I Finally Saw Thursday in Concert

Friday, January 26, 2024 will be a date that I hope to remember forever. I finally saw my favorite band, Thursday, play live after being a fan of theirs for over 20 years. What makes it even more special, is that I saw them play at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, the town of my birth. 

Allow me to tell you about how I came to fall in love with this band. In 2002, I was living at my parents’ house and I often liked to listen to the Music Choice channels that were available through their cable TV package. I found that I could often discover new music that way rather than hear all the overplayed songs on the radio and even though I was guilty of using downloading services like Limewire, my mom didn’t really like my sister and I doing that because of the fear of viruses and who knows what else. I stopped on the “Adult Alternative” channel which usually played indie alternative music that I had never heard of. Suddenly I heard a song that caught my ear because I had never heard anything like it before. The song was “Great Romances of the 20th Century” by a band called Taking Back Sunday. I was most impressed by the screamed lyrics combined with “regular” singing and how there seemed to be two singers often singing over each other. “What the heck is this? I love it.” I asked many of my friends if they ever heard of this band and many hadn’t. 

I was very involved in the local music scene around Hudson and New Port Richey, Florida. I had friends in bands and would often attend local shows. Eventually I bought the Taking Back Sunday CD “Tell All Your Friends” and learned through these local music scene friends that there was a genre called “emo” so I started diving into all of the bands associated with it. I was an angsty teen and an even more angsty early adult so this music seemed to “understand me” and I wanted to devour all of it. At all of the shows I attended I was always drawn to all these tee shirts I saw people wearing that had a white dove on it. “What is that? Must be a brand I can’t afford or something.” I thought it looked cool. Some of them even had “Thursday” written on them and I didn’t even think of the possibility that this could be a band name. One day while poking through a friend’s Limewire I played a song called “Cross Out the Eyes” by Thursday. “Wow, they are a band!” I said only to have my friend make fun of me for not knowing. “They’re amazing!” my friend said. “I’ll show you some videos I have of them later. They’re out of the New Jersey hardcore or post-hardcore scene or whatever, but…they’re pretty emo.” This friend also showed me a tee shirt they had that had that white dove on it (the band’s logo) and it was all coming together for me as the opening line of the song played.

“These are the most amazing lyrics I’ve ever heard!” I exclaimed. “This guy’s a poet.”

“Yeah, that’s Geoff Rickly. He’s awesome.”

My friend wasn’t kidding. I played the three tracks they stole over and over and watched the video for “Understanding in a Car Crash” even more. “This Geoff Rickly guy is the greatest lyricist alive,” I boldly stated.

“This Song Brought to You By a Falling Bomb” — Majestic Theatre, Detroit

It took me awhile but I finally bought Thursday’s “Full Collapse” CD and it wasn’t long before I had to buy another copy because it got scratched to hell from being played everywhere. Every party I went to: “Have you guys heard of Thursday? Oh my gosh…” etc. I had a few opportunities to see them play but every time I was working or couldn’t afford it or something so I never did.

I had an ex boyfriend who was into hardcore who never heard of Thursday. I thought they’d be too emo for him but he loved them too and bought “War All the Time” before I did. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that album at first. It wasn’t “Full Collapse” but that didn’t mean it was bad or anything. After listening to it about 10 times, it “grew on me”. For the rest of my life until now I listened to Thursday constantly. Then I hit an approximately 5 year period in my thirties where I kind of forgot emo existed. After my epilepsy diagnosis at age 25 I remember looking up “famous people” who had epilepsy when I was feeling particularly bad about myself and learned Geoff Rickly also has it. “No kidding,” I thought. “Man, I really love Thursday and am really sad I never got to see them live.” This was after the band took an “indefinite hiatus”  in 2011 so I figured my dream of doing that would never happen. Then in 2013 when Geoff Rickly said in an interview that the band was no more I tossed the dream to the wind.

Then one day all the millennials got nostalgic and emo was making a comeback. I started listening to all my favorite bands again and realized many of them, including Thursday, had albums I never heard of. I started listening to them and being all nostalgic. “So sad I never got to see Thursday in concert,” I’d lament to my husband. He really liked them too after I introduced them to him. “Emo’s not just a phase, mom!” I’m proof of that.

Following the band on social media was a good idea. They had new merch all the time, and were releasing pressings of albums on vinyl. I got the anniversary edition of “Full Collapse” on vinyl and that was money well spent because the packaging was so awesome and it came with a tee shirt. Then the next thing I know a writer I was familiar with, Chelsea Hodson, announced that she was starting a small press with the intention of publishing Geoff Rickly’s first book. What?!

“Someone Who Isn’t Me” was announced for publication approximately a year ago and suddenly Geoff Rickly is doing readings with a lot of writers I read and is connected to all these people in the lit scene I’m aware of. The streams were crossed! Worlds were colliding! I still don’t know how to process it when I see him doing readings with writers I’ve read, etc. I read the book and it’s really good. I even got to attend a Zoom event put on by Chelsea of Rose Books where I got to ask Geoff a question about the writing process. My heart was pounding and I felt so dumb because I was like “he’s just a regular dude and he’s nice, calm down!” I can’t help it. He’s a lyrical hero to me, what can I say? “It’s nice to virtually meet you,” I said to him and felt like a big dummy but oh well. He was cool, of course. 

One day this past summer, shortly after I moved here and was already totally shocked by how awesome it was for me here health-wise, AND after winning tickets to go see Fallout Boy and Jimmy Eat World in Grand Rapids the first time I ever listened to one of the local Traverse City radio stations, Thursday made an Instagram post that they were announcing something soon. I told my husband that it was “probably another vinyl release or a new tee shirt or something”. Nope. It was a tour! “They’re coming to Detroit! I-I-…we have to go!” “Buy the tickets right now.” My husband texted me. So I did and I paid a little extra to get upper level seats in an area of the Majestic Theatre that had its own bar and bathroom. Since I have epilepsy, I have to be very careful at shows due to the almost inevitable use of strobe lights at concerts. I also bought our bus tickets to get down there and booked a hotel room. “We’re going! And it’s in Detroit!” Thursday had been getting a lot of play on my Spotify, obviously, since then.

Before I knew it, it was January, and we were boarding the Indian Trails bus on the way down to my birthplace and I was so happy. I couldn’t stop smiling. I really loved it downtown too. Jackson and I walked around and I got to show him a lot of stuff. Of course we ate at the dual Coney Islands and I decided that both were very good but I preferred the Lafayette to the American chili. Thursday announced that they were going to be at the bowling alley next to the Majestic before the show and my husband told me that with our tickets we get half off of bowling if we want to. I’m kicking myself for not going, but “I’m old and need a nap!” was my excuse. I had my copy of Someone Who Isn’t Me  with me hoping to bump into Geoff to have him sign it, but oh well, I missed my opportunity. Hopefully, there will be a next time. 

When we got to the venue we were helped by a very nice woman who got us our wrist bands for the mezzanine level and unfortunately all of the chairs at the ledge were taken. My husband and I got a table in the back and I figured it would be okay because I would probably need to avoid the strobe lights and the more people in front of me the better. I started to devise plans of where I could go to get a peek at the stage occasionally. I’m so short so this is sometimes to my advantage and sometimes not. I couldn’t see the stage from our table but again, I was just happy to be there and figured it was good due to strobes. 

There were no strobes during the first band and I was like “hmm…maybe there just aren’t strobe lights at this venue…or maybe they’ll put some on for Thursday, I have no idea.” After Many Eyes (awesome new band fronted by Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die) performed I was absolutely stunned that these two girls who were sitting in chairs by the ledge got up and left. I looked at my husband, grabbed our stuff, and ran to those chairs. I couldn’t believe it. We had a perfect view of the stage. “I’ll be careful, and I have my dark sunglasses,” I assured him. Those weren’t even necessary. I still can’t believe it but there were no strobe lights during the whole show so I got to watch every moment.

Another cool band called Rival Schools played next. I had been listening to them since I bought the tickets and really like them too. They were fun to see. Then Thursday took the stage and my life either ended or really began. I’m still not sure.

I screamed my lungs out to the lyrics, couldn’t take my eyes off of Geoff, (whose stage presence is palpable, I swear), and was immersed in the energy of the band and the crowd that adored them. This is a War All the Time tour so they played the album in its entirety plus a few encore songs — “Cross Out The Eyes”, “Jet Black New Year”, “Beyond the Visible Spectrum”, and of course, “Understanding in a Car Crash.” A dream was coming true for me. After this show my bucket list (which I made in my twenties and just never added to) would be completed. 

I’ve been in “I just saw my favorite band play live for the first time” mode ever since. Watching/listening to all the clips shared on Instagram stories of those who’ve attended the shows, watching YouTube videos of their songs, and vividly remembering every detail of the show I saw. “If I ever meet Geoff, I’m going to tell him about the Ojibwe Seven Generations teaching and how our tribe tries to do everything with the next seven generations in mind, and tell him that music and storytelling are good ways to share this teaching because those things can really be passed on and shared through generations. I’m also going to thank him for sharing his gifts with us and tell him to stay strong.” I kept thinking. Then I thought, “We’re in the digital age…what if I just send him a DM and maybe by some strange chance he’ll read it?” It took all day to build up courage but I did. I sent it. I felt dumb instantly too.

Much to my great surprise, he responded and it was a very kind response. (It’s private, I’m not sharing it.) But it was a totally cool moment and I’m glad I got to pass on an amazing teaching to such an amazing soul. I’m glad that I’m alive in a time when this band exists, honestly. I can remember many times thinking I really wanted to end it all, but I’d listen to “Full Collapse” on repeat and think “No, I can’t…not when music like this exists.” I’m being honest here, not just saying things to show my devotion to a band. Thursday saved my life more times than I can count. Music in general has done this for me repeatedly. 

I can honestly say I had one of the best nights of my life especially because I never thought I’d attend a show like that again. I spent a long time very ill in the same room day after day questioning what kind of life this was and whether or not I wanted to keep living it. I’m glad I stuck around. I would never have been able to experience last Friday night and the whole downtown trip in general. I never would have known that things could be better. I’m still sick, yes. But I’m in a place where pain is more like a companion than an enemy that’s trying to take me down. My illnesses are a billion times more manageable here and I’m thankful for that every day. 

I’m also probably the only person in the world who really enjoys long bus rides now that I’ve experienced them. I like it better than flying, even though it takes longer. I just liked going through a huge chunk of the state I love so much and seeing the scenery change the further south you go and then see it change back heading north. Plus, it’s winter time! My favorite season ever. 

I’m going to leave you with a portion of Thursday’s lyrics to “Understanding in a Car Crash” that I love so much. Thanks for reading about my journey. I hope you have a band that you love as much as I love Thursday too. I think it’s good to have music in your life. Keep rockin’, everybody! 

“…staring at the setting sun, no reason to come back again
this twilight world in blue and white
the needle and the damage done

I don’t want to feel this way forever
a dead letter marked return to sender

broken watch you gave me turns into, compass
it’s two hands still point to the same time 12:03 our last goodbye

so push the seats back a little further…
I can see the headlights comin’…

so push the seats back a little further…
(roll the windows down and take a breath)

 I can see the headlights coming…
they paint the world in red and broken glass

time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
time runs through our veins
(it starts and stops and starts and stops again)
we don’t stand a chance in this threadbare time
(the time it takes the time it takes to let go)
time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)…”

– “Understanding in a Car Crash” by Thursday 


Update: Today is actually the day, one year ago, that Rose Books first announced the upcoming publication of Someone Who Isn’t Me. Wow! Now it’s in its 5th printing!

You can check out Rose Books HERE & purchase Someone Who Isn’t Me HERE.