The most magical place on earth is not Disney World. For me, that place is a concert. The feeling of the bass coursing through your body, the sounds of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of fans singing along to the same song. The feeling of being safe, because the band that you love is playing your favorite song, the one you listened to every time you had a bad day and thought that you couldn’t make it through.
Out of all the concerts that I have been too, nothing will beat a moment that happened when I went to see the band 5 Seconds of Summer on July 15th. The group from Australia were playing a sold out show at Madison Square Garden, a monumental moment in their career. I have been a fan of the band for quite some time, but hadn’t been keeping up with their latest music, their last album Sounds Good Feels Good, but was excited to listen to some of their older songs from their EP and so on.
While I was excited to attend, I had been in what I call a “concert funk”, where the joy that I felt while attending a show was just not what it used to be. I figured it was probably because I was getting older; I have more on my plate than I did even a year ago, and maybe I was growing out of my crazy concert goer days. Still, I couldn’t pass up on of my old time favorites.
It was half way through the show when it happened, a moment that will stay with me. 5SOS had just finished performing one of their newest songs when guitarist, Michael Clifford, took the stage alone to introduce their next song, Jet Black Heart. Now, all music lovers, and mostly everyone, knows what Madison Square Garden represents for all artists. As one of the most iconic venues in the world, the old saying goes that if you can sell out there, you have officially made it as a performer. That realization hit Michael right as he was saying his intro for the song. In what would have been a short speech, turned into a moment of silence as Michael Clifford spent three minutes looking around the arena, eyes glazed over, taking it all in. The cheers of the crowd were deafening, each side screaming louder whenever Michael would look towards them. He was met with cheers and shouts of “I love you”, ending with a chant of his own name that earned a smirk from him before he, choked up as he was, began to sing the first verse.
I’ve been to approximately over 50 concerts, and out of all of those shows, never have I witnessed a raw moment from an artist. Seeing someone witness their dream come true was a moment more powerful than any song or cheering crowd could provide. There was a connection in the air. It was a moment that made me remember why I love concerts and why I love music. It was a moment that reminded you that the artists we see are people just like us, a magical moment that reminds of us of why we attend theses shows and buy the albums in the first place. We put faith in these people, we’re their biggest supporters, and we go to concerts for these moments, moments that give us something to believe in. Concerts are where dreams come true, not just for an artist, but for the fans who have supported them from the beginning as well.
Thank you, Michael, for giving me an experience that will also have a huge impact on the way I look towards music. And congragulations, you made it.
