Monday night, M83. Tuesday night, Chance the Rapper. Wednesday night, Young the Giant. Three concerts back-to-back plus two midterms the day after. Some people were calling it “hell week” but hell week ended up being one of my favourite weeks of this semester so far.
Sitting in front of my laptop with Ticketmaster opened, contemplating whether or not I should click purchase. My calendar pulled up on my iPhone, showing me the facts. Three concerts back-to-back with two midterms following. How the hell was I going to pull this off? Maybe it was that I had just recently turned 19 and felt as though this was the last year I could use my age to justify my stupidity or maybe it was just that nagging feeling I felt whenever one of their songs popped up on Spotify. Was I going to regret it if I didn’t go? The answer was yes, so I clicked purchase.
The first night was M83. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re like a mix between MGMT and The xx. A lot of their songs have a psychedelic undertone, so throughout the entire concert, people in the crowd were swaying and it felt other-worldly. Their more ambient songs transported you to another place. It felt so strange to be in this completely different space with a bunch of strangers. The lights were shifting and everyone was soaking everything in. It was a little reminder of how transformational and uniting music can be when tons of people come together.
The second night was Chance the Rapper and it was very different than M83. Chance was a very sweaty and crazy experience. It was non-stop jumping and dancing the entire concert. Everyone’s hands were in the air, people were squeezing past each other, and people were rapping at the top of their lungs. You can only smile when you think back to Chance. He was absolutely adorable in the way he talked to the crowd and the way he planned out his concert so it had a storyline. If you like it when the artist tries to interact with the crowd then you would’ve loved Chance. He stopped at times to have a conversation with the crowd, giving us tips and life lessons. He’s such a happy person who has an inspirational message to give. His concert was totally exhausting, but in a happy way.
Lastly, to end my three day concert streak, I went to Young the Giant, and honestly, I hadn’t expected it to be so energetic! It was at the Commodore Ballroom, and I swear, the floors were bouncing and shaking because of how crazy the crowd was. Everyone was screaming. Everyone was dancing. It was insane. It was a totally different experience from listening to their albums through headphones and then hearing them go ham live. They were jumping up and down, screaming, and doing these cute little dances – if you ever have a chance to see them DO IT!
It’s strange because knowing that I had to go to these concerts at night made me study super efficiently during the day. Also, having a few hours each night after an entire day of brainwork is a release. Having fun and dancing with complete strangers was a surprisingly effective way for me to relieve stress. It was also exhausting, but that just meant a good night’s sleep.
Sometimes situations might not seem ideal, but hey you never know, you might just have the best week ever!