The Devil Makes Three
It was just another random day doom scrolling on Instagram when I came across a post from one of my favorite bands, The Bridge City Sinners. They were announcing their upcoming tour and had a very special surprise. To end their tour, they would be opening for The Devil Makes Three in Santa Cruz at the legendary Catalyst Theater. I was dismayed. A mere week before the announcement I was engaged in a conversation about regret. About ten years, a lifetime, and a different ski town ago I had the chance to buy tickets to go see The Devil Makes Three in Bend, OR and at the time I was too “broke”. I’m sure if I had skipped a time or two at bar I could have afforded tickets (hence the regret), but priorities and life views were all askew. When you are in your mid 20’s, second chances grow on trees. Needless to say the opportunity for me to see them never returned…. Until now.
I made it a point to set a reminder to buy tickets the day they went on sale. No way was I going to miss this opportunity to see one of my favorite bands from last decade with my favorite band from this decade opening for them. Years ago when I was just a child pretending to be all grown up (college), a fellow student told me “You can always retake class, but you can never relive a party”. This is a saying I have lived by ever since. I wasn’t forgoing responsibilities to get black out drunk or anything like that, well at least not all the time. That is never what that quote meant to me. When I heard that phrase I took it as learning how to read the situation before you and weigh in the possibility of missing out on a once in lifetime opportunities. I view every concert I go to as that chance. With tickets selling out in less than 24 hours, I said a little thanks to that long forgotten student who forever changed my life with just once sentence.
As the time for the concert grew near, I struggled, going back and forth on weather or not I should reach out to Bridge City to see if I could take pictures at the show for them. Back in 2021, I was living in Oregon and took pictures at one of their headlining shows in Portland. I felt like I had a 50/50 chance of them giving me press access considering it wasn’t my first time documenting them, but my imposter syndrome paralyzed me until one day I mustered up the courage to send that DM. I got a response rather quickly saying that i could take pictures! I was beyond ecstatic! Between the two bands, this was one of the biggest shows I had the privilege of shooting. When Showing up to the concert, there were some mishaps but all in all this is how I got my first press pass.
