A night with Mipso @ the Gothic Theater

I spent last night surrounded by Coloradans and North Carolina expats for Mipso’s farewell tour stop at the Gothic Theater. The crowd was filled with anticipation and some sort of bittersweet grief, not knowing if or when we will see these songs live again from these fantastic performers. The folks to the right of me had become fans of Mipso years prior from catching their live shows up in Boulder. Much to my dismay, the couple to my left were die hard UNC fans. I was unjustly booed when I expressed my allegiance for the blue devils. Despite butting heads, knowing that the rivalry still transcends state borders warmed my heart. I would rather talk to a UNC fan than a CU Boulder one anyday, because at least we share that wild rivalry. When you can fill a room of people with this common link it truly is magical. 

The night started off with Andy Thorn from Denver legends, Leftover Salmon, treating us to some solo banjo playing. Originally from Durham, he grew up a Duke fan, only to switch his loyalty to the Tar Heels when attending UNC. He brought out Joseph Terrell from Mipso to sing a heartbreakingly up-tempo song alluding to gun violence and political injustice. As frustrating as it is to hear songs written years ago that still hold up as things continue to worsen, the song almost brings a sense of peace to an otherwise wearying situation. A pause for a second, where these atrocities are not happening, and we can attempt to catch our breath before continuing the fight. The power of music is a funny thing. In addition to performing his own work, we were graced with a song off one of my all time favorite albums, “On + Off” by Maggie Rogers. I don’t know if I'll ever listen to the original the same way with the absence of his banjo. 

Mipso quickly dawned the stage and immediately won over the hearts of all the North Carolinians by starting the night with “Coming Down the Mountain”. I was transported back into my packed up Toyota Highlander, heading out of Boone. If I am being honest, I miss Western NC most days. I yearn for the community that I built while in school, for the changing leaves, for the amazing meals and countless Cheerwines shared with my loved ones. “You fools in your cities / Think you got it made / The yoke of this hard lickin’ world will break you to pieces one day” really hit me that night. I am so grateful to have found a new home out west, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t as special as these tight-knit towns. It’s an internal struggle of being pleased with myself and the opportunities ahead of me and knowing how fulfilled I was being back home. “Fishing was fine but fishing comes to an end” always reminds me how nothing is built to last forever. Was this chapter in Western NC only meant to take me to my early twenties? Or will I find myself back where I started, and descend down the Colorado mountains soon?  If there is any constant in life, it's that things, places, and people will always be changing. 

Their most popular tune, “People Change” is another reminder of that. I stumbled across this song while I was studying abroad. My usual tunes had started to bring me discomfort, reminding me of my ex partner that was back home. We had broken up at the beginning of my time in Italy. I was at the halfway point in my summer semester when I threw on my discover weekly playlist and skipped though a handful of songs because I could already tell they weren’t what I was needing. The title stopped me from skipping past this one though. As the song played I didn’t pay too close of attention to the lyrics until the mention of Carrboro. I stopped what I was doing to rewind and see if my ears were deceiving me but sure enough this was the same Carrboro that my ex and I had spent my last night in the states in. It felt like fate finding this song. “We cried that night in Carrboro / Realized we were letting go” at the time, letting go of this person felt like a crime against humanity. “I used to love you like the world would end / I used to love you like a child”. It felt like a movie the way we loved each other. Hind sight has shown me that a love like we had, while romantic as hell, was not a healthy way to love someone. Alas that last night we spent together, I knew that it would never go back to this. At the time, I thought we would return to a new chapter of our relationship after a summer of being our own people but that turned into never getting to know the new versions of ourselves. I will always wonder what would happen if in ten years they called me up, how that would go. Would I find that they are getting married? Have they had any curiosity about what I have been up to thousands of miles away? Had they gotten their doctorate or had they changed directions in their career? 

Each lyric of this song spoke to me in ways music hadn’t before. “It's all so fast until it's slow” while such a simple choice of words, brought me comfort of knowing I wasn’t alone in this feeling. Currently, their music reminds me of a past life I used to want so badly to forget for a while. I lost a part of myself when I moved out west and I have reached a point where I have gotten most of her back, but this band has the power to make you jump in a time machine to visit a former version of yourself. For a moment I was able to find that girl who was hurting when I first heard these songs and I can tell her it turns out fine. It continues to strike me now, realizing we did all end up fine, just like the song says. Fine just looks much different than I thought it did.

Fine has changed into discovering a community away from home. It has become finding the ebbs and flows of working in the music industry, the love I have for concert photography, the frustration but acceptance of rejections. Fine is also getting the pleasure of living somewhere where I get the privilege of having visitors and friends in town frequently, much like the crowd at this show, and the folks on stage. Mipso brought back Andy Thorn to return to their roots, the four of them with just their instruments and their buddies from home. Mipso is composed of Wood Robinson, Jacob Sharp, Joseph Terrell and Libby Rodenbough, all of whom met at UNC Chapel Hill. The band was formed in 2012 mixing together their unique musical backgrounds to create a perfect ratio of twang and nostalgia. While this is their farewell tour, I was given a little piece of mind when I saw the line of text on their tank top that was for sale, reading "You'll be a fan for life”. Regardless of the future of this band, the music will always be there for us. We can continue listening, putting people onto their tunes. Maybe in ten years we will see a reunion show, maybe we won’t but there is one thing I know for sure. Nothing is built to last forever, so don't forget to enjoy it everyone once and a while.