7/13/14 meet 7/13/07

I was going through old photos last night and realized seven years ago (WHAT THE FUCK) today, I was at Billy Talent / Alexisonfire / Cancer Bats / Die Mannequin / Attack in Black Friday the 13th show at Molson Amphitheatre with Alyssa. I had seen the date posted while I was still in Maryland and didn’t really have any hope of going. I booked a ticket to Toronto a while later, and one afternoon doing fuck all with Alyssa, her Mom calls to say a coworker had bought tickets for her daughter who could no longer go, and that she’ll buy them for us.

I still think about that day when I’m in a self-pitying ‘nothing good ever happens to me mode.’

Complete TMI so don’t say I didn’t warn you, but this memory is so vividly tied to this event for me: when I was in high school, whenever I’d get remotely excited about anything I’d get my period. Like it would just fucking appear. 8th grade glow dance? Boom. College tours? boom. I was way too embarrassed to discuss this with anyone, so I just let it go. Well, the night before this magical, omg-is-this-really-happening concert was supposed to happen, it rained like it had never rained before. I never ask people for tissues or gum or whatever, but you better believe I asked Alyssa if she had any Advil during this show because I was about to keel over, and we were too young to drink the pain away. That was the day I learned Canada sells extra strength Advil, which is not available in the US. After 20 minutes I literally felt the pain melting. away. I had managed to quadruple the dosage. I think I spent the entire show high / partially dying of an ibuprofen dose.

Anyways, please enjoy my blurry pictures. The first one is the insane amount of kids waiting for the GO Train after the show. It was such a beautiful suburban punk rock moment. Then Billy Talent (sans Jon) then a crowd pic I thought was cool at the time. Lastly my personal favourite, Alexisonfire’s George Pettit in never-nude shorts. Every single one came out blurry, and I took a lot. It was a highlight of the night.

RIP Alexis, you were pretty fucking great.

Poster by Kill the 8 (http://www.killthe8.com)