When you’ve been a fan of a band for a few years, especially during the formative years of your life, you almost feel like you’ve grown up alongside them. Throw in the fact that some of those formative years were during the COVID-19 pandemic, and you’ll feel even more closely connected to that band.

I saw Connecticut’s Anxious for the first time at Amityville Music Hall on Long Island, a venue just 20 minutes from my hometown. The then-punk/hardcore(?) band was on tour with Knuckle Puck, one of my favorite bands at the time. I saw three shows from that tour: one at AMH, one the next night in New York City, and one the night after that in Philadelphia.

After the Philly show, I spent some time chatting with the members of the band and picked up some merch. I had no idea that I wouldn’t be able to see the band, or any artists, for that matter, until about a year and a half later.

While I wasn’t familiar with Anxious when I saw them, during the pandemic I dug into the band’s discography (or what existed of its discography thus far). While only a promo tape, a debut EP, and a live EP were available on Spotify at the time, I was hooked. I bought a shirt and a seven-inch vinyl from Triple B Records over the summer of 2020 and was counting down the days until I could see the band again.

Throughout the pandemic, I wasn’t just discovering new music. It sounds cheesy, but I was also discovering myself. COVID-19 hit when I was almost done with my junior year of high school, and as a teenager hoping to work in sports watching the sports industry completely shut down, it’d be an understatement to say that I had no idea what I was doing.

At the start of 2021, I had finally survived the college application process and was figuring out where I wanted to spend my next four years. I had applied to two schools that were 10-40 minutes from my childhood home, and one that was two hours away.

If it wasn’t already obvious, I decided on the school that was two hours away, which was Quinnipiac. Everything has clearly turned out okay over the past three years, but I can’t say that I wasn’t scared. I’m an only child and I’ve only lived with my mom my whole life, so the idea of leaving everything I’ve known behind and starting fresh was equal parts exciting and terrifying.

I found comfort in listening to bands that were from Connecticut and starting to connect with the local scene here. Anxious was the only one I could think of at first, so I spent a ton of time listening to their January 2021 single “More Than A Letter,” dreaming of what my life in a slightly different northeastern state could look like.

Something I’ve always loved about Anxious is how vocally supportive the members are of their home state. Every time I’ve seen them, the first words out of vocalist Grady Allen’s mouth are about being from Fairfield County. I thought it was a little weird at first, being adjacent to the pop-punk genre where “I hate my hometown” is a regular part of nearly everyone’s vocabulary, but I started to find it cool when I moved here to go to QU.

Fast forward five semesters later and I had seen Anxious five more times since those first few shows on the Knuckle Puck tour in 2020. Earlier this month, I got to see them in CT once again, when the band joined Action/Adventure and Sweet Pill as support for The Wonder Years at College Street Music Hall in New Haven.

There’s something electric about the way an Anxious set starts, especially in Connecticut. This time around, the band opened its set with “Your One Way Street,” the first track from “Little Green House,” the debut album released in 2022. When all of the instruments drop out at the start of the first verse, allowing the crowd to hear how loud they’re singing, it’s always such a cool moment.

The second song on the setlist was “In April,” one of the singles from “Little Green House,” which is always a fan favorite. Things got extra crazy when the band started playing “Small,” a track from the 2019 debut EP “Never Better,” which is much heavier than their more recent material. Nothing warms my heart like watching the looks of confusion on people’s faces when a mosh pit breaks out, and this song had plenty of that.

The set continued with more fan favorites from the LP, including “Call From You” and the aforementioned “More Than A Letter.” We also got to hear the band’s latest single “Down, Down,” a lovely combination of their more pop-leaning sound while still staying true to their alternative/rock roots.

“Afternoon” was the penultimate song of the night, and is my personal favorite from the record. Guitarist Dante Melucci’s vocals really shine here with a backdrop of dreamy instrumentals.

Anxious closed its set with “Growing Up Song,” and the crowd absolutely ate it up. From the guy in the purple Teletubby costume crowd surfing nonstop to the fans rushing to get around Allen when he hopped down in front of the barricade for the final chorus, this was a beautiful way to wrap up the band’s portion of the night.

There’s something really special about growing up with a band, and there’s something even more special about getting to see them countless times in a state that you and the members now both call home. Seeing Anxious at College Street Music Hall was an unforgettable experience, and I can’t wait to sing along with them again soon.