As an advocate of the arts, I always say to do more. Read more poetry, go to more art museums, check out more galleries, and as always, go to more concerts. You could be the biggest music enthusiast, but if you don’t go to concerts, I would argue that you’re not experiencing any music to the fullest. There’s something special, and almost magical, when the bass is pumping loud enough to rattle your eardrums and the venue starts to shake with the jumping of the hundreds of people around you. As the crowd becomes so energetic and engaged in the music, the atmosphere only becomes more heightened. The crowd is simultaneously singing and screaming and you’re not sure that you’ll ever hear again, but it’s one of the many moments that has the potential to make you feel alive.

As an avid Spotify Premium user, I would say that I listen to a lot of music. I’ll put my headphones in as I’m working on homework or walking to class, and the sounds coming through my headphones are definitely good. Otherwise, why would I listen, right? But, you don’t realize how much of the experience of music listening is lost when you hear a recorded, studio mixed version of a song. So much of the experience to listening to music is your relationship with what is being conveyed and your temporary connection to the singer, and there is no place where this is more evident than when you are experiencing the music live. When a singer is mere feet in front of you, so immersed in the music itself, the experience becomes just that, an experience. The music is the farthest thing possible from background noise or a tool to set the mood, it is the sole thing you are focusing on and immersing yourself into.

Listening to music seems to be becoming more and more of an individual activity. You walk around and you see everyone with their own headphones in, listening to whatever, playing a song just for themselves. However, a concert is the antithesis. It is one hundred or many hundreds of people sharing an experience amongst themselves, sharing a moment together. At a concert, music ceases being an individual experience, and people become united. A crowd all shouting and singing to one powerful lyric is an extremely moving sight. It’s not only fun, it’s memorable, because a concert is about so much more than listening to music. After all, you can do that with headphones. A concert is a unique, special experience to share in the power of music and word, with hundreds of people as invested and involved as you are. It’s an opportunity to dance until your legs hurt and sing until your throat burns. It’s an opportunity to do so much more than merely listen, because you can feel it with your whole body, your whole mind. Through the music, you feel alive.