Those Who Were Dancing: The joys of live music

It’s every man for themself in the queue for festival tickets. The past two Wednesdays, I’ve felt my heart rate spiking as I watched the minutes and seconds approach 10 a.m. 

First was the Newport Folk Festival. My mom and I both raced tens of thousands for the possibility of attending a three-day long celebration this summer of traditional and new folk sounds. I worked quickly, only stopping to shoot my mom an excited text when I got through to checkout. I would later learn that the approximately 30,000 festival spots evaporated in less than 60 seconds – 47 according to my mom.

The same excited panic took over when vying for presale Frost Fest tickets. I became a robot with only one function: refresh the page, refresh the page, refresh the page. 

So, what makes waiting in long virtual queues, competing with online presences and spending precious summer job money worth it? The whole ordeal is only gratifying when we achieve the end goal. When we don’t get that ticket, we are disillusioned with the entire process. Stupid website. Stupid fans. Stupid outcome. Why do I even try if it may lead to instantaneous frustration shortly followed by disappointment? Why not just watch a music video, listen with some good quality headphones or stream live recorded versions of an artist’s songs? 

I’ve asked myself these questions quite a few times. I struggle to explain it in a straightforward way, but live music has a certain mystique. When I can see and feel artists at work, I feel in the music. It’s the way you can see the strings of a guitar vibrating with each strum or pluck, the foot of the drummer pressing and releasing on the kick. Or maybe just the body language of the singer – how you can see them easily glide over some lyrics and stress others. When a song becomes a performance, it literally falls upon fresh ears. Music becomes a multisensory adventure, and the small deviations from studio recorded tracks make the experience all the more real and powerful. 

Music to me is an entirely unique form of language, and artists can communicate this language to you better live. Their speech is more understandable when you can see and feel the artist merge with their message and their sound. It’s somewhat parallel to the way we struggle to interpret tone through text messages – when we see our friends face to face, only then can we sense what they truly mean in their responses. Sometimes a song unperformed is a cryptic text message; perhaps only when we see it in the flesh can we truly recognize its meaning. Concerts always leave me with a greater sense of understanding about the music. I often depart with a new favorite song or a renewed image of an artist in my mind. 

My excitement for live music extends beyond coveted performances of artists with a far-reaching fanbase or artists who endear me. Attending performances in an intimate audience or watching unfamiliar artists can often be just as fulfilling as concerts of people whom I’ve been a long time fan of. I was enraptured just this week by a trio of musicians in their element at Golden Gate Park bouncing off one another with a trumpet, a frottoir, a flute and a guitar. The moment was simple – an audience of just me, my friend and a few other pedestrians. It was a moment of musical beauty nonetheless. Simply watching a person so deep in their artistic element, no matter how much that element has been uplifted by public ears, is of immense value to me. 

Live music forms a relationship between listener and artist that cannot be created through a solely auditory experience. Often, music does not get my undivided attention. It’s preferable to be running, walking, biking, driving, doing laundry, studying or people-watching while listening. When’s the last time you closed your eyes, sat completely still and thought about nothing else but the music? It’s a rare occurrence for me. Music provides a supplement to life; it is the mere soundtrack while the real action occurs in front of me. When music becomes my life for the length of a live performance, it’s enlightening and special. 

Which is why I don’t see myself quitting the stress that comes from racing for a ticket. The reward is just so good. 

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