You wait days, weeks, months, and even years for one concert you have been dying to attend and when that day finally creeps up on you, you don't know how to react. I've been to my fair share of concerts where I've waited months upon months for the day to come where I could have the time of my life and see my favorite artists. The adrenaline rush pumps through my veins and the anxiety hits me to where I can't sit still and the car ride to the concert makes it feel like it's taking a century. You attend the concert, party hard, then go home, fall asleep peacefully knowing you had the time of your life. The worst part? Waking up the morning after.
You wake up, and the event countdown you set on your phone is saying 'one day since ___' and you feel like you got stabbed in the gut. The concert is over, the artist is on to the new stop on their tour while you're laying in bed wondering what you're going to look forward to now. This my friends is called Post Concert Depression, and trust me, it's a pain in the ass to deal with. And if you're like me, you've probably dealt with some of these symptoms of the dreaded PCD.
1. Denial
The music ends, the crowd stops cheering, the artist leaves the stage and the house lights come on and the crew is starting to clean up the set. People are starting to leave but for some reason, you're still standing still; unable to move and leave the venue. They might come back, you have to have some hope that they'll come back for a second encore. You hold on to every little bit of hope until security is telling you that you have to leave, the show is over. You refuse to believe this and you're trying to explain that the artist is coming back for another encore even though half the equipment is already off the stage. Denial has set in, and you're refusing to believe it.
2. Depression
You find yourself laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and your body is so numb and filled with sadness. What now? Nothing is exciting, the concert is over, so that must mean your life is over. That was the best night of your life, now you're just stuck laying in bed, crying, covered in blankets, but, why are you crying? You're unsure of yourself. If you're like me, it's usually because you're tired, or you're just wanting to go back to last night because you're still feeling that deep denial that last night didn't happen, or that it wasn't here yet.
3. Lack of Control
So you're still trying to get over the PCD hump and you will probably find yourself on TicketMaster or LiveNation, looking at upcoming concert dates from that artist and trying to see how long it would take you to get to that venue and how much it would cost you since you would do anything to see them again. (Believe me, I did this. Almost booked myself a trip to Texas to see my favorite artist again). Then you start to think to yourself, "Do I have an addiction? Nah, I'm totally fine. This is normal, right?"
4. Acceptance
Once your emotional breakdown is getting through its last sniffle, you're ready to accept that the concert happened. You can't go back in time, although it would be amazing to have time travel especially to re-experience something like that concert again, I know I would love that. But, you've got to start moving on, it was an amazing night you'll remember forever, but, can't go back to it, so why waste the tears?
5. Planning your next show
If you're like me, you're already planning when the next tour comes around who you're gonna go with, where you're gonna go, how you're gonna pay for it. I just recently met and saw one of my favorite artists in concert and my friend group and I are already planning what show we're gonna all go to together so we can hang out with our favorite artist and have an amazing time.
So, crank out that piggy bank and start putting your coins in there because you're gonna need to start saving now! Never hurts to be prepared beforehand. I promise, PCD will get better, I still have some PCD, but, I just keep thinking that with every week that passes, it's one week closer to seeing them again.
