People who know me (or at least are friends with me on Facebook) know that I go to a lot of concerts. The Black Cat staff probably knows me by face, if not name; I basically live in the 9:30 Club, and I may be an unofficial member of the 6th & I Synagogue thanks to the number of concerts I’ve attended there.
I have been asked many times how I have the time to go to all of these concerts, and my answer is always the same: “I make the time.” And it’s true. If that means I don’t get a full night’s rest, so be it. Last Tuesday, I stayed up late studying for a French midterm I had the next morning after going to see Two Door Cinema Club.
Now, you may think I am insane for giving a large amount of my life to something I could do easily while studying. At least, that’s what many people have asked me. Because going to a concert is just listening to music, right?
But you cannot understand the music to its full extent until you hear it from the band live, in the context of being surrounded by hundreds of fans. At concerts, the culture and experience are equal to the music itself.
At a concert, you get to see a side of the band you do not get from a YouTube video or their LP. Concerts are not pre-recorded messages that have been edited over and over again to make sure they’re perfect. Concerts are live, visceral experiences where whatever happens, happens. The band gets to play with their music and with you as a witness to their craft. The best live bands interact with their audiences, make jokes, and talk back to people. It’s an intimate experience that is unique to each new show.
Some bands go beyond performance and put on a spectacle. Everyone knows the elaborateness of a Lady Gaga concert, but Ms. “Born This Way” isn’t the only artist who adds theatricality to her productions. Marina & the Diamonds, Amanda Palmer, and Of Montreal all create something akin to a performance piece whenever they go on stage, making the experience even greater.
I go to concerts for the fans more than I go for a band. There’s nothing like dancing to The Wombats with a crowd of people. Dancing with a partner is great, but dancing with everyone in a club to Marina & the Diamonds? It’s infinitely better. And it may be cathartic to sing along with the radio, but you never feel closer to understanding the meaning of life and humanity than when singing along with Nate Ruess and everyone else to Fun.’s anthem “We Are Young.”
Moreover, the diversity and character of the other fans makes concerts an experience far superior to a Spotify-filled study sesh. At concerts, I’ve danced with people I would never even have thought existed and had conversations with some of the most incredible people. Someone even wrote a song about me and my friend and the experience of waiting outside in the cold for James Blake’s signature.
Concerts give me a space to anonymously profess my love for a band or their music in a very physical sense. There, I can sing at the top of my lungs and be drowned out by a crowd doing the exact same thing in unison. I can make a fool of myself and let my body react to the music, and not be judged because everyone around me is dancing just as ridiculously. I almost always walk out of a concert hoarse, soaked in sweat (not all of which is mine), and barely able to walk.
When I go to a concert, I always go straight into the middle of the crowd. Sometimes I force myself closer to the band, but as long as I am right in front of the stage with everyone else, I know I’ll have a good time. I’ve been on the balcony, and though it was a nice, calm night with my mother and The Cranberries, it did not have the same feeling as being right in the middle of the action.
Some people may question the absurd number of concerts I go to, and some people may think it’s a waste of money. But I’ve had some of the greatest moments of my life at concerts. Some of my greatest stories come from them. My phone background is a picture I took of Ingrid Michaelson, and my timeline cover is my own picture of Two Door Cinema Club. I do not plan on changing either any time soon, because both came from two of the greatest nights of my life.
Your experiences sound almost like a religious high, with the exception that you feel connected to the cosmos of other people and music.