RIP YMAS
I went to all three of Glasgow’s Final Nights of Six, and now it’s my whole personality.
In 2008 at my first proper concert, I saw a random band called You Me At Six open for Fall Out Boy. Last week, over three insane days, I saw them perform in Glasgow for the very last time.
Take Off Your Colours was the soundtrack to my teenage years, I had the entire album on my pink slide-up Sony Ericsson, and Jealous Minds Think Alike went triple platinum on that bad boy. I remember the rush of waiting outside the ticket office under Central Station to buy my ticket for the 2010 headline tour, and the sheer excitement at Christmas when I opened the deluxe edition of TOYC and my brand-new merch tee. I remember my friend group passing around the Hold Me Down CD so we could burn it onto our iTunes and our phones. I remember the adrenaline one morning, waking up to blast Sinners Never Sleep on my iPod touch before school, so we could gush over it at break.
Slamdunk 2024 brought me to their last festival performance, unfortunately, the company I kept at the time completely ruined the entire experience. So you can imagine the hard work I put in when the final nights of six dates launched.
Running off to the toilet in work to get in the sales queue, and trolling the Ticketmaster site for resales was a long and stressful process. However, luck was on my side and I bagged a ticket for all three dates. Earlier this year I also had the extreme fortune of snagging a ticket for the Glasgow wake, obtained through the kindness of a friend (owe you big style btw).
The final nights of six in Glasgow have been some of the best shows I’ve ever been to. The atmosphere was electric, and the crowds brought it every night.
Night 1 was spent bouncing around, and running through pits with my best friend. Starting my night off with only a view of someone’s shoulders, to end it up by the front surrounded by the most passionate fans. Night 3 was bittersweet, screaming my lungs out at the fact both of my complete favourites made it to the setlist. Followed by holding back the tears at the heartfelt Liquid Confidence speech, unfortunately, Fireworks was the nail in the coffin for me and big boy tears were shed.
Night 2 will always be famous, not only because I had the pleasure of meeting the lads and getting free pizza, but from the energy of the crowd. Night 2 was bouncing, stomping, and banana message-throwing insanity. The lads were of course, polite and chatty, and it was wonderful to see how down-to-earth they’ve all remained over the past 20yrs.
I do apologise to Josh for having such an incoherent accent, I know fine well that man could not understand why I was taking such a long swatch at his trousers - they had a scorpion in the same place I have a scorpion tattoo - however, I’m sure he got over it. After all, he did blow me a wee kiss from the stage when he caught me staring at them all in speechless awe.
A week has passed, and seeing the pictures from the wake has brought all the mixed emotions back (wink wink). It’s just under a week to go before the final night of six, and I will be a wee emotional wreck watching the live stream back after my night shift finishes the next morning.
Most of the bands I’ve known through childhood have announced random splits and hiatus (many I have now seen due to reunions), so it’s an odd experience to attend a farewell tour to say goodbye. At 30 years old, I have now lost a band I spent 17 years listening to, and I don’t quite know how to feel about that yet.
They have been and always will be, You Me At Six. And nobody will ever do it better x