Picture this:
You arrive at your nearest concert venue to see your favorite artist. You’ve had these tickets for months; you’re beyond ecstatic. You know every word to every song, even from that super underground demo album that was never officially released. You walk through the ticket gate, you hear that familiar tune, you look at the crowd ahead of you and everyone is looking… down.
Every single person is looking down at their phone, posting tweets, putting photos up for the ‘Gram, Snapchatting or posting pictures to their Facebook wall.
Now, some people see absolutely nothing wrong with this situation. I am not one of those people.
When I go to a concert or music festival, I don’t want to do anything except listen and watch my favorite bands. Kanye’s St. Pablo Tour Tickets are averaging over $300 a piece. Do you really want to pay that much to see the entire concert through the screen of that thing you stare at every other day of the week?
For the three or so hours that you are at the amphitheater, in that arena or stadium, or on the days that you are at that music festival -- immerse yourself. Become one with that crowd that you longed to be a part of, that you are now a part of. Sing your lungs out, and scream when your favorite song comes on. Just be the fan that you are.
With all this being said, I must admit my own hypocrisy. I am a social media fiend, I love to take pictures at my favorite musical events and post them everywhere! My Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are filled with pictures of artists that I took. At many concerts in the past, my Snapchat story would be almost the concert in its entirety. Recently, I realized a compromise for both my musical and social media obsessions. What I do now is I will take few pictures at the beginning of the concert. I will take a video of the opening of the concert, as the band enters the stage and I will wait until the end of the concert to post any tweets or Instagrams. Most of the time, there are so many people on their phones at concerts that it is impossible to get internet service anyhow!
So, next time you go to a musical event, take a few photos for memories. Then, put that phone down, turn up the bass, and RAGE YOUR HEART OUT. You won’t regret it, and it’s just one small step towards truly disconnecting. To totally disconnect requires a little something more. Check out The Red Bulletin’s round-up of everything else you need to do to truly enjoy a weekend away.Check out more fun and exciting Red Bulletin content here!
