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Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - A 1000 Times

In my past adventures, I have found myself on a cruise travelling to the Bahamas with the Backstreet Boys, in the VIP section trying to grab Justin Timberlake’s hand to take a selfie, and asking national treasure Sam Roberts not to sue me and my friend after she picked him up and dropped him.  Some may call me crazy, some may say I’m brave, but one thing I know is that I am dedicated.  To what, you ask?  To those I listen to.  I have spent more money than I care to share on meeting my favourite artists, standing that much closer to the stage and even travelling to other countries more than once to see them.

In this adventure, I travelled to London and Dublin to meet the band, Busted, that I have been a fan of since I was 14 years old.  Busted broke up in 2005 and recently announced a reunion.  Since they are not known in North America, I knew I had to make a visit to the U.K.  Within a few months after the announcement of the reunion, my cousin and I had mapped out a trip that started with us visiting Marrakech, Morocco first, which you can read about on my LinkedIn here.

A week before we flew out, I had planned to get a Busted related tattoo.  

"After much consideration, I dedicated to get the word “Busted” tattooed inside my lip."

My goal of the trip was to at some point, when meeting them, show them how much of an influence they have had on my life through this tattoo.  I know, this can seem crazy, but like I said earlier, I’m dedicated.

Let’s get started, shall we?

LONDON

As we walked up to the officer at boarder patrol in Heathrow, he looked at our passports and asked, “What brings you to the UK?” I answered proudly “Busted!”  He then made a face of disgust and said “Like the band?”  We nodded and he then said, “Just don’t tell people that…just say you are sightseeing or something.  Go ahead.” And he waved for us to move forward.

In the past seven years, I have been to London four times.  It is one of my favourite cities and each time I try to do something different.  On the bucket list this visit was seeing the Harry Potter Studios.  As devoted Harry Potter fans, my cousin Faith and I made sure to book tickets and spend the day practicing our magic.  

My favourite part of the studios was the Weasley’s house, The Burrow.  You could wave your hand over this panel that controlled certain parts of the house, like a knife chopping carrots and knitting needles, it really felt like we were in the movies.  

To see the Goblet of Fire up close was so great since it was from my favourite book and seeing details in the door from Chambers of Secrets was incredible.  

Umbridge’s office was all set up with all pink and cats everywhere.  As much as I hated the character, I have to admit that was a pretty cool office.  

At the end of the tour, you can walk around the model of Hogwarts that they used to film. Hedwig’s theme played and one side of the castle was lit up as if it was daytime and when you reached the other side of the castle it was dark as if it was night. 

BUSTED - NIGHT ONE

Since we had bought a package that included a meet and greet with them before the show, we had to be at the arena for 2:00p.m. We gathered up the gifts we bought; maple cookies from Dollarama, maple syrup and chocolate loonies, I kept repeating to myself, “Remember to mention the tattoo.” 

When we got to the o2, we lined up with other meet and greeters and were taken to the back entrance.  As we moved closer in line to the room they were in, we saw girls coming out crying and saying things like “They smelled so good!”

Faith and I were more than nervous, as the last 15 years of being a fan started to catch up.  It felt like yesterday we were back in Victoria in my room trying to find the latest music video of theirs online. 

Suddenly, we found ourselves next in line, watching the girls in front of us lose it as they talked and took photos with them.  A woman from their team came up to us and explained how we could either take a photo together or separate.  We agreed to do separate and that when we did the meet and greet in Dublin, we’ll go together.  She asked who was first, and naturally I pushed Faith forward stating, “She’s ready!” I watched as she walked up to them and handed them the cookies and chocolates.   I couldn’t hear what was being said but judging from her body language and her Seth Rogen like laugh, I could tell how nervous she was.  They took a few photos and she moved aside as I walked up. Usually, I am not good with meeting celebrities and tend to have my voice go ten octaves higher than usual.  This was no different.  

My favourite member, Matt, laughed and then quoted me in the worst Canadian, somewhat more American, accent.  14 year-old Kylee died inside.  They thanked me for the gift and we took our photo.

As I joined Faith walking out of the room, I realized I had forgotten the tattoo.  Idiot.

We found our seats in the nosebleeds and sang our little hearts out to each song, taking way too many Snapchats and videos. 

BUSTED - NIGHT TWO

The next day, we met up with some friends who were also seeing them.  That night we didn’t have meet and greet but we were in the “OMFG” section, which is in front of the stage and there is a ramp that circulates around you. 

That night, my favourite member, Matt, was doing a DJ set at a bar in Camden.  AfterThe show we made our way there and found a spot by the stage.  The first song Matt played in his set was a Busted song, which we all thought was pretty ironic.  We danced and sang along to each song played.  We walked back to the hostel, retelling our point of views of the night and how excited we were to see them one final time in Dublin.

DUBLIN

The next morning we made our way to the airport. I had heard good things about Dublin and when we were trying to figure out what dates to see Busted on, I was told that the arena there was smaller than the o2, so it would be more of an intimate experience.  At the o2 shows, they had two stages, one at the back of the arena and then the main stage at the other end.  In Dublin, it would be one stage and we had upgraded our tickets to be in what they called “The Pigsty”, in reference to the tour being called “Pigs Can Fly”.  

Again, we found ourselves proudly announcing to the boarder patrol office that we were in town to see Busted.  He then started laughing and said, “Well that is so far fetch that it has to be true, just go through!”

We hopped into a cab and he asked us if we were in town for the ‘big concert’. Busted was playing an arena so naturally I thought “Finally!  Someone who knows what is up!” When we said, “Yes!  We came from Canada to see Busted!”  He turned around to the backseat and said “Wait…Busted?  Bruce Springsteen is in town playing three sold out nights at the stadium and you are here to see Busted?!”  Then let out a huge laugh.  He went on and said “Hold on, I have to let my other cab driver friends know this.”  Then he wrote in a group chat of his latest discovery.  By this time, it was becoming an embarrassment to say what we were really doing on this trip. 

We met one of our friends at the hostel, who informed us that she had booked tickets for a ghost bus tour.  Now, I like watching scary movies, but I am no way trying to be in one.  After some convincing, we went to go meet where the first stop was.  The bus’ windows were blacked out and the top deck had limps covered in fake blood poking out.  A guy dressed in a gray ripped up gown and black makeup around his eyes, jumped off the bus. 

The first stop was St. Audoens Church, which is referred as the entrance to “Hell”.  They shared the story of a demon pig that has attacked people in the past while we all stood around the said entrance. 

Since it was still pretty light out at the time, the stories didn’t seem as scary as I originally thought.  This drove our ghost guide nuts since he would constantly try to scare us and we would just laugh.  He then went on a rant about how the sun doesn’t help at all.

Next up was Kilmainham Jail where we learned about the prisoners from the East Block.  They had a second actor waiting at the gate for us who played the part of one of the ghosts that haunted the cells.  He as well failed to scare us in daylight.

From there, we were taken to Bullys Acre, a graveyard that dates back to over a thousand years!  This was also the last stop on the tour.  The Gravediggers Pub was next to the graveyard, where we were given a shot of something green for surviving.  It is said to be the place where body snatchers would hang out back in the day after robbing graves in Bullys Acre.

We then decided to head to the oldest pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head, which opened in 1198.  I highly recommend both the tour and The Brazen Head.

When researching for places to visit in Dublin, I came across a documentary called “One Million Dubliners”.  The focus of it is on Glasnevin Cemetery that was started in 1832 and is home to 1.5 million graves.  There are more people buried in the cemetery than the living population in Dublin.  The film follows the stories of staff, who care for the grounds, those who are buried there and the people that travel there looking for ancestors.  For our second day in the city we decided to take a tour of the grounds.  It was so beautifully kept, the staff were extremely friendly and overall such a great place to visit that carried so much history.  We got to tour inside Daniel O’Connell’s mausoleum, an Irish political leader that campaigned for Catholic emancipation.  They told us that if we rubbed his coffin it would bring us good luck.  They also explained how in the days that he was buried, the chemicals they used in the caskets preserved the bodies, so if we were to pry one open now, you would see them still intact. That is a fact that sits with you.

Again, I highly recommend the documentary and a visit to Glasnevin Cemetery. 

BUSTED - NIGHT THREE

Finally we had arrived to the night I had been thinking about for the past three days while in Dublin.

As we walked along the Irish Sea to the arena, the nerves and excitement from before started to set in.  I kept reminding myself that tonight is the last chance to show them the damn tattoo inside my mouth. 

Again, got in line for the meet and greet and was ushered upstairs to a backstage bar area.  As Faith and I were going through what we were going to say, people in the line took notice of our accents and could not believe we travelled all this way to see them.

There was a red curtain that people were coming in and out of, that Busted were just behind of and as we got closer we could hear them laughing.  Faith and I agreed that we would be doing solo photos again as we weren’t satisfied with the London ones.  As someone pushed open the curtain for us, we entered the room, one of Busted yelled out “You’re back!”  I see that we had made an impression or they did not suffer from short-term memory. 

Again, I pushed Faith forward so that she could go first while I gathered up my courage to embarrass myself once again.  She had planned to ask her favourite member, Charlie, to give her a kiss on the cheek for the photo.  I watched as she shyly asked and he agreed.  They took a few photos and then it was my turn.  I walked up and announced, “We’re backkkk!”  I stood in front of them and said “Look, I got a Busted tattoo and it is kind of embarrassing and I forgot to show you in London.”  As I told them this, they looked up and down my arms and Matt asked, “Well where is it?”  I pulled forward my lip to reveal the tattoo and they all moved closer.  “WOW!” Matt said.  One member, James, pulled out his phone and asked if he could take a photo of it to post on Instagram.  I agreed and he tagged me in the photo, note, don’t read the comments.  They asked if it had hurt and I went into the story of how it faded after two days and getting it retouched before flying out.  We took the photo and I thanked them again.

We made our way to the Pigsty section, where everyone had been given a backpack filled with a hoodie, flashlight, confetti, and a scary pig mask that we were told to wear for the first song.   

As the intro music started to play, we put on the hard-to-breathe-in masks and the curtain dropped to reveal four levels of pigs to the audience.  After the first song we ripped the masks off and gave it our all to sing to every song.  All the money saved up, the travelling, and being made fun of by boarder patrol had all paid off in this moment.  It was worth it.  

HOME

Five hours after the concert, we found ourselves at the airport on route to fly back to Canada.  We sat in awe of what had happened in the past week, pinching ourselves, and kept reminding each other how 15 years previous we would have never thought to predict this.