The first gig

Published: Oct 25, 2017 by C.S. Rhymes

There are too many interruptions in this day and age. Too many noises from cars or notifications from Facebook and Twitter and text messages and emails constantly bombarding you to check you phone or log on to you laptop. Everything is competing for your attention.

But when that song starts it all changes.

Sometimes you can’t help singing along or dancing to that song. The feeling you get when that song comes on can’t be beaten. No matter where you are or what you are doing the song brings you alive, makes you happy, makes you feel free.

Music is magic, it generates emotions.

Everyone has that special song that gives them that buzz, gives you goosebumps and makes your hair stand on end. Maybe it reminds you of a happy memory, maybe it reminds you of what you have, maybe it reminds you of someone special.

When you are in the car, or in the coffee shop or wherever you are and the song comes on you just have to stop and listen to it and sometimes once you start you have to keep listening until the end of the song before you carry on with what you are doing.

Nothing else matters except that moment. You wait for that beat to build and that solo to hit that high note and that chorus to start so you can sing along as loud as you can. You don’t care who else can hear you, you want to share the greatness of the song with the rest of the world.

Could anything be better than this?

One day, you get lucky and get the tickets to see the band you have always wanted to see play live, in person. You get there, not sure what to expect looking around at the other people in the crowd. The crowd gets bigger and bigger, more and more people arriving ready for the band to start playing any time now.

A small group in the crowd start cheering and clapping, then the people next to them start joining in. Before long the whole crowd are clapping. You look down at your hands and you are clapping along without even knowing it. You join in with the cheer as the excitement builds and then the lights shine bright on the stage and the band come out and you cheer as loud as you can.

The band take their places by their instruments and then look out over the crowd. The lead singer shouts hello and the screaming gets even louder. You didn’t think anything could be louder than this crowd, but then the band count in and the drummer starts the beat before the rest of the band join in.

You are hit by a wave of sound.

The bass is so strong it causes you chest to vibrate in time with the music. Your ears are thundered with an explosion of sound.

And then you smile. This is what you have come for. A feeling of belonging, singing and cheering along with another 100 thousand people. All singing the same words together to the music.

The time flies and song after song are played. You wish time would slow down so you could stretch this feeling and this moment out for as long as possible, but you know it has to end soon. The band build up the last song and make it longer and longer before they peak. And then that’s it. The band walk off the stage to the ear splitting cheering of the crowd and the lights start to fade.

The band have gone but the crowd remain, chanting more, more, more. We want more, we want more. You join in with the chant, clapping faster and faster, until your hands start hurting. Just when you think you can’t cheer any louder or clap and more without causing permanent damage to your hands you see the lights come back on and the band walk back out on to the stage.

Time for the encore!

The band start playing again, starting the encore, and this time they are playing that song. Your favourite song. You get that feeling you get every time you hear that song. The hairs standing up on the back of your neck and your heart beating faster and faster.

You thought the last song they played was amazing, but this time its even better. Building and building and building to the most incredible solo and then another chorus with everyone in the crowd stood up dancing and singing together.

But again, you know it must end and after a series of solos from all the different band members and the final sing along chorus, the song finally ends.

This time the band walks off the stage waving to the crowd, before coming back to take a bow. This time it really is the end of the gig.

What an experience, it will stay with you forever.

Next time you hear that song on the radio, you get that feeling again, but this time you know what it reminds you of, it reminds you of your unforgettable experience from your first gig!