Tears For Fears Travel Experience

My best friend’s mom randomly called me one day. She only said a few words to me, “Do you listen to Tears For Fears”. I answered her with a “Yes of course”, and she said, “Perfect because I just bought me, you, and Maggie all tickets to go”. Tears for Fears was a band formed by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith in 1981. The band broke up in 1991-1992, Orzabal and Smith had a fallout and parted company due to their manager claiming bankruptcy. Though Tears for Fears reunited in 2000. 

On July 7th, 2023, my life changed. Tears for Fears went on tour at Virginia Beach Amphitheater, and I got to see this band perform live. Since 18 years of retirement, The Tears for Fears duo,  Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, reconciled and released their newest album, The Tipping Point, on February 25, 2022.  They went on tour in 2023 with this new album and I was lucky enough to watch them perform it. I would have never known they went on tour, I didn’t even know the artists were still alive if it weren’t for my best friend’s mom. 

Getting to experience my first concert with my best friend and her mom, listening to the music that helped bond us all together was magical. Tears For Fears have been making music for over 50 years so there were various age ranges surrounding the stage. The experience of seeing different generations all singing songs together and enjoying themselves was so sentimental to me. I had the best time of my life and it seemed like everyone around me was too. The wide variety of songs being played and emotions that were created, hit the audience like a tsunami. When they performed the mainstream song “Everybody Wants to Rule The World”. Which was a song my dad introduced me to as a child that I’ve grown up being able to recite word for word. Everyone around me stood out of their seats and sang with them. The band would stop singing and you could barely tell because of the audience’s roaring.

The person to the right of me was a stranger, an older woman, and a child, who seemed to be her grandchild, both stood the entire time and danced together. Tears for Fears’ performance had all different kinds of genres, they were considered new wave synthesizer bands but later started creating mainstream rock and pop music. Therefore, I found it extremely sentimental that no matter the emotional delivery or rhythm of the song, the strangers still swayed back and forth to the pace of the rhythm. I am so grateful to have experienced this band’s live performance before I no longer get the chance.

The Tears For Fears concert was truly the best day of my life. I will forever be grateful for my mom’s best friend who surprised me with concert tickets as a going away to college gift. Music truly bonds people together and the ability for me to witness and live it all at the same time was a blessing. Immersing myself in the music, as others harmoniously do the same, lights flashing everywhere, and people screaming songs at the top of their lungs, I found myself filled with joy. Tears for Fears was the best first concert I could have ever received.