Here at Live Wired a love of live music has led us to many different concerts, from arena shows to performances at small, intimate clubs. For us, there’s nothing better than experiencing a favorite artist or band singing their songs before our very eyes while surrounded by fans who love them just as much as we do. Of course, we’ve learned a lot along the way, so we thought we’d share our findings with you!
When attending a concert:
- DO buy tickets ahead of time. This seems painfully obvious, but no one wants to be that person who waits until the last minute then finds out that the show is sold out.
- DON’T cut in line. We learned this in elementary school, right?
- DO bring a camera with you (if it’s allowed). It’s always nice to have a few pictures and maybe a video to document a great night.
- DON’T spend the entire night taking pictures; just take a couple towards the beginning of the show. You only get to actually experience the concert once, so make sure you’re taking it all in. If your face is behind the camera the whole time, you won’t feel as connected with the night, the crowd and the performer.
- DO attend shows at all different types of venues. Smaller clubs provide a unique experience where you can be close to the artist but arena shows can be equally as spectacular and epic.
- DON’T be afraid to go to a show by yourself. You may not always have a friend who likes the same band as you or can drop the money for a concert, but that doesn’t mean you should have to miss out!
- DO considering wearing earplugs. You can buy cheap ones and they’ll seriously protect your ears from damage.
- DON’T miss the opening acts. One of the best feelings is seeing an unknown band live for the first time, and just knowing that they’ll be big.
Have some more concert tips? Let us know in the comments!
Here at Live Wired, we couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the new year than to see one of our favorite bands perform. Last Saturday, on New Year’s Eve, Brand New performed at the House of Blues in Atlantic City to a sold-out crowd. Since the 2009 release of their album Daisy and subsequent tour, the band has mostly played one-off shows. However, the fact that this gig was one of those few shows was far from the most special thing about the night. For fans that traveled from all over the country to see Brand New play, the band put on one hell of a performance”they dressed up in suits for the occasion and treated the crowd to three different sets throughout the night.
The band kicked off the first part of the night with an entirely acoustic set. Two obvious choices for this part, ˜The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot and Play Crack The Sky, translated into beautiful and heartfelt performances, with the crowd singing along to every word. They mixed it up a bit by choosing to play Sic Transit Gloria¦Glory Fades, a much more aggressive song that seems like it wouldn’t work acoustically. They proved us wrong and turned the rendition into something wonderful, with the crowd and frontman Jesse Lacey singing different parts of the chorus.
Everyone knows that the stars of OurStage are the artists. We would be nothing without them! However, there are plenty of unsung heroes working behind the scenes to make sure the wheels keep turning and everything is running smoothly. We are the OurStage Community Team; Co-Op students who work tirelessly answering emails, writing blogs and reviewing the songs entered into competitions. We’ve been working here for the past six months, but now it’s time to move on to new frontiers. Still, the experience we’ve had here has been amazing, and our parting gift to you is a playlist of some great OurStage music that has either flown under the radar, or is just so great that it merits a second listen. So kick back, put on your headphones and check out some of the best we think OurStage has to offer. You can listen to the full playlist right here!
The Well Reds
Cara: I spent the past six months writing Live Wired, and when I wasn’t spending the majority of my free time at venues around Boston, I discovered tons of great music while working at OurStage! My picks for the playlist include finalists The Well Reds from The OurStage Panel, who I was lucky enough to see perform, and tunes from Marie Hines, Talain Rayne and Cooper Brown”these are sure to make you smile. Enjoy!
It’s that time of the year where we pretty much feel obligated to make some kind of year-end list that sums up our favorite happenings or people in the music world. But hey, if the world ends in 2012, this could be our last opportunity to make one of these! Anyway, we’re switching it up a little bit”since this is Live Wired, we’re only going to focus on what what went on in arenas and small clubs across the world. Instead of simply making a ‘best of’ list, we’re giving out superlatives to some of the artists and bands who went on tour this year.
Top Grossing & Most Attended: U2 360° Tour
Starting back in 2009, U2 embarked on a worldwide tour and just didn’t stop until the summer of this year. Between all the records they broke and the extravagant set they treated the sold out crowds to each night, this tour was nothing short of amazing. It even grossed about $100 million more than the next best tour this year (Bon Jovi). Total Gross: $293,281,487 / Total Attendance: 2,887,972
Most Hyped: Watch The Throne Tour
Two of the biggest names in the world of music, Kanye West and Jay-Z teamed up and finally released their collaboration album Watch The Throne in August, and pleased fans even more by going on tour in support of the release.
No matter how much you love a band’s music, their live show can fall flat when it lacks enthusiasm, especially in a small, intimate venue. Luckily, this was not the case on Saturday night, as The Maine took the stage at Brighton Music Hall. At the beginning of the month, they chose to independently release their album Pioneer, just two years after signing to a major label. And while the phrases “evolved sound” or “matured sound” are incredibly overused, they happen to be true in this case. For better or for worse, The Maine have pretty drastically changed their music over the years. It doesn’t seem to matter to their fans though, who just keep growing in number. The band’s overall look and type of music certainly factor in, but there’s a lot more to it.
While The Maine could have sold out much larger venues, they chose to go on a small tour in support of their new album so that they could make it more special. There were no opening bands, just The Maine. They came out for the first part of the set and played the new album start to finish. Although the record had only been out for a few weeks, the audience knew every word as evidenced by the incredibly loud singing. Obviously it’s the band’s job to put on a show, but it’s easy to tell that they really love what they’re doing. The Maine have just as much energy, passion and friendliness as when they first started out. At one point during the show, a girl threw her lipstick up on stage and lead singer John O’Callaghan entertained the crowd by actually putting it on. He even brought a girl up on stage for her birthday and let her sing one of the last songs with him.
Most weeks on Live Wired, we bring you our first-hand experiences at concerts from all different kinds of artists. This time around, we want to talk about all of the ways you can find out about the best shows in town and make your concert experience even better! Now there are a vast amount of Web sites that specifically target concertgoers, and a ton of these sites offer apps for your phone. For those of you with Smart phones, here are some of the best apps to fuel your passion for live music. Check them out!
First up is Songkick, a Web site that helps you track your favorite artists who are going on tour. From your phone, the app (which is free, by the way!) will scan your music library to get a sense of your musical tastes, and will also determine your location. This allows the app to work its magic and customize a schedule for you from their database of concerts across the country. You can even get alerts to your mobile device when a show is added, which you can then share with friends across other social networking sites. You can even create your own calendar to keep track of the events you have coming up.