ghostsinthegrooves.com

Thoughts from a Vampire Weekend concert

Manhattan in winter, Montauk in summer, the hipsters of the mid-aughts. No wonder Vampire Weekend had a song on the soundtrack to “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Adventure.” Art school kids that were TCFS.

Their audience has aged right along with them. Most are married now; some have kids. A few still live in the city; most live in the ‘burbs. Their world is Volvos, PTA meetings, and power lunches. They have grown into the people they knew they would be.

Tonight, tonight though, they get to relive that glory of past dreams and uncertainty. To fall down the hole into Wonderland once more. That portal opens less and less the further away they get. Most of them just aren’t looking for it anymore. Some fall down here more often than others, the ones that feel that they left something behind, the ones that didn’t like what awaited them outside of Wonderland. The ones who are still certain that they should have married that person, the ones who know that they should have split for Prague or Tokyo, the ones who missed this band and that incredible weekend at Bonnaroo, the ones who weren’t sick in Wonderland, the ones that come back here to be with ones that didn’t get past Wonderland.

When they first came here, they truly believed. Some knew where they were and how special it was; they also knew it was fleeting. They still tried to believe though. Others were sure that this was the epitome of everything and that they would find a role so that they could stay in Wonderland. And the few that seem to just that they were destined to disappear in Wonderland.

In a few hours, they will walk out the doors and wake up to hangovers, regrets, and memories. Some of them will have a smile on their face when they awake. A genuine smile was felt for the memories of Wonderland and the gratitude that they had found something better than Wonderland.

They thought they could return to Wonderland and find it exactly as it was, but you can never go back to Wonderland.

You know too much.