If the past year has taught us anything, one of the many important lessons is that you should hang onto joy with a tight grip wherever you can find it. Though in the grand scheme of things it’s not a necessary service by any means, we may have underestimated how entertainment truly shapes our lives. Speaking for myself, concerts have been the thing I’ve missed the most because it’s become such a big part of my life and source of happiness over the years. To all my fellow concertgoers, stay hopeful; it may not seem like it, but the show will go on. We should start letting ourselves look forward to concerts returning, feeling unrestrictedly delighted again, even if only to escape the world for a second.

I can already picture what I’ll be doing at my next show: surrounded by friends, singing along louder than I ever have before (which if you know me, is already really loud and off-key), out of breath, but as always, wishing the moment could last forever. I hope the same image brings you joy as well, whatever that may look like for you. The screams piercing the air, lights flashing brighter and faster than your mind can compute, and booming speakers playing out the soundtrack of you life, but in a new way you’ve never interpreted it before. There will probably be tears; of happiness, relief, release. Not only is it consistently the most fun I’ve ever experienced, but that connection you feel for those hours is a supernatural force that consumes you whole. It is so instant and intense; a connection with your innermost self, the artist, and the world around you where everything feels so perfect and peaceful.

That’s the beautiful thing about concerts; they’re more than just a cool Saturday night plan. They’re lifelong memories captured in real time, that stick with you and take you to another place in your mind and heart like nothing else is able to. Not to be sappy, but they are truly the most exhilarating moments of my life. Whenever I go back and watch old concert videos I’ve taken (which has become a recent habit), or live concert films from my favorite artists, I don’t get sad. If anything, I look back at these memories and think, “wow, I’m so glad I got to do that when I had the chance.” I’m instantly transported back to the moment I saw it live. I get goosebumps and can’t help smiling. I can remember exactly what I was wearing that day of that show, what I was doing at that point in my life, and even the night before when I couldn’t sleep, and the day of when I couldn’t focus on anything else.

The next time somebody may make fun of you for a certain artist you’re going to see, or asks you why you have to see them again, don’t let that stop you. Go to the show, throw up your hands and be as ridiculous as you want as if nobody is watching. (The rest of the crowd came to watch the artist anyway, not you.) It won’t matter how much you may have spent on tickets or if you’ve heard the same setlist 3 times already in the past month, because you have experiences nobody and nothing can ever replace. I’ve never once regretted a concert I’ve been to, but can absolutely regret not doing things I passed on at the time. Not everybody will understand and that’s ok. They don’t need to, but I do hope everybody has that one thing that makes their soul come alive in the same way concerts do for me.

What a feeling that’ll be to walk into the venue again after so long, but I guarantee when it does happen, we’ll never take it for granted again. Even if we didn’t to begin with, we’ll definitely appreciate it in its full glory that much more. Until then, wear your mask, stay six feet apart, and get your vaccine when available so we can soon come back together to celebrate this music, and life, we hold most dear.