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“But if I wanted to die before I got old I should’ve started some years ago digging that hole...”
I feel compelled to say something about this show. I guess God wanted to teach me something. And probably succeeded. Every time I think back to it I get a rushing flashback and am covered in goosebumps all over again. It was one of the best experiences of my very long life. I believed Jesse was right, I should’ve died young and saved myself. Called it a day soon after Deja Entendu. And the start of this year brought more certainty than ever before that this life is not for the sensitive or sentimental. In a last ditch effort to recover the light of my youth, I became adamant that I would seek out my greatest pleasures. I would travel, I would see the things that once inspired me to be better. To be more, to do more.
One of the first things was to see Brand New live, and I’d been arranging to go to Ohio by the end of June, when low and behold, on my FB Newsfeed, I get the glorious news that they were confirmed for Oppikoppi, my venerable backyard. All my life I had begged and pleaded that some band worthy of unadulterated adoration would play that farm. It has been the pinnacle of South African rock exhibition since 1997, and up until this year, no one of worth has ever graced that stage. Sure, we had the local prophets and poets maintain a standard, but the real people didn’t even notice Oppi existed. Even when legends showed up, they were usually well past their sell-by date like when Violent Femmes played in 2006. So the news that Brand New would play there came as both a surprise and a shock. Firstly, surprise as who knew that the people at Oppi could command such weight as to even enter negotiations with New York’s best alternative band, and secondly, why would they? Brand New in South Africa is no house-hold name. And the fact that they only release a new album every four to six years does not help that fact any. Unlike say, the Foo Fighters who are probably the number one act in a lot of the minds here and do actually have new material every two years. So Oppi opting for someone like Brand New was not something anyone expected, least of all me.
And that surprise has to mean something to me specifically, I think. Something so unexpected, so weird and irrational could still happen, well maybe I shouldn’t be rushing anything. Maybe things will work out exactly as they are supposed to. Maybe just keeping up with the past is the best I can hope for right now, instead of ruining the future. While looking over about 3000 people covered in dust and alcohol and yesterday’s shame, and seeing only about 200 of them knowing what the fuck is going on while Jesse screamed lovely obscenities at them, was simply a modern day miracle. For me the experience felt like it was almost hand-picked by God, for my personal enjoyment. I couldn’t imagine a nuanced setting and circumstance where something so beautiful could go so unnoticed. Jesse’s words keep coming back to haunt me “Does anybody remember back when you were very young? Did you ever think that you would be this blessed?”
No dude, I didn’t. I sure as hell didn’t even close. Once more, I raise my right hand.
