Was this close to not experiencing Tame Impala live - then a miracle happened 😭 Post gig reflection.
Trying to get Tx for the Co-op Live show in Manchester during presale was an absolute nightmare. I ended up missing out completely.
Months went by and I kept checking for resale Tx, but everything was either gone instantly or massively overpriced. In the days leading up to the show, I kept refreshing sites and Tx were getting snatched up every time.
Then 7pm hits on the night of the gig. Tame Impala are due on in about an hour. I refresh the app one more time, just hoping for a miracle, and suddenly a standing Tx appears for £107. Didn’t even think twice. Threw some clothes on, popped a pill, got to the arena just as Apocalypse Dreams started playing, and I was in complete awe.
The whole show felt so personal. The way Kevin manages to make a 25k arena feel intimate is honestly insane. Most of the time I completely forgot there were thousands of other people there. I was just fully immersed in the music, the visuals, the lights, Kevin’s voice, the band — everything.
How silly of me to think Deadbeat was somewhat mid. Kevin absolutely knew what he was doing because those tracks sounded immaculate live. I’ve got such a deeper appreciation for that album now because of this show.
Standout moments for me were ‘Ethereal Connection’ and ‘End of Summer’, which felt full techno/trance at times, and ‘Not My World’, where Kevin was mixing in a mock-up home studio laying on the floor — “from my window, it looks perfect from a distance, oh, I want to be there, need to get away as soon as I am” 😭 I just felt it so much.
Then hearing ‘Same Old Mistakes’, which is genuinely one of my favourite Tame Impala songs of all time. We also got ‘Alter Ego’ from my favourite album, Innerspeaker, ‘List of People’, and sooo many bangers from Currents. Unreal setlist.
Sometimes it really pays off to be spontaneous and do things solo, because life’s too short not to just go for it.