Concerts are always so much fun! Guest contributor Amulya Mummaneni shares some of her tips on how to make the most of your next concert visit.
Concerts always seems to be a bit of a struggle for me. As a music lover (especially when the band's good live!), the idea of attending a concert is definitely exciting. However, everything before that, from figuring out how you'll get there to putting together a good outfit, can be a real annoyance. From experience, I've discovered multiple ways to enhance your experience. So here they are!
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1. Are You Really into Them?
First things first. If your answer is yes, go for it. But if you're in the gray area, think hard before you splash that cash. Maybe you're tagging along with a friend who's really passionate about them, or you're just going because you heard they were cool. Whatever your reasoning, make sure you really want it, or your night and money will go to waste.
2. Know Their Music
This is something I learned from experience. It goes hand in hand with the previous point. If you're really into the artist, memorize the lyrics and/or put their latest album on replay once in a while until the concert. This might seem a little unnecessary or obsessive, but trust me, it'll be totally worth it when you're jamming and belting those tunes out.
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3. Confirm with Friends...and Yourself
There are two part to this. The first is making sure you can actually go. Yes, you want to buy tickets early for good seats, but not at your own expense! Triple check your calendar before even considering going. All set? Now for the second part. Unless you're going alone, you're gonna need to decide who's buying the tickets. If it ends up being you, only buy after everyone's sure they can come. Otherwise it'll be your loss. Of course, you can try reselling, but that's a huge pain only so many people can deal with.
4. Tickets
Your tickets are a crucial part of your concert experience. Once again, it's helpful to stay involved. To ensure a good seat, you can visit the artist's website often or favorite them on Ticketmaster, but that can simply amount to a big waste of time. Instead, use a concert-tracking website or app (most are both). My favorite is Songkick. Visit songkick.com or download their free app and create an account, which is also free, to get started. You can sync your account with Facebook, but you can just sign up with your email if you don't want to. Then choose artists to track. Songkick will put together a list of concerts for the artists you chose. If you want to see more details about the event, click on it and you'll find a list of all the vendors and each one's ticket price range. If you join through Facebook, you'll also be able to see what concerts your friends are attending or planning on attending. The best part? Songkick emails you a day before tickets go on sale for every concert on your list. You don't even have to do anything! This is something that can really help, especially when it comes to big venues.
5. Getting There
Make sure you have a clear plan to get to the venue. In some cases, this may not be so hard. For example, Madison Square Garden is right at Penn Station. Therefore, you won't have to worry about things like driving or parking. But if you do need to, have the directions on paper/in your mind, along with a GPS and an address ready if you take a wrong turn. Trust me, this one's from experience. My friend's mom was driving us to Central Park, and when we thought we arrived, it turned out that we were on the other side of the park. Needless to say, retracing our steps and parking weren't fun. Luckily for us, the opening act was just finishing, and we were right on time for the main act.
6. Dress Comfortably
I'll keep this point short since it's pretty much self explanatory. We all wanna look cute, but there are certain clothes, shoes, and accessories that are simply unnecessary for a concert. Keep it simple and don't wear it if it'll distract you.
7. Be Cautious
Chances are, it's gonna be crowded at the concert. This makes it easy for theft to occur. Bring a bag that'll keep all your stuff safe, and advise your friends to do the same. In fact, try bringing as little as possible. Also, keep your group together, because it can become a big problem if someone gets lost.
8. Plan on Extra Activities Carefully
By extra activities, I mean going to a nearby restaurant for dinner or buying concert tees. The latter applies to me - the last time I went to a concert, I forgot to buy a concert tee, and it bummed me out for a while. Compared to something like dinner, though, that's a small issue. If you have any outside plans, you're probably not going to forget them like I did. However, you might not leave enough time. Always be early - earlier than you think you'll need to be- and you won't miss a thing.
9. Have Fun!
What else is there to do? Let go and enjoy it. After all, these are the memories you'll get to keep long after the night's over.
I hope these tips helped you plan for your next concert. Is there anything you would add? Any experiences you wanna share? Comment away.
