The Unexplainable, Incredible Experience of Live Music

I don't remember my first concert, on account of I was most likely a baby. I grew up with my father in a band (and he still is, well over forty years later) as well as my older brother who found mild success in a local radio market. The love of live music was instilled in me at a very young age, no doubt some sort of weird hereditary trait that my dad must've somehow managed to pass down only to me and my older brother, not my younger brother.

Going to concerts as the daughter and sister of two musicians is a must. I had to be in the audience, not only because I wanted to enjoy the music, but because my presence was mandatory. Granted, this was also because I was a child who needed supervision, which meant that sometimes I got dragged around to different events. While I didn't necessarily get a say in some of my earliest concerts, I don't think that mattered much to me. No matter who was on stage, live music was still just that: the thing I loved so much up close and in person. I could hear it with my own ears and witness it being created in front of me.

The best part about live shows is taking really horribly grainy pictures of the headliner–typically the love of your life, like sir Niall Horan above–so you have the semi-tangible memory for the rest of forever. And so you can, you know, post it on social media so people know exactly where you were and who you saw and how great your music taste is and how fun you are because you love going to see concerts.

In any capacity, watching a concert is just experiencing the magic of music live. That's really what a concert is, right? It's being able to see an artist practicing their craft with your own two eyes, listening intently to what they're singing without the added help of the studio. It's raw and real and doesn't gloss over the rough bits that make the song a song. Live music doesn't have seconds takes, second, third, fourth, or fifth chances to get a line right. Live music is one take of an artist. It's unique and never the same, each performance as new as the next.

I've had some of my happiest moments at concerts. I've seen shows with best friends, new friends, my mom, my dad, my brothers, my older cousin who I think only agreed to take me so he could hit on girls and make him seem like he was really nice for taking his younger cousin to a concert (in reality, he's just the best).

I will see live music with strangers or with my closest of friends.

I'll go to a tiny club at a show with only one hundred people or I'll pack myself like a sardine into an arena or stadium to see my favorite bands.

No matter where I am or who I am with, there's just something that live music does to me that transports me somewhere else. I release my inhibitions, which I'm sure Natasha Bedingfield would be pleased about. During the set, nothing else matters.

Sometimes I know the words, sometimes I'm mouthing along absolute nonsense. Guaranteed I'm dancing when appropriate and can read the room if shit is about to get serious. Sometimes I jump up and down and wave my arms and sometimes I just revert back to the always solid sway and bop.

Posting will be back to normal tomorrow. I didn't have time to prep photos for today's original blog post idea because of personal things which I may address at some point. Anyways, now we get to talk about live music, which is one of my favorite things in the world! What's the best concert you've ever been to or want to see?