Attending your favourite artist’s concert can be a surreal experience, whether you are in the front row, moshing in the pits, or observing from the back of the venue: yet some music fans wish for this experience to last. It is evident within concert culture that many music fans cannot resist going to more than one show and feel the desire to extend their enjoyment across multiple tour dates and occasions. From travelling to different cities and countries to camping out for the best spot in the venue, the concert experience is a universal yet varying experience for all who want to attend. Some may see this behaviour as repetitive, yet when each performance stirs up powerful emotion and provides a different experience, one can ask, is once ever enough?
With lockdown lifting and concerts returning in 2021, the desire to see your favourite band back performing on stage to a physical audience increased, many tours were announced, and concert culture regained its place in society. People were allowed to return to their habits of experiencing live music across the country and gigs which had previously been postponed returned in full force.
One of the most anticipated tours of 2023 shortly after the release of their 2022 album, ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’, was The 1975’s ‘At Their Very Best Tour’. The appeal to attend this tour rapidly increased due to the TikTok popularity of the band as well as the ever-changing setlist, and the occasional surprise guest. Lauren Hauge, 19, from Manchester, has attended fifteen of The 1975’s shows across the years, seven of which were during this year alone. When asked why attend multiple The 1975 shows appealed to Lauren, she responded, “I was heavily bullied in high school and The 1975 gave me this life where I could make friends online, I had friends because of this band.”
Lauren continued, “It’s nostalgic for me, I grew up listening to them and seeing them live became my happy place.” This nostalgic sense of listening to specific bands during the adolescent period or during hard times appears to be the appeal for attending multiple dates of one tour: hearing a song live that helped you during hard times is worth it. When asked if the pandemic altered her view on attending multiple tour dates to make up for lost time and opportunities to see The 1975, Lauren commented: “Not really, I was already impulsive before the pandemic, but it definitely make me fall in love with the band on a deeper and more personal level.”
Despite the pandemic restricting the ability to attend concerts, fans who attend multiple shows of a tour appeared to have already been behaving in this manner before March 2020. However, fans like Lara Mountford, 18, from Devon, and Katie Bailey, 20, from Guilford, commented that the pandemic made them value seeing their favourite bands more often than not. Lara noted: “There’s no time like the present and I worry I won’t see them for a long time.” Katie added: “The pandemic made me value things a lot more and made me realise I should not take live music for granted.”
Differing opinions are evident when it comes to the effect of the pandemic on the appeal of doing multiple shows: yet the core admiration and dedication towards your preferred band, due to nostalgia remains despite circumstances. Some may argue that this behaviour is repetitive and a waste of money, but Lauren commented that each experience can differ significantly: “I may decide to camp for the barrier, where in Manchester 2023 I was the first person walked to the barrier, or I may decide to dance in the bar at the back of the hall.”
Following the notion of attending multiple tour dates due to the ever-changing setlists and differing experiences as mentioned above, Kirstin Hodgson, 23, from Buxton, noted: “Every show I’ve been to is so different” in regards to seeing her favourite artist, Fletcher. Fletcher is an American queer artist who writes predominantly about the queer experience. Kirstin has attended seven Fletcher concerts, soon to be more as she plans to travel Europe and the UK in October and November 2023 for the European leg of Fletcher’s ‘Girl of My Dreams Tour’. Kirstin said: “Fletcher has these four dream sequences which all consist of two different songs which the fans can pick and vote from, meaning the setlist is never the same on this tour.”
This changing aspect of a setlist being a surprise to fans and potentially one day being able to hear one of their most-loved songs that would not normally be on a setlist, is another main appeal for following your favourite artist on tour. Additionally, Kirstin highlighted the importance of Fletcher as a queer artist, Kirstin said: “Her fanbase is mainly queer fans, and her shows feel like a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, you can be yourself without being judged.” This safe and healing space for fans created by the artist’s performance is crucial when it comes to attending a concert: you want to feel welcomed and safe in what may be a getaway from life. By escaping into an environment where you feel like you belong and can be yourself, the appeal to attend many shows grows stronger.
Attending large-scale concerts with large production value in arenas with thousands of fans can be an experience: yet gigs in more intimate venues are also worth noting when understanding the reasoning behind attending multiple shows for the same artists. Keira Allan, 19, from Manchester, is one of the lucky few music fans who has seen her favourite artist from their first tour and established an intimate connection.
Keira has attended eight of up-and-coming pop star Dylan’s concerts. Keira enthused over the fact that it has been such an important experience to see Dylan’s “Progression from the venues upgrading and her music catalog increasing” and by Dylan “Starting out in smaller venues such as the Deaf Institute in Manchester, it has allowed me to grow a connection with her, she recognises fans who have been there since the start and we now communicate with each other on social media”. When asked why she attends so many Dylan shows, Keira said it is mainly because she feels so connected to Dylan: “The love for her I have means I will never get bored of repeating the same gig over and over”. It is evident again that despite attending so many dates for a specific artist, it never gets repetitive due to the intense connection some fans feel towards the person they are seeing, whether in intimate venues or stadiums.
Concerts present the opportunity for people to meet new friends and share like-minded stories with people whom they can create lasting bonds and memories with. Shannon Garner, 23, from Liverpool, Keira Pedley, 20, from Manchester, and Yasmin Barnes, 22, from Glasgow, are united in their reasoning for attending multiple shows of a tour: they can meet new people and make memories with friends due to the like-minded enjoyment of concerts. Keira, who has seen British rock band Don Broco fifteen times, said her most memorable moment of seeing the band was when she “Travelled down to London with my best friend to see [Don Broco] with a full orchestra and choir” and that she “Loves being part of other people’s experiences” when seeing the band on tour.
Yasmin added that “Queuing with random people”, ahead of her seeing Sheffield rock band Bring Me The Horizon sixteen times, has allowed each attendance to be “Super unique” and allows the shows to not be repetitive as the opportunity to create friendships justifies the number of times seeing the band. Shannon also alerted to the attraction of attending multiple shows to form friendships and memories through her staggering nineteen attendances to 5 Seconds of Summer concerts since 2013. Shannon stated: “Seeing [5sos] is a tradition my best friend and I have had since they toured with One Direction, it is our thing and we never want it to die” and “the majority of my best friends now are people I have met at concerts as well as through fanbases online.” If concerts provide an environment to make new friendships which can last for decades, as well as allowing you to create memories which you can look back on when you are older, then why not attend multiple shows to keep this tradition alive?
There are multiple reasons why music fans choose to attend numerous dates of a tour or see their favourite artist many times. The lasting memories, friendships, and connections made with the band as well as the ever-changing nature of what may happen at concerts highlights the appeal of seeing your number one artist many times live. Once is never enough, and when the opportunity is presented to you, you should see your favourite artist as many times as you desire.
