This Week’s Say

Noah Kahan’s not a singer. He is a storyteller. He is a braid enthusiast. He is a son, a friend, and a funny, anxious man. This is what I learnt from attending his recent concert at Rod Laver Arena this week.

Rod Laver is extremely special to me - my first concert was there, One Direction in 2013. One of the best days of my life. However, this was an extremely different experience; the sets were less teenage and more artful. Potentially the most artful and emotionally evocative set I have ever seen. I feel like I know Noah Kahan personally after his show, and if it weren’t for his incredibly vulnerable, soul-bearing lyrics, the set itself paired with the audience members would have done it.

I stood out front waiting for my friend to arrive, observing the crowd entering the stadium, who fell into either of the following categories:

• Friends in white tops and brown skirts

• Couples

• Country people who I could tell came into the city for it (I am from the country, so I can spot fellow countrymen)

• Friends in brown skirts and white tops

• People between 50 and 60 years old

The audience members who I felt the most connected to were the two best friends, presumably 17-year-olds with biology classes and maths tests to get to the next day, who would spend the whole night sending each other TikToks from the show and gushing about moments they remembered from the night, through Snapchat videos.

Their phones had the best battery life I’ve ever seen - they Snap-chatted the whole show, meticulously sending each rendition of verses to specific friends in their list that corresponded with the song or lyric. Something I have most definitely done in my time. At the start it was distracting, seeing them erratically react to small moments in songs that meant next to nothing to me, then realising that that most definitely is me when Harry Styles does anything on stage.

Noah sang “Dan”, a song he dedicated to his best friend in the whole world, before asking the crowd if anyone was attending with their best friend. I have never seen two girls so happy to be together. It made my heart swell - female friendship bonding over music, being able to see your favourite artist, being in the same room as them and then hearing your favourite song - heaven.

Then, they did something I didn’t expect.

They FaceTimed their friend, including her in the moment, despite her clearly being on her drive-through shift. I think that was the moment I smiled the hardest all night - both hilarious and considerate at the same time; these moments of friendship are ones we never forget.

It made me realise that live music is their connecting thread, and having one of those in a friendship can bring the most fulfilling moments and connections. Like bonding over supporting the same football team, or the love for fixing cars, spending hours on a golf course, or sitting at a table sewing all day - friendships with a thing or multiple things connecting them like threads in a cardigan can bring nothing but fulfilment, love and most of all, happiness.

So go and find those threads with your friends, or make one. Test out different coloured threads. Try threads you thought you never would.