Lost In Stereo

I wrote this essay last year for my Higher English exam. I think it's pretty relateable, especially for fans of music like me. It's not really photography related, but oh well, it's my blog, not yours.

The snow was still lying thick on the ground outside the AECC, but still a massive crowd had gathered to wait for the concert, still a few hours before doors were due to open. My sister and I were two of them. The band was 30 Seconds to Mars, a band I had loved for a few years prior to the concert. Our father had dropped us off at the concert and left us without coats in the freezing cold an hour before the doors were even scheduled to open.  As we waited, for what felt like forever, the mob of music fans finally were allowed to enter the arena.

However, the waiting did not end there. The first band came on after 15 long minutes of more and more rowdy teenagers, over-eager adults and a couple of young children filled the arena’s floor so personal space was severely restricted and played a few songs that I’d never heard of, that were all pretty mediocre, and then left. The audience started to get a bit more hyped up as the next support act, Enter Shikari were quite popular, although at the time I severely disliked them, until they walked out on stage and played a few songs, then I got caught up in the crowd and realised that I was enjoying myself and the band were actually extremely good. Then, they exited the stage and the audience was left for about twenty minutes to wait. The stage was obstructed from our sight by a large white curtain and the crowd was incredibly loud even without a band playing. I was beginning to get impatient when suddenly the lights went down and some music could be heard over the loud rabble of the crowd. The large curtain dropped to the crowd. The band’s logo was revealed to the crowd and then, at long last, the band walked out on stage.

In that moment, I realised that there was nowhere else I would rather be. I was lost in a sea of screams and enthusiastic fans being instructed to “jump and touch the sky.” Rock concerts mean a lot to me. Ever since I was fifteen, I have found that the best way to escape from whatever issues I have had in my life was not to just listen to an album, but to go to a concert and lose myself.  For a few hours, it felt like there was nothing but the four walls surrounding me, the band and the couple of thousand of other music fans, who had gone to the concert for the same reasons I had. It was like the outside world did not exist, as though there was nothing outside the arena’s walls.

Since going to see 30 Seconds to Mars, I have actually attended many more rock concerts. Each has been a memorable experience. Each time has felt like the outside world had disappeared and the only thing to do was to go crazy in the crowd. Not only was I enjoying myself, but seeing other people feel exactly the same as me makes me realise the power that live music has over us. Listening to an album with headphones plugged in cannot even compare to the energy from the band or the hype from the crowd. At a concert, you feel alive.

 The bands themselves have inspired me as well. Andy Biersack from a band called Black Veil Brides stood up in front of a crowd and told us not to change for anyone, just be ourselves and that’s what rock was about. This made me realise that everyone at that concert was being themselves and not hiding anything or pretending to be something or someone they’re not. In a crowd, you can’t hide who you are, you must embrace that, and that’s what rock music is about. 

I have been inspired to change my life by these rock concerts as I used to be a shy, quiet person, desperate to fit in, but after beginning to listen to rock music, I realised that I did not need to be like that.  I have grown more confidence and I never have and never will listen to a band or lie about not liking one when I actually do to please anyone.  I want people to like me for who I am, and not my taste in music.

Bands bring people together. I have gained whole new groups of friends from just standing in line at concerts for many hours. Many of the bands that I enjoy, their fans have bad reputations, however all the fans I have spoken to at gigs have been amazing people.

Some people use books and television to escape, however I am one of the small group of people in the world who use rock concerts as their way to leave the real world behind and enter a new reality where a love of loud, energetic, exciting music is the only thing that matters. Rock music has changed my life for the better.