By Valentina Moreno
Staff Writer
You sit in your seat and look up at the stage ahead, waiting for the show to start. Around you the crowd murmurs to their neighbors, but stop as the colorful lights dim to the point that you cannot see the rows ahead of you. For several seconds it is silent, until a light appears behind the band on stage, creating silhouettes of each member. The crowd starts to roar in excitement, some start to chant and others squeal their lungs out.
The experience of going to a concert can be thrilling and unforgettable.
“Paul McCartney told the crowd that this would be the first time that he performed this song since the 1960s. When he told us that he was about to perform this song that he had not done in many decades, the whole entire crowd was on the edge of their seats,” senior Shea Wood said. “Then, out of nowhere, we hear the piano chord and everyone started screaming because we knew it was ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.’ We all started dancing and having a good time, the lights were yellow and green. It was amazing.”
Wood continued talking about the scene.
“Then he did ‘Live and Let Die,’ which was probably the most impressive part out of the whole entire concert, because that is when he used pyrotechnics. When he got to the last line before the chorus, fireworks just shot out of the stage and there were flames; the whole entire room was just red. You could feel the heat from where I was.”
Junior Jessica Mann also had a great experience at a Bon Jovi concert in early November.
“It was so amazing, even in the rafters. You can still feel the excitement and the energy the place gave off. He did not leave anyone feeling left out. The whole arena was sold out; even behind the stage there were seats people sat in,” Mann said.
Some students have even met their favorite band members. Sophomore Anne Barone met the guitarist from Blink 182.
“[It was] the best moment of my life. He had painted this poster and we all got copies of it and he signed mine with my name. He was really nice to me; I was freaking out but he was nice about it,” Barone said. “I told him that he was one of my favorite musicians; he was really flattered even though they are famous and they have been together for like 22 years.”
Sometimes at concerts a portion of the audience shows up drunk or high.
“There was an insane amount of drunk people. They were four rows in front of me, I was having a hard time focusing on Bon Jovi a couple of times because they were always screaming and yelling and swaying like crazy because of how drunk they were,” Mann said.
It is not the crowds that people go to see, it is the band that they like.
“Every concert is an experience,” Mann said. “It does not matter who you go to see. The people around you, you like feel like kindred spirits. You can make new friends when you go to concerts that you love.”