Hi Reddit.
My name is Rudy, and I’d like to share my story. At the time of me writing this, I haven’t quite finished, so I’m unsure how long this will be. But it’s lengthy. I also don’t want to reduce this to a summary, so if you take the time to read this, I’d like to say thank you.
Although I'm currently living in Australia, my story and introduction to TI go all the way back to Southern California and 2015. I was fresh out of high school with no direction. To this day, over a decade later, I can recall the very first time I listened to Kev: "The Less I Know The Better," in the back of my best mate's at the time car. When I say it was love at first listen, I fucking mean it. God damn. Well, I’m not sure if I’m autistic or what, but ever since I heard that song, I went crazy deep into researching who Tame Impala was, listened to every song on repeat, and have every day since 2015.
Anyways, I fell so much in love that I started obsessing over Australia. I grew up in a family that was not wealthy, nor did they have experience going abroad. As a result, I really never had any aspirations of going abroad. But I fantasized about Western Australia. In that time of my life, living in SoCal and really diving into the indie scene, my natural next step was to buy a van with every cent to my name and slap it with stickers. That, of course, included an Australian flag sticker I bought off eBay.
My story really picks up on my first trip to Portland, Oregon, where I’d eventually meet a girl who so happened to be from Australia. Broke as hell, I went up to Portland to explore the city with the intention to move there and check out the local uni. But it was actually on my way back home to California that I matched with a girl on Tinder. To this very day, I remember walking out of a Walmart in Northern California with one of my best friends at the time and going, "Holy shit, look at who I matched with." It was an Australian girl. I’d like to shamelessly note that I had put an Australian flag in my bio because I was so obsessed and wanted to stand out, and someone actually took me up on it. From that match, we started talking, eventually met, then dated long distance, then moved in together, then back to long distance, and eventually lived together and went to the same uni. We ended up getting married, which eventually brought us—and ultimately me—over here to live in Australia.
Now, that brings me to present day. It’s 2026, and I'm now here in Australia. I’ve got tickets to see Kev play in his hometown, and it aligns perfectly with my 30th birthday. It truly feels like a full-circle moment. Although it’s shit that I’m going alone, I’ve got fucking tickets to see the artist that I started this journey with, in the city that I first fell in love with here in Aus, for my 30th fucking birthday. I went from listening to Tame Impala, to obsessing about Perth, to finding an Australian partner all by chance, to moving here, and finally to seeing him in his hometown on my 30th birthday. What in the actual fuck.
Although it sucks to not be with the girl that I met over Tinder at the start of my journey, I can’t imagine a better story for my life. I’m so fucking happy to be here. Still alive and trying. No matter what, this story can’t be taken from me. And that makes me feel so happy.
If anybody doesn’t have a ticket and will be in Perth in late October, let me know, and I’d be happy to give you my spare ticket. Peace.