Music has always been an extremely important part of my life. As someone who sometimes has trouble communicating my emotions, listening to music has always been an avenue for me to connect what's going on in my head into words, even if they were written by other people. Some of my earliest memories include listening to music off an MP3 player in the backseat of a car or terribly singing early 2000’s music with my older brother.
As I grew up and life changed so did my music taste. I went from listening to pop to admittedly more dramatic alternative and rock but the purpose still maintained; music always made me feel less alone. Whether it is screaming Hawthorne Heights at the top of my lungs with all my windows down on the way home or listening to instrumental music before bed to calm down, it seems like I am always able to find songs to correlate with how I am feeling and that is part of the reason music has always been so impactful to me.
Live music specifically is always extremely uplifting for me. I still remember the first “real” concert I ever went to. P!NK came to Fresno and my parents surprised me with tickets for my birthday. While I am no longer as into her music as I used to be, I listened to her constantly as a child, and I had always heard that her live performances were absolutely amazing. Not only does she sing completely live, she also literally flies around the stadium doing acrobatics the entire time. I was so excited and it was such a cool experience. It was at the Save Mart Center and was completely sold out. That was the first time I actually truly saw how much music has the power to bring people together. There were all different demographics of people at this concert. Parents with their children, Dads with their daughters, people with friends, people by themselves, all there for the same reason and to experience the same thing. It was absolutely incredible. That concert sparked my love for live music - much to the dismay of my bank account - because the energy and community in those spaces is absolutely incredible.