Have you ever been to a concert and thought to yourself: "What the hell am I doing here? What a waste of money! I'm not even having fun..."?

I have.



I've also been to a few concerts where, for whatever reason, I was completely swept away by the music and the performance and loved every minute I was there. Most recently, I went to see the Silversun Pickups at a small venue concert held at Sound Academy (formerly known as The Docks, at Polson Pier in Toronto), and Metric at the Molson Amphitheatre on the Lakeshore. These were two of the best concerts I have ever been to. But what makes a concert so good? Especially a rock concert like the two I just mentioned. It's not like they have a massive production of dancers and choreography to compensate for the undeniable truth: that you are just watching a few people sing and play instruments for a couple hours, singing the same songs that you already burned on a CD for free. What the hell... if you wanted to listen to their music you could have just done it at home; you could have skipped the songs you don't like and listened to it as loudly or softly as you wanted. Best of all, you could have done it while multitasking: the gym, homework, gardening, making love, whatever floats your boat...

So why pay a boatload of money to orchestrate the perfect night to go and watch these people bopping on a stage, trying desperately (and often succeeding) to get the crowd excited and dancing by using corny lines like: "What's up Toronto!!?!?!?" - that one ALWAYS works. I've decided to write a blog about what makes ME like a concert...




1. Knowing the majority of the songs helps SO much.


It's weird because there are some bands that have never produced a track I don't like (i.e. Metric) however, even Metric is capable of making me stand still in awe when they play a song I don't know. How is this possible? If I like it, why shouldn't I enjoy it and the concert? Well... I do. But I also have come to realize that it's important to recognize the songs for another reason. Comfort. When we listen to this band's music while multitasking all day long - working, driving, exercising, gardening, lovemaking, hanging out with friends, whatever the case may be - we associate memories and, more importantly, feelings with these sounds. The music produces a nostalgic feeling of comfort and well-being (or possibly of connection an dunderstanding of bad times), it recreates itself in our lifeforce as a collage of our OWN lives (and nobody else's). Why? Because this band plays the songs that narrate the storyline of certain special and important segments of your life. When I was younger I used to fall asleep every night listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers every night for like a year. Now, anytime I hear a track off of that album I get excited. Those were the songs that narrated the soundtrack of my dreams, of my thoughts, of the culmination of my days' events. No matter what happened each day, whether I was happy, sad, curious, confused, it would always end up the same way:

"Scar tissue that I wish you saw, sarcastic Mr. Know-It-All. Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 'cause, with the birds I'll shareeee"


2. Having a drink or two gets you in the mood.

"Not healthy," you say! "I don't need alcohol to have fun," you say! I don't care what YOU say. This is about me, remember? Ok.. so alcoholic beverages help. Why, you ask? Well, it continues along the theme of comfort. In case you haven't noticed, you will struggle a great deal to have fun if you are not comfortable... it's like one of those "Duh!" rules of life. So if you go to a concert, and everyone around you is holding a really expensive beer due to overpricing at event venues, and they are all smiling and dancing, and you are there, stiff as a board, bending your knees off-tune, half smiling, half wasting your time noticing all the things you really wish you weren't noticing: like how ugly her shoes are and how tall the guy in front of you is, or the trickle of sweat tickling the outside of your left ear lobe.... well then how can you feel the music? Then you'll move on to watching the singer walking up and down stage trying to hype up the crowd and you will ask yourself why the hell it's working... how stupid does that dude look, doing what he's doing up there. Yeah "what's up Toronto?"... "nothing.... just play, idiot." Well sure! There's the spirit. You're really gonna love the concert now.... Instead, I suggest you have a drink... maybe two. Now you're smiling like everyone else, you're not worried about her shoes or his height and you just answered the stupid singer with a huge WOOOO!!!! Now your blood is pumping, you're not feeling awkward, now you're here to party.. and wow, that bass player is good. See... you need to FEEL the experience... you're not there to watch. You're there to feel!


3. Sing along.


Learn the words and sing the songs. Sing them as loud as you want.... no one can really hear you anyways. Feel the words, allow yourself to connect to the emotions that they bring up on you. The concert is an interactive event, it is not a show. We must rid ourselves of the misconception that we are going to a concert so that we can see celebrities. Real music artists are not really celebrities - they are poets, thinkers, dreamers, musicians, but most importantly, they are people. Just like you, just like me. Would you pay $50 plus service charges to go see me stand on a stage? Didn't think so. So you need to go there to embrace the experience, and you need to make it interactive. You need to let loose, forget your inhibitions, ignore who could be watching or judging you, and participate.



4. Talk to people around you.

Burst out of this modern-day North American phenomenon of restriction. Don't forget that we are all human and we are all at the concert for very similar reasons. We are all there to have fun. Make friends! People won't think you're a weirdo if you flash a friendly smile and make a funny comment during the show. Who cares if you never see any of them again, make sure they know you are enjoying yourself and that they should be too. This is part of making the experience interactive. Going to a concert should be about communal gathering, not about worshipping the musicians in silence as if it were a church. As an extension of this rule, we should strive to be more friendly with eachother ALL the time... not just at concerts where it's relatively easy to be.

After you've given each band member an appropriate amount of time and attention -- you've marvelled at the skill of the drummer and the bassist, you've enjoyed the different pitches of the singer's voice and how it meshes with the instuments brilliantly, you've been amazed by the guitar player's solos, you've been mezmerized by the keyboard and whatever other instrument finds itself cluttered in front of you... close your eyes. Feel how each piece of the ensemble comes together almost effortlessly after all the practice the band has had together. Think to yourself how music is born and how if each person on the stage were to stop... so would the music. Embrace the collaborative effort and think about how you feel as you are there. Once you are truly relaxed and comfortable, there will be no better feeling at that time than to just close your eyes and feel the music.