Last year, I returned to attending big concerts. I had been out of the big stadium concert mode for almost two decades. The story I told myself was I couldn’t afford good seats, so why bother. Then one of my favorite bands toured, the Foo Fighters, and I had a “life is short moment” and almost bought tickets. Ha! Get the almost there. I hedged, and missed out on really incredible seats for cheap, so when I finally allowed myself to go to the concert of my dreams, the seats were already triple. But I still paid. Note to self, go for the desire in the moment… it costs less.
Then the drummer of the Foo Fighters died. I was sad. I was given a credit by the ticket distributor plus 20%. So I discovered I could finally afford Billie Ellish tickets and take my 13 year old to her first concert at the Forum in Inglewood. We had the best seats ever, sang, danced, she cried. I couldn’t believe how concerts had evolved. The light shows were incredible, the graphics on the screen curated and deep. I had missed a whole evolution of the concert experience by freezing time 20 years prior. I was hooked.
So I bought my older teen and her boyfriend tickets to The Killers for her birthday, and we all went to the Bank of California Stadium. Again, great seats, but now a decent price (because I pushed “buy” when they just came out) and we sang, danced and I seriously felt like I was 20 again (okay minus the sciatica and having a hard time getting up the next day.)
Then a friend who had worked with The Weekend on his TV show got us floor seats at So Fi Stadium. Now my daughters and I were only 12 rows from The Weekend. You could see the pupils of his eyes (well around all the elevated cell phones which is the one bummer when you sit close.) I couldn’t believe I was on the floor. I had been saying I want floor seats and front row forever. In fact, it wasn’t that I took all this time off concerts, I just decided I wanted to go my way. In good seats and not nosebleed. I would rather not go than sit in somewhere I couldn’t enjoy the concert. Waiting had paid off. Instead of neglecting myself, I had been honoring myself until I was ready.
Then my boyfriend took me to two nights at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery concert series in Los Angeles to see the bands Big Thief and Angel Olsen.
I had never heard of these bands, but he made me mixes on Spotify and I immersed myself. I was hooked. Attending on a warm summer night, we found a spot right on the grass by the stage to wait and eat some snacks. Then when the concert started, we were standing, very very close to the stage, and the limitation I had once put on myself that I could never stand 4 hours to be close to the stage was also shattered. We stood, cuddled, swayed, danced and kissed all by the stage both nights in a row. I was elated and ecstatic. I had changed my whole viewpoint of concerts on another level. Plus I had experienced the music another was passionate about, someone I cared about, and that took the musical experience to a whole other level.
Now we are going to Duran Duran in Vegas. We have a mutual love for Duran Duran. We both know the lyrics. My boyfriend even impressed the crap out of me on date five with an acoustic version of their song The Chauffeur! We will be singing our asses off and I get to continue this journey of musical expression that I now find vast and so much to explore. I unlocked some door to myself when I started to say yes to concerts. I got rid of this whole stigma that it’s a waste of money, one is tired, blah blah. I was in the old me twenty years ago who had no money, and did too many drugs and drank too much. I was in an old perspective as a completely different person.
What concerts have you wanted to go to but held back from because you don’t think you deserve to be in the front row, or to let your hair down and have a good time?
Get out of of your shell, wear glitter eyeshadow, be in the front row. Sing your ass off. Let go of the old you who doesn’t exist anymore.
How to work with me:
I will be facilitating a local Los Angeles writing event - Rewriting Your Narrative - through the SAINT Collective at RiverBank on September 9th from 4-6. Go to https://www.thesaintcollective.com/workshops/p/september-9-rewriting-your-narrative-led-by-kim-ohara to enroll!
Limited to only 15 women! You can also email the founder at hello@thesaintcollective.com.
I will be hosting Writing The Book That Demands Your Attention through the International Coaching Federation on Zoom on September 13th at 11AM PST. Sign up here. https://www.icfla.org/event/book-writing-sig-september-2023/