One of the most joyful moments in someone’s life is brought to them while attending a concert. I have been to many concerts in my life… eighteen to be exact. Two of my all-time favorite concerts brought me the most joy I’ve ever had in my entire life. These two concerts were The Who (whats is left of them) and Dead & Company, the living members of the Grateful Dead.
When I went to see The Who in November 2015, I was incredibly happy. The concert was loud and surreal. I had the most fun ever. The lights in the arena turned off. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey walked onto the stage, more energetic than I have ever seen any 71 or 72 year old walk before. Music started blasting and I immediately recognized the song to be Who Are You. This song brought me back to when I was 5 years old and singing this song at the top of my lungs to my Golden Retriever; Bosco. The bass guitar reminded me of all of the head-banging that I did with my grandfather every time we listened to “Who Are You.” Not long after the concert started, the Wells Fargo Center picked up the familiar scent of marijuana. Smelling the pot reminded me of the first time I ever found out what pot was. It brought me back to my best friend's farmhouse. I walked into her brother, Tyler’s, bedroom and saw him smoking an unfamiliar object, that looked like a brown cigarette. He did not looked phased by me being in his room, in fact, he invited me in and told me all about weed. I looked around the arena and noticed the ratio of older people to younger people. There had to be about 30 older people for each person under 20 years old. Everyone in the arena was dancing. The music being played onstage mixed with the atmosphere of the arena made me feel strangely at ease and content with life. It made me happier than I had been in years. Another example of how concerts bring people joy comes in the form of a Dead and Company concert.
On June 20, 2016, I went to a Dead & Company concert at the BB&T Pavilion, formerly known as the Susquehanna Bank Center, in Camden, New Jersey. From the moment that Bob Weir stepped on the stage, all of my worries exited my brain and I was calm. The concert started with their song “Bertha,” and immediately followed “Shakedown Street.” “Shakedown Street” brought me back to my grandfather’s one-story house, where I would sit on his lap and listen to his stories from when he lived in San Francisco. The story that “Shakedown Street” really made me think about was the one where my grandfather told me his experience at the Grateful Dead performance on Haight Ashbury. He told me about all of the people and all of the drugs. He told me the clothing that the band had on. He even told me what he was wearing for the show. My grandfather told me that the show was the most exciting moment of his life. At the Dead & Company concert, I tried to compare shows. I tried to see the similarities and the differences between the show that I was at and the show that my grandfather was at. The biggest difference between the two was that Jerry Garcia wasn’t there. The show at the BB&T Pavilion made me so happy. I had wanted to see the living members of the Grateful Dead since I was 13 years old, but never had the money for it. When I saved up enough money, I made sure to buy tickets as quickly as possible. The Grateful Dead’s music helped me through a lot of personal and family problems, so I knew that the concert would make me happier that I had ever been before. It reminded me of the problems that I had in my past that I overcame. The Dead and Company concert made me happier than I had ever been in my entire life.
In conclusion, concerts are a place where people feel happiness… where people feel joy. The Who concert brought me joy not only from the music and being in the presence of both Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, but also because it brought me back to when my Golden Retriever; Bosco, was still alive. It reminded me of all of the fun times I had with him. The Dead & Company concert brought me joy, not only because of the music and Bob Weir, but because it forced me to think about how far I had come in life. It reminded me of my past and it reminded me that everything would get better.
