I can say that I’ve been to countless concerts, but I know that there are people who have attended more than I have. Anyone who has been to a concert, though, knows that they are so much more than that.

It’s our home away from home.

It’s not like school or a best friend’s house. We are in another world. We are with so many new people outside of our own world, and we are all banded together as one.

Band merch!

Come on, how can we go to a concert and not even buy a bracelet with the band/artist name on it? Even if we don’t wear whatever we buy, we definitely keep it for memory's sake.

Saving the tickets.

I don’t know about other people, but I keep all of the tickets of the concerts I’ve attended. I even keep them in a book, in chronological order from the earliest concert to the most recent concert I have attended. Not kidding. For me, it’s to remember all the concerts I’ve been to, as well as to remember every artist I’ve seen. There’s something special about remembering all of those little details.

The best stories.

Catching that guitar pick, meeting our favorite band, joining the circle pit, crowd surfing—these are some of the best stories we could ever share.

We are all there for a reason.

Whether it’s to meet our favorite band member or catch a thrown drumstick, we all have our reasons for going to a particular concert. We deal (somewhat) with the unnecessary overpriced water. We deal with the people in the crowds who push us so far away we get lost from our friends or even thrown into a circle pit. We’re not just there to be there, we’re there for a reason.

No matter what the concert is, there is always a purpose behind it. Let me tell you, though, even listening to a band from a parking lot is awesome (not to mention free!). There’s just something about it; when we’re at a concert, we feel it. We feel the music connect to us, we scream the lyrics along with the singer(s) because we understand them. In a way, for that one night, everyone in that room is a family. And it’s a pretty amazing feeling.