#5gumexperience

A few weeks ago a friend and I tried to stay on campus a bit later than usual, to be one of the first few to get our hands on 5Gum Experience tickets at Great Dane. We gave up when we saw how long the line was two hours before time.

There were rumours about who the band would be. When they announced that it was The Kooks later that night I wanted to kick myself. The Kooks are one of the few bands that I was sure I would never be able to see live. And I had just passed up on a guaranteed chance to see them live.

When the online entries for tickets opened, I made sure that I was one of the first to enter. Which proved challenging because the site kept crashing that night. All I could do was refresh and panic. I eventually got through and could do nothing more than hold thumbs for the following three weeks.

Last week Friday the 5Gum SA account on twitter announced that they had started sending out tickets via email. They also mentioned that they would stop doing so on Tuesday. I got nothing on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Nothing on Sunday. Nothing on Monday – at which point I was slowly losing hope. By Tuesday I was depressed.

I had watched my email inbox like a hawk for four days straight and still nothing. I decided to sleep the pain away that afternoon. I was woken up my friend Thuli who had just received her email. Now I was really sad. I went over to my computer, refreshed and there it was. I had finally received my tickets. The joy that washed over me. I was officially three days away from having a musical dream come true.

We decided to pre-game at our favourite watering hole, the Pig. When we couldn’t hold our excitement in anymore we set off. It was raining cats and dogs, which means we were soaked right through before we managed to even get on a bus to the secret venue. I really had no idea where we were when we arrived, but I do know that it was under a highway in the city. By the time we got there it was really full, and the closest we could get to the stage was about halfway from the stage and the back of the crowd.

The Kooks were amazing. It gave me chills to actually hear them live. To hear an acoustic version of Seaside was incredible. I heard every song I love on the night – which one always hope for. But once again my shortness had me at a disadvantage. I only got to see Luke and the boys when I watched the videos I took earlier today.

My first 5Gum Experience was awesome, even though I am sick right now, from standing in the rain for an hour waiting for a bus after the show. I hope I will be lucky enough to attend the next one.