Happiness (Concerts) Returns
©Adam Schultz, @schultzinit
Live shows were a universal phenomenon. They were a place for people to see their favorite artist with their own eyes, hear great music and connect with others. COVID-19 added live shows to their ever growing list of activities that couldn’t happen. For many, not knowing when the next concert was, took a toll on them.
Barry University student Anjali Anirude, who is a frequent concert goer, admitted to feeling down when asked about the uncertainty of concerts.
“I love going to concerts. It's like my favorite thing to do. So when it got like, taken away from me, I felt really sad and angry,” said Anirude.
Music makes people happy and having that once in a lifetime experience of a concert makes the dopamine levels even higher. Studies have shown that music triggers our brain to release lots of dopamine (“the happy hormone”). So what happens when concerts are at a standstill?
“I cried a lot,” Pace University student Atrevis McCullough said.
He said he really needed a concert at the moment they were postponed and it really hurt.
After a hard year, the world was soon expected to have live shows back in full effect. Many artists have started to tour again and many locals have put on shows of their own.
Liana Salinas is the CEO/Founder of My Music Match, a business that offers music lessons and hosts live music events. Sept.19 was the first live recital they have hosted since the pandemic.
“These moments where people come together, and they put their artistry out there and they perform, those are not just moments for those individuals to show what they're doing and how they've improved and get over those nerves and practice performance. But it’s also time for us to build community together,” said Salinas.
With live music making its comeback it's a chance for human interaction, which is something that we have been missing since the start of the pandemic. People have started to miss having human interaction now more than ever.
“I meet so many people at concerts just because we're all here for one thing, I always make friends with the people I'm around. I feel like I knew my whole life through connecting with this artist. And I love that about going to concerts,” says McCullough.
Anirude agrees, she loves going to concerts because she can be who she wants to be. Everyone is there to enjoy themselves no matter how they look while doing it.
She says, “It's like a very freeing environment. Like, I just get to go there and have fun and be who I want to be without feeling judged or anything like that.”
Music is what connects the world. It is a universal language. An American could become friends with someone from Australia because of the connection of music. Any and everyone could express themselves using music and Salinas agrees.
“There's some reason that every culture on the face of this planet has live music, has music of some kind, right? We all feel the need as human beings to express ourselves, says Salinas, “the easiest way to do that is singing because we all have a voice, every single one of us has it built into our bodies.”