MUSIC, MUSIC AND MORE MUSIC
My musical tastes have changed dramatically over the years: Early on I liked pop. Selena Gomez, Adele, Bridgit Mendler, Katie Perry, Zendaya and of course Gaga. Then my mom knew a musician friend Scot Sax from high school who opened for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival in San Francisco so I was allowed back stage and got to meet them. That was cool. I had no idea that I was meeting the greatest rock star of all time. Then my first big, rock concert was to see Yes, one of my mom's favorite bands at the Concord Pavilion when I was about five. My second concert was to see Prince at the Oakland Coliseum at about age seven because my mom won the tickets from a radio show. Next was my goth phase to see Motionless In White and New years day in Sacramento, and Black Veil Brides, Falling In Reverse, All Time Low, and Sleeping with Sirens at Vans Warped tour. Getting to meet Ash Costello and Chris Motionless was so awesome. With dad I enjoyed The Pineapple Thief. With mom it was 80's music, disco, The Beatles, Prince and Michael Jackson. We mourned for a week when Michael passed away. Both my parents got me into The Black Eyed Peas, Earth Wind and Fire, Metallica, Sia and Queen, and too many to mention.
By 7th Grade my tastes changed dramatically again and I got to see Twenty One Pilots in Sacremento, the best concert ever. Then mom and I went to see Ani DiFranco in Berkeley and she rocked. Next it was ....., ....., Panic at the Disco. I went to see Panic with my high school friend, .... On Instagram a girl had organized a bunch of us to cut out hundreds of rainbow colored paper hearts. I was cutting for hours. We handed them out at the concert to the audience and when Brendan Urie sang the song ....., thousands of us held our paper hearts to our phone lights creating a coliseum of rainbow colors. It was magical and felt incredible being a part of creating something so much bigger than myself. Brendan Urie said after that song that he had never seen such a huge rainbow display of color, or a larger effort of organizers than us at any previous concert. It was so awesome!
Next I saw The 1975 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and they were one of the best concerts ever. Then John Bellion and Dizzy Wright at The Armory in SF. Then Macklemore at the Fillmore, Billie Eilish at the Great American Music Hall and most recently Khalid with Pretty Much as the opening band at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium again in San Francisco.
I feel very fortunate to have gone to so many concerts so far in life. Statistics show that people are happier the more they go to concerts. And I am living proof. It feels so great to be connected to so many people at once, all in one room, in celebration with a common love. Where else in the world do people all come together just to enjoy the same thing, dance, sing and just enjoy their lives?
