By Emma Nguyen
If I were to spend all of my life savings on one thing for the rest of my life, it would be on concerts.
Concerts are such an immersive experience for both avid music lovers and casual listeners. It brings together a community of fans with the same passion for an artist and allows a fan to immerse themselves in an artist’s music. For both music lovers and casual listeners, concerts are such an amazing way to enjoy the beauty of music.
Typically, arenas hold around 15,000 guests and stadiums can accommodate around 70,000 guests. These large capacities differ vastly from small venues that sell around 100-1,000 tickets per show. In these smaller venues, it allows artists to create a more intimate atmosphere with their fans making the show feel more like friends meeting up rather than a large production. Small venue concerts feel much more personal, especially for long-time fans.
Recently, fans have been spending an absurd amount of money on concerts. Original prices for floor tickets of some popular artists include $499 for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and $196.25 for Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour. Not only are these prices high enough, but resellers have become a large issue repricing these tickets from double to triple the face value and many fans will still pay this price. With smaller venues, prices usually do not go above $100.
For example, I was able to attend Gracie Abrams’ Good Riddance Acoustic Show in Los Angeles for only $50 per ticket. Not only was my ticket almost half the price of the tickets of other popular artists, but I was able to stand two rows away from the front row making my ticket way more worth my money.
At this same concert, I only came one hour early and was able to get an amazing spot. For many shows with a general admission ‘pit’, you need to come hours early in order to get a good spot in the crowd.
At ENHYPEN’s Fate Plus Tour, my friends and I waited almost six hours before the concert just so we could get a good view of the show. While it was 100% an amazing day of hanging out with my friends, it is also nice to not be worried about how early you need to arrive at the venue just to be able to see the artist you spent hundreds of dollars to see. You are able to relax, get some lunch and have a full day stress-free before your concert.
While I believe that big-name artists should do more small-venue concerts, I also love to attend the shows of small, unknown artists. I have been a fan of Gracie Abrams since the beginning of 2020 and have had the opportunity to watch her grow into a mainstream artist. I attended her This is What it Feels Like Tour in Los Angeles at the El Rey Theatre with only a 700 people capacity. It was one of my first concerts ever and it still remains one of my favorites.
This year, I was able to see her perform again at the Greek Theatre for the Secret of Us Tour. This show held 6,000 fans, almost six times the amount of people that were at her show at the El Rey. I remember feeling so much pride seeing one of my favorite artists become so successful and being able to watch her grow as other people find the same love as I have for her. Supporting Abrams has inspired me to support small artists that I can also watch grow and succeed in what they love doing.
No matter what, a concert is a concert. No matter how expensive or how good your seats are they will still do what they are meant to do: entertain and connect fans. So next time you find out that your favorite artist is going on tour, buy those tickets!
At the end of the day, money comes back, but hearing “Free Now” by Gracie Abrams live may never.
