Early 2000s technology and cell phone advertising imagined a future that was sleek, minimal, and beautifully controlled. Walkmans, Nokias, and game console ads presented technology as a beautiful accessory to daily life - still separate from the self, before digital existence became constant and invasive. Unlike the bright colors of the late 90s and the louder optimism of mainstream Y2K culture, this aesthetic was restrained, emotionally cool, and mysterious. Today, it feels like nostalgia for a lost future: a version of modern life where progress promised privacy, beauty, creativity, and solitude instead of endless surveillance and intrusion.
I spent my afternoon at work pulling apart an x32 core that isn't working. Everyone thinks I'm really smart because I'm poking it with a multimeter and pulling up circuit diagrams, but I have no fucking clue how to fix this. I just want to know whether it's a dead power supply or a dead computer, because the latter is definitely not worth the effort to send it to be fixed.
15.02.2022 @ O2 Institute, Birmingham (2000 Capacity)
Written Feb 2023
This was my first concert of 2023. We were up on the balcony, so we were able to see the entire stage, and it's set up.
Having seen her a little under a year earlier, I knew what to expect - not only for the concert style but for some of the songs that were previously unreleased at that point. Dylan has slowly become my new favourite artist with her pop lyrics so explicitly influenced by old school rock. Having toured with the likes of Tate McRae, Bastille & Ed Sheeran since last year, she and her band have grown so much, and it's been fun to watch. It's crazy to think that only 360 days before this concert, I saw her perform at a venue with a capacity of 250 and now, at one with a capacity, exactly 8 times that.
Her mixtape 'The Greatest Thing I'll Never Learn' was among my top 10 of 2022, even though it was only released in October, so it was exciting to hear some of my favourite songs live for the first time in person such as 'blisters' and 'lovestruck'. I particularly enjoyed her cover of Harry Styles' 'Kiwi', which she and other precious concert attendees managed to keep a secret from everyone so no one was expecting it. Additionally, one song I was looking forward to, one that everyone expected to hear, was a song of hers that came on 24.02.2023 alongside an extended version of the mixtape called 'Every heart but mine' which I had already heard in 2022 at the other show and it had become not just one of my favourites l, but her whole fanbase's meaning that it was highly anticipated within her community. Moreover, in its recorded studio version she gathered a group of pop musicians composed of Cat Burns, Rachel Chinouriri, Mae Muller, Sody & Beren Olivia to provide many backing vocals and compose a choir in the background of the song.
Overall, this has been my favourite concert to date, even though we weren't in general admission. I loved every second of it and can't wait to see Dylan grow even more as an artist and as a person.
