After 10 successful years, alternative rock band Transit, from Stoneham, MA, has called it quits. Renowned as hometown heroes for those of the Boston music scene, this band has opened doors to the music world, created friendships and inspired countless people in just their short 10-year career span.
The Boston music scene was out in full force during their last show on April 26 at the small Sinclair in Cambridge, a crowd I was honored to be a part of. Among this crowd were teenagers, young adults and even men in their 30s. Transit had the incredible power to pull in such a diverse audience who would otherwise have nothing in common, and this couldn't help but get me thinking about the road that led me to this very show, and all the roads that could have led that crowd there with me.
The second semester of my freshman year of high school I was completely convinced that I would never find my "thing." I was never going to be great at sports like my brothers, I wouldn't be head cheerleader like my mom and I wasn't, and certainly am still not, cut out to be an AP student. I was completely confused on where I was supposed to belong, but apparently self discovery sneaks up on a person.
The first concert I went to was during the summer going into my freshman year, and the feeling of singing along in a crowd of people who loved those songs as much as I did was intoxicating. Since then, I've seen more bands than I can count, made friends from all over New England, and fallen more in love with music and the local music scene than I could ever have predicted at 14.
I have Transit, plenty of other local bands, and every person I've ever spent hours waiting in line with or next to in a sweaty crowd to thank for helping me find out who I was. I am 18 now, I spent four years finding myself in this lifestyle, and I'm not the only one. There were countless people in that crowd with a story like mine and plenty who were 18 when Transit came to be, and some who didn't find their place in music until they were 25. Everybody has a different story that led them to the Sinclair that night, and I may never know what that story is. But I do know that music made them feel something so strong that they clung to it like I did. Every person in that crowd loves each of those songs like I do and that's what brings us all together, as strangers, but as a family.
By some miracle, me, a tiny 18-year-old girl, and people of all ages and sizes and backgrounds all ended up at that venue to celebrate the incredible songs and even more incredible bonds that were made by Transit, and that is something I am unbelievably honored to be a part of.