Growing up in a strict religious household wasn’t always ideal. My overprotective parents would often limit the music my sisters and I listened to but I couldn’t keep away from the intoxicating music that is rock and roll. When I finally allowed myself to indulge, that’s when my life changed.
My musical taste evolved throughout the years, there wasn’t one band or artist that specifically altered my life it was a collection of artists like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, Interpol and more supplied incredible soundtracks to my life.
Yet despite my deep-rooted love for music, I regrettably hadn’t attended a concert of my choosing.
Call it fate, call it karma but everything changed when I spontaneously purchased tickets to Arctic Monkeys in Baton Rouge, Louisiana via AMUS (Arctic Monkeys US) on Twitter.
For most, there’s no issue for traveling to see a band or artist. For me, it sparked a lot of overthinking thanks to the joys of having anxiety, nonetheless, the morning of… I didn’t think instead I just drove to Baton Rouge in the middle of a tropical storm. The rest was a serendipitous revelation.
As William Burroughs wrote in Crawdaddy magazine after seeing Led Zepplin for the first time, “The essential ingredient for any successful rock group is energy-the ability to give out energy, to receive energy from the audience and to give it back to the audience. A rock concert is, in fact, a rite involving the evocation and transmutation of energy.”
Previously parting ways with the idea of church at 18 didn’t clue me in that I’d find a church again. The experience turned my world turned right-side-up with an ethereal feeling of transcendence, finding an escape I was craving felt like being in a musical equivalence of Wonderland.
Woefully, I don’t attend nearly as many concerts anymore although the floating butterfly feeling when listening to music still exists. It’s my solace through anxiety, bouts of depression, love, heartache, and all moments in between (as I’ve said, In Playlists We Trust).
Music continues to save my life, it’ll always be my escape back to Wonderland when I need a staycation.
