The Magic of Live Music

By Tanvi Yenna on July 10, 2014

Source: http://reallycatherine.tumblr.com/post/90904372455/cake-8035-cake-musicfestival-at-80-35

This weekend, I attended a local music festival held in my hometown, Des Moines, called 80/35. I had never attended a concert besides shows performed by my friends’ bands. I have discovered the magic of live music.

I’ve gathered several observations from my few experiences at concerts, but to me, these are vital to an enjoyable performance. One observation is that even if a musician or a band doesn’t produce phenomenal music, stage presence contributes to the appeal. An artist who incorporates the audience and displays his or her personality during the performance increases the appeal exponentially. Rather than awkwardly standing in the back of the crowd, bobbing my head to the mediocre tunes of some imperturbable musicians, I can flail my body around as I scream along with the average, but entertaining performers. The group members of Gloom Balloon exemplified incredible stage presence as they danced like fools, somersaulted around the grass, allowed audience members to sing into the microphone and more. Although I didn’t necessarily enjoy the genre of music, I loved watching them perform.

Secondly, I noticed that most everyone I interacted with acted as if we had been best friends for years. While watching Cake, my friend fell over multiple times and the people behind us helped him up each time. Even if we did annoy them, they didn’t act irritated. As the night ended, my friend raised his phone to take a selfie of the group and a man walked by, called us cute and poked my friend’s armpit to tickle him and ran away. A stranger accosted my friend to compliment his Dave Grohl shirt, and kissed his Dave Grohl phone case and the two bonded over their love for the beautiful and talented man.

Gathering with thousands of people from all over the country to appreciate music resulted in an irreplaceable experience I hope to recreate annually, at the least. Even though most of the bands at 80/35 were unfamiliar to me, the atmosphere helped create a welcoming, entertaining and engaging weekend.

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