Remembrance: Once in a Lifetime Experience

This is the first installment of a new series of blogs I’m going to be writing, focusing on remembering different events in my life through a narrative/diary like style.

I’ve been to a concert before. December 20th, 2019, I saw Greta Van Fleet at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA. It was mediocre. For one, I wasn’t super interested in them, I really just went because my dad and my stepmother wanted to. The music was okay. I felt that GVF was really only popular because they sounded extremely similar to Led Zeppelin, so they didn’t strike me as incredibly original. There was also the fact that I was eleven and had a terrible sleep schedule, so I was exhausted from waiting in line and I fell asleep intermittently throughout the show. The people sitting in front of me were chainsmoking as well, so a headache made it a not very fun experience. Not to say that all concerts are like that, but I did not enjoy it.

Leaping forward into the year 2024 A.D., November 2nd, to be precise, I am in Atlanta, GA. Waiting in my hotel room, I do my makeup. Navy blue liner in my waterline, teal eyeshadow with seafoam green and blue glitter in my inner corners, and electric blue wings accentuate my eyes. I pick out something to put on my lips, a dark grey, almost black, lip-gloss. With my outfit pulled together, me and my dad walk about 20 minutes to the State Farm Arena through the somewhat crowded streets of Atlanta, with advertisements on the surrounding screens for Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard And Soft” Tour. The tour we’re all going to see. The foremost thing in my mind, There’s a lot of people here. I haven’t even stepped foot in the building yet. There is a line of people around the block, all waiting to get inside to see a woman on stage. It’s so odd how we idolize regular people who share talents with a large handful of the population. I love music and singers, but sometimes I think, maybe they were just in the right place at the right time to reach stardom. I say that as if I hadn’t been out of my mind with excitement the entire time, as if I wasn’t one in the throngs of people waiting anxiously to see this woman sing on a stage hundreds of feet away, less than that if you’re rich and lucky. It was absolutely astounding. I loved dancing around with crowds of people, singing along to songs written by someone who would never know who I am. I enjoyed how I couldn’t even hear my own singing, so of course it sounded terrible. The setlist also had some of my favorite songs by Billie Eilish, along with opener Towa Bird, who I’d heard a little bit before the concert but not much to say I enjoyed her music. Now I can confidently say I love her album American Hero. The music was amazing and I was really glad to have time to hang out with my dad in an environment like that. We both love music and it was really nice to have something that I can share with him. 

Author: Jude Ryan

I know how hard it is to be in conversations where you feel like everyone knows something you don't. My aim is to explore, learn, and to share that learning with other people, along with a couple things to help those people who feel unheard, feel like there is someone who understands. I hope to either go into law, or become a college professor, hopefully someday not riddled with debt. View all posts by Jude Ryan