Around two years ago I went to my first ever music festival with the sole purpose of seeing one of my favorite bands Anberlin. In that post, I stated that I was never interested in going to music festivals because whenever I went to a concert it was to see some of my favorite musicians instead of doing something trendy. But this past weekend I was very lucky and went to the third annual Self Help Fest in San Bernardino, CA on March 19, 2016 to see my favorite band of all time A Day to Remember.

Even thought I say a lot of bands are my favorite, A Day to Remember really is. I have been listening to this band for almost 10 years now. I started listening to them when I was 13 years old. At the time this type of music was cool as well as the whole emo scene. Even though I don't have side swept bangs and wear all black anymore, I continued to listen to their music because it resonates with me a lot. When I was 13 the music was genuinely helping me and my teenage problems. Now I still find a lot of help and reassurance, which is why I think I've continued to listen to them.

The only thing is, A Day to Remember is the band I've been listening to the longest, but a band that I had never seen live. So when my friend said she was going to Self Help Fest to see A Day to Remember, right away I kind of begged her to let me come with her. I had never been to Self Help Fest before and didn't even know what it was. To be honest I thought it would be like Warped Tour. After going I can say it is nothing like Warped Tour, it is better!

Since me and my friends were pretty much only going to see A Day to Remember we got to the festival pretty late. Self Help started at 1:30 p.m., we didn't get there till 5:00 p.m.  When we got there the first thing we did was go get some refreshments.

Since I've started this blog, I've found myself on this unexpected journey when it comes to Anberlin. From merely starting off writing that I've discovered a great band, to seeing them live and meeting them at Warped Tour, to reviewing their final album, I've now found myself at the end of this journey. Last night, I saw Anberlin for the last time on The Final Tour at the House of Blues in Anaheim.

I knew this day was coming for a long time. Knowing that, I have been eagerly waiting for the day where I can say, "Yeah I saw Anberlin on their Final Tour." I knew it'd be amazing and a night I will never forget. I was right. My final Anberlin show did not disappoint.

I've been to the House of Blues in Anaheim before. As a venue I like it as it's pretty small and intimate. I can see why Anberlin chose this place. It allowed them to really connect with their audience on such an important night. I prefer these types of venues in comparison to arenas because you get pretty close to the band and are able to meet people who are also there for the same reason you are.

I was expecting Anberlin to play songs from Lowborn, since most bands perform songs from their most recent albums. But I was surprised to find that nothing from Lowborn was played. Instead the night consisted of their most popular songs from their prior six albums.

The night started off with "Never Take Friendship Personal", getting everyone upbeat and excited for the rest of the night. They ended up playing 21 songs: "We Owe This to Ourselves", Paperthin Hymn", "Self-Starter", "Readyfuels", "Someone Anyone", "Other Side", "(The Symphony of ) Blasé", Take Me (As You Found Me)", "The Unwinding Cable Car", "The Haunting", "Modern Age", "Breaking", "Impossible", "Time & Confusion", "A Day Late", "Hello Alone", "Dismantle.Repair",  "The Resistance", "Godspeed", and "Feel Good Drag."

The order of the setlist was perfect. It created a good variation of fast good feeling songs that made you happy to be there, to more calm and mellow songs that made you appreciate how talented Anberlin is.

"12 years. We could not be more excited for you guys to be singing along and dancing along with us. Thank you guys very much. Thanks to all our friends and family for being with us tonight." - Stephen Christian

"(The Symphony of) Blasé" got to me. With lyrics like, "This is our last goodnight. Say what you will. Say all that you can. This is our last goodbye," you can't help but think this night is their last goodbye. My favorite song of the night was "The Unwinding Cable Car."Apart from being one of my favorite songs, it's one of the first songs I listened to from Anberlin. Listening to this song so many times on my computer, I couldn't believe I was hearing it live. Christian has amazing vocals and you can see how much passion he has from this performance.  The songs lyrics are wonderful that they touch your soul.  Playing favorite songs made mine and the audiences night more enjoyable. As we were able to sing out to our favorite songs while fist pumping, jumping, and dancing.

"I think if we could leave anything for you guys it would be to inspire you to do and dream and think bigger than you ever thought possible...You never know, you just never know. When you guys follow your dreams, this life is amazing so keep going. Joey, me and Dion all come from the same city. 27 thousand of little nothing town. So if we can make it, you can make it. " - 

Stephen Christian. 

When Anberlin came back on stage for their encore performance, I knew what was happening. This was it. It's the final song, and the night was ending. "*Fin" is a very calm song. With soft guitar and  opening, and finishes off with a faster pace, harmonic vocals, and harder drums. It was the perfect song to end the night with. Stephen Christian at the end of "*Fin" started saying, "We'll live forever, forever, forever." These are lyrics to "Harbinger", the last song on Lowborn. When I heard this, I was about to cry. All these years ended with this moment.

Christian was right, they are going to live forever. Because although Anberlin as a band won't be together, they live. They live in the hearts of all the fans they've touched throughout these 12 years. They will always carry a special place in my heart and will always be my favorite band. Last night was one of the best nights of my life. Anberlin will live forever.

Although I've been to plenty of concert's in my life, I have never gone to a music festival. When I went to shows, it was to see some of my favorite bands like Panic! at the Disco, Black Veil Brides, Alesana, Dance Gavin Dance, and Jonny Craig. I didn't go because it was trendy, I went to enjoy the music. Therefore, music festivals were never something that I had wanted to go to before because it seemed like a lot of people were doing it for the hype. But yesterday, I had the privilege of going to my first music festival, Vans Warped Tour in Pomona. It was honestly one of the greatest things I've been to and an amazing experience.