Quarantine Playlist #1: The Year that Could Have Been

So, 2020 is obviously shaping up to be one of the collectively worst years in recent history, but allow me a little light because it has also already been a really good one for music. In the before times, this was the year we got new albums from Tame Impala and Waxahatchee and Soccer Mommy and King Krule. And even a surprise from Childish Gambino (or was that a gift for the dark times?). It was the year I bought an actual planner and put in dates for shows that were happening this spring.

Today, this playlist I’ve been building since the beginning of the year hits a little different – I had planned to be at the Tennis show at The Fillmore tonight (April 3^rd) and at the King Krule show, which I have actual paper tickets for, this coming Wednesday (April 8^th) at the Fox. It’s like listening to the year that could have been.

Hearing Tame Impala’s “One More Year” especially, I feel like I was a naïve little baby back in January thinking about where I’d be standing a year from then with a fantastic year of spring concerts and summer adventure behind me. Now the song holds a different kind of optimism that I still want to keep about how a year from now we’ll say, “Do you remember we were standing here a year ago? Our minds were racing, time went slow.” And that we got through a really chaotic time with some good music to keep us sane.

This playlist keeps me sane. I put it on when I need to sing out loud and dance like I’m jammed into a concert venue with hundreds of other people who’ve come to do the same. That’s why the only song that breaks the “songs from this year” rule on this list is “Billy” by DRAMA, because that was the last live show I got to go to before lockdown. And to borrow from that one meme, if I’d known that night would be the last “ayeee” I’d “ayeee” in a while, I’d have hugged everyone in that venue and told them I love you, music lovers.