KSDY || Driven by Fools

In the past week I had been feeling a bit weird because Barrie-James suddenly left the band, which was not very unexpected but obviously very upsetting. Still, I couldn’t wait to see the other three boys again.

On Saturday morning Sierra and I had an early flight from Amsterdam to Glasgow. It was 4:30 in the morning when we left the house and we agreed it was that time of day that no one really should be awake. We arrived at the airport at 5:45, put Sierra’s huge backpack in a locker cause it was unnecessary to take it with us to Glasgow, went through security and boarded the plane. Everything went surprisingly easily. Plane took off at 7:15 and we landed in Glasgow at about 7:45 (local time – there’s a one hour time difference.

At the Glasgow airport you have to pass the border control and because Sierra had a non-European passport, she had to wait in another line. It took only a few minutes for me to get through but all people with international passports got questioned about their visit, so it took a while for Sierra. I sat down on a bench somewhere and put on music. There were some policemen standing next to me and a girl asked them something. Then the policeman replied to her and I heard his Scottish accent – and funny enough it really hit me: his accent just reminded me of Barrie so much, I had never heard any other people in real life speaking Scottish except for the Kassidy guys. I suddenly found myself in tears but got myself back together within a few minutes, then started laughing. When Sierra finally came back I told her how „I started crying cause someone spoke Scottish“ and we both laughed.

We got on the bus to the city center. It was still so early in the morning and we first wanted to get breakfast in Glasgow before we’d go to Troon. We could not check into our hotel until 14:00 anyway.

We got ourselves coffee and sat down in some comfortable chairs. It immediately surprised me how cheap everything in Glasgow was compared to the Netherlands. And we both kept freaking out and reminded each other of the fact “we are in Glasgow!” every other minute. Unsurprisingly, it was raining a little outside and it was actually pretty cold. I was stupid enough to forget my coat at home, so I was slightly freezing – but I couldn’t really care because I was just too happy to be there.

The only thing I really wanted to see before we left was Hope Street, which Kassidy’s first album was named after. It was really easy to find because it’s one of the main streets and we took some photos. There were quite a few people watching us but we just found it funny. The city had a really good and friendly atmosphere.

We bought some fruit at the train station and then got on the train to Troon. The train ride took us about 50 minutes and Sierra was worried cause I didn’t have the address of the hotel, nor any directions. But I had looked it up on the map before and Troon really only seemed to have ten streets – the hotel was right next to the beach and it couldn’t be hard to find.

It indeed was very easy to find the hotel. We said we had booked a room there and asked if we could check in already, because it was still early. It was no problem and the woman at the desk showed us to our room. The hotel looked so beautiful! It was all so kitschy and I absolutely LOVED it. The ceilings were so high, I loved the wallpaper everywhere in the hotel, and you could see the sea from our beds. Sierra and I were just freaking out about everything.

We sat down in our room for a while, drank some tea, fixed our hair and make-up because we looked quite messy from travelling. Alanah, a mutual friend or ours that I had never met in real life yet, was in Troon already and she told us to meet us “at the toilets” next to the marquees where some bands were playing. It made me laugh cause it seemed like such a beautiful place to meet.

Sierra and I took a walk on the beach in the direction of the small festival. It looked so pretty but there were a lot of dead jellyfish on the beach, which I hated. I told Sierra they are one of the few animals I’m absolutely terrified of. When we got near the festival, I saw Leanne and Mel, two girls I knew from Twitter, and waved at them. Only then I realized Alanah was walking in front of them and we hugged each other. We all spoke a little, then Mel and Leanne said they wanted to spend some time together since it was the first time they met each other in real life. So Sierra and I stayed there with Alanah. We walked by the concert venue, then checked out the few stores in town. It was all so small and lovely! We ended up taking photos on the beach – Alanah had this owl hoodie that I found super cute so she took it to Troon. She looked absolutely adorable in it – even though it actually was for little children!

It was really cold and rainy so we got some sandwiches for lunch in a supermarket and walked back to our hotel. We were just talking, taking photos and listening to music. Then Alanah got a call from Mel that Kassidy had arrived and that they were on the beach just now. Alanah really wanted to go there but Sierra and I didn’t really feel like – I knew we’d see them later on anyway. So Alanah left us and ran to the beach. She came back a bit later, out of breath from running. She had spoken to the guys and taken photos, and she was so excited. Always makes me happy to see my friends happy.

Kassidy had said they would go check out some bands so we walked back to the marquees. We saw Leanne and Mel sitting on a wall on the beach and sat down with them. We talked a little about the Kassidy guys. I told Mel, who’s crazy about Hamish, how Hamish always seemed to be a bit rude to me. The other three (now two) had always been sweet and outgoing, but Hamish always seemed very distant and never spoke to me at all, even though he seemed cute to other people. After a few minutes Lewis and Paul (their tour manager) came out of the venue and sat down with us. I actually just felt really weird and I ended up being the one keeping a distance now. I someone found it so hard to see those people and knowing that Barrie wasn’t around this time. I just felt so heartbroken about him leaving the band – and mainly about the way both he and the band seem to handle it in public. Hamish joined us and the funny thing was that he then approached me, seemed happy to see me and hugged me. “All the way from Germany!” I laughed and said I’m not from Germany. Just before, I had told Sierra how people always seem to think I’m German for some reason. He then “corrected” himself by saying I was from Amsterdam, which wasn’t the case either, but it was sweet. (I also just had told Sierra how I once had an exchange of words with Barrie over how not all the Netherlands is Amsterdam, cause he kept going on about it.) We spoke a little, I don’t remember what about. He said he was getting some sandwiches (“sammiches”) and then check out a rapper that was performing. He told me and Sierra that he was the ‘next big thing’ and that we should come.

I then felt very happy and said to Mel “that was awkward,” because I had just told her about how Hamish is never really nice to me.

We took a walk along the beach together, but it was so cold and we decided to go back to the hotel again. On our way there we walked by the marquees and sat down for a bit to listen to the rapper. He was in fact really good. But we didn’t go inside because apparently you had to pay 7 pounds for it, which wasn’t really worth it for us.

It was getting a bit later and the sun finally came out. The sea looked so stunning from our hotel window.

The doors of the venue would open at 19:00 and we changed clothes for the concert. It was actually after 19:00 already when we left the hotel. I said to the girls how it wouldn’t make sense to queue for Kassidy cause usually there aren’t even people in the front row. Alanah had a seated place so she went inside to sit with the other girls. Sierra and I stayed outside for a while – there were 3 other bands playing and we didn’t feel like watching them. We sat down on a bench on the beach together. We saw Kassidy upstairs in the dressing room, so we knew they weren’t on yet.

We went inside because it was so cold and just sat down on the ground in a corner of the venue. The Kassidy guys came out quite a few times to watch other bands and it made me happy to see some other crew and family members of the band. I also saw a girl that looked so much like Rachel – Chris’ girlfriend. I’ve always been joking about her a bit because Lana Del Rey once said I look so much like her – and everyone in the band (plus Rachel) knew about that. Only after the Kassidy show I realized that girl that I thought was her sister in fact WAS Rachel.

The band that played before Kassidy were really good, they were called Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher. Loved their music.

Before Kassidy’s set we obviously stood up and mixed ourselves in the crowd. It was quite a small venue, think the capacity was about 850. I felt like everyone that lived in Troon was probably there – everyone seemed to know each other!

I loved seeing how there were quite a few people with Kassidy shirts. Think there were quite a few people from the “original” Kassidy Army. Such a great atmosphere – it’s just all very open and friendly. Was so happy to see them in a setting like this again instead of on those huge shows at the Paradise tour.

They came on stage and opened with a new song. I was happy to see Kieran (their drummer) and Billy (their bass player) again. Since Barrie’s left the band they also have two background singers; Lewis’ sister and Rachel’s (actual!) sister. I’m not into background vocals too much but I was happy to know they were actual relatives of the band.

Then the second song was an old one; I think it was The Traveler, which is my all-time favorite Kassidy song. Chris started singing the lines Barrie-James used to sing and I kind of broke down. It just didn’t feel right and I kept crying; also when they played Waking Up Sideways. But after those songs I got myself together again and just didn’t think about Barrie anymore. They played a lot of new songs that I absolutely loved – Sierra and I both agreed on how good they sounded. Cannot wait for the studio versions. In the end I just felt how happy Kassidy always make me – still do. And maybe Barrie leaving them actually took a certain kind of darkness out of the band. (Even though that made them just a bit more special.)

Before the last song Hamish thanked some people, he then mentioned how there were fans all the way from the Netherlands and I couldn’t stop smiling. They did an encore; played a new song, Tyrannosaur, which they had played before, but now one of the members of AMWWF joined them. Was completely unrehearsed but they were having so much fun on stage.

Was on my usual Kassidy-high again and really wanted to speak to them a little more. We kept waiting in the venue because we weren’t sure if they’d come out there and there was a little group of Kassidy fans waiting there too. I was wondering where the other three girls were cause they had been sitting on the balcony and couldn’t go into the standing area (and otherwise). Alanah texted me that they immediately had to leave and we didn’t even get to say goodbye…!

Two guys that were from Troon approached us but their accent was so strong that we barely understood them. One of them seemed very drunk and kept repeating how he couldn’t believe we came to “the smallest fucking town in Scotland to see Kassidy.”

We had to leave the venue but decided to just wait for Kassidy outside – we weren’t the only ones so it didn’t feel too awkward. Chris was walking by the glass doors we were waiting at all the time, but was really busy meeting a lot of people inside. Then he finally came outside and shook everyone’s hands. I was just looking at how some other fans were talking to him – somehow I always really love seeing other people so excited. Sierra really wanted to hug Chris cause I told her he gives really good hugs and asked him to – he laughed and hugged her.

Then Lewis came out to talk and I just said that I love the new songs. I guess I mentioned something about the background singers cause he mentioned it was his little sister – she was standing next to him. I then noticed her fingernails; a week before I saw a photo of some awesome Kassidy nails on Instagram and I realized they were hers! I grabbed her hand and said how much I loved them. I saw Rachel standing inside and said “Oh, Rachel, I should actually take a photo with her… That is Rachel, right?” Lewis looked and said “Yes! You indeed do look similar!” I thought that was funny cause I never mentioned that to him, so one of the other guys (or Rachel) must have told him. He then shouted Rachel’s name and I told him not to, but he insisted we’d take a photo together. I just really didn’t want to and it was awkward for Rachel too cause we both didn’t know what to do or say. I just said Lewis was forcing me to. Then she mentioned something to her friend about “international fans.”

Hamish also came out, Sierra asked for a photo. He then asked me if I also wanted one but I understood something else (I guess I thought he said “was it okay?” about the picture I just took with Sierra) and I said “yes”. Then we took a photo together anyway and he started talking to some other girls. I was just observing – it just makes me feel so happy to see other fans so happy about them. Then we ended up talking to Lewis again, I don’t really remember about what. It was about Australia for a bit (because Sierra’s from there of course), about how he loves the Australian accent (and how I love the Scottish) and we spoke about traveling. Lewis said he always wondered how some fans could afford attending so many shows of the Paradise Tour and I told him about it. He asked if we had taken a walk on the beach and said how cold it was and I told about all the jellyfish that scared me. He seemed to find it hysterically funny and made this scary face and was screaming stuff about licking jellyfish… It made absolutely no sense. I asked him how old he actually was because I wasn’t sure – but then he didn’t seem to be sure himself. I wasn’t sure if he was kidding but he genuinely seemed to be thinking about his age and said “I’m 22 or 23…” He said he sometimes just doesn’t celebrate his birthday. According to Sierra he then said he was born in ’89. Which didn’t really help. We said we would visit the Necropolis cemetery in Glasgow the next day and it seemed to weird him out. “I bet it’s cool… if you’re into that kind of stuff.” I think than Hamish joined in our conversation and he said he loves cemeteries and that the one next to the Cathedral is really beautiful. Then he asked us if we had any plans tomorrow and we said we would just check out Glasgow. He asked if we wanted to go out and was thinking about what would be opened on a Sunday night. He mentioned the name of a club in the city center.

It was quite late at night already then and the guys kissed us goodbye. Sierra and I were so happy and walked back to our hotel. We didn’t even feel cold anymore.

We were exhausted and fell asleep right away. Then we woke up around 8:30 again with this beautiful view on the sea – the sun was shining and we were really excited to spend our day in Glasgow.

Really had some of the most amazing days – was so good to be in Scotland with all of those amazing people. Everyone’s just been so nice to us, everything was so beautiful and I’ve had so much fun. There will always be people calling me crazy for travelling as much as I do to see bands, but it’s what makes me happy and I guess it’s unfair to ever judge others for doing what they really like.