I will be writing full reviews of these shows but spoiler alert: The Dear Hunter was the best show I saw in 2023 (not counting the BTBAM/TYS tour that I removed from consideration for personal reasons).

The first stop was in Seattle. I stayed in Lynnwood & hit up the Lynnwood Silver Platters. Here’s my outfit for the night…

& yeah, I’m often in my TYS stuff. I feel like they are such a massively underrated band & whenever I go to a show with an audience that I feel would vibe with them I’ll wear their stuff. I’ve had a handful of really fun convos with people at shows about TYS.

The show was at The Showbox at the Market which isn’t my fave venue because traffic & parking downtown are always a bit of a pain in the ass, but it’s a classic. & hey, they serve Shilling Ciders which are my fave.

The band was amazing & I definitely cried a lot. The fact that they played not only “Like Crazy” but “Girl” — my absolute tippity top two songs from the Migrant era — & they were only played in Seattle had me cleaning my fucking mascara up in the bathroom afterward.

I stopped in Olympia on my way down because I live in the middle of nowhere & don’t have a Trader Joe’s or a Half Price Books & both chains are in a pretty accessible parking area off of the highway. I picked up some gluten-free JoJos & some pretty good theoretical physics books. I also saw “goblin” graffiti.

This was my last trip to Portland for the 2023 season & it was bittersweet. Though it’s quite a drive, Portland is probably my favorite city in the pacific northwest. There are so many food options I almost forget I have celiac disease & so many allergies. I have a great friend there who has so many great friends. & there are so many record & book stores.

This weekend also happened to be my friend’s birthday weekend. The last time I was able to spend a birthday weekend with her was 2019 so we went back to Aalto & got fancy cocktails & jello shots.

My brother & I also hiked around & went to the Witch’s Castle.

The show was at Dante’s which kinda low key leveled me because throwing back to that trip in 2019, we saw TYS there at Dante’s. There was a lot of throwback feeling to the weekend.

& The Fall of Troy is the ultimate throwback band, my brother & I have been going out to TFOT shows since the old days when you’d be able to see them & Schoolyard Heroes on the same bill (or at least see Ryann with them on stage which holy shit I miss her so much).

& this was my outfit for the show…

Dantes is close enough to Ground Kontrol too, so we hit that up one last time for the year.

This is my emotional support pinball machine (where I was when I was hiding before I met up with my crush in July).