Everyone likes some weird music that none of their friends like. In my case, I like A LOT of music (none of which I think is weird) that no one I know likes. Thus, you can imagine, when it comes to going to concerts for these artists I don’t have a long list of people to invite. No one wants to go to a concert solo, and when given the choice most people would just miss out on seeing one of their favourite artists to avoid that awkward experience. If an artist has made it to your favourites list, I think it’s totally worth it to hit up that concert alone.
Sections:
- My story – Backstreet’s Back
- Excuses you will make, and how to deal with them
- The question that makes it obvious
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My story – Backstreet’s Back
Growing up in the 90s Backstreet Boys was some of the first music I encountered when I started watching MuchMusic on channel 29. It was catchy, it was entertaining, it was fun and it was literally music to my ears. And no, when you’re 9 years old you don’t consider the fact that pop groups are generally ‘manufactured’ and most of the credit for their success should go to choreographers, song-writers and producers.
Through the years, they became a staple part of my cassette tape, CD, mini-disc, iPod and then iPhone playlists. I now own all of their albums and would consider them one of my favourite music groups of all time. However, you can imagine, many of my friends don’t have the same passion for “I Want It That Way” as I do.
In 2013, they had their In A World Like This Tour coming to Toronto and I asked a bunch of people to go with me, somehow they were all “not available.” I resigned to not going at this point, but as their follower on social media I was pestered with posts about this amazing concert incessantly.
When it came to the week that they were coming to Toronto, this had hit a boiling point and I realized if I didn’t go I would probably regret it. I went on Kijiji, bought a ticket from a random girl that I met at a subway station, and off I went! Safe to say, I am SO glad I did that. It was a concert of epic proportions, considering I knew every lyric to every song they were performing, even if it wasn’t that great it would still be amazing for me just to see them live. It was awkward going into the concert and sitting between middle-aged women by myself before the concert started, I think I got some looks but to be honest I don’t think anyone cared. Once the concert started it didn’t even matter, I sang to every song and the concert was most definitely Larger Than Life.
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Excuses you will make, and how to deal with them
1. People will judge me
Sure, maybe one or two people will think “why is this person here ALONE?”, for a couple seconds. Then they will pretty much forget about you and do whatever they were doing. No one cares that much about you and if you really think people are thinking that much about you you’re delusional. Just go ahead and enjoy yourself like no one’s looking, because no one’s looking!
2. It’s awkward
See #1. It’s only awkward cause you feel like people are looking at you and judging you, just do your own thing and enjoy the awesome music.
3. It won’t be fun without friends
There are definitely fun elements such as being able to get excited with the person beside you and discussing how awesome a song is that you will not be able to do going to a concert alone. However, this is why it’s so important that when you go to a concert alone you REALLY like the artists and songs, because all of that will be much less important relative to just hearing your fave songs live. I would not recommend going to random concerts alone where you ‘kind of’ like the artists.
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The question that makes it obvious
Should you have an awesome time experiencing your favourite artists and songs live or be afraid of people you don’t know judging you, which won’t even happen?
Phil-osophies 