It amazes me how quickly your life can change even when you take one small action. A recent action I took lead to me going through experiences I didn't even see coming in the near future! Let me recap the last couple of weeks.
So, I was on Facebook just scrolling and I came across a list of suggested groups to join. One in particular looked interesting. It was about EDM shows near my hometown. I clicked on the group and looked through the feed. It looked interesting as there was mentions of EDM shows in my area. I had seen posts from other groups about EDM shows before and I was intrigued at first, but didn't dig more into it. This time I did. I ended up joining the group.
While I was scrolling through this group I just joined, I came across a post that listed upcoming shows. I didn't recognize any names. I decided to look up a couple on Spotify and listen to their music.
One of the groups I looked up was Kream. I had never heard of them before. After the first song I heard which I think was Blur, I was hooked!! I listened to more of their music… Yup, I found my new favorite artist! While checking out their Spotify profile, they mentioned that had a show coming up on March 29th in Downtown Minneapolis. I decided to see how much the tickets were. Very affordable! WHAT?! This seemed to be too good to be true. I thought, ‘could I really go to an EDM show in my hometown?’ I was broke at the time, so I knew I'd have to hold off until I got paid from my day job the following week to buy a ticket.
I went back to the Facebook group and scrolled through the feed some more. I found out that there was a big music festival coming to town in June called Breakaway. They hadn't listed the lineup yet.
‘It’s really close to me!', I thought. ‘Should I go? Can I go? Could I afford something like that? That would be so much fun! a two day festival full of electronic music? That's right up my alley!' I had to give it some thought.
The following week I got paid from my day job, and sure enough, I bought a ticket to see Kream!! I was SO excited! I was gonna go to my first EDM show, AND it was gonna be a week before my birthday! Happy early birthday to me!
The next day, I told an old high school friend of my plans and mentioned Breakaway to her. She wanted to come to Breakaway with me if I bought a ticket to go.
That night, I was back inside the Facebook group scrolling through the feed. There was people talking about how they afford to go to music festivals. Some would volunteer. Others would buy a ticket on a payment plan.
‘What?' I thought. ‘You can buy a ticket on a payment plan? No wonder people are able to afford going to those big festivals!’
I decided to check it out for myself. I looked up the Breakaway website. For 2 day tickets, the cost was over $100! I had to rethink this. Was this possible? I decided to click on buy 1 ticket and go to the next page, just to see what would come up. The website gave two options. Either you could pay for the ticket in full or you could buy it on a 4 installment payment plan. Through the payment plan, the cost of the ticket looked more affordable to me. I could spread out the payments over time! Well… I bought a ticket!! I'm going to Breakaway!!!!!
I told my friend the next day that I had bought a ticket to Breakaway. I also mentioned that I learned that the price of the tickets was gonna go up once the show promoters dropped the lineup (in other words, release the names of the artists who would be performing). She bought a ticket that day!! We're BOTH going to Breakaway in June!! I'm so glad I don't have to go to that big festival by myself.
Well, fast forward to the 29th. The night of the Kream show. The show was sold out. It was taking place at Vanquish nightclub in Downtown Minneapolis. I felt so nervous before I left. I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was gonna be at a nightclub, but I was going alone. What kind of crowd would it be? Would be the people be happy and just enjoy the music? Would a fight break out during the night? What would the venue be like? I tried to keep a positive attitude. I mean heck, I was going to see one of my favorite artists in concert! It was like the three times I went to see Yanni, but his music is a bit different. LOL
Let me tell you, the show was amazing, and that is an understatement! It was their Minnesota debut, coming all the way from Norway where they're from. They're brothers, Markus and Daniel. When I got there, there was another artist performing. Unfortunately, I missed the first artist, Action Jaxon. Alvin Stone was performing. Apparently, Alvin is a Minneapolis DJ. I had listened to his music before the show and thought his music was good as well. The club was full when I walked in. People were drinking and dancing, having a good time. Lasers were shooting across the club. The music was jumping. I made my way towards the front of the club. Close enough so I could get a clear view of the DJ on stage but far enough so that I wasn't near the speakers.
Alvin was doing his thing up on the stage, a one man show rocking the room with his upbeat tunes. He wore a ball cap. Something I usually wear when I'm outdoors when the weather is nice. I took a look at his face. In his promo pics he looks like he's mean mugging, but he looks better in person. He looked kinda cute honestly. LOL I enjoyed his set.
At 12:30 AM, Kream took to the stage. The room really got excited then! It was an hour and a half of pure joy for me. I think I had a smile on my face all night! I just soaked in all in. The music, the lights, the energy of the crowd. I even pictured myself up there on stage a couple times. I asked myself, ‘Could I do what they do?’ Who knows…
Now I'm even more excited to go to Breakaway, and now that the lineup has dropped, I found out there's gonna be some big names there. Kaskade is one of them. I realized I had his song, US, on my Spotify playlist. I'm SO looking forward to June!!
As an electronic musician, the opportunity to go that show was a blessing. I got to see what kind of people were in the crowd. How the room was set up. What is involved in running a show like that. I had a lot of fun but I also learned a lot, too. I know going to Breakaway will be huge for me as well.
It just amazes me that by just joining that Facebook group two weeks ago, I found some new music artists to love, went to an EDM show of the music that I love, and also am set to go to my first big music festival! Just one small step changed my life.