Storytime: Holden

August 3, 2016
David Wexler


Sometimes the best storytimes during Home aren’t stories at all. For 10-year-old Holden, it was a joke that won over the hearts of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros frontman Alex Ebert and the thousands in attendance on May 31 at the Ascend Ampitheater in Nashville, Tenn.

“Why can’t you play board games in the jungle? … Because there’s too many cheetahs.”

The crowd erupted in applause, before chanting his name: “Holden! Holden! Holden!”

Asked if he wanted to stay on stage with the band for the rest of the song or go back to his seat, Holden – dressed in a Captain America t-shirt with the words “Free Stuff” written in Sharpie on his left arm – naturally opted to stay. Not a bad way to experience your first ever concert.

In hopes of meeting ESMZ, Holden brought to the concert a giant fathead of Ebert, which immediately caught Alex’s attention after he took the stage.

“Oh my god, who is that handsome devil you’re holding up in the sky?” Ebert joked.

During Man on Fire, Ebert took the fathead (which he later signed for Holden) and paraded it around the ampitheater for everyone to see.

Props to Tess Wray, who should win Aunt of the Year honors for bringing Holden to the show.

“Holden said it ‘made his summer’ and his hand ‘hurt so bad’ from all the high-fives he received afterwards,” Wray said. “He had the time of his life on stage meeting ‘Mr. Alex.'”

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