Concert culture unites diverse audiences

Life changing experiences bring people together through music

As we are getting older, along comes the ability to create new experiences. Concerts are one thing that although parents may say they are “not a good idea”, if we are smart and aware, can be exhilarating and eyeopening events. Through others and our own experiences, we have seen concert culture continuously bringing people together, strangers or friends, in one venue or internationally.

Taylor Swift is a great example of an artist that brings people together. As her current tour, The Eras Tour, is underway, there are multiple trends bringing people together, directly in the stadiums or through social media. One Taylor Swift specific trend or “fanproject” has emerged and continues through each stadium is the exchange of friendship bracelets. Fans have brought their own homemade friendship bracelets to the concert and switched them with random people at the concert. This simple gesture has a deeper meaning to Swifties as it routes from the line of one of her songs “You’re On Your Own Kid”. Although this trend is Taylor Swift specific, it shows the extent to which fans are able to come together in person or online with a common interest in mind.

Music is a common topic of conversation amongst myself and my siblings. Despite being so different and living very different lives, music is one constant amongst the three of us. On many occasions, my siblings and I recommend new artists to each other that we all end up listening to on our own. For example, my obsession with artist SZA, began around two years ago when I introduced her to my siblings. My siblings also began loving SZA’s music and we were all consistently recommending different songs to each. This year, we attended the SZA concert in Boston, and although simply attending a concert with my siblings may not seem like a big deal, it was more than just a concert to us. Songs such as “Prom” and “Drew Barrymore” are favorites for my sister and I for a number of reasons. What makes these songs so significant is the meaning behind them. My sister may not know exactly why I resonate so much with certain songs but she knows there are reasons for it, and vice versa. During SZA’s performance of “Drew Barrymore”, the first song that got us both into her music, my sister and I did not let go of each other’s hands. It is small gestures like these that show more than just that we really like this song. It shows our experiences, happy and sad times from two years ago when we first started listening to this song till now, standing there experiencing it in person, something we never thought would happen. Music brings out the best in people, it makes people feel free to express themselves. Music has the power to be so uniting because everyone knows the overarching meaning to a song but not people’s individual resonations to that song other than that fact that they are all going through something similar. Oftentimes, that is enough to bring people, siblings or strangers, together.

By Nicole Martin Staff Writer By

Concerts are one of the only experiences that can turn complete strangers into friends with only a few lyrics. Elton John recently concluded his music career with his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. Since everyone knew it would be our last time watching Elton John sing, the emotions of the audience were powerful, bringing many to tears. Every song he sang brought the audience to tears. People all around me were talking about the “first time they heard Elton John live back in the 70s.” Whether it was their first time seeing Elton John, or their seventh, we all shared feelings of grief knowing that this would be his last one. His last tour concluded with his song “Farewell Yellow Brick Road”, which was him saying his final goodbye to performing and to the fans who have supported him his entire career. During this song they played a montage of his whole career on the screen behind him. While Elton John sang everyone in the crowd began embracing each other. Complete strangers comforted each other while they all experienced this special moment together. There was a sense of vulnerability created by the audience, everyone felt they could express their emotions without fear of judgment. No matter the background or age of anyone in the audience, at that moment we were all experiencing the exact same thing.

The magic of a concert is truly something everyone deserves to experience at least once in their life. Concerts are one of the only places where people from all different backgrounds, ages and places get together to celebrate the same thing, their love for music. While the environment of concerts varies between genres, the magic remains regardless. After attending more than two dozen concerts within the past year I have witnessed some beautiful examples of unity and nostalgia brought out by just a few songs. With “older” bands such as Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins and Sublime, the concerts are full of people sharing memories with each other of their lives back when these songs were popular. Everyone dances and enjoys being taken back to special moments in their life via music. It is beautiful how the same song that reminds some people of the worst day of their lives, holds special memories that bring joy to others.

One of my favorite concert experiences was seeing every single person in the crowd come together at Sublime. In the middle of the show, the band announced that they had a special guest performing the next song with them. This man called himself “Cheese” and had met the band at a gas station earlier that week. When new lead singer Rome Ramirez approached Cheese, he found out that his biggest dream was to play his guitar on stage with Sublime. The band said they “knew instantly that they had to make this man’s dream come true.” After nervously playing the guitar for the song “Wrong Way” the crowd went crazy. Even though we all secretly knew Cheese was not the best guitar player, we were all so proud of this complete stranger. Knowing that each and every person that cheered for him made his dreams come true was rewarding, not only to Cheese, but to everyone supporting him.