About last night...
Me with The Royal Beggars 08/10/2022. Essay about hanging out with them under the cut
After The Royal Beggars finished their set, I bought their tote bag and all three CDs they sold. Later when I was at the merch stand again, I noticed that they were signing someone else's CD so I thought why not?
I walked up to them and got one of my CDs out, asking the singer if they could please sign it. He, the drummer and the bassist were standing behind the table and signing it when the guitarist suddenly stood next to me, asking, "What's your name?"
I replied, "Melissa" and he shook my hand, saying, "I'm Jonas, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," I said and after they all signed my CD, the singer said to me, "Thank you so much!"
"Thank you! You guys were amazing!"
Then the singer said, "Aw you are amazing!"
As I was leaving the stand, the bassist yelled after me, "You're beautiful!" and I put my hand on my heart, pouting a bit and saying, "Aw thank you!"
After Sister's set, I decided I wanted to ask for a photo with them, so I went to their stand again and asked the merch guy if the band was still here. He said they're backstage and asked if I wanted to meet them. A few minutes later, Jonas, walked over to me and I asked if I could take a picture with them. He said, "Of course. Let's go outside for that, yeah? Because the light is better there and we need to find the other guys. You're Vanessa, right? No, Melissa. Come on."
We pushed through the crowd together and made our way outside. "Are you from the city, Lichtenfels?"
"No, but I live 20 minutes away from here."
In the entrance hall of the venue, some drunk guy chatted him up and visibly annoyed, Jonas looked down at me and touched my back. The drummer, Emil, came from outside and Jonas told him to stay here because I wanted to get photos with them. When the other guy finally left him alone, Jonas went to search for the singer in the crowd. I told Emil they were my favourite band so far and he said, "No really?! That means so much to us!"
Shortly after, Jonas and the singer, David, came back. "Now we only need to find Simon. The bassist is always the hardest to find," Jonas chuckled.
Then Simon came from the bar with a Jack Daniel's plastic cup in his hand and he got so excited when he saw me. He immediately hugged me and shouted, "Melissa! Melissa is my favourite person ever! She's the best person we've met!" (He repeated this many times that night)
"She wants to take pictures with us," Jonas told him.
We all walked outside and with his arm around my shoulder, Simon asked, "How many pictures do you want to take?"
"Uh... as many as you'd like to take."
"We'll take lots for you."
Outside the venue, David asked some random dude to take photos with my phone and then tightly wrapped his arm around me before Simon said, "No, she has to stand in the middle. You're the star of the photo."
The dude took a bunch of pictures and the band members said, "Look at them right now so if they suck, we can take more."
I looked through the pictures and took my mask off so we took some more photos without it and Simon asked if it's okay if he puts his hand on my shoulder. Once again, they told me to check if they're good.
One of them asked what I bought from their merch and I said the three CDs and the tote bag. Simon was like, "All three?! Thank you so much for your support!" and David insisted that they need to sign them all.
Jonas asked if anyone had seen their pen and Emil said it had been at their merch table earlier. He got a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and asked if I wanted one. I had never smoked before, but I accepted the offer because how could I not? Jonas took one too and the drummer lit all of our cigarettes before going back inside. My cigarette went out and Jonas lit his and mine again, saying, "You need to inhale it- yeah, like that" when I put it in my mouth and inhaled as he lit it again.
He explained that they're loading in the van with all the gear and the next day they need to drive 15 hours back to Gothenburg. "Did you know this actually our first time playing outside of Sweden?" and I asked, "Really?" He nodded with a grin and took a drag of his cigarette.
"Are you gonna play here again soon?" I asked.
"I hope so! It's planned," he smiled. "Are you staying for the after party at the bar?"
"No, sadly not. My sister's driving me and it's gonna be late anyway..."
He nodded and I admitted that I actually hadn't known them before and only listened to two or three of their songs the night prior, but they were definitely my favourite of the night. "Thank you so much! That really means a lot to us."
We could hear that Hardcore Superstar had just started playing. "Hardcore Superstar is a great band. They're also from Gothenburg like us."
"Oh?"
"Mhm... Did you get one of our shirts?"
"Not yet."
"What's your size?" Jonas asked as he started looking through the merch boxes in the open trunk of the van and I said XL. "Do you want the white shirt with the blue writing or the black shirt with the red writing?"
I looked at the options and picked the black shirt.
Then Emil came back with a pen. The two of them signed the other two CDs and then Simon and David came back too. While signing them, David accidentally dropped one of the CDs. "Shit, I'm sorry, I hope it's not broken," he apologized, picking it up and inspecting the CD.
"It's okay, I don't think it's broken. And if it is, it's simply a collector's item," I said.
"If it's broken, just message us on Facebook or Instagram and we'll send you a new one," Simon said. "Or just if you want anything, message us and we'll send you shit."
"Thank you so much!"
"Not actual shit, we won't send you actual shit," he added, laughing.
As they continued putting boxes in the van, Simon called, "Jump in the van! You're going to Gothenburg with us! Jump in the van!"
I laughed. "I'd love to, but..."
"No excuses, jump in the van!"
"I just think it would be difficult to explain to my parents, but I promise I will next time."
"Where are you from?" Simon asked and he mumbled something, saying it's a place in Sweden that sounds like my hometown.
He kept looking at me like a puppy with teary eyes and I smiled, wordlessly looking back at him. "Sorry, it's just so special that we have a fan. You're our biggest fan. We thought we're the only people who listen to this shit. You're the best person we've met, you're amazing."
"You are amazing!" I said before adding, "We already had this earlier."
After I put the CDs in my bag, Jonas handed me the shirt and smiled. "Here's your shirt."
"Thank you! How much is it?"
"Nothing! It's a gift from us to you," he said, bowing with his palms pressed together, first pointing at himself, then at me.
"Aw thank you so much! Can I hug you?"
"Sure, come here," he said and hugged me.
"I want one too!" Simon said excitedly and I hugged him as well.
"Hey, she's giving out free hugs! I also want one!" David said, pushing through from the back and hugging me really long and really tightly so I could feel his link chain pressing into my cheek. When he pulled away, he patted my back.
I turned around to see Emil with open arms and a smile, hugging me too.
"We drove 15 hours to see you and it was worth it," Simon said.
"I drove 20 minutes to see you and it was also worth it," I laughed.
"Only 20 minutes?"
"Next time I'll be the one driving 15 hours to Sweden."
Simon accompanied me to the entrance, his arm around me. "If you do that- if you do that... you'll get another shirt!"
"Only a shirt?"
"You'll- you'll get everything!" We stood in front of the door and I put my cigarette out and threw it away. "I'll buy you a beer! Do you want a beer?"
"No thanks, you don't have to."
"Listen, I'm not trying to be a creep here! I'm not- I'm not a weirdo or trying to hit on you or anything..." he explained himself, his eyes wide.
"No no no, not at all! Don't worry about it, it's fine," I reassured him.
"Okay, do you really not want something to drink? I'll buy you a drink," he asked again.
I shook my head. "That's really sweet of you, but next time, yeah?"
"Alright, then thank you again and see you next time! I need to take a piss now, bye!"
"Bye, have a great night!" Emil was standing by the door and I thanked him again for the cigarette.
"Oh, no problem at all," he smiled, briefly looking up.
In the middle of Hardcore Superstar's set, when I was watching from the side (because I obviously lost my front row place that I had for the rest of the concert), Jonas came out of the backstage area and grinned, raising his hand when he walked past me. He gave me a high five hand shake and looked back at me with a smile as he walked away.
UPDATE: Last night, I posted one of the pics in my Instagram story, thanking them again, and they reposted it. This morning, they messaged me, "Thank you Melissa, it was really nice to meet you! [...] Hope to be back again soon!" and when I said, "You better be! If not, I'll drive the 15 hours to Sweden, as I said", they replied, "Haha, you're the best!"
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