Why Concerts?

Aug. 10, 2012

By Andrea Benito info

Andrea Benito, a self-proclaimed Spanish intellectual born in New England, attended college in Cambridge and ...

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Concerts are weird. Why do people go to concerts? I know people who love going to concerts, particularly summer festivals like Bonnaroo or Coachella. They post photos on Facebook of themselves in bikinis or tie-dye shirts, lying on the grass or drinking a beer by a tent, and they talk about how awesome the experience was in their feed. This has always struck me as weird, not just that these people go to concerts, but how the event lives on digitally — and I’m always here wondering in a kind of banal Baudrillardian way: do they go to the concert for the concert itself, or so they can say they went? I don’t care either way, but both alternatives seem exhausting to me. It seems exhausting to go somewhere and stand and listen and spend so much money on tickets, parking, drinks, merchandise, etc. It seems exhausting to be in a relationship with the rest of the world, that this movement needs to documented and uploaded to a social network, so as to say “Hey look at me with my friends at this great concert!” I guess I just don’t have the wherewithal to do it. Wait, what am I doing right now? (I’m doing work. Is working my identity? Do I know no personal life or leisure time? What moves me to live in this way?) I went to a concert Sunday night at the Nikon Theatre in Jones Beach, to see the Deftones and System of a Down, and, by most accounts, I had fun. And it wasn’t just because of the alcohol. It was because everyone around me genuinely seemed so happy. People were crying at certain songs. People were dancing. People were moshing their heads off, completely losing it (in the best possible way). And at one point it started to pour and no one was ready for it so we all got drenched, but the audience didn’t care, because something probably more powerful than the weather brought them there. And I got it: people go to these things to feel uplifted and to share the amazing feeling with thousands of other people. Concerts unite, they concert. They’re a beautiful spectacle of conformity. That’s the appeal. TC mark

Jones Beach, 8.5.12 (Dark)

Jones Beach, 8.5.12 (Light)

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  • http://gravatar.com/krymeariver krymeariver

    You can’t question the beauty of concerts. To see your favorite song performed live.. there is probably no better high.

  • http://gravatar.com/400ormore 400ormore

    What a stupid article that takes you nowhere.

    • Bre

      Could not agree more.

    • you got this

      totally agree. she went to one concert to realize why everyone goes to concerts but she had NO IDEA why before? lmao, waste
      who lets this be published?

  • http://stepstochangetheworld.wordpress.com ChangeTheWorld

    Very well written. Thanks for sharing! I’ve never really liked concerts very much, I’d rather just listen to it. There is something about corporate worship, though, that has a special energy,

    http://stepstochangetheworld.wordpress.com/

  • KARLA

    A concert in the rain… now that’s something to never forget. You get so exhilarated. It’s as if the rain intensifies how you feel – your energy, your excitement. If there wasn’t such a high risk of electrocuting, I would wish that it rained at every outdoor concert I went to. Regarding to the question ‘Why concerts?,’ I would answer back with ‘Why not concerts?’ Listening to a band perform their music live is nowhere near listening to them on an mp3. It’s much more amazing than that. You’re seeing them live and you’re actually experiencing them. The whole room/venue is filled with their sound and it is such a beautiful thing. I cannot get enough of going to shows. I’ve been going to Coachella for the past few years and what keeps making me want to go back is the overall experience of it all. While there can be a few annoying details about shows/concerts (that one person that keeps requesting songs, people constantly pushing to be in the front, etc), there is always this commonality everyone has – they’re all there to see the band. You’re surrounded by people who enjoy this artist’s music as much as you do (hopefully). Over time, I’ve found that my favorite concerts have been the ones where the entire audience is singing along to the music (not for every song, though) or everyone is dancing. So when the band starts playing, it’s all about the music and how we respond to it, whether it’s dancing, singing, or just listening. At least that’s how I feel anyway.

  • Monica MKC

    Concerts are great. I go to concerts to enjoy the music, I don’t care about the others. But it is pretty great to feel we are connected by the music we are listening to

  • A.

    I feel like this article started with a valid purpose to explain why concerts/events are dumb but ended with you just saying you went to a concert and posting a photo of it.

  • Michael

    This was pointless. Also, system of a down? deftones?

    • Kayla

      Yes. They’re good bands. At least she didn’t say Nicki Minaj.

      Can’t really say the same for this article…

  • http://jamesklambert.wordpress.com jamesklambert

    Going to Coldplay tonight! Don’t see why you spent so much time rambling on about this or why you feel the need to be so cynical. It’s not about “conformity,” is just fun. Get over it.

    • meg

      I saw coldplay this week for the fourth time… they never get old. Always a great show!

  • http://twitter.com/iamnzane Marissa Zane (@iamnzane)

    There are definitely people who go to concerts for the purpose of just going, but why would I want to pay money for an activity I don’t actively love? I’m not really there to connect with anyone else, I just love the rush of seeing live music.

    Seeing really talented musicians do their thing (I’m not talking lip-syncing here) makes me so happy, and if you don’t feel the same, it’s probably unexplainable. Concerts may be fun, inspiring, or just intensely exhilarating, but there are a lot of reasons for concert-lovers to go to concerts.

    (And in regards to your pictures above, I’d rather not go to that kind of concert. Ones where you can actually see the band member’s faces are usually a lot more rad.)

  • Jenna

    I don’t necessarily agree that they’re a spectacle of conformity. Sure, everyone is focused on the same thing – the musicians and their music – but every person constructs meaning with the music individually. Live music is an experience. Perhaps it was the nature of the venue where you saw this particular concert that led you to these conclusions. I think shows delivered on a smaller scale in a more intimate setting allow for the audience and artists to connect.

  • http://www.rememberingtheencores.blogspot.com Jen

    There are a lot of reasons to go to concerts, but my favorite is the feeling of community during “that song” when the whole room belts out the chorus together – however many people singularly focused on one thing that makes the whole place l light up with energy.

    I’ve captured a bit of that here: http://rememberingtheencores.blogspot.ca/2012/06/maybe-i-should-learn-to-shut-my-mouth-i.html

    • http://jamesklambert.wordpress.com jamesklambert

      Here are a couple of “those” moments I captured last Friday night:

  • http://pandionna.wordpress.com Pandionna

    My boyfriend went to that concert. I am now going to mock him mercilessly about his beautiful spectacle of conformity.

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