparently part of the secret menu. It made me sad because half of the fun of stadium/pavilion concerts is the food.

But none the less, I still ordered $32 worth of chicken and fries, and we found our seats in the middle of the set by Nothing But Thieves.

I soon decided that although I couldn’t really see the artists or smell the BO of everyone standing in the pit, I liked the area we were sitting in. It wasn’t too far away, I was sitting down, and no one was sitting in front of me. After getting comfortable, I was able to concentrate on the actual band. I ended up spending the whole performance eating chicken nuggets that tasted like elementary school cafeteria food and squinting because by that point, I decided was too sunny out; however, I thought the singer was cute and enjoyable to listen to as he had one of those funny English accents and swore too much in a boyish way that makes you laugh if you don’t think about the fact he said he liked using the word “cunt.”

The music was also interesting, to say the least, and each song was unique in its own way, and as the singer (Conor Mason) said in his own words, “Writing the same thing over and over again is boring.” I thought it was a good thing to say, not just because I agree with it and have an appreciation for the recognition of, but because I enjoyed each style they played as well. Kinda a rare feat, I think.

They were definitely the type of band where I thought multiple times, “I should look this up on YouTube so I can thoroughly enjoy it more while I try to knit or do math homework” but that is not something I can blame on the band as seeing a concert at 2pm is lame anyway and the pit was pea-sized at that moment.

However I did notice that after their show, a good amount of people started to leave and to me it says something to see the crowd go just because they only wanted to see you.

After Nothing But Thieves, there was a mediocre less than 15 minutes break (aren’t we supposed to wait at concerts?) which consisted of a man wishing us a happy Mother’s Day, which he went on to wish to us between every set, and then Billie Eilish was up next. I went into her performance having no real strong feelings towards her, except that I liked a mere two songs, “Bellyache” (remix) and “Copycat.” I mostly felt contempt towards the fact that she is famous at 16 and I’m not, which if you’re her, can only be a good thing: that someone watching you with freshly-peeled eyes is jealous.

But whatever, she’s sixteen and had a crowd well over (insert large number because I’m bad at sizing) which included me in Victoria’s Secret leggings, an ugly ponytail, and a gap jacket that had fake grass stuck to the inside from the last fire drill at my school.

I think, after watching and processing this show, and drinking two 32-oz Mountain Dews out of a souvenir cup that I got for $8 I realized a few things I guess I wasn’t clear about before. She performed songs like “Bored” and “Bitches Broken Hearts” (which she said was her first time performing live) with a very sweet and steady voice that was very pleasant to listen to, and interacted with the crowd in ways that helped me understand why she was so charismatic. Her energy was very fun to be a part of, despite her Danielle Bregoli mouth, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Through the few technical difficulties she had, her singing stayed strong and consistent and didn’t tire the whole time.

That being said, she had many moments where I felt as though her voice cracked against the song or got intensely loud or she stopped singing to reveal lackluster backing vocals of her prerecorded voice. It might have been because she appeared very energetic and spent the entire time dancing to her two person band (which is very admirable, as I can barely walk up steps and talk at the same time). One of them even took breaks to dance with her, and they did a few cool routines in sync together.

She was followed by a band called AJR, who I knew and still know little to nothing about. As with most music that exists, a lot of the artists that played at BFD ended being people who I eventually ended up recognizing and saying stuff like “ohhhh I know this song” to. AJR was no exception to that.

The band consisted of three dudes who all looked like chemistry teachers. The pianist danced like the floor was lava (Ryan in the glasses) and the singer wore one of those crazy looking Russian hats made out of fur that covers the ears (which I personally thought looked dumb in this California weather). As for the guitar player, I vividly remember thinking when deciding what to say about him that there wasn’t anything noticeable to talk about and that I had nothing to say about him anyway.

About one or two songs in they did a weird trap/ dubstep remix to the song “Lollipop” that made me feel a little constipated, and as my friend said after it was over, “That was the dumbest shit I've ever seen and I go to a big high school full of hot heads.” Thankfully it only lasted about a minute and they performed their hit single “Sober Up” Next. As with the rest of the show, their energy was fantastic and happy-making and you could tell that all three of them were full of talent because the song really showed it. It was bright, and colorful and they seemed to be enjoying themselves as well, which is just as important as the audience’s happiness as well.

The cover they did, of “Location” by Khalid, was followed by another trap remix to the “Heigh Ho” song from Snow White. It was equally as unenjoyable, but because we were past the first song blues and had just heard a really spectacular live cover, it wasn’t as embarrassing and I tolerated it just enough not to get a third soda during the performance.

Overall, the crowd loved it and for the most part, so did I, even if it wasn’t to my usual taste. AJR just made me happy to listen to. Their music was a combination of the most popular thing you’ve ever heard, and enjoyable yet sad pop that can be listened to by anyone; and for a concert in a pavilion, they were incredible. Even though my friend commented, “it sounds like they wrote it all on Adderall,” the spirit and happiness they let off while singing was more than awesome. Seeing them live is definitely not a waste of time.

Bishop Briggs though, is an artist I’d rather not see again. To say I was bored by her would be an understatement. The moment she came on I might have well been snoring.

It’s not that I thought that she was untalented, quite the opposite, but the songs she produced from her mouth all sounded the same and a little bit scary, which if you’ve been sitting in the same seat for three sets is kind of unappealing. All of the songs were like the ones you heard on Pandora radio when you were in 6th grade, and she had a voice that dubstep artists really like to feature on their singles singing about dubsteppy things that also get played on Pandora radio when you’re 12.

That’s when I decided I needed a bathroom break.

When I got back, she was still dancing on her tiptoes while half moaning half whisper-singing songs that the devil probably listens to when she’s in a good mood and I was equally as bored. Luckily, one of my friend’s old friends showed up, and we had a great time shaking salt onto shitty kettle corn and discussing how much we could sell smuggled in weed for. Eventually it turned into a conversation about people they knew who were addicted to coke, but by that point I was just listening and Bishop Briggs was playing her hit “By The River.”

As with everything that sucks, it kinda sucks to see two artists you don’t really like perform in a row. Not that I knew that I didn’t like the next band, but I found out soon enough.

I don’t really know what I was expecting from Judah & the Lion, but what I got was bad. That’s the best way I know how to put it, I’m just trying to be nice.

Haha.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you can imagine white people playing country K-pop, then Bam, you’ve just imagined Judah & the Lion, who I mistakenly called “Judah & the Elephants” twice.

I don’t know if there were three, four, or six members in this band, but a bunch of people ran out at the beginning of their set in the ugliest outfits I’ve even seen (camo overalls on a MAN, white jeans matched with a white T-shirt, and a bearded hipster wearing a baseball cap) and began playing music that can be described with the phrase, and I quote, “I don’t even understand what they’re saying.” It was a mixture of country and pop that was beaten with a synthesizer and sang by the creepiest dudes you’ve ever seen. They were the type of white guys who would yell at you on a Muni bus or try to give you a Bible lesson before you tried to walk away. (They were later confirmed to be from Nashville).

So, I decided to take another bathroom break and get my third soda, and when I came back the main singer was chaotically dancing with his shirt pulled over his head, making it look like he was a depressed ghost or a member of the KKK, which I didn’t like. They finished up that scheme with a “sadly only two more songs!” And I finished it up with “two more????”

Judah & the Elephants ended up being another band with a big hit that I recognized (“Take It All Back”), and to their credit it’s a song I both like and enjoyed hearing live. They performed it for too long, though, and if I was the only audience member I would’ve had their own band play them off stage. But like with everything, the world doesn’t revolve around me no matter how much I want it to and I had to listen to a whole 7 minutes of a song that while I do like, is kinda weird to see the singer of run off stage and high five the hands of people in the cheap grass area. He looked sweaty too.

At least that was it and I got 10 minutes of silence before James Bay came on.

By that point in the concert, I was ready to leave. It was going to be a long BART ride home and because the show was on a Sunday, as lazy as a student as I am, I did want to get some sleep for Monday.

It was “I’m ready to go when you are” time, and my friend graciously agreed to leave as soon as she was satisfied with whatever the artist played. Of course, it meant skipping Awolnation, the War On Drugs, The Dirty Heads, and blink 182, but YouTube exists and so does money and so do other tours for you to see them on, so we knew this would be our last set.

James Bay is an apparently English guy known for his song “Pink Lemonade,” (also a hit) which I surprisingly didn’t know. To my delight, it turned out also to be a song I would most definitely listen to again.

However, I thought something must’ve been wrong with his microphone because all his words sounded too deep and slurred to be natural and either my hearing was done for the day or he just didn’t care. I forgave the situation because he played guitar very well. It was the type of guitar that makes you think the person is playing it is sexy, but I couldn’t really see his face so I’m not too sure if that’s true.

Overall he mostly reminded me of a less pretentious version of the Arctic Monkeys that didn’t involve smoking weed or breaking up with your girlfriend to enjoy. And as someone who likes like, two Arctic Monkeys songs, I liked him.

But after his second slow and boring song, my friend had her fill and we decided to leave. On the way out I tried to buy a cool Bacardi can that the staff were selling for $20, but ended up finding a free one on the ground instead. It wasn’t in the color I wanted but it was free so I can’t complain.

Although we only stayed for a handful of the sets, I believe it wasn’t a terrible experience. I had a good time, my friend had a good time, and although we missed the final acts, it was definitely worth the $20 I paid for the ticket. I went into the show not knowing I would see tons of talented AND popular artists who play on the radio, and even if I was bored by two of them, seeing them live definitely made up for second hand embarrassment I felt towards Bishop Briggs and Judah & the Lion’s subpar performances.

As my mom always says about movies and concerts and the like, “it’s good to go into things with low expectations, because if it ends of being good, then it ends up being really good.”

And it was. 

You can find my poetry here, and if you want to pay me for my labor or just be really nice, my Venmo is @princesscaitie