The energy palpably shifted as soon as Hamilton Leithauser started playing โA 1000 Timesโ last night. And what a thing it is, to share space with a bunch of people you donโt know being moved by the same perfect piece of music.
The last time I heard this song live, I went alone to see him play in DC. It was 2017, I was very single, and feeling a bit despondent about the state of the world (living in DC during that period was just hard). What a wild form of time travel it is to see him so many years later in Chicago with my husband sitting next to me! Little lonesome heartbroken Sandy would have loved to know that everything was going to be okay. And that, my friends, is the magic of music. It transports us, unlocks portals, connects us to people we donโt know, moves us, tells stories, and creates a mood.
If youโre looking for a good entry to Hamilton Leithauser, I highly recommend his album with Rostam Batmanglij titled โI Had A Dream That You Were Mineโ. Not a single song is worth skipping.