This is not the end

Over a year has past since the final show and I still wished it never did. It’s hard saying goodbye to something that meant the world to me and meant the world to tens of thousands of people world wide. I have so many memories of this amazing band, the amazing people beyond the band and the friendships I have built because of them. Here is my story…

Before Ocean Ave came out I started working for Capitol Records on the weekends and some nights. I was in 10th grade at the time, only 15 years old. I was a fan for almost 2 years already and it was amazing that one of my favorite bands was on the label I was working for. The sad day of 9-11 struck and I remember it being my last day of high school forever as I had my first panic attack from watching the towers fall from my high schools roof. Shortly thereafter I was given the opportunity to work full time helping promote Yellowcard in the NorthEast region of US. Traveling, going to concerts every night slinging those Yellowcard stickers to every concert goer and going into the countless record shops putting up CD stands, posters and other material. I was so proud to be doing that. It was the coolest job a 16 year old could ask for and hell I was even being paid! My fondest memory of that time was chouffered to Looney Tunes in Long Island to help set up an acoustic show they were going to be performing that evening. I was shy, I looked up to these guys, they were my idols. My girlfriend at the time and I loved the song October Nights and we made it our song. After that show the guys were signing autographs and I thought, heck wouldn’t it be awesome if I could get Ryan to write out the lyrics for October Nights. I got the courage to ask him and I awkwardly tried to pass Ryan $100 in crumbled up 10 dollar bills. He threw it back to me, said something cool and then wrote out those lyrics. She still has them 17 years later.

Fast forward 16 years… I was absolutely devastated when I learned that the band that I loved was breaking up….again. I knew it was real. I also knew I was growing up. I was getting married to the girl I had been with for 13 years and I knew I needed one last hurrah. I made it a point to make sure that my bachelor party was in Vegas for their final show there. I even brought my dad along for the ride so he could experience them for real instead of just hearing me rock out to them in the house or the car. We all got Yellowcard Tshirts from the concert and made it a point that we were going to wear them under our suits for the wedding. We have amazing wedding photos with our YC shirts hanging out. Google search it. What an amazing party we had in vegas!

November rolls around and they are playing in NY and NJ. In the middle of all the wedding chaos, which was less than 2 weeks away, my fiance and a friend drove to NJ to say our goodbye. It was an amazing show at Starland. Our friend has a 2 year old and on the ride over there we were all talking about having kids and growing up. I remember saying that I wished I had a kid and she replied, in due time when the time is right. Week and a half later I’m married and 3 weeks after that I find out my wife is pregnant. I’ll never forget that convo in the car to the show.

Low and behold I’m married now with a kid on the way and I remembered that I bought VIP tickets to their final 2 shows in LA and Anaheim. I was going to surprise my wife with them but because of the circumstances she wasn’t able to go and I just chalked it up to a few hundred bucks I’d never see again. I remember my wife telling me that I should go and not waste the tickets, that was on a Saturday. On Sunday I was asking people if they wanted to fly cross country for a few days. My business partner at the time agreed to go. By Monday night I was on the road driving to Los Angeles from NYC for what was my last hurrah before my son was born. Left Monday night and arrived in LA on Friday afternoon. It was a trip I would never forget. It defined me as a person. It gave me one last chance to say goodbye to the band I grew up idolizing. It gave me peace at heart. I was 31 years old living it up as if I was a teenager again. Buying thousands of dollars in merch and throwing it out into the crowd was my way of saying thank you. I didnt have any YC stickers to hand out and it only seemed fitting that I end it the way I started it. Promoting the band I loved.

Just like how the band will never know how much we still miss them to this day, we will still go on rocking out to their songs.

I could have written 20 more pages but I’ll stop.

I wish you all the best of luck in all your future endevours. I will support each and everyone of you all no matter what you guys have chosen to do. Thanks so much for the memories and for the lifetime of rocking out.

*Aaron*

- Aaron Amrhein