Music evokes so many different emotions in people. As a huge fan of live music, I’ve experienced every feeling imaginable at one point or another in my life in relationship to music.
The intense feelings usually begin with the minute I hear that one of my large number of favorite bands has a tour date anywhere in the near vicinity of where I live. My body tingles with excitement and anticipation as I check my calendar to make sure I can clear my schedule to attend the show. As the day that tickets go on sale approaches, I’m usually a ball of nervous energy. Will I log on to the site fast enough to get front row tickets? Will the show sell out so fast I won’t even get a ticket like the last show I desperately wanted to attend? If the tickets are successfully purchased, I then spend the next weeks or even months silently wishing time would go by faster because I am one of the most impatient people ever.
A few days before the concert, my body is so tense from the upcoming excitement, I can barely sleep. I start analyzing what songs I think the band will play, if they’ll have any guest artists show up, and then I think about the past times I’ve seen the band and am instantly grinning from ear to ear, reliving the memories of how the music made me feel.
Now the day of the show, my energy level is out the roof, I’m bouncing off the walls, I can’t eat anything, and I’m counting down the seconds until I can get to the concert. Once I’m there, all is right with the world and I feel as if I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. The first strum of the guitar, beat of the drum, thump of the bass, playing of the keys is so fulfilling and satisfying. Depending on what the band plays, the music usually makes me smile, sob, and everything in between over the course of the show. It’s amazing and beautiful that people are so talented that they can take an instrument and make art on the fly. If you’ve never been to a live music show, this should be a priority on your to-do list!
Sandra Reed
