Why I LIVE for Live Music

Like any 90’s girl, I had a huge crush on a boyband.  I was an N’sync fan. My favorite?  Justin Timberlake of course!  That curly blonde hair, his sweet blue eyes.  My AOL screen name at one point was JRTis4ME and my password, baby blue.

The band was coming to the Target Center  May of 1999 and I just HAD to go.  When Ticketmaster fell through for me, I was stuck buying tickets from a scalper, and I’m embarrassed to say that for my first live show, I paid $300 for two.  They were very good seats, so close to the front, but are you serious?  I was 14 years old, and literally spent my life’s savings on them.  Little did I know, this was just the start for me paying hundreds per year for live music.

There are three things I’m passionate about; art (my wedding photography and painting included), yoga, and live music.  I live for live music.   I graduated from N’sync to shows about the instruments, and went to my first festival- 10,000 Lakes in 2003.  This festival was life changing, I had never seen so many mind blowing musicians all play in the span of 48 hours and discovered some of my favorite bands that I still see play now.

When I’m listening to live music, I can completely be present.  Fully aware of what is happening, not focusing on what do I have do at work, what chores need to be done, I can simply just be and I feel that’s one of the biggest reasons why I live for it.

I’ve also made the best of friends because of live music.  I met my husband at a festival.  We had mutual friends, but never hung out.  He was wearing these super cute train conductor overalls without a shit underneath, eating a hot dog.  He had these gorgeous bouncy curls in his hair, and that’s when I knew I liked him.  I could go on about that for a while, but so many amazing people are in my life because of it, and it makes sense, we share that common interest.

It also welcomes all kinds of people.  Young and old, any religion, any color, any shape and size, I really enjoy people watching and shows are the best because there are so many types of humans all gathered together and having a good time.  It’s inspiring to be standing next to someone who’s twice your age and shaking their hips and singing along, it gives me a some optimism for the future.

As I age, I’m finding it harder and harder to get to everything I want to see- I just don’t have the energy- but I hope to keep seeing live music as long as I’m on this earth!  So please go see some live music, Minneapolis has a ton of great shows each and every week.  Enjoy, enjoy!