Can you imagine being in a crowd, listening to your favorite band, dancing until your feet are heavy and you can’t move anymore, singing until your voice is gone, and just getting that concert high where nothing else even matters in that moment?
That’s why I live for live shows.
The general admission ones are especially great; they’re more intimate, and the atmosphere is indescribable.
Everyone jokes around and says they all had an “emo phase.” And by that, they really mean dressing in all black, wanting to dye their hair crazy colors, or maybe just caking on heavy makeup. Their parents would always say, “oh, it’s just a phase.”
But what about the kids who never exactly left that phase?
Well, I’m living proof that. Honestly, I’m still going through my emo phase. I may have finally learned how to dress myself and chill out with the eyeliner, but I’ll never get tired of the music that I discovered during that phase.
Everyone loves to make fun of the kids who still listen to all those punk bands and go to Warped Tour (rest in peace). But I can honestly say that they have no idea what it’s like to have music mean that much to you. They don’t know the feeling of waiting in line all day for general admission just so you can be in the pit with your friends and your favorite band. They don’t know the times that those bands and their music truly saved your life.
I’m talking about bands like State Champs, Mayday Parade, My Chemical Romance, All Time Low, The Maine, and so on. I could go on forever listing the bands that have had an enormous impact on my life — the bands that are guitar and drum heavy, the kind that sing cheesy lyrics about “getting out of this small town.”
Those are the kinds of bands whose songs have the most meaning, and they’re the ones that really seem to care about their fans.
This past summer was incredibly rough for me, emotionally. Three albums that came out in June, where the same three that I listened to on repeat all summer: State Champs’s “Living Proof” album, Mayday Parade’s “Sunnyland,” and 5 Seconds of Summer’s “Youngblood.”
The lyrics in every song on those records were so very important to my situation. It was insane. I could never be ashamed to love this type of music. I have felt the most alive and happy while I listen to these bands. When you see any of these bands live, it just transports you into another world. You forget about all of your problems for one night, you’re not living it through your phone, you’re just having the time of your life, lost in the crowd, screaming along to the songs that got you through some of the hardest years of your life.
So don’t let anyone ever tell you “it’s just a phase” because sometimes it means a lot more to that person than it seems. Always choose to go to live shows. And don’t watch the concert through your phone. Life is a lot more fun when you’re experiencing it, instead of filming it.
Don’t be afraid if you’re still in your emo phase or any other phase, for that matter. It’s part of your life.
Music touches and affects everyone differently. Just remember in the words of The Maine: “control what you can, confront what you can’t. And always remember, how lucky you are to have yourself.”