Fangirl Spotlight: Devon

Our next spotlight is a girl, who after we all read her stories, is a girl we all want to be when we grow up. Meet one of the most dedicated fans we've have the pleasure of talking to: Devon.

BASICS

Name: Devon

Age: 33

Where do you live?: New Hampshire

What do you do?: Marketing/Office Manager for a real estate company

Twitter: @devon314

Insta: @devon314

THE GOOD STUFF

Tell us about the first trip you took for a band/artist and what first got you into traveling for music.

*pulls up my spreadsheet of shows to find the answer* The first “trip” outside of New England I took for a band was in the summer of 2008, driving 10+ hours from NH to Toronto to see The Cab at the Mod Club, then the next night in St. Catharines at the L3.

I got the idea for traveling for bands from some online friends when I was in high school, who I saw were seeing their favorite musician(s) night after night and realizing myself after seeing my favorite band (O-Town) that I’d really like to be able to do that too. But I was in high school with no car and a mom who I was lucky I was able to talk into bringing me to 1 show over 2 hours from my house and would never have brought me to another city even further! It all changed after graduating from college in 2007 and getting a car that I realized that New England is a great place to live in the US because many of the bands I was into would play multiple cities within 3-4 hours of my house, so I could easily travel to multiple dates.

Who have you traveled for the most? How many of their shows have you been to/how far did you travel for them?

*again consults w/ the spreadsheet for band totals*

Between 2008 and 2011, I saw Anarbor 43 times. Like I mentioned in my previous answer, the northeast of America has cities “close” together and during 3 of their what seemed like non-stop, tours I was at 7 dates each. Other tours I’d get to 3-4 dates, and I’d say the furthest my friends and I traveled was about 10 hours by car. After some members left in 2013, they went on hiatus and returned in 2016 with new music but have not toured much, so I’ve only seen them 1 time in 2013, 2016 & 2018.

Band I’ve traveled the furthest distance to see:

The band that, over the years, has consistently been one I’d travel for is the Scottish band Twin Atlantic. I was introduced to them in late 2011 by my friend Amy who I had traveled for Anarbor with. By 2012, she was living in LA and she wanted me to visit and was hoping the lure of a west coast road trip/tour would get me out there - it worked. I flew to LA in February 2012 and we saw them in Tempe, San Diego & Anaheim, and a month later I was back out to see them in San Diego and LA. The last shows they played in America were in 2014 (2 headline gigs for the release of an album and some radio Christmas shows). 2015 and 2016 passed with no US gigs, although they did release a new album in 2016 and played shows in, what felt like, every country but here. Nearly from the beginning of my knowledge of Twin Atlantic, I found and became friendly with, a group of European/UK fans that were traveling around the UK and Europe for gigs, so in 2017 when Twin’s UK tour was announced I was sick of waiting for them to come back here, so I booked my first tour abroad with those online friends. It was the combination of my most favorite travel destinations (Scotland and England) and my favorite band, with the absolute best part being meeting in real life some of my now-favorite humans on the planet! I loved it so much that when their 2018 UK tour was announced, I found myself once again taking trains, busses and cars across England to see my favorite band with the greatest tour friends ever ♡

Why that particular artist/band? What about them, or their show, made you want to travel to see them?

Anarbor: They were a TINY AZ band in 2008, (members of The Cab were friends with them and hyped them online) it was their first time on the east coast and the furthest north they were coming was Long Island/NJ so we *had* to go see them. My friends and I loved their music and wanted to support them because if they could travel across the country we could travel 5 hours to see them! After that, we were attached to their hips and couldn’t imagine skipping a show *only* 10 hours away!

Twin Atlantic: Not realizing it, 2012 was a GOLD MINE of US dates, I saw them at least 10 times. Since 2012, I don’t think I’ve seen them in the US even close to 10 times. Like I mentioned above, after years of them not being able to come here I was *forced* to go to the UK to see them.

Seems to boil down to friends + bands I love = happy Devon

Have you traveled to see anyone else?

When I first heard Bastille in 2013, I knew they’d be another band that I’d be following whenever/where ever I could. Pompeii was a huge hit that year, and when it was announced they were playing in the US, I was all over it: booking tickets to their shows in DC, Philly, and Brooklyn knowing I’d be lucky to see this band in small venues! By a miracle, that I still don’t understand, before those 3 gigs, they played a Vevo gig IN BOSTON at the Boston Common, and I was picked to attend. It was surreal seeing them in real life so close and in such a unique atmosphere in the park at the beginning of fall. The gigs were PHENOMENAL and BONUS: in 2013 my Boston-turned-LA friend, Amy, was now living in Baltimore, so we got to go to the gig at the 930 club in DC together! Since traveling for those 3 gigs I’ve now seen them every time they’ve been to Boston as well as in St. Louis, Kansas City, Lansing, Chicago, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Columbia MD, Camden NJ, Orlando, St. Petersburg FL, Clifton Park NY, Memphis, at Red Rocks, Los Angeles, Uncasville CT, Providence RI and Tampa FL.

Tell us about one of your fav tour memories.

In December 2014, Twin Atlantic got to come to the US to play some radio Christmas shows. Two were “close” to me and Amy in VA and Myrtle Beach, SC, so I flew to meet Amy in Baltimore, and we drove to VA. This particular radio show started around 7pm and we were traveling through DC on Friday in rush hour traffic and we missed a couple songs of Twin's like 6 or 7 song opening set *facepalm*. We left basically right after their set because it was impossible to find the guys at the arena and drove nearly 7 hours to Myrtle Beach for their “headlining” free gig at a random bar on the beach the next night. Before these gigs in America, Sam, the lead singer, had been sick and unable to perform at a few of their own headlining shows in the UK but we *thought* enough time had passed and he was better. But oh no no, as we were waiting for the gig in this dingy bar, some crew were loading in and setting up the gear one of the members of the band, I can’t remember which one (Craig...Barry?) came up to Amy and I and told us Sam was too sick to sing and they weren’t going to be performing. Excuse me, WHAT?! At first I thought it was a joke b/c of how silly it seemed that I’d I traveled over 900 miles and Sam’s too sick to sing?? So the gear on stage got taken back out of the venue and the rest of the band came out to chat with and apologize to the other fans that were there for the gig. On the plus side, now that they weren’t performing we had a whole lot of time to chat and take sad group photos with Sam holding throat coat tea that I had gotten him because I knew he was sick. I can laugh at this story now but I was pretty bummed at the time.

Almost all memories I have of traveling for bands are getting to see my friends from all across the country/world in cities that aren’t our own and adventuring being tourists for the day. I miss my friends!

Bonus memory: Last year at the beginning of the Twin Atlantic tour in Newcastle England, the lead singer was in the middle of one of their songs, “No Sleep,” and at a part before the band came back in he got closer to the crowd and spotted me and said “Ayyee all the way from the United States!” which was a thrill for me :) A day or so later I found a video on Twitter someone had taken of the exact moment at an amazing angle and I went to look for it to share but the person is private now which is SUCH a letdown!

What’s your favorite city you’ve visited on tour?

I think my favorite city has to be Glasgow. Because so many bands I love are from there, it is an amazing place to walk around and see the sights. It is a very hard choice because any city could be favorite because of the memories made there but I’ve spent a bit of time in Glasgow so I’ll say that one.

Fav venue you’ve traveled to?

In November 2018, I saw Fatherson at the Barrowlands in Glasgow, and having heard so much about the venue and history and seen the walkway of bands that have played there over the years, it was a dream to get to attend a show there for basically their hometown show! It was incredible. I’ve seen they do behind-the-scenes tours and I’d love to do that and maybe see Twin Atlantic there one day…

What are your bucket list venue destinations?

Venues in mainland Europe - I’m dying for a tour with friends across Europe including cities in Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden etc. No venues really in particular just any on a tour with friends and, probably, Twin Atlantic.

We get this question all the time, and we all have different answers, and I’m sure you get this a lot too: How are you able to travel to so many shows?

I have a job that allows me to save for tours and also lets me take time off for traveling. I am OBSESSED with finding flight deals and now that transatlantic flights are affordable it’s pretty “easy” to get across the ocean. Most times it’s less money than flying to the west coast. I also have a credit card that accrues points that I’ll use to redeem for free flights.

What do you love about traveling for music?

Seeing my favorite bands in multiple cities with people who *get* it is my absolute favorite thing in the world. Making friends who you can talk into doing so called “crazy” things like fly from France to NYC for a weekend to see your favorite band when they were only kidding about doing it is the BEST! I am grateful to travel to multiple cities for different bands and having it be a normal thing. It can be normal for anyone and if it’s your dream... DO IT!

Any music trips coming up soon?

I am going to Florida in May to see Marianas Trench and my friend I mentioned above, Amy! I am always waiting for UK/Euro tour dates and now that its 2019 and my time off has been reset I am itching for another reason to get back over there!

Any advice for fangirls who want to start traveling for their favs?

Like I wrote above, if you want to, do it, if you don’t have a friend where you live it’s pretty easy to find and make friends on Twitter (and other social media platforms) that you can travel to or with to see bands. Start small if you’re nervous, go to a local venue a couple hours early, meet people in line and most likely you’ll meet people who will be your future travel companions!