Personal
Lord of the Lost
Disclaimer: Technically this wasn’t my first concert, but since the actual first concert was in 1991, for a small time Canadian band with one hit song, in a roller rink, I don’t count it.
So in 2026, at the grand old age of old I went to what was effectively my first concert. I met the band. I sang along to every song. I did the dance. It changed my life, I think.
Since I discovered them via Youtube recommendation in 2016, Lord of the Lost has been one of the most played bands in all of my playlists. The song was Raining Stars and it absolutely blew my mind. It starts off quiet and takes a long time to hit its highest energetic peaks, and I was fully into it.
Welcome, Dear Apocalypse
For a while the rest of their ouvre left me less impressed, but over time I found that their songs would grow on me, and even ones I didn’t like at all would quickly become mainstays in my music rotation.
Years went by. Albums came out. Thornstar, in 2018, was packed with songs I loved, or grew to love. Judas, in 2021, was a fantastic album on its own, but only a couple of tracks thrived beyond that. Blood and Glitter was an immediate, permanent resident in my head and my playlists. You might remember it from Eurovision 2023. One of their albums came out on my birthday.
And then, after a promoter stole the money and their first try was canceled, Lord of the Lost came to Australia. I bought a ticket immediately. I pushed through every bit of social anxiety I collected over the last two decades and I went to the concert in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, at the Crow Bar.
I was about 20th in line outside, on a bright and hot summer afternoon. The people in the line were, shall we say, diverse. I figured I was in good company, with the clothes, the colours and the metallic accoutrements.
I talked to some of the people in line. One woman had a whole purse made of pull tabs from beverage cans, and she was fascinating. Her friend worked in the concert scene, and she was fascinating. A couple on the other side of me in the line were on a journey I wish I’d thought of: She, a hardcore fan with hand made clothes covered in the band’s logo, and her partner who was at this stage still just for the ride, were going to see Lord of the Lost three times, in three cities, on the band’s four stop tour.
A friend of mine was in the warm-up band, and he told me that these sorts of events were always chaotic, and sure enough, we got the chaos. They opened the doors, let a few people in, then ejected them again and closed the doors. Oops, they said.
When they opened the doors again I went in with four new friends and we stood in line and waited for our turns to meet the band. Some people in line had brought stacks of CDs or LPs, where I had only a phone full of their tracks I’d purchased on Bandcamp. They got signatures on their treasures, and I had to settle for having them sign my small souvenir poster – which is now my treasure. Mine! Back off!
But I met (most of) the band. They had separated into two lines and because I didn’t want to miss out on a good shirt at the merch counter I ended up at the back of the first line, which by this point already included a lot of the people from the other line, and I was the last person through and didn’t meet the other members.
I got a photo. If I wasn’t GenX with that healthy fear of posting my personal shit online I would show you the photo of me, Chris, Benji and Pi “π”.
I told them it was my first concert, and they were shocked. How, they asked, did I manage that? Growing up in a small town in Northern Canada, then a moderately sized town in the lower latitudes, the closest I got to a concert was M.C. Hammer whose music I could only hear from outside the walled-off outdoor venue when the government, seeking votes, sent music acts to small towns. Music ’91, they called it. And then, in Japan and Australia, no one I liked enough came to town. But there was no way I would miss Lord of the Lost.
Pi said “We’re honoured!” and I replied with something stupid, the way you do in the moment, that haunts you for the rest of your life, even if it was harmless and did sort of make sense. I won’t tell you what it was, it will haunt only me.
Before the show started, I sat at a table with my new friends and we chatted about stuff and things, as you do, and the two who were going to see three shows had a lot of merch they wanted to keep safe. He went back to the hotel, leaving her at our table, and it was something they don’t normally do. I later learned her friends were astounded at this. It’s a testament to the vibe of the show, and the fans of the band, that they felt safe and comfortable enough to leave her with us.
They played so many of my favourite songs. There was only one I didn’t know, and one I didn’t like, but every other song was a favourite and I smiled and I sang along and when they did the One Person Circle Pit I jumped up and down and I laughed and spun around in circles by myself.
It was fucking magical.
After the last song ended shortly before midnight I had to run, or I’d miss the last train out of town. I didn’t get to say goodbye to the people I’d met, I have no idea what the after-show cooldown was like. In my mind the band would have tried to seek me out and ask how my first concert went, and I curse Brisbane’s trains that stop running at midnight, but I didn’t want to walk 40km home and I’m too cheap to pay for the trip, so I had to make the trains. And I did, with two minutes to spare.
I took a photo I wanted to share with the people I met, and on the band’s instagram I left a message in the comments. Something vague, “If you are so and so whose names I can’t remember, please message me”. One of their friends saw it a week or two later, and passed on the request, and we got in touch and I sent the photo. We still chat.
For about three whole months 40-ish of Lord of the Lost’s songs were all I played. No exaggeration. Nothing else made the cut. It’s only in the last few weeks I started to let other bands back into my life.
What a show. What a band.
I will never forget that night.
--NFG
[ Jun 23 2026 ]
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