Years & Years Concert Review: October 2018
Years & Years has one of the best fan bases in music, which I learned after joining a few Facebook groups dedicated to Years & Years. It's a tight group of people from all over the world who support not just the band but each other and I felt welcomed into this fan base more quickly than most other music fan bases.
The Troye Sivan concert in D.C. had been one of the best concerts of my life because by being surrounded by people from the LGBTQ community and our allies the concert felt inspiring and inclusive for me in a way no other concert ever had before. Years & Years was set to play in D.C. exactly 1 week after Troye and I had been on the fence as to whether I should buy tickets for it. Part of the reason was because I was still battling a concussion and I wanted to see how I did at the Troye Sivan show first. I ended up doing just fine and due to what an amazing experience the Troye Sivan concert had been I decided to pull the trigger and get 2 tickets for Years & Years.
Unfortunately the Years & Years concert at the Lincoln Theater was sold out already! That was not going to stop me though because I was determined at this point. I ended up creating an account on Stub Hub, which I had never used before shockingly, and got 2 tickets just days before the show.
The day of the show it was pouring rain but I stood out in the rain with my umbrella an hour before the doors opened because I wanted to get a good seat (it's general admission seating at Lincoln Theater). Plus a part of me hoped I would meet Olly before the show ( I did not). While waiting I met a couple, a girl and a boy, who drove all the way up from North Carolina to see Years & Years and were gonna drive back that night since they had work early the next morning. They drove up because it was the closest Years & Years was performing to their hometown and they were not going to miss Olly. You could tell they were mega fans and they hoped their favorite song Meteorite would be performed that night. I also met a brother and sister behind me and the brother had seen Troye and Kim the week before at the Anthem. We both discussed how much we loved Kim's new Halloween album Turn off the Lights. I saw both of them again at the Kim Petras show in June.
Getting my picture taken by a Years & Years fan before Years and Years took to the stage.
When we finally got in I sat in the front row of the second floor balcony. I started taking pics of the venue and posting them on the Years & Years Facebook groups and I started getting responses immediately. Many of the fans from the U.K. were jealous I was getting to see Years & Years in such an intimate venue since the group were stadium headliners in their own country. I also started connecting with fans who were at the show through the Facebook groups and we started waving at each other from across the venue. One of them took a picture of me with my rainbow flag.
Later as I was still waiting for my husband to arrive from work a gentleman sat next to me who had also just discovered Years & Years. He told me he had heard Years & Years on the radio, which surprised me since I didn't think they had any radio presence here in the states! It was around this time I also noticed the median age of the crowd at Years & Years was right around my age (Early 30s) unlike the Troye Sivan crowd which was closer to early 20s. I also saw a husband and wife with 3 kids who all sat together for the concert on a side balcony. It really warmed my heart to see parents taking their children to a concert with an openly gay pop singer.
My husband showed up just before Years & Years took the stage. We heard the recorded introduction from Judi Dench welcoming us to Palo Santo as the band members took the stage and then Olly came out dressed in a crop top showing off his stomach singing Sanctify. I already loved the song but it took on more meaning after that night. The line where Olly sings "You don't have to be straight with me I see what's underneath your mask. I'm a man like you I breathe the richness of the dancer's dance" was already bold and daring in the context of a pop music. When Olly sang it live though everyone in the crowd sang along at the top of their lungs and for that moment we were all united. That moment felt like an act of defiance and self-acceptance that was incredibly empowering because LGBTQ people rarely get moments like that at a concert. It was just as powerful as Troye's performance of Heaven the week before when the rainbow flag light up behind him and like the Troye Sivan concert the week before I had never experienced anything like that in all my years of concert going as a gay man.
Olly btw was spectacular! He danced, he sang, he played piano at one part, and he was very gracious and fun during his talk sets. He is a natural born performer and I couldn't take my eyes off him for most of the show. Towards the end another young man and his friend came up to the balcony to dance and I ended up dancing with them. We had never met and probably never would again but for that moment we were connected due to the music and sense of community Years & Years was fostering that night.
I had come to this show to get a repeat of what I had felt at the Troye Sivan concert the week before but the Years & Years concert ended up topping it. I felt even more connected to the fans of Years and Years at that concert (both in person and online) and Olly had vaulted to the top of my favorite singer songwriters ever just like Troye.
There was no doubt in my mind anymore: Gay pop concerts were the best concerts ever and I was going to make it a point to try to attend as many as possible from that day forward. Alternative rock and Grunge still had a place in my heart, but it was now no longer my go to music. Queer Pop was now leading the way and it would soon lead me to even more interesting experiences and memories.
