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November 27, 2011

Ida Hoequist ’14

Two months ago, Ma'ayan told me she'd heard that Architecture in Helsinki was going to be playing at the 'Sco. My reaction went a bit like this:

Comic: figure running back and forth yelling "AAAAAA"

You think I'm joking. I'm really not. This is actually a bit of an understatement.

 

My first boyfriend got me their first album four years ago; my devotion to the guy waned, but my love for the group has only grown with time, so saying that this news excited me is a colossal understatement. I am, in fact, still ludicrously overjoyed, and will probably remain in a state of permanent, stupidly happy flip-out-ery for the rest of ever, so instead of trying to force two months of exuberance and two hours of show-induced bliss into words, I have illustrated the experience to the best of my ability.

Comic: Figure holding a pen and a panel with the word "patience"

This is me, ready to doodle. (The paintbrush is figurative. The patience is not.)

 

A bit of explanation regarding the show itself: the openers started at nine. I got there at ten. AIH started at eleven thirty. It took me a good hour to finagle my way up to the stage until only one row of people separated me from the ground my beloved band would be standing on, but I made it. The 'Sco packed more and more people in. I was jostled, nudged, and boxed in until my absentminded dancing (Is it time yet? Is it time yet? Oh, the song ended, I should clap. Is it time now? No? How about now? Or right now? Now? . . .Now?) became nothing more than nodding and swaying with my arms folded up by my sides, begging-dog-style.

Comic: Figure surrounded by blobs of color and the caption "ugh ugh ugh what are these lights where is AIH. I cannot move. At all."

Just imagine that the space around me is crammed with bodies. I was too lazy to draw them.

 

In due time, of course, the openers packed up and AIH's equipment was unveiled. My level of excitement - as if that were even possible - took an asymptotically sharp turn upward. The 'Sco reached fever pitch just as the band members jogged onstage; a shrill and mighty scream arose from the crowd, like the embrace of a kraken that has been deprived far too long of ships and whales to chase. The Obies around me threw their fists up and began to jump like a sea that is being churned by said frenzied kraken - it was jump along or be crushed. My throat protested feebly at being treated like a chunk of meat being tenderized. Let's play a game, I thought to myself, is it possible for me to lose my voice in one hour?

Architecture in Helsinki started to play.

My voice died a swift and noble death.

To illustrate just how close I was to them, here's what the view was like when I looked straight ahead:

Illustration of people cheering a band on stage

Ma'ayan is on the far left. She was at the VERY front.

 

And this is what I saw when I looked up just a tiny bit:

Illutration of a singer singing into a microphone

Cameron Bird Cameron Bird Cameron Bird Cameron Bird CAMERON BIRD. This picture is a pretty accurate representation of what I feel like I'm seeing when he performs.

 

And when I looked up and to the right, there was Kellie Sutherland:

Illustration of a singer singing into a microphone

LIKE A BOSS. Spewing a wall of fun and music like a beautiful, beautiful boss.

 

There were also four other people on the stage, but Cameron and Kellie were in the spotlight, being lead singers. In the interest of spreading the love, though, I also illustrated the others' contributions to the sweet and glorious aural ambrosia I ingested that night:

Illustration of four figures with their arms over their shoulders

I don't know their names. Am I a bad fan? It's not like I don't love them with all my heart, I just don't know their names.

 

In sum - and I don't want to make any hasty judgments here - Oberlin combined with Architecture in Helsinki might just be the way to world peace, the end to world hunger, and the cure for cancer. Either that, or it's unicorns.

Drawing of a heart with "O.C. + AIH" overlayed

ALL THE LOVE

 

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