I found myself trying to explain to my younger sister what going to a concert is like but how can you explain an experience so amazing? An experience that can drag you out of the hardest of times and into the happiest; you can be at your lowest state but smile more than you ever thought was possible simply because you are seeing someone in person doing something they love.
A concert is so much more than listening to music. You feel the music. You become the music. You are the music. Every note touches you and hits you with emotion. Hits you with emotions that you never knew existed.
When the music and lights come on at the start you go from being calm and collected to a raging lunatic in a matter of 0.1 seconds because you know you get to see that person or people you’ve been waiting to see for weeks, months or maybe even years in a few short moments.
Through the tears of joy you see them, walking onto the stage and it’s like they are in slow motion. Thoughts are flying around your head, they’re real… They’re real… They’re actually real! And when you thought it couldn’t get any better or the crowd couldn’t get louder they sing the first note and you honestly think you will be deaf by the end of the night because the crowd are screaming at the top of their lungs but then you realise so are you. You can’t control the screams it just happens, like it’s an instinct.
You watch as the set unfolds into a spectacular event and it’s not just you having the best time of your life it’s the other 100 people, 1000 people, 10,000 people having the time of their lives too. All the energy in the room bouncing off the walls and making you smile.
Then comes the moment where they sing their most popular song and that magical moment happens when they just stop singing yet, you and everyone else in the room carrys on singing it and you see your magnificent, huge smile reflected on the person you have come to see. Because that’s the thing about concerts, you’ve gone to see them because you love them and they’ve come to do this show for you because they love doing it and they love you.
You check your phone and realise it’s nearing the end of the night and your heart starts to sink, it will be over in a matter of minutes. You want to scream over the whole crowd- “Don’t go yet!” But you know they wouldn’t hear you and suddenly you realise that you are just a fan in a very big room of fans… But never, ever think you are just a fan, you are so so much more, you are the performer, life, their strength, their passion, their friends and their family. You are so much more.
The last chorus of the last song, your eyes fill with tears of happiness and sadness and you calm your breathing, put your camera away and just smile, enjoy it because you never know when you’ll next see them… And then, just as quick as it started it’s over. All those days waiting and counting down and it’s over, it’s almost like it never happened even though you’re still in the venue. But then it hits you, you’ve seen them. The memories come flooding back and the smile returns and in that moment you feel limitless, you feel like you can do anything and everything.
It’s funny what a concert can do to you. It makes you feel things you’ve never felt before.
So, to my younger sister, and to you, it’s impossible to describe a concert, every one is different but what I can say for certain is its some type of magic.