Whenever the topic of live concerts comes up during a conversation with my friends, there’s nothing but praise. They always had something to admire, whether it was about how great the artist sounded live, or how amazing they were at performing, or how awesome they were with the fans. Every time I heard these stories, I would listen with rapt attention, wishing I could get to experience something as wonderful as they made live concerts out to be.

And finally this past September, I went to my first live concert.

To be honest, I had really high expectations for how this concert would go, and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. However, not everything about the concert was amazing. My friend and I got to the venue pretty early, and we were standing outside for more than two hours, on a day that just so happened to be a very rainy day. It rained three times while we stood out there and waited, with nothing to stand under and no umbrellas. And then, we had to stand through two support bands, who both went for an hour and a half, and weren’t very good, all the while being pushed by sweaty people in the already crowded area. However, it was all worth it when the band, Blue October, finally stepped onstage and started to play.

As soon as they started to play the first song, I knew everything I had endured up to that moment was worth it. We were almost right at the gate surrounding the stage, but I had a feeling that even if we were in the back of the crowd, the sound would have still been phenomenal. And the lead singer was so into the performance, which made it all the more amazing. Throughout the entire concert, he would try to get the crowd as involved in the performance as possible, even stopping to have the whole crowd sing an entire verse of the song on their own.

Altogether, the performance was amazing. I had the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, and the excruciating pain I felt in my feet after standing for six hours straight was definitely worth it. I had a great time, and although I haven’t been to another concert since then, I can’t wait until the next time I get to see any of my favorite bands live.