Get in the van, we’re going to a show.
In the above photo is Greg Puciato (vocalist for The Dillinger Escape Plan) screaming his heart out with his fans during a show. While sitting at home listening to music on your stereo is all fine and dandy, you have never really experienced music the way you should until you’ve been to a live show. When those lights dim and the crowd goes into an uproarious frenzy, and the people whose music you have been enjoying by yourself in the confines of your room or car step out onto the stage and begin to play, there really is nothing like it.
The sense of comradery present at a show cannot be replicated in any other environment. Once the music starts, the people in that venue or stadium become your family. It’s an assembly of like-minded individuals stuffed front to back into a space, singing with eachother as if they were one. Nowhere else can you put your arm around some stranger you’ve never met in your life, and sing to your little hearts content without feeling stupid. Take the above photo as an example. It can safely be said that most of those people have never even laid eyes on one another, yet they are united by the fact that they are there for the same reason. To scream like a banshee along with Greg Puciato, and probably get crushed by airborne bodies and pummeled by body parts in every direction. Every individual has preferences when it comes to the music they like, and the same can be said about the shows. One person might want to be giddy and dance at a Tegan and Sara show, while another might want to go and raise carnage in the pits at a Pig Destroyer show. To each his own, but regardless of who is playing or what genre of music it is, a live show is truly an experience that any fan of music should take part in. And the beauty of the whole thing is, it doesn’t matter what your background is or who you hang out with, or even your outlook on life. For a few hours, you can interact with other human beings, and feel like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself.
What some people don’t realize, is how important the live music scene is to a huge chunk of inviduals. For many, the experience of going out and seeing a show is their ultimate source of happiness. The one thing that can make everything disappear for a few hours. Not only that, but it’s basically a huge social gathering. Music can bring people together better than almost anything else, and countless friends have been made over the years due to the concert experience. It isn’t like walking through the halls in high school, where anyone at any time can ridicule you and point out your flaws. All of those things disappear when people are brought together at a show. It’s a magic that is unexplainable, but a magic that many people cherish. A magic, that makes contemporary music so special.
First Photo: http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/djstevegerrard/DEP30.jpg
Second Photo: http://jacintamathews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/phoblog45.jpg
