I arrived in Gulf Shores, Alabama one day before the Hangout Kickoff party and decided to enjoy the beach. The sand felt great and the sun was warm so I relaxed for a few hours before heading to lunch. None of my friends had gotten in to Alabama yet, so I decided to stop at a restaurant to have a cocktail and write in my journal. When I sat down, two men came in and sat on each side of me. Noticing they were talking over my head as I wrote, I offered to switch spots with them at the bar. Overly thankful, they offered to buy my drink and asked my name and where I was from. Due to the fact that I had just started my journey, I began to talk to them about my travels and blog. They were interested and kept asking questions, curious about what was on my agenda next.

I quickly learned that one was a businessman and one was a judge, both hailing from South Florida. They were excited to spend the time together as friends at this music festival. When we began to discuss music, they both went on and on about the Foo Fighters. That was their band, that is who they came here to see. I learned that neither one of them had ever seen the Foo Fighters, although they had made several attempts. Between this iconic band being on the headliner and the fact that VIP wristbands came with free drinks (pretty cool if you ask me), they decided to plan a trip and head to Gulf Shores. I laughed with them for a while as they told some fun stories, but it was not until the end that one told me about his connection to music, and more specifically, the Foo Fighters.

Although he was always a fan of the Foo Fighters and their music, his love for this band goes much deeper than that. Several years ago, while he and his wife were in their car driving, they got T-boned in an intersection, nearly resulting in their deaths. The car was completely wrecked and both he and his wife were told they were incredibly lucky to be alive. On the radio during the wreck was Foo Fighters “Times Like These”. This man told me that this song, this band, saved his life. Months later, he turned the song on in his living room so he and his wife could sit and listen to it and they both cried, remembering the crash, that they survived and their luck. This song and this band meant the world to him. When the Foo Fighters announced a small tour during their before Sonic Highways documentary road trip (on HBO), he tried to get tickets in Chicago, but was not able. Finally, when he saw them as a headliner at Hangout, he bought tickets immediately. This man watched every  Sonic Highway episode, and listened to every CD and was ready for the show. “Its going to be a very emotional experience for me”, he said. On Friday night, when I saw the Foo Fighters and heard “Times Like These”, I thought about this man, and hoped that the time he had was everything he had hoped it would be and more.

Its really amazing to me how much music can bring people together, and give people overwhelming and unexplainable emotions. These deep ties to music are what creates such a love for it, and such a following for specific artists. In the short amount of time that I have done this traveling, I’ve heard some pretty incredible stories related to music, so I decided to write them here. The stories I share here will be the best ones, the ones that made me really think, and the ones that moved me to share. If you have any great stories related to music, feel free to contact me and share. I would love to share your story on here too! Keep coming back to this page for some good, quick, reads.