My Concert Experiences (So Far)

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Hey guys! I’m so happy to be back. I hope you love music, because here’s another entry about Twenty One Pilots and Waterparks! I might even include pictures if I’m feeling spontaneous 🙂

So. My first concert. Whew! A big new thing staring me in the face, filling me to the brim with excitement and terror. If you have read this blog before, you likely know that I am a massive introvert to the extent of hermit-ism. I’m not a people person. So I was really nervous to be crammed in a room full of them, with blaring music probably hurting my ears and lights blasting through my eyes and into the back of my skull. But was I also fantastically excited?

YES!!!!

Now, let me give you a peek into my brain when I’m excited and my anxiety is kicked up.
Driving all the way to Atlanta was scary. (Are we going to die in traffic? What if we don’t get there in time? Will I get to change clothes before the show? Do I have everything I need? What if I forgot something?) Getting to The Tabernacle was scary. (Is THAT the line?? What if we die in there? What if I get too dehydrated and pass out again? What if the openers cancel and we miss the show?) Standing in line was scary. (Do vaccine cards expire? Is mine somehow not valid? What if they don’t believe me? Does Drummer Boy have the tickets? What if I lose my wallet and I can’t get in? What if my wallet isn’t allowed inside?) Getting into the packed venue was scary. (There’s so many people… What if I get lost? What if I have to go to the bathroom during the show and I miss something? What if I get locked out? What if he leaves without me?) Making my (pretty much) first ever payment with a card at the merch booth was scary. (Am I doing it wrong? What if the money didn’t go through this morning? Is that the right size shirt? Where’s the Half Alive stuff? (They ended up having to cancel cuz someone in their camp got Covid) What if it doesn’t fit? Will somebody steal my stuff? What do you mean, leave a tip? He just picked up the right size shirt for me! But what if I don’t tip and hurt his feelings? Is this normal? I’ll just leave a tip. What if this is more expensive than I thought? I saved for months to get to do this…) Sitting in the restless, waiting crowd was scary. (What if something bad happens? If something blew up, would we all die? Is the balcony going to collapse? Where do I put the merchendise during the show? Am I doing something wrong? This is going too well…) The first trill of screams as the lights went out was flippin terrifying. (AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!) The anticipation almost ate me alive.

And then, just like that, the opener came on. He was really awkward and extremely pumped-up, but it was kinda a vibe and I didn’t mind. When that was over, there was another break, during which I tapped my foot a lot while staying on high alert for someone new to enter the stage. We put all the merch into the clear backpack my mom loaned me. I started overheating with anxiety, so I took my hoodie off and tied it around my waist. I think I also swallowed my gum at some point around then because I was scared I’d get too excited when they came onstage, jump up, choke, and die. (I handled the whole event very calmly and rationally, as you can see.) So I took the rest of the time to try to calm myself down, mostly by slowing my breaths and observing the people around me. Like I said, the anticipation was running high. Not just for me, but for everyone. The crowd was absolutely buzzing with excitement. And before I knew it, the giddy chatter dropped to complete and utter silence as the lights went dead.

I stood up, fast enough to make myself dizzy, and whipped out my phone to record the beginning. The beginning of what I now know to be an intense fascination with live music. As someone who is very interested in the lore aspect of TØP, I was ecstatic with their entry. They stopped in the middle of the stage, looked at the crowd for several heartbeats, glanced at each other, and then looked to their instruments, which lit up. Then they approached each instrument and sat down at the exact same time. Everything was perfectly in synch. Then came the most welcome feeling; pure elation and joy washed over me, and all my worries disappeared. Even though it wasn’t my favorite song, and the bishops’ influence was very clear, I’d never experienced a feeling in that volume before.

When they first came on stage 😀 (Had to cut short because I panned to Drummer Boy’s face and you don’t get to see that hehe)

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN COOL, TERRIBLE QUALITY PHOTOS & VIDS, THOSE WILL BE AT THE BOTTOM OF POST 🙂

I had the time of my life at that concert. I will never, ever forget that. And I can honestly say that it changed my life. (Oh calm down, I’m not an obsessed groupie or anything.) They just really left an impact on me. Something that I love about Twenty Øne Pilots is their connection to the audience. They really care about what they do, who they play for, and what they sing about. And let me tell you, that makes such a difference.

Okay. Now that we’ve covered the beginning of concert #1, let’s talk about #2.

Drummer boy took me to see Waterparks in Atlanta, Georgia at the Buckhead Theatre. I was so excited, I thought I might actually crawl out of my skin and fly by ghost to get there faster and watch soundcheck. So when we got there and started waiting in line, I was practically jumping in place to keep myself from exploding. Luckily I didn’t, because the girls behind us seemed to be going through some serious life crap and I think they needed a calm atmosphere to unload their feelings into. (Seriously, the girl met up with her friend and I guess she hadn’t seen her in a while because they talked nonstop. I even heard about an entire relationship (and then breakup) situation ending in a poetic reading of the last text message exchange. It ended with “F*** YOU ANYWAY” or something to that effect. The best friend was a total wingwoman and was all like, “Yea that was so toxic I’m so proud of you! Want to get pizza after the show?” (Don’t quote me bc those weren’t her exact words but still. It was really bizarre.)

When we finally got into the building, we got to get into another line. The merch booth line. And I was really happy, until we noticed that a lot of the clothes were only available in small sizes. All the 2XL-L were mostly gone by the time we got in, and it was only about ten minutes after the doors officially opened!! It was a huge letdown for us. In the end, we got a few things each and moved on. Which sucked at the time, but looking back I’m really glad about.
Again, I’d been saving for months. I’m really thankful for the money I get paid, and I work really hard to get it. I’m also not a huge spender. But merch is friggin expensive, dude!! I had no idea it was going to be that stressful. It wasn’t that bad at the TØP concert, I guess mostly because I knew that even if it was an awful time I would still love their music and lore and general vibes as a band. Even if it all went into panic mode. But Waterparks was a different story; from the minute the merch booth was in sight, my gut told me this was going to be different.

And I was right. Unfortunately, not in a good way.

The ease of moving around the building was nice, but there were security guards everywhere and that made it feel kinda unsafe. They were mostly nice enough but they weren’t looking to make friends. Just push people through the lines, and get them where they needed to go. Which was fine, but I didn’t feel like I could enjoy the beautiful venue because we had to move so fast in order to not seem sketchy and pull attention. It kinda sucked. Then the show didn’t start until the openers came on around 7:30, and then Waterparks didn’t come out until 30/45 minutes after Phem was done. And as much as I hate to say it, I almost liked Phem as much as Waterparks. Which was… not that much. All things considered, she had a nice energy and moved around a lot. She cursed wayyy more than I’m comfortable with, her speaking voice was kinda irritating, her dancing was more… um… “free-spirited” than I prefer to watch, and her bandmates were a little too hyped up if you ask me. Plus I’m pretty sure she was lip synching to her music because she kept taking the mic away from her face and it sounded the same. BUT, despite the autotune or whatever voice editing they did, I kinda liked her vibes. I felt a little sorry for her, because it seemed like she was trying really hard. Which I get, because being on tour with Waterparks means you have something to really live up to in order to not be forgotten. I dunno. She sounded pretty good and we even got to hear a song that was (at the time) unreleased, called Silly Putty. And DANG, it absolutely slapped!! I don’t care for some of the lyrics that much, particularly in the first part, but the beat was awesome and it was really fun live. I think I liked her a lot more because she was unfazed by the fact that it was not a sold-out show. Where we were in the balcony was relatively pathetic, and most of the people that were there seemed to be the parents. But she still jammed on and gave it her all. (Which might have been a little too much actually, but that’s beside the point. It was still fun.) In conclusion, I mean absolutely no hate on Phem. I think she’ll get the hang of it soon and I think it was cool to play an unreleased song. Overall it just wasn’t my vibe but I’ve actually gone out of my way to listen to some of her other songs on Spotify. I liked them better live, but it’s not bad. 🙂

Now, when it came to Waterparks… It was really neat to see one of my favorite bands live. And I’m 100% grateful that I got to go and glad for the experience. I was definitely more comfortable jumping around at #2, partly because the songs were much more upbeat and meant to jump to. BUT, the band didn’t seem that into it. I know Awsten Knight has a tendency to act cool and uncaring because it’s the persona the fans give him. But I honestly think he took it a little far. It had been a show every night for a little while, so I can respect that he was probably exhausted and tired of going all the time. But I felt like he was a little on edge and grumpy, even more than usual. And that’s when it hit me.

I like TØP because of who they are.
What they stand for.
What they sing.
What they do with their creative power.
How they treat their fans.
CONFETTI!!!

Twenty Øne Pilots has a strong moral base. They want the best for everyone who likes their music, as well as those who don’t. They stand for recovery and getting better, while still acknowledging the growing pains and fear that you feel in the face of change. They sing anthems for those who are hurting, and wanting to leave that hurt behind them. Even when it’s hard. They didn’t create these heartfelt songs to get famous, and then abuse that power. As big as they’ve become, they’ve never once pretended that their lives were perfect or easy, and they haven’t turned their backs on the fans. Even with the hiatus; they were still the same people when they came back. They give their fans upmost respect, treating them as human beings. Not pawns. And that left such a huge impact on my life.

Waterparks, however, felt like they were screaming “almost famous!!” They seemed really tired of not playing sold-out venues, which was made obvious when Awsten repeatedly scolded the balcony. Like, chill dude! We paid to be here to see you. We don’t owe you anything! I know he was disappointed but he didn’t have to treat us like we were slacking. And for the record, I was jumping around so much that my knees almost gave out when I was walking down the stairs to leave! I know it bummed him out that the balcony wasn’t really “performing” but honestly I think most of the people up there had bad knees. Or backs. Or should have been in bed by 9. Not hating, just stating.
I didn’t realize why I liked them so much until I was there in person. My favorite of their tracks on Spotify is “Fandom Live”, which was the recording of a Fandom tour show in the UK. And in that track, they give off amazing vibes! They’re energetic and happy to be there, they seemed refreshed and ready to hit it. He talked to the fans with love in a joking spirit. When he cursed, he did so in an uplifting manner that made people laugh and feel more comfortable. (My general rule of thumb for language is Ephesians 4:29. Use your words to build people up. If what you are saying hurts people, you are not being wise. Language can be good and bad in different circumstances, and I believe cursing is like that. I don’t say GD or F but I think generally most others can be okay situationally.) But in person, they were sullen and a little off. Who they are doesn’t shine through a ton in the lyrics. They have love songs, breakup songs, “F YOU” songs, and songs about what he wants his life to be. (Cool shirts, cold rings, big house, nice things, jet packs, etc.) But it doesn’t really touch on him as a person that much. Which makes him come off like he’s Ken in the Barbie world: rich, popular, attractive, and has the personality of a brick. He straight-up told a fan to “Shut the f*** up” at one point, which, while understandable given the circumstances, came off pretty unnecessarily aggressive. I think he meant well but just got carried away with his stage persona. IDK. Maybe I’m just looking into things too much. And I will admit, some parts of the show got pretty hype. They even had a circle pit going that looked like a blender. But it really showed me how different my reasons are for liking Waterparks.

I saw someone projectile puke right beside the pit. So that wasn’t exactly a hight point of the evening. BUT Awsten did sing a song about cleaning while they cleaned it up. So that was pretty great.
They have some really great songs that are good distractions from hard days at work. I don’t relate to a lot of their topics, so I don’t have to think much when listening, which is sometimes what I need.
The breakup songs remind me how grateful I am for Drummer Boy, and the love songs are one of the things that connected us in the first place. He put 21 Questions, Stupid For You, Crave, and “NOT WARRIORS/CRYBABY” on a playlist for me. He also sent me Lucky People sometime later. (There were several TØP songs there too 🙂

So yeah. That was my impressions of my first two concerts. I have to mention, as well, that I relate more closely to TØP, aside from musical and personal preference. I have never dealt with a breakup, and I am not in the music business. So Waterparks songs were always more of a band I just happened to like, not one that helped me get through things. Twenty Øne Pilots, on the other hand, covers a lot of what I’ve dealt with. Anxiety, depression, self harm, suicidal tendencies, and struggling through wanting to get better. Their music is an anthem for me. I even made a hoodie covered in my favorite lyrics to help me through the hard days. So when I went to their concert, it was absolutely etherial and wonderful because I was surrounded by a bunch of people just like me. I swear, it was like floating on clouds. Because singing along, you can own your problems and be honest with yourself about how much pain you’re in. And being quiet and listening, you can hear the chorus of voices singing your song. Saying “I feel you“. It’s another level of being known. Astounding and unreal. There was no judgement, and you can feel sure that everyone is trying their best. Which makes perfection off-topic and unneeded. There was only one person that I’d met before in the whole building, as far as I know, and he was standing beside me. And yet… I knew almost everyone.

Except that one dude that I think might’ve been dragged there by his girlfriend because he didn’t hardly move the entire time and i’m not actually sure if he was breathing or just a cardboard cutout…

Anyway, that’s my story with concerts so far. I hope you enjoyed! I want it to be clear that this is a purely opinion based post. I do NOT intend to hate on anybody or paint anyone in a bad light. Everybody has off days, and not everyone has the same taste. This was simply a real story built over two experiences. 🙂 Thanks for reading! Have a great day!