Until recently, I’ve only been to one concert. That one being Coldplay, on their Viva la Vida tour, at the Hersheypark Stadium in 2009. They were amazing. Simply incredible. I listened to only Coldplay songs for the next month.
So after that night I wanted more. My sister likes to tell me about all the concerts she’s been to at her university, much to my jealousy. But now I’m in Boston, a big city! It’s sure to have live music.
And free live music!
MIXfest is one of those free concerts sponsored by a radio station, in this case Mix 104.1. The show is free, so attendance is high. I’m talking about the tens of thousands. My friends and I wanted to be near the front, so we arrived there four hours early. Even then, there were people there… protecting their territory.
I guess I can’t blame them. It got pretty crowded.
So we sat near the front and amused ourselves for a few hours. One of my friends is a HUGE Sara Bareilles fan. As she was one of the acts at the concert, I helped him display his love:
At 3:40 sharp, the concert began. Our warm-up act was Javier Colon, winner of the TV show The Voice. And indeed, he has a beautiful voice.
Next up was Michelle Branch. I have to say, she isn’t as good live as she is in studio. But she was good nonetheless.
Then, easily the act everyone was most excited for (especially my utterly romantically infatuated friend) Sara Bareilles:
All throughout this, I was trying to film the music and take photos. And I wasn’t in a bad position for it– right at the front, behind only two guys. But I’m short. My arms tire from holding a camera in the air. So my videos got constantly intruded upon, most often by this angry bouncer:
After Sara Bareilles was a relatively unknown act, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. I thought this band was just a filler between Sara and the last act, the popular Lifehouse. So did the crowd, which reacted unenthusiastically when the band came out. Wrong reaction. This band was electrifying.
By their last song, they had the crowd going. The band was so energetic, so genuinely happy to be on stage, and so in sync with each other, it was hard not to catch their enthusiasm.
And lastly, Lifehouse! All I can say about them: their lead singer, Jason Wade, is a good-looking man. So when he ran off stage and sang to the crowd (with the following photos showing how close we were to him)
…I pretty much did this:
Seriously. If you go to 1:12 of this video, you can hear someone squeal “Ohhh my god!” in the background. Yeah. That’s me. It was justified– they’re a fantastic band!
So that was the second concert of my life! All in all, pretty incredible. I’ll be listening to Lifehouse and Grace Potter for the next month or so, don’t mind me. Now if only the other concert venues in Boston were free, I’d be set…
So where do you kids go for concerts? Any bands you’ve seen, or want to see? Where’s the best place to buy tickets?
And if you want to see any of the (low-quality) videos I took, just go to my youtube channel!
Or just bask in the awesome that is Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. (If only videos could do the real thing justice…)
VY! Please make your life stop coincide with mine! I’m going to my first “real” concert on October 10th…my friends and I have been in love with Panic! at the Disco for years now and I’ve been listening to them for like five years, so imagine my delight when I was sitting in the media lab at the college library, browsing the web, and I saw that they were coming to SACRAMENTOOOO! ❤ However, unlike your adventure, there won't be tens of thousands of people there…it's a small venue (actually, not gonna lie, it's more like a bar) and they're playing on Columbus Day, which would usually mean there are tons of people going because it's a three day weekend…but California doesn't consider Columbus Day to be a 'major' holiday and so nobody takes it off. So I imagine it won't be quite so "concert-y." Still, I've been FREAKING OUT.
Lol. I love your comics and your pictures.Looks like you guys had a blast, not counting the strange soccer-mom-who-was-getting-up-in-your-face-face. 😉
OH SHOOT THAT IS SO EXCITING!! Dang!! And don’t worry about it being in a bar– according to my sister, small venues are way better than those huge ones. It’s easier to get in front, it’s more intimate, everyone’s dancing on the floor. In those huge concerts, you either have to pay bank to be in front or sit way in the back where it’s just not as good. So your concert sounds AMAZING! I want to come too, Panic! at the Disco is amazing! XD
I’ll just have to stick to Boston concerts, though! I’m keeping track of who’s coming in just so I can try to find tickets cheap 😀
Hey!! I remember your first concert ever!!!! Cuz I was there!!! Right next to you!!! And it is still the most awesome concert of my life…..cuz it was soooooooooooooooooooo awesome.
Coldplay is undoubtedly still THE GREATEST CONCERT OF MY LIFE. Especially because I was with MAH BESHT PREN!! They’re going on tour again for Mylo Xyloto!! Except so far their only concerts are in… Deustchland???
i like the grace potter vid. quite jazzy
I like Grace Potter too. She is quite jazzy.
While The Who is ‘OBVIOUSLY’ the greatest of all time, I noticed that you did not really talk about Lifehouse.
Strange… I didn’t, even though they were also really good. From that concert, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were my favorite, which is probably why I talked about them the most!