So last week Thursday I went to my first 21+ concert at Mercury Lounge to see Trails and Ways! My friend Karina joined me, and we had so much fun.

Waterstrider opened the show at around 7pm with a song that started putting me to sleep (it was either “White Light” or “Calliope,” I really don’t remember. But then things got interesting when they played more upbeat songs like “Redwood” and “New Sun.”

Waterstrider’s lead singer Nate Salman’s high range vocals are pretty impressive, and the group’s conga player Brijean Murphy is so cool. (Side note: It wasn’t until a few minutes ago that I realized Nate Salman is the singer featured on Le Sins’ “Why”. I freaking love that song! His vocal range is lower in “Why” than most of his songs for Waterstrider, so I had a hard time believing it was him. I had to actually watch a live video to be convinced!)

Waterstrider ended at around 7:30pm, and that’s when Karina and I decided to go get some food in our bodies to then get some alcohol. I wasn’t the one who got the drinks, but according to Karina, we were served cranberry vodka with fizz and a lime. It was delicious!

Trails and Ways came on at around 8:15pm. I was super hype. They opened with “Jacaranda,” one of the last singles released from Pathology.

The band also played some of my all time favorites, “Nunca,” “Tereza,” and “Say You Will.” When they played “Dream About Me,” Karina and I went nuts because we didn’t realize Ian Quirk was the one singing on that one when we heard it on the album. He is now my personal favorite of the band.

At one point during the show, Emma stopped to tell us about how she and Hannah went to buy fanny packs at a store in NYC that they had bought the same item from a few years ago.

“It’s basically like a pocket for your waist,” she said. Keith thanked her for that fashion update and kindly asked to move on.

Trails and Ways was amazing, and even though I was kind of saddened that they played their cover of “Sure Thing” instead of “Lost” for the encore, I absolutely loved the concert. They ended with “Vines” the last track on their latest album, (making the show’s ending even more melancholy than it needed to be).

Karina was all, “It’s not over, is it?”

Couldn’t have asked for a better night to celebrate my new 21+ concert-going life!