I’d like to think that I’ve always been a big music fan. As I grew up I would spend countless hours driving in the car listening to acts such as The Beatles, Queen and The Beach Boys. As I got older I began to expand my musical taste by listening to big acts from former generations such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and more contemporary acts such as Radiohead, Arcade Fire and many, many more. About a year or two ago, I began building a vinyl collection, which now stands at more than 40 records. Yet, however big of a music fan I was, I had never been to a live performance. Thankfully that changed this year. I had the immense pleasure of getting to see four of music’s biggest acts this year: The Who, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and, as of last Sunday, Paul McCartney. I consider myself extremely lucky to have seen these legends in person.

Even though I’m nowhere near the level of expertise to consider myself a music critic, I feel like I learned something important from these acts. They taught me the power of pleasing your fans.

In my opinion, along with many others, Bob Dylan is one of the greatest artists of all time, if not the greatest artist of all time. 1965 was considered a very important year in music, and a lot of it is due to Dylan’s masterpiece album "Highway 61 Revisited", especially the opening track "Like A Rolling Stone". In fact Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the song number one on the list of greatest songs of all time. You would think that having the chance to see a true legend perform would be one of the greatest experiences. I did at least. However, I sadly have to say it was a very disappointing show. Even though I can’t say I know every song in Dylan’s catalog, I believe I know a lot and, well, I did not recognize one song he played. Even the people surrounding me in the stands knew very few of the songs. I soon began to realize that every song Dylan played was a jazz standard from the '50s. What made it worse is that Dylan played around with the arrangement so much that, if I knew the song, it was barely recognizable. Another point that was upsetting was there was no interaction with the audience. At every other show I was at, the performers would take a moment between songs to thank the audience and interact, such as telling stories about the song’s origin. Dylan did no such thing. While I can applaud his ability to play for an hour straight with no breaks except for the intermission, especially at his age, I couldn’t help but feel like Dylan was disconnected from the audience. Like he was just performing in his studio with no one watching.

However, when I saw Sir Paul McCartney last Sunday, it was a completely different story. Sure, there were a few songs I didn’t recognize because they were from his new album, but he still managed to play a ton of recognizable tunes. He played Beatles classics from "Can’t Buy Me Love" to "Blackbird", the Wings anthems, such as "Band on The Run" and "Live and Let Die". He even played his year-old single with Kanye West and Rihanna, "FourFiveSeconds." McCartney even joked around when he played his new songs. He said something along the lines of, “We know that you guys love hearing our old songs. When we play a new song, the audience is pitch black, but when we play a Beatles song, it is lit up from everyone’s phone. We’re still going to play the new songs though." Between every song, McCartney took a break to talk to the audience. He told stories such as two days after they finished recording "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band," he went to see a Jimi Hendrix show, and he already memorized the album, playing verses from it with his own twist. He then proceeded to say that a certain trick Hendrix would play would put your guitar out of tune, so during the show Hendrix asked “if Eric was in the audience." Hendrix was talking about Eric Clapton, and he wanted him to come up and tune his guitar. McCartney also told the origins of some songs, such as the origin of "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!" He said that he went to John’s house (John Lennon) and saw a circus poster on his wall that had “Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite” written on it. So they then decided to write a circus-style song centered on that line. McCartney also took the time to take two emotional tributes to his late band members John Lennon and George Harrison. Lastly, one of the most impressive moments of the show is that McCartney played for two and a half hours straight, plus an encore, without taking an intermission. That is something immensely impressive for someone young, never mind someone in their 70s.

Now, while I’m so

happy I got the chance to see Dylan play live, and with Dylan’s prestige he could do whatever the hell he wants to, I feel like it is important to connect with your fans. I can guarantee anyone that saw both of these shows would say that they like McCartney’s a lot more. Yeah, I can understand how tiring it could be playing the same songs over and over again. Kurt Cobain said that he played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" so many times that he hated the song. Cobain told Rolling Stone in 1993, “I can barely get through ‘Teen Spirit.’ I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away.” But isn’t the concert for the fans? I feel that as a performer, it would be an amazing experience to look into the audience and see the bright faces of your fans singing along.