This year, my wife and I decided it was time to get back in the habit of seeing live concerts. Things sort of were dialed back in 2020 (THE YEAR THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED), and we missed them.
Flash forward to the end of summer 2024, and we’ve seen many different acts covering a range of genres (Beck, the National Symphony Orchestra, Dinosaur Jr., and the Black Pumas, to name a few). However, through it all, I filtered some takeaways that I wanted to share.
Getting together – there is a build-up of energy when you get people together. It’s often impossible, or at least prohibitively impractical, but for key activities, nothing beats getting folks face-to-face in person.
Front-row fans – I am not an energetic person. I am not an outgoing person. I do get very excited by some things, but standing the whole time in the front row, waving my arms, dancing, and singing every lyric is not how I share that excitement. But thank goodness there are people who do. Diversity across the board is so essential to learning new things, staying out of ruts… and, more specifically, helping each of us fill the gaps we may think we don’t know but totally have.
Opening band fans – most people are there to see the headliner. That’s how it works. But at each show where there was an opening act, someone in the crowd was wearing a tee shirt of the opening act and stood and sang the whole time the opener was on stage. That was their jam. They embraced their niche, and I was so happy for them, and I loved seeing it. I’ve talked about embracing your weird before, and this felt along those lines.
Changing the lyrics – when the bands had a chance, they would patronize the audience and sneak in the name of the city or the venue… and we loved it. We knew it was coming, and we still ate it up. Even if you’re doing the same thing over and over again, it’s essential to not forget who your audience is and try to tie it back to them whatever way you can.
I keep looking for lessons everywhere, and if that happens to be at a big fun show where I wear my voice out, all the better.
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