Even though I have not been to them often, one thing I always love is a good concert. Throughout my existence, I have been to four of them. In detail, I will discuss each concert I’ve been to and what I liked about each artist.

Madeon at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA 2019-12-06

My first ever concert was not a conventional one! When I first really started getting interested in music in seventh and eighth grade, one of my favorite artists was Madeon. The artist, who initially gained popularity with his mashup “Pop Culture”  is a producer, DJ, and singer. I saw him perform on his Good Faith Live Tour, promoting his second album which I had happily listened to on CD the day it came out. The performance, an EDM set, was wonderful. All of his music sounded fantastic live as he DJed, played the keyboard, and sang. The opener, Devault, was great as well. The Tabernacle itself is a great and unique venue and I would encourage anyone in Atlanta to go to a show there.

Anvil at the Radio Room in Greenville, SC 2022-06-19

I did not go to another concert for two and a half years, and I have a certain pandemic I can blame for that. Going to another show was really fun. Anvil is a metal band that came to popularity in the 80s though has become more obscure with time. I saw them in 2022 in Greenville with my dad and his friend without having listened to any of their music first. By 2022, I was already totally into metal and wanted to come with him. The venue was small, with probably around 30 people attending the show, but that just meant that I was able to stand right at the front. The music was energetic and really fun. The frontman, Lips, had a good stage presence and did some things on stage that I can not write about! One of the openers, Midnite Hellion, was so good that I bought a T-shirt they were selling. To me, that T-shirt is now defined by an awkward interaction I had with Perlmutter.

Bowling for Soup in Charleston, SC 2023-09-06

Last year, my friend Jacob Olinger invited me to see Bowling for Soup, a band I had never heard of, with him in town. I immediately accepted. Unfortunately, Jacob wasn’t able to see the show with me but I was excited to see them anyway. I saw them at the Music Farm downtown and they were pretty good. Their style of music wasn’t really for me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The energy of the crowd was great and a lot of crowd surfing was to be had. The openers, MEST and Authority Zero were both great, and to be honest I think I enjoyed them more than the headlining act, which is funny. I came in expecting to know zero songs, but was pleasantly surprised when they played a song they made that I actually knew every single word to: the Phineas and Ferb theme song. That song was certainly a crowd pleaser.

The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie in Charleston, SC 2024-04-26

The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie are two bands I had never heard of before I befriended Jay Mirman. Granted, I befriended him nearly twelve years ago but I probably wouldn’t have heard of either band otherwise. He invited me and a few other friends (including Jacob!) to see the two bands play at the CreditOne Stadium a few months ago, and just last week as of me writing this we saw them. I had never been to an outdoor concert venue before so that was a new experience. I had also never been to a concert with such a large audience. The opener, Slow Pulp, was alright and the first headlining act, Death Cab for Cutie was decent. Both of them were a little too mellow compared to what I usually like to listen to, though. The Postal Service on the other hand, which has the same frontman as Death Cab for Cutie, was very fun to see. The music was much more energetic and used more synths, which I loved. The accompanying light show was also much more extravagant. I probably wouldn’t see Slow Pulp or Death Cab for Cutie again, but I would see The Postal Service again.

As of right now, I have plans to see Postmodern Jukebox in Greenville in July and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in Washington, D.C. in August, both shows I greatly look forward to.