Crying at a Billie Eilish Show Does Not Look Cool in 4k
When your kid and a 80-year-old out-cool you at the same concert
My daughter, Fiona, saw Billie Eilish last night with her friends and it reminded me of a beautifully tragic story from when we saw her perform in New York City.
An old man who looked to be about 80 was sitting next to me, with two young girls beside him.
“Did you come with your grandkids?” I asked.
“Oh no. I’m here by myself.”
That alone was surprising. Then he told me it was his first time out in four years. Before I knew it, I was holding my breath.
COVID started it all. The virus took his wife’s life and nearly his own.
For years he wouldn’t step outside. After she died, he shut down completely. Then came the cancer. Two long years of chemo and recovery blurred together. When physical therapy got him back on his feet, the first thing he did was hop a train to Madison Square Garden to see Billie Eilish. Her show was his grand entrance back into the world.
I didn’t have time to process – let alone wipe my tears – before Billie hit the stage and an explosion of sound washed over us all.
My daughter was to my right, glowing – literally and figuratively – filming as she sang along. Then I looked to my left, and I kid you not, the old man was doing the exact same thing as my 15-year-old daughter – smiling ear to ear, capturing the magic with his phone, and singing every last fucking word to “CHIHIRO.”
Two generations, side by side, lost in the same light. And I was crying like a baby – which, for the record, does not look cool in 4K.