THE CONCERT CONNECTION
Sailor was born into a music-loving household full of avid concert attendees. With 90’s music in her blood since birth, this shared interest was deeply embedded in her special family connection.
“Concerts are special in my family and it’s like a bonding experience,” Sailor said. “I’ll forever choose them over anyone else.”
Majority of advice Sailor shares when it comes to attending concerts and meeting the artists come from her own experiences learned from her mother.
“I always try to get physical tickets. Cause I just, that’s my favorite thing. My parents did that. As for meeting artists, my mom has had her fair share of experiences with encounters with people. So she was like, I’m going to direct you on this. If [when you’re talking to him it] doesn’t feel right, if the energy doesn’t feel right, we’re not going to speak to him. So I kind of knew what to do going in.”
Growing up especially close with her older sister Scarlett Marenco, Sailor’s music taste as well as hobbies derived from the embedded love placed in music.
“[My favorite concert memory] was Greta Van Fleet in August because I went with my sister,” Sailor said. “[It was special because] that was the first time my sister and I had been to a concert by ourselves.”
“My sister and I always plan outfits for concerts. When we saw My Chemical Romance,we dressed up for each album that they were playing and on the car ride there, we’re listening to their whole discography.”
For Senior Alyssa Corona, the best part of concerts isn’t the music, it’s the people. Alyssa is an avid concert fanatic in the local punk scene. At every show, she finds a sense of belonging and community.
“[My favorite part of punk shows] is probably connecting with the people because it’s definitely a community thing. Especially in our local punk show, it’s reoccurring. It’s really easy to connect with people there,” said Alyssa.
Alyssa’s experiences at local shows are far from typical. Their favorite concert memory was a DIY event called MORP–a punk rock take on prom where people would dress up in formal attire.
“[My favorite] punk show was called Morp. It was like a Punk show but themed to look like a prom, and you had to wear formal attire. So it was really cool. It was like a whole get up thing” said Alyssa.
Although local shows don’t have the same large-scale entertainment factors as larger venues, Alyssa never has a dull moment at a show.
“[A special memory I made] I never confessed to this. I broke somebody’s fence, and they let me go on the roofs.”
General advice that Alyssa shares when it comes to local punk shows comes from her knowledge of crowd behavior and etiquette.
“[Punk shows are] definitely rowdy. It can get pretty aggressive sometimes, but that’s just kind of something you have to be okay with going into it,” said Alyssa.
Angelique’s concert enthusiasm widely comes from personal connections associated with songs.
“This year I went to PJ Harvey, an artist from the 90s,” Angelique said. “She played this song called Dress which has always been such an important song to me. She talks about gender norms and she’s kind of just saying, like, this man is telling her to wear this dress because he wants her to look all pretty and she’s like, the dress is too tight, I’m ripping it off, I can’t deal with it anymore and it’s so empowering.”
As a whole, music has changed Angelique. Her optimism is also widely influenced by her countless concert experiences.
“I went to this festival last year called Darker Waves at the last set, Tears for Fears. I realized that my phone got stolen and spent like 10 minutes looking for it. I was going to sulk and give up but I just stood there and I just enjoyed the rest of the concert,” Angelique said. “I’m never gonna see this band again. I’m not gonna sulk about my phone. You can get another phone, you can’t get another Tears for Fears experience.”
Both Sailor and Angelique utilize Ticketmaster as there is a very limited selection of websites where you can purchase tickets.
“I am like a firm hater of Ticketmaster and Live Nation but I think Ticketmaster is the only option, sadly,” Marenco said. “[Ticketmaster] overprice their tickets and they do this thing. They’ll start it, low, like a hundred dollars and you’ll have it in your cart. Then it kicks you out and raises the prices and make it seem like it’s resellers, but it’s not, it’s just Ticketmaster raising them.”
“[I get my tickets from] Ticketmaster or resells but I don’t like Ticketmaster,” Angelique said. “The fees and stuff are so expensive. Like, there’s additional fees [on Ticketmaster].”
The surrounding Ticketmaster controversy has been made known since 1994 when Pearl Jam, a 90’s American rock band, sued Ticketmaster for allegedly illegally controlling ticket prices.
“[Ticketmaster] scams people, it’s a monopoly, any band who says they’re not aware of it is a liar because they are aware of it,” said Sailor. “I think some bands will protest it and will sell it from the box office.”
Unlike Sailor and Angelique, Alyssa has made herself more used to attending backyard or pool band shows that her money concerns are severe. She encourages people to attend small backyard shows because not only are they cheap, but everyone becomes close relatively quickly.
“[To purchase tickets] you always just bring cash. Then at the door, there’s a doorman and then you just hand them the three bucks,” Alyssa said. “For local shows, they’re anywhere from like 3 to 10 dollars. I’ve once paid 15, which is a little overcharged.”
