Music is everpresent in our daily lives. On the radio, in the elevator, and on the streets. Most people enjoy listening to their favorite artists in their free time as well. While some are fine just listening to the recordings alone, many people feel drawn to seeing these songs performed live.

I am one of the people who feel a deeply rooted urge to go to concerts and indulge in live music. Being in a room with my favorite musicians is very surreal. Singing along to my favorite songs with other people who feel the same about the words is intoxicating in a sense. I can't get enough of it. Just getting to see them with my own eyes can even be mind altering. The person shifts from just someone on the other side of a screen or a record, into something tangible.

It doesn't have to be a band or singer that I already like to enjoy live music, though. Just watching someone give their all onstage for a crowd of people is so inspiring. And being in a sea of other people who just enjoy live music as much as I do makes me feel like I am a part of something amazing. Getting to talk and dance and sing with others is an amazing feeling. I met one of my closest friends, Eli, about a year ago at a concert. We talk almost every day now. I'm closer to him than I am to some people I see every day.

I'm definitely not alone in these feelings. I asked some of my close friends that I have met, either at concerts or online, why they enjoy live music. Eli compared live music to getting hit in the chest with a sense of reality. "It's as if something I've been imagining in my head is real and it's the best thing I've ever witnessed," he said. "There's this sense of freedom and safety. Like I can be who I am with no judgment." My friend Aly said, "Live music makes me feel safe and concerts are the one place where I feel completely safe to let go." My other friend, Lauryn, talked about how live music and concerts have given her the chance to travel the United States for something that she's passionate about. "I'd never be able to call myself who I am today without the band's I've seen perform and the friends I watched them with," she admitted. My friend Mary agreed with the sentiment regarding enjoying the experience with a certain group of people. She also mentioned how she likes seeing local and smaller bands. She loves to be a part of the scene and help a group get their name out there.

I even got a chance to ask this question to one of my favorite bands, Bonelang. I wanted to get an opinion from the other side of the stage. They said that it was a hard question to answer, but that since they've been performing for so long together, that it is has become a part of them. "The music is the centerpiece of our lives and our whole identity is wrapped up in it," Samy (of Bonelang) stated.

I found that no matter what side of it you're on, the performer or the audience, live music makes you feel something. Whether it's the connective nature that being in a group like that creates or just the magic of seeing the people you idolize, going to a concert can have a positive effect on someone. My favorite concert that I have ever been to was $15 per ticket and it was a last minute decision to go. So, get out there and go to a show. Any show! You won't regret it.