Admittedly, I’ve never been to a concert. I will put that out there when I say that I cannot imagine what would cause somebody to lay out $200 for some concert tickets when you can just download the songs you like.
” I cannot imagine what would cause somebody to lay out $200 for some concert tickets when you can just download the songs you like.”
Well, Coachella and other similar festivals feature a sort of “party atmosphere” (let’s face it... a “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll” kinda experience that you presumably can’t download)
The audience and the performer both feed off and inspire each other, creating a mutual experience that creates a bond between those on stage and those in the audience.
This is a lovely example of the interaction I am talking about. It is ten minutes long, and ten years old mind you.
The festival it was recorded at still sells out within HOURS of tickets going on sale. All 80,000 tickets, and they are quite reasonably priced at around 300-500 euro for all 3 days, 8 stages, 120+ bands, plus camping.
Ear phones don’t move your body. I don’t mean figuratively. I mean that the sense of sound is far more than just a tiny canal in your ear. You could destroy your hearing with crazy-loud volume in your ear phones and not feel 1% of the power of a concert. And that’s aside from the shared experience.
I go to at least one concert per year.
I don’t pay for the seats at the bottom by the stage. Those can go for hundreds of dollars. We sit up in the rafters, where the seats are cheaper. Although sometimes even the rafter seats are over $100.
The thing about going to the concert is the ambiance. You are there with thousands of other people who like the same music you do. You are clapping and cheering along with all of the other fans and there is a real party atmosphere. Many concerts are not just the performance of the music, but an entire show complete with light displays and videos. Most performers engage the audience, as well, by having them sing lines or “do the wave” or something.
We went to Elton John’s farewell tour twice. We most recently saw Guns N Roses. Our next concert will feature Billy Joel and Sting. I did not go to a John Denver concert—I figured he would tour again—and I have regretted that decision ever since.
When I was a teen, my family could not afford concerts. I’ve been making up for that ever since.
Of course, if you do not absolutely adore music, a concert probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal to you. And you have to go to a concert that features music you like. We went to a country music concert—Reba, Brooks, and Dunn—because we had free tickets. The experience was interesting in that we were unfamiliar with all but one or two songs, but we saw people who were really into it, dancing in their seats and singing along.
But for devoted music lovers, the difference between going to a concert and hearing the song on a radio or CD is like the difference between having prime rib and having a plain hamburger.