All you need to do to know that music is beneficial for your mental wellbeing, is listen to Dutch Prof. Dr. Erik Scherder talk about it. (see here on Youtube https://youtu.be/9Kq3rwjMxTE?si=i_-HHgw9D3M2-8xg )
It’s a scientific fact that music makes you feel the feels, shivers and excitement. It can help reduce stress, pain and symptoms of depression and improve cognitive and motor skills.
In terms of work, for me personally, it’s a great way to get motivated to do tasks that need to be done sitting down behind the computer, but also household tasks. I pop on my headphones and listen to one of my favourite albums (I like to listen to entire albums, mostly live albums) and it makes me feel at ease and (hyper)focused.
The best thing however is going to live concerts. I subscribe to newsletters of venue’s to make sure I don’t miss out on my favourite artists coming into town. Last week I went to two concerts at two of my favourite venues: De Melkweg and Paradiso. I’m sure you can understand it was a great week for me and I am still processing it, or better: enjoying the benefits! But that wasn’t all. During that same week, anticipation for another upcoming concert also played a big role in terms of emotions.
Anticipation and BIG emotions
The best concerts are the ones that you need to wait for, but you almost can’t. I have a story to tell about that. Imagine this.
You have been a fan of an artist and their music for several years, you know some of the albums and songs by heart but you’ve never seen the artist perform live.
The fun starts when you find out the artist is coming to town. Then it turns out they will be performing at your favourite venue (Paradiso Amsterdam) You start to get nervous. Will you be able to get tickets? There is only one concert and the artist hasn’t been performing in Europe for at least 10 years, but meanwhile becoming a BIG deal and multiple Grammy winner in the US.
This is why it’s SO great and rather exceptional she is performing in a small venue like Paradiso instead of e.g. Ziggo Dome.
You become ecstatic and start to bother a certain family member (who happens to be part of the Paradiso family) with your enthusiasm by info dumping irrelevant stuff about the artist. Family member promises to look out for a possible staff ticket in case I’m not successful at getting tickets.
Next, you find out you have access to the presale because you had already subscribed to the event organisation newsletter for years. You can’t believe it until it is finally that time. Then it turns out the venue made a mistake (inside info from family member) and the presale is actually one week later, aaaah! Nervous for another whole week..
Then it turns out the venue made a mistake and the presale is actually one week later. Aaaah!
Finally, you do get the ticket(s) very easily (maybe because you have been keeping the tab to the online waiting room open for a whole week), while many others are complaining online that it was impossible to get tickets, they were all sold out in max 5 minutes, in several countries. You are so happy you got them but still have doubts and cannot believe it will actually happen. You have seen the artist confirm the tour and dates herself but still, it was cancelled once before.
You start listening to the albums again while you wait for another five(!) months for the concert to actually happen. You cry happy tears of anticipation and melancholy while listening to the music that you know so well and comforts you, again and again.
So yes. All this is happening to me and the concert is only this coming July.
Now I must say this is an artist that has been at the top my concert wish list for a long time, and inside my head the artist has become almost like a Goddess. It’s like being a teenager all over again, obsessing over George Michael :) So this is an exceptional situation and I must say that it happens to a lesser extent regarding other concerts. But it always happens and I love it.
I think the take-away here is that not only music itself, but everything around it evokes emotion as well.
I hope it is the same for you. If not, or you’ve never realised this, I hope you get to experience it. You could start by listening to music whenever you feel down or not motivated. It always helps.
Getting concert tickets of an artist you love might give you stress, but it’s good stress. The kind our ancestors needed to gather and hunt for food, to survive. These days, most of us are lucky to be able to use good stress to go after what makes us happy and really feel the feels. No alcohol or other drugs needed. There. Just handed you another benefit.
Stay sane everyone 🤘🏼
p.s. can you guess which artist pictured below I am writing about? (for visuals please visit this blog on Linkedin)
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