H.E.R. - I Used to Know Her Tour

I haven't been a concert person. In fact, before this recent experience, I had only attended one concert - New Kids on the Block when I was in Grade 5. A group of classmates were going, and I thought it was the socially appropriate thing to do. An my parents decided to send my brother along, I assume to ensure that I would be safe in the crazy crowds downtown. Anyway, neither my brother nor I were particularly interested in the music or the band. And the venue was so large that NKOTB were just little figures bopping around on a stage far away. I wonder if that experience was the impetus for me now being willing to splurge on shows/event.

Actually, now that I think of it, I have been to a couple more shows. In undergrad, there were some concerts related to Frosh Week and other university-shenanigans. None of the bands were particularly to my taste, but again, I went because that's what you do. Wait, and I've been to some concerts as part of the Montreal Jazz Festival and other festivals in different cities.
But I haven't paid to attend many concerts. I think the NKOTB one was the only one I needed to pay for the ticket.

So, I recently had the opportunity to attend a concert. Let's be clear, I'd never heard of the artist before. People have commented on how they find it strange that I don't listen to music. When out and about, a lot of people have headphones on...so I guess it's pretty normal for people to have a soundtrack for their life. I guess my soundtrack is my own thoughts and general city noise. Or, people marvel in the fact that I don't have a stereo or any decent music playing device in my house. I appreciate it when I visit other people and there's music playing, but I guess I just haven't put it into my own life. And when I do listen to music, I don't think I'm on the cutting edge of things. So, yeah. I had never heard of H.E.R. before. But I'm game for experiences and outings, so I went.

Upon arrival to the venue, a couple thoughts crossed my head:
1. I feel old
2. I feel unhip
3. I like being surrounded by diversity

The concert was great. I was perplexed because the tickets themselves has seat numbers on them, but that clearly meant nothing. It was cool being surrounded by people who were singing along to songs that I'd never heard of. I liked the music. It was interesting to think about the choreography of the whole show. The role of the supporting artists, cameos, the band, the visuals, the progression of songs, the choice of the artist playing the guitar. The songs seemed more varied than I thought - like, I wouldn't have thought that all of the songs were by the same artist. There were some songs that I liked better than others, but in general, I had a good time. The venue was cool. Small, but not too small. You could go on the main floor or up into the balcony. It was held at what used to be the Metropolis - which back when ON kids used to go to QC to party (I guess they still do so, but I mean, when my generation of ON kids used to go to QC to party), was a place to go.

I guess I'll need to think about whether I want to go to more concerts in the future. The tickets weren't the cheapest. I mean, cheaper than tickets of other shows that I've attended, but did I enjoy the experience enough? There are no bands that I love enough that I would know all of the songs. I'm an old lady with a broken body, so standing for long periods of time isn't pleasant. I think I enjoyed the people watching and taking in the experience itself the most, and the music, while I did enjoy it, at times ended up being background to the rest. So, we'll see!