Music: The People, the passion, and the business

It’s a Friday night and the beginning of a wonderful weekend. We’ve been driving through thick traffic for over two hours and our anticipation is beginning to reach climax. My cousin and her friend begin to scream as we pull up to the Palladium concert hall in Worchester. As we roll down the window we see a plethora of similarly dressed kids lined about two blocks down waiting for their chance to get a ticket to see the concert tonight. We pull into the Palladium parking lot and flashed our ticket that allowed us parking for free. The excitement begins to fill me as I jump out of the car like I just won the lottery and screamed at the top of my lungs and threw my hands in the air. I was greeted by a chorus of kids who yelled with excitement along with me.
A concert can be the experience of a lifetime. They vary in size from small bars and venues to full scale stadiums and event halls. They can create an emotional hold over us that can cause some of the most outrageous behavior and leaves you stories for the rest of your life.
We strolled towards a smaller line which consisted of people who had purchased tickets over the internet for less wait time. My cousin shook me and said, “We are about to see the most progressive new hardcore bands out!” I replied with a huge smile and a jump for joy. The door man patted the kids in front of us as we slowly made our way in.
We finally made it to the door after a thirty minute wait. The door man began to pat us down and when he finished he handed us our tickets from roll call. I could almost smell my cousin’s anticipation to get the ticket and run into the standing area. After getting our tickets checked we ran through the thickets of people down the descending levels of the Palladium just in time to see the band and stage technicians begin work on sound check and tuning the instruments.
Sound check and tuning is the most tedious part of the concert life. Some even say, “It’s just so annoying I want to rip my hair out.” (Hurley) Sound check consists of the musicians tuning their instruments over the noise of the loud crowd with out making their instruments audible to the crowd. Once they plug in their instruments they have to strum, yell and hit their instruments until the sound booth has everything in check then they can turn everything up so that band can play. (Hurley)
The average sound booth consists of a wide range frequency equalizer to adjust how the sound actually is and whether it has lots of treble or bass and to equalize all the instruments. They also have an 8 channel amplifier to adjust how everything flows and to place where which sound comes from where in the sound system. Some even have a mechanical light control where they can control the lights on stage. All of which are essential to set the mood of the concert and increase the excitement of the concert. (Wade/ Zing)
The lead singer screams out, “Hello Worchester!” His greeting is followed by thousands of kids who screamed like banshees after the sound of his voice. “We are We Came As Romans and we are from Troy, Michigan!” said the singer as the synthesizer began it’s symphonic music and the crowd let out a roar.
I jumped up to see the band playing their hit song Intentions. My cousin was trying to be careful to not get pushed into the circle pit of flailing kids in front of us. Just as the bridge came for the song and it was about to hit a very powerful section I fell into the circle pit and being a punk rock concert I knew I had to stay standing. As the heavy section of the song made it’s passer-by I was shoved and tossed and carried. Eventually I was standing in the emptiness of a circle with a wall of sweaty, dirty, happy human beings that felt the same passion for work of art that these six men were creating on stage. I had a clear view of everything on stage from where I was standing and kids slowly began to disperse into the circle closing my view.
I turned around to look for my cousin and her friend and noticed them standing up a level watching me make a fool of myself. When I ran up to them there was a man trying to sell merchandise hounding them to buy a t-shirt. I quickly ran up to see what shirts he had. I immediately found a nice We Came As Romans shirt that had some of their lyrics on it and purchased it.
Besides selling the actual music it self, bands and musicians make a huge bulk of money at a concert from merchandise. They are at mostly every concert and are sold from small stands with displays and a plethora of boxes filled with freshly printed tees in all sizes, buttons, belt buckles, posters, CDs, and DVDs.
A few bands actually even have skateboards with their logo and name on it. It’s all a part of the world set forth by the concerts and it shows your passion for the music. (Hurley)
After I put my new fresh t-shirt in my cousin’s purse, I turned to see the next band come on stage. It was a newer band that was a little bit heavier hitting than We Came As Romans called The Word Alive. They were fresh on the scene at the Palladium and they had just recently gotten signed to Fearless Records, which immediately told me they were about to put on a crazy show.
A record company says a lot about what kind of band you are and sometimes it shows how famous you are. Victory Records is the prime example of a punk rock/ metal record company. They hold some of the most prestige bands of their genre today. They vary in bands from the melodic punk rock band Silverstien to the demonic death metal band Carnifex. Victory is a fail-safe on fame and it shows how you can be labeled through your record company.
A record company consists of someone who can help a band/musician produce and create their music. Record companies are also the main advertisers for their bands and are the connections to concerts and venue opportunities. They also are usually in charge of merchandise and its creation. To make it big, however, it becomes a necessity to sign incredibly talented bands that already have a good start for them selves so the company and band work with each other to get famous. (Victory Records)
The guys on stage got settled and they began to smash their instruments with excitement to get the crowd pumped up. Then the first song they wanted to play followed and I knew I had to be closer. In full blown sprint, I ran to the lower standing floor and pushed my way through toward the front. There was about twelve security guards place along the front barrier to pull the rowdy crowd surfers off the top of the crowd and to deal with the kids that got hurt in the dancing pits or “mosh pits” or just in the brutal race to get up front and see the band.
Depending on which genre of music you are going to see determines which kinds of people you will encounter. If you are going to see your favorite pop singer you are probably only going to encounter a bunch of hyped up 15 year old girls that are ready to dance to the singer’s newest bubbly song and if you’re going to see the hottest indie-rock band you’re probably going to be dealing with jumpy teenagers that just want to hit the giant beach ball that the band threw out on to the crowd and listen to some good music. However if you go to a show like The Eagles or AC/DC be prepared to deal with middle aged men that are to drunk to sing correctly, swaying around and seeing their half naked spouses and if you are going to see your favorite punk/metal band be prepared to deal with angry, scary men flailing their arms and pushing each other all while jumping on the crowd and getting thrown to the security guards up front. The music usually purveys a message or a mood that feeds the crowds attitude towards the music and usually their actions at the event follow as such.
After two more bands had played everyone began to get tired. I was one of those people. I walked slowly up to my cousin and her friend who had no interest in the final band playing so we began making our way towards the exit and as we did I bumped into a few tall, burly-looking characters. The guy turned to apologize and I realized that it was the lead singer of We Came As Romans. They had been tired from their set and were out from the back to get in touch with some of the fans and grab some water. I began to laugh and cover my mouth because I was meeting one of the guys I have posters of on my walls at home.
I congratulated him on his wonderful set as the rest of the band began to make their way over. Excited and thankful for my congratulations he shook my hand and began questioning us on our opinion of the band. After a good conversation and several questions he was more than pleased that we were fans and gave us all free posters of the band and thanked us for coming to see them. I knew this night in Worchester would one that I could never forget.