I've been to a relatively decent amount of concerts so far in my life. However, one thing I've always regretted was not going to enough smaller shows to see local bands, up-and-coming artists before they get popular, or just to find new music with less chaos than a giant venue and hundreds of thousands of people would offer. Every concert I've been to has either been at my hometown's county fair or from the lawn seats of giant ampitheaters. But, finally, I got the chance. The Ready Room in St. Louis hosted a show Friday night that featured the bands Beau and Lewis Del Mar as openers (and it turns out that I already knew one of them, how cool is that?) for the alternative performer BORNS, and basically, this concert was 10,000 times better than all the others I've been to, mostly because of how small it was.
The venue was really only two big rooms, one smaller with a bar and the other just with a stage and about 100 feet of space in front of it. No matter how far back in the crowd you were, you were still close enough to see the musicians' faces. It was super intimate and personal, and it was great because there weren't really any people there that didn't want to be. There wasn't anyone who just showed up because they liked one song but didn't know any others. Everyone sang, I got to be blessed with seeing Garrett Borns' beautiful self up close, and the entire energy of the place was amazing.
There was no chaos, there were no annoying people who kept us from enjoying the performance. My best friend and I even met a couple of really cool people while we were waiting in line and waiting for the show to start. Everything was super chill and happy, almost dream-like. The openers weren't just people to take up some time before the main event; everyone listened to and gave attention to the opening acts, and we all loved every bit of it.
BORNS is a musician that has had one really big hit single (Electric Love), but other than that, hasn't really taken off a ton. His music is dreamy and smooth with electro-pop vibes infused with folk and rock. He is still like a gem in the alternative world that is gaining enough traction to sell out this show (and honestly, I'm surprised he's still doing small shows like this) but small enough that I was able to grab tickets and show up only an hour early and only be three rows back from the stage. I somewhat understand that in cities like St. Louis, concerts like this happen all the time. All. The. Time.
It was probably nothing new for most of the people there, but being that I had to drive almost three hours to get there and make it a day-long trip in the city, it was a beautiful new experience. It makes me want to live in the city so that I can experience things like it every day without months of planning. Like, "Hey, what are you doing Thursday night? There's a concert we can go to for $20 for that band you found on Spotify. Let's go."
Basically, do your research on music. Find new bands that haven't been massively discovered yet. Look up local venues and see who's going to be playing there, and go to their shows. Don't wait for your favorite artists to become more popular when you see them. Because when you do, and when artists like BORNS are selling out crazy huge shows, you'll be able to say that you got a better experience than that. Once that happens and the small shows are over, you'll regret it.
