I am a fangirl at heart. I obsess. I think I put on a good front sometimes of being normal and tame as a person (i think) buuuut deep down I am a crazy fangirl who has scoured webpages, reread books dozens of times, and speculated with the best of them. It all started with Harry Potter. That series stole my heart at the age of 8 and was a friend when I really needed one. I stood in long lines, stayed up all night long reading feverishly, dressed up every halloween as a hogwarts student, and pined for the last book and wept when it was all over.
It sounds silly, but you other fans out there know exactly what I’m talking about. So why am I talking about this? Well…on the bucket list this summer (really the life bucket list) was to see Darren Criss in concert. Who is Darren? Well he’s a youtube celeb turned B list celebrity, a series regular on Glee, a Broadway headliner, a musician, and a budding film star. But why do I love Darren Criss? Well, he’s a fan first and foremost just like the rest of us.
His claim to fame is actually from a full length musical that he and his friends posted on youtube about Harry Potter. Out of love of the series they constructed (now) three 3 hour musicals both adoring and making fun of the boy wizard. So that captured my attention one dreary winter afternoon and I’ve become a fan of his ever since! He’s the kind of guy who attended ComicCons, started and ended his show with the Circle of Life, got an autograph for a series he was auditioning for (and then landed the part), and waited with bated breath for a new episode or movie to come out with high anticipation. Super big things have been happening for him lately including his first solo tour! Annnnnd after many webpage refreshes a couple months ago, David and I got tickets! (yes, you read that correctly…david went with me. aka great husband award)
I was absolutely overjoyed to see him live! We drove for hours on a Sunday afternoon, changed in a Barnes and Noble bathroom, waited in the pouring rain for two hours with at least 1000 other fans, and sang along as we watched Darren tear up the stage. He is not only an incredible musician, but a seriously awesome performer! I have never seen someone with so much energy on stage! The coolest thing about it all though was that you could tell that he was still humble; he was still expecting all of the cheers to be for someone else.
So here’s our check off the bucket list in photo phone. Beware: the following contains only iPhonetography.
Me in full fangirl mode above…(team starkid is Darren’s theatre company). And below is our slow journey in the pouring down rain…David made some friends.
YES! Opens with the Circle of Life. Killer.
Oh, also it was his last stop of the tour so it was extra special. Love that we found someone who got the set list.
Yesssss. And it was a success.
The following lyrics were my favorite from his new songs…there was such an air of nostalgia to the evening. He sang these words and expressed his wish to go back sometimes…back to when it was just him and his friends making music, when all the formalities of success weren’t involved. I just really connected with that. How often do we just want to go back to the beginning too? Back when it was simple and the best was yet to come.
“the end” never seemed like it was good enough/two little words seemed too small/I turned the page to find a blank one/as if the ones before never really happened at all.
i got one more part for the storybook/one more road that I should’ve took/one more thing that used to have my heart/i got one more place in my memory/when i wished with every part of me/i could go back, go back to the start/i know it’s too far down/and much too high to climb/but why can’t we bring it on back to once upon a time?
