If you find yourself out, if there is a right time
Chances are I’ll be here, we could share a lifeline
If you feel like fallin’, catch me on the way down
Never been less empty, all I feel is free now
If you find yourself out, if there is a right time
Chances are I’ll be here, we could share a lifeline
If you feel like fallin’, catch me on the way down
Never been less empty, all I feel is free now
Do you recognize the song? Just reading the first words, are you already singing? Are you starting to move around wildly, belting out this chorus? Are you a fan?
If you are a regular reader here at Kinetic Motions, you may not know the song, or the artist, and that’s okay. It’s written and performed by Gracie Abrams, who arrived on the music scene the last few years. From posting video snippets on her Instagram account during a long COVID lockdown, to touring with Taylor Swift, she’s come a long way.
I went to my first Gracie Abrams concert a few weeks ago. As I stood there, surrounded by thousands of (mainly) young, screaming teenage girls, I knew I had to write about it!
I have been to my fair share of concerts over the years. I wouldn’t consider myself an aficionado at all, and my knowledge of the music industry and the most hip artists is definitely limited. Without hesitation, the best concert I ever attended (many years ago) was the Billy Joel and Elton John, Face to Face tour.
Their pianos, and their extraordinary talent, faced off on the stage of Toronto’s Skydome, and my friend and I sang and danced for hours. At a concert like that, you are supposed to stand up, sing, move around and have a great time. Right?
Okay, back to Gracie, as my daughter calls her…
I took my daughter, Julia, on a special trip, to Paris and Amsterdam, in the middle of February. There were so many reasons for this trip – spend quality time with my daughter, I needed to get away from life’s day-to-day demands, and to visit the most wonderful friends who live in Amsterdam.
The fact that Gracie Abrams was performing in Amsterdam, at the Ziggo Dome, on Monday, February 17th, was a coincidence. Of course Julia wanted to go. Of course I said no. And yes, of course I gave in when she found “reasonably” priced tickets. And “in the Golden Circle” she told me.
Did I know what the Golden Circle was? Did I fully realize what I was getting myself into when I agreed to buy four tickets (so I could take our friends’ kids too) to this special section at the concert? Let me describe the evening….
But first, the preparation. We arrived in Amsterdam on Friday, February 14th. By Saturday morning, the girls had to go downtown, to find yellow (or blue?) clothes, matching ribbons and other must-have accessories. I assume anyone in the know understands why, but I still have no idea. The girls were determined, and yes, they were successful.
By Monday afternoon, hours before the concert, the kids had to carefully get ready. Into the bedroom they went, shut the door and primped for the big night. Julia appeared first, paranoid that we had to arrive at the venue hours before the doors would open so we could get a good spot.
Good spot, I wondered. Why? It’s a concert. I have a ticket for an exclusive area. How many people could actually be in this area?
Oh, did I mention that the Golden Circle was a standing section? No chairs, no stools. I had some understanding these tickets gave us access to the area in front of the stage, but my ignorant (clearly not intelligent) adult self still, by Monday afternoon, did not realize what I got myself into.
Julia arrived at the venue ahead of us, to get in the specially designated line for the Golden Circle. Again, I had figured this was for maybe two hundred people, and we could arrive an hour before the doors opened to secure a good spot. Oh, was I wrong.
As we approached the sprawling Ziggo Dome complex, we saw a sea of people. Thousands and thousands of young Dutch girls, all dressed up, with ribbons in their hair, pushing their way into their designated lines.
Two hundred in our exclusive section? Try two thousand. It was a mob scene. Wall-to-wall people in the cordoned off Golden Circle line. When the doors finally opened, we made our way in, strapped on our special bracelets and found our spot in that exclusive section in front of the stage. Surrounded by the two thousand others, and thousands more behind us.
It was a great concert. I’m not 14 years old, or 18, or 22, but even at my age, I can appreciate good music. Gracie Abrams is a great performer. I felt she was even humble and thankful for her fans. She smiled and she connected with her audience.
A few weeks later, I can reflect and share a few of my takeaways:
The standing room section is not a good choice if you are over 40 years old
I am not designed to stand up like that, for hours, at a concert. I am also clearly not bright enough to have asked my daughter more questions when she discovered this – what she described as – well-priced section. Two thousand people crammed together standing for hours is a great choice if you are 14 or 22. Not my age!
Women in the Netherlands are tall
I am not going to win any height awards anytime soon, nor is my daughter. If I stand with good posture, I’m lucky if I’m even 5 feet, two inches. Julia may be able to say she’s five feet tall if she poofs up her hair.
Did you know that the Netherlands leads the world with, on average, the tallest women? The average height of an adult Dutch woman is about 5 feet 7 inches. From my very unscientific assessment, the average height of a Dutch woman in the Golden Circle at a Gracie Abrams concert is more like 6 feet. I have never felt so short in my life. I was only maybe 15 feet from the raised stage, but I could rarely see. I felt more like a toddler in a room full of adults. Wow, are they ever tall.
17,000 young females screaming all at once can break the sound barrier
When you attend most concerts, the music is loud. You know what to expect when you walk into a huge arena. The music is not going to be soft and gentle. It’s going to be cranked to the max. People are going to sing and cheer. Okay, I even expected some screaming.
And then, when Gracie came on stage, they all screamed at once. When over 17,000 people, most of whom are these tall, happy, excited young women, using their highest pitch possible, scream, all at once, it is deafening. My ear drums were ringing. The building shook. As each new song started, they screamed. During the chorus, they screamed. When each song ended, they screamed. Happy joyous screams, but wow. I didn’t know that was possible. Until that night.
The modern teen enjoys a concert through their smartphone
At one point during the concert I looked up, and I think I was the only person not holding up a smartphone to record the song Gracie was singing. Everyone around me held their phone high, focused, with the bright red record button going, to capture the moment – on video. I stood there, my arms folded, enjoying the music, and I started to laugh. I may have been the only person around me watching Gracie perform with my own eyes, not my smartphone.
Okay, I get it. They wanted to record the moment and play it back over and over. Or to post it to their social media feed. Or to show their friends later. I admit, there were a few times I pulled out my phone to record (or to FaceTime with Nessa in Toronto, so she could experience it too). It just seemed to me that so many of them missed out on experiencing the live music properly. I stood there and closed my eyes a few times, just to listen (or possibly to ponder how I was still standing after hours or hoping I could get my hearing back later).
I will probably do this again
Okay, so I was a bit crazy to go to this concert, or to sort of blindly buy tickets in the crowded standing-room only section. But did I have a great time? Yes. Did Julia have a night, with her friends, that she will remember forever? Definitely! Does the pitch of the excited shrieking girls still ring in my ears? Yep.
I don’t know how soon I want to attend another concert of that size or that kind of hype. The pressure, especially it seems for teens and young girls, to feel they have to get a ticket to a concert for the current superstars, seems overwhelming. Gracie Abrams, and for sure, Taylor Swift, are positive role models for my daughters. They are smart women who work hard and encourage their fans to do great things. But the price of a ticket to their shows? Gasp!
Julia and I have tickets to a much smaller-scale concert coming up in May – to a relatively newer guy on the scene, Alex Warren. I think this concert may be standing room only for everyone, but based on the venue, it should be tame. Or maybe it won’t be. It will definitely be an experience I can write about!