First time concert experiences!

[yui]

So tomorrow, I'm going to my very first concert! I'm really excited, and nervous at the same time.

It's going to be at a small venue, and there's a high chance of a meet/greet with the band, which is The 1975. I'm super duper nervous, because even when watching videos of other fans meeting some really cool bands, I almost can't handle the excitement I feel for them. I don't have anything cool to give them, but I'm excited nonetheless. I'm starting this thread for tips and experience sharing. So if you have anything to add, please do!

How was your first concert experience?

[MegaTuga]

Downright awful. Well at least it taught me to keep away from those things.

I'm sorry if this is a lousy first reply but eh... Hey it's my own experience as well so I can write about it, right?

So, I won't say the names because 1. it's Portuguese, so there's no point in saying. And 2. I don't even remember who it was.
I was spending some days with some cousins of mine who were living the party life as there was a local fair with lots of music, food, stalls and events (including the most famous ones: Bull running, and bull arena, where basically you pick on the bull and do whatever you want inside a closed space. And then in the morning they use cows to call the bulls in and it's almost like pamplona) But that's beside the point.

They all went, and by that, I also went with even though half-forced to a guest singer at the fair around midnight. I was not used to the night life or even stay up so late so the days before were already taking a toll on me. But everybody was having fun and I couldn't leave them down so I just went along with the flow. The singer wasn't bad but the real issue were the speakers. We were basically on the first rows and there were so many people that I was afraid of losing my cousins so I always stayed by their side, the thing is that the speakers were incredibly large, several pairs being almost 2 meters tall... it was scary, and the music blaring from them wasn't pleasant either. Even when the song itself WAS pleasant. The heavy beats pf the speakers were just resonating with my heartbeat and made my pulse race, I felt dizzy, incredibly so, just by standing there. I had to get away and walked a pretty good distance away just to get the rhythmic beats out of my chest.

Yeah, it wasn't pleasant. The good side is that with that I discovered that I also can't handle nightclubs or discotheques thanks to the blaring music, and that I really cannot hear a thing even if somebody is yelling from the top of their lungs at my ears in such conditions. Or Me being able to shout lod enough for anybody to hear me.

But hey. I got drunk for the first time in that concert. Although it was sugar-drunk with Ice Tea. So there's that.

[Dashe]

My first concert experience was pretty bad too, but it was a metal concert and that's not my kind of music at all. Some of my friends told me it would be a good idea. Everyone was standing even though there were seats, which felt like a real waste of having the seats there in the first place, and a bunch of people were screaming in my ear, so I couldn't have heard the artist even if I'd particularly wanted to. I've heard that there are two types of concert-goers: people who will sing along with every song, and people who find it incredibly disrespectful to do that because they paid money to hear the actual artist perform, and I am staunchly in the latter group. I'm sure the sing-along crowd has more fun at these things, so if that's you, rejoice! You're in the party that is primed for a good time.

Of course, I'm also the sort of person who prefers a chill venue where everyone's dressed in formalwear and the show involves some kind of philharmonic orchestra, so there's that, too. As far as meet and greets go, I did that for a musical once and it was fantastic, because I went to the trouble of ducking out early enough to make it against the barricades. Idina Menzel was there and she was probably the nicest person giving out autographs. I cannot recommend meeting her more highly. It felt like this video. They were musical theater people, though, so they were all awesome. I don't know too much about how band-bands interact with their fans.

It's not a bad thing that you haven't got anything to give the band, because chances are high that they get a lot of stuff and don't actually have a good place to put it all. Just telling them that they were awesome is ideal. If you can think of a good, memorable synonym for awesome and have it at the ready, that's probably the best thing you could do. Have fun!

[mcbelch]

I do believe that my first concert experience was seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra live, who are known for performing Christmas music to rock music and stuff like that. It was real fun, but it had to be cut short, since my brother drove us there, and he had to leave to go for work. Real fun though! But I do believe the best part was not the show, but what happened afterwards. The concert took place in the city, and in not the BEST part of town, so when we left, there was this gentleman who was trying to pawn off some jewelry to me, my brother, and his girlfriend. Jewelry was probably stolen, but gosh darn he was a smooth talker. Also gonna say that we didn't buy said jewelry.

The light show for the orchestra was pretty amazing too. It was like Tron: The Musical.

[yui]

I'm way too hyped now. If I didn't have friends with me I don't know if I could even go. There's six hours left now, and I don't know when we're leaving to go there. I've got tips from reddit about taking water, making sure we're fed and stuff so we don't pass out. They even said that grabbing a concert poster might even be okay.

[Dashe]

Nov 28, 2014 9:57:27 GMT -5 mcbelch said:

I do believe that my first concert experience was seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra live, who are known for performing Christmas music to rock music and stuff like that. It was real fun, but it had to be cut short, since my brother drove us there, and he had to leave to go for work. Real fun though! But I do believe the best part was not the show, but what happened afterwards. The concert took place in the city, and in not the BEST part of town, so when we left, there was this gentleman who was trying to pawn off some jewelry to me, my brother, and his girlfriend. Jewelry was probably stolen, but gosh darn he was a smooth talker. Also gonna say that we didn't buy said jewelry.

The light show for the orchestra was pretty amazing too. It was like Tron: The Musical.

I've seen the Trans-Siberian Orchestra live, too, but I didn't like it so much because I'm more accustomed to stuff like Mannheim Steamroller. The instruments may be mostly synthetic but there are no screamin' guitars or anything of the sort. I was expecting something more formal and less full of guitars and lasers. My dad and I left early for a totally different reason.

[yui]

I just got back from the concert, holy crap!!!
I don't even know how to describe the experience, but I met with my friends in line, and then everyone rushed to the door about an hour after that, an hour before the doors opened. Which was weird, because it destroyed all the organization that the line had going for it. My friends pushed and dragged me to basically the front of the line, and we ended up getting to stand in the 6-7th row.

I'm really happy to say that every single person that was there tonight sang along with every single song. Except for the ones where Matty asked everyone to pipe down and put the phones down. My voice is dead right now. There were two opening acts, and they were both really great. The Young Rising Sons hyped the crowd and the vocalist waved to nearly everyone, and then Cruisr, had everyone dancing along and introduced The 1975 politely.

Suprisingly! The staff at the show were amazing! There was this one group of girls that were all drunk and pushing everyone and being rude, cursing everyone out and everyone pointed them out to the staff and the staff escorted them out. They even gave everyone glasses of water so that no one passed out. I loved this show, so much. Track 29, Chattanooga, everyone. I didn't get to meet any of the bands, but in the show Matty looked at me and everything was golden.

I got a poster though. Yeah! I took a lot of pictures too, so I might link them if you happen to want to see them at some point.

That wraps up my first concert experience.