Highest Moments at Troye Sivan Concert

My daughter is a huge fan of South African-born Australian singer, songwriter, actor, and YouTube personality Troye Sivan. When his US tour, The Suburban Tour, tickets went on sale with San Francisco, the kick-off city, she had to go. So, we bought two tickets.

San Francisco is the perfect place for Troye to kick off his tour because he is openly gay and supports many LGBT organizations worldwide.

My daughter is not gay but relates to Sivan's message from his song Youth –

"What if, what if we start to drive?

What if, what if we close our eyes?

What if we're speeding through red lights into paradise?

Cause we've no time for getting old

Mortal body; timeless souls

Cross your fingers, here we go…"

I insisted that I go to the Troye Sivan concert with my daughter because she is only 16, and this is her first concert. When I was her age, I remember attending shows and being insecure, kind of shaky, so I didn’t want her to go without me.

So, we bought our tickets right when we arrived. They were only $34.00 each for general seating, not bad.

I must admit I didn’t know Troye Sivan but knew my daughter worshiped his songs because they spoke directly to her as a young adult. I did listen to his hit song Youth and thought it was okay, but my appreciation grew when I saw him live from the mosh pit – more about that later.

We had roughly a 2-hour drive to San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon. The concert started at 7:30, with doors opening at 6:30 at the Billy Graham Civic Auditorium in the heart of San Francisco.

It rained all day, and my daughter wanted to get in line as soon as possible because she wanted to be one of the first people in the auditorium and get as close as possible to Troye on stage.

We arrived in San Francisco around 4:00 in the afternoon. Luckily, we were able to park on the street, and the rain stopped. We went right to the line, and my daughter felt we were in a good spot that would place us right in front of the stage.

Being a mom, I went and purchased food for us to eat. I told my daughter she could stay in the line while I sat in a nice warm restaurant and ate. I will bring her dinner to her shortly. She was all smiles and fine with me going off and leaving her.

I went back to the car because I spied a restaurant called The Grove, where we parked. The Grove looked so inviting. I am happy I walked into this restaurant because of the friendly service, and the food was delicious. I ordered the Berkeley Row salad and Veggie Lasagna. I asked for two to-go containers so I could take food to my daughter.

I figured we would split the meal. I eat inside, and my daughter eats in line. I ordered a glass of their house red, which went down smooth and warmed my palate for a great meal. While ordering, I spied some awesome cookies but kept to just the dinner – more about those cookies later.

I finished my meal, bagged the other half of the meal for my daughter with the help of The Grove staff, and headed back to the line. The line was much longer now, and my daughter smiled and was so very happy to see her warm meal.

While she ate, she told me Troye texted the fans to wear glitter and bring their Pride Flags, a 6-rainbow colored flag representing unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another for the LGBT. Neither of us had glitter or a Pride Flag.

Then, my daughter found out on Instagram that some of her friends from school had come to the concert. I asked her to find out where they were in line. We did, and my daughter was so happy to be with her friends.

While the clouds began to sprinkle rain, I kept warm because I wore layers of clothes. I got to know my daughter's friends. They were great people and fun. All of them loved Troye and were so excited about seeing him live and in concert. When the line started moving to let the audience in the auditorium, we screamed with excitement.

Once we were in the venue, we ran to get to our places, about 7 – 10 feet from the stage. One of my daughter’s friends said, “It gets scary in the mosh pit, but relax and go with the flow. You won’t get hurt.”

I looked wide-eyed at my daughter, and she smiled, “It will be okay, mom.”

After standing for about an hour, two potent female singers, Frankie and Astrid S, opened the show. Each performed as solo acts with their style and intensity. When they were on stage, I never thought about waiting for the main attraction, Troye. They were entertaining and unique in their way of performing.

Troye came on stage, and it was a whole new creation. I had a white ringing noise in my ears as the audience screamed for Troye. I saw a man about my age, and we looked at each other, "What are you doing here?" The irony of old age and a teenage concert.

I was mesmerized by the sheer intensity of his performance and the response from all these teenagers. I tried to resist the lure but to avail. I started dancing and swaying in the mosh pit.

His lyrics lifted me to a whole new level of awareness of being young in a troubled world with a future looking bleak. His words gave hope and possibilities, and he spoke not only to them but to me. I got it and understood why my daughter stood in the cold, sometimes drizzling rain for over two and a half hours to see this 21-year-old performer.

His songs speak to the youth because he is literate and young. He understands what they are going through, such as the peer pressure of fitting in. Dare they be themselves? But, Troye sings his song Ease:

"I'm down to my skin and bone

And my mommy, she can't put down the phone

And stop asking how I'm doing all alone, alone

But the truth is the stars are falling, ma

And the wolves are out c-calling, ma

And my home has never felt this far."

He performed new songs and never before renditions of an old song. Like, he sang The Quiet live for the first time anywhere.

"I don't mind that I know that you're wrong

I don't mind that you think you're right

All I want is a fight to fight

Anything but quiet

Just tell me

Say anything

Anything hurts less than the quiet."

But, Troye also performed the album version of Happy Little Pill live, which blew my mind with the lights shining out and over the audience with special effects behind Troye. I discovered that he’s only performed the acoustic version of this song before, so this was a moment to remember. I lifted higher to the younger generation, a whole new perspective of being young today. I am grateful for Troye taking me to that youthful place.

By the way, I did spy some older folks in the audience, only a few. I wonder what brought them to the Troye Sivan concert.

After an hour and fifteen minutes, Troye did one curtain call, and lights came up. My daughter grabbed my attention, "We got to get to the Merch table!"

"Merch table?" "Merchandise"

We proceeded to stand in line for another 30 minutes to get a Troye Sivan t-shirt. Still, in the moment of Troye's ecstasy, I happily dished out twenty-five dollars to match her ten for a 35-dollar shirt with a photo of Troye looking mighty fine.

We thanked her friends for a great time. “It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

We headed back to the car, stopping off at The Grove to pick up the two cookies I saw earlier when I bought us dinners and two Lavender Lemonades to wash down our raw and red throats from screaming and shouting so much during the concert.

My daughter smiled and talked about the concert during the drive home. I was exhausted but happy, too.

The next day, my body 55-year-old ached. It ached in places my body hadn’t hurt in years. Hurting like that was rare for me because I work out all the time.

My daughter? She was still smiling on the way to school. “I am still energized, mom. That concert changed my life.”

The smile on her face was invaluable. Her comment was priceless.

My daughter and I are closer now, but the concert changed my life, too, because I got in touch with today’s youth through a great performer.