You have probably heard it thousands of times before, but, Taking Hayley are an amazing band with four of the most genuine and hard working guys
you will ever meet. I first heard about the band when I received a random inbox message from a certain Levi Keeling. He messaged me to check out
Taking Hayley because they were similar sounding to another band I like, You Me At Six. I was quite surprised but I gave them a listen, I haven’t
looked back since! Hearing about their Tricks And Games tour made me feel excited and upset at the same time. My city doesn’t have a good track
record for pulling in live music and I was hoping and praying that they would come near to where I live…they did. There it was in black and
white! Sheffield! They were going to Sheffield! Ok…it was going to be a 70 mile journey each way but I really wanted to see them live. I was
lucky enough to get hold of a AAA wristband and meet the band at the gig. Now this is where I explain a little about me. I have depression and
anxiety problems, stemming from my problems at university and my life after university. I basically had to pull out of my university course after
the first year because I was being severely bullied by almost all the guys on my course. The course was sports journalism and there were only two
girls on the course. The other girl was an athlete and that made her interesting to the guys, whereas I had nothing special like that to tell
anyone. I was different. I was a music fan as well as a sports fan. I dressed differently. I had certain morals about self respect that I had
always had since I was little. That is why I got bullied. I was a complete loner at college before that because I was different. Anyway that is
the basic outline of how I was diagnosed with anxiety/depression. Now back to Taking Hayley and the Sheffield gig. It is a well known fact that
music has pulled me out of the darkest of places over the past year. Well, when I first got to the gig, I was really anxious because I didn’t
think I was going to get accepted (all stemming from the things that happened at uni). It wasn’t like that at all! Everyone at the gig accepted
me and the band had a laugh and made jokes. It was a great laugh! When the music started playing, that was all that mattered to me. When they
sung “Crying Eyes” I closed my eyes for a part of the performance, just to hear the lyrics and the passion in Alistair’s voice. I can honestly
say that I was getting teary. That song really did hit my emotions. The gig was one of the best nights of my life! Without even knowing it, the
band made me feel happy! They made me feel like I was a part of something. That I should be proud of being different. They made me feel like I
did belong somewhere in the world and not in that dark place that I always thought I did.

From Emma York