How it 'becomes real'

Asked directly. Asked "what would make me feel that it's being real," the answer is modest and concrete: "that we actually do some real shows at some universities." The realness lives in lived doubt: "oh, is that really going to happen? Are we really going to get in with that group? And is it just going to be Loughborough University or whatever it is and three others and then stop?... is that tour going to continue?" It becomes real when "those events are happening and... we get a good reception at these little gigs."

Texture from elsewhere. The group is candid about fatigue: "We're all getting a bit tired. So we'll skip through them." One firm felt-realness anchor stands apart from hope: "I think the radio station just being on is evidence of it being real." Earlier, the credentialed track that lets an artist "share that they've been on the hitchhiker radio" is named "the trust graph doing its work."

See Don't Panic Tour · hub: Becoming Real?