House shows and the local music scene. It did not take me long to get to this topic since my college experience summed up are essentially these shows. I went back the other day and looked, and I have been a part of or booked over 50+ shows in my time here.
This means I am extremely qualified to tell you why going to a show is worth your time.
First, I’d like to recognize how lucky everyone in Fredonia is to have this music scene. It can be rocky at times, but overall, there is nothing like it.
First, it costs very little to go to a show. This whole past year the normal price of admission has been $5. This is cash or Venmo, too!
Second, you get as much out of a show as you want to. If you want a quieter night, you don’t need to talk to anyone, but if you want to meet people, you can do that too and make new friends. Bonus, an easy ice breaker can be as simple as “what did you think of that last set?”.
Third, if you don’t like the music, the scene is so vast that a similar act may not ever play again, especially a traveling one. I would also like to add that even if you don’t like the set, now you know, and you can talk about that with other people.
An example that I saw was a show where there were some acoustic acts. The travelling act was not the biggest hit because of probably a lot of things. Did a lot of people like it? No, however, it brought people together in their dislike and their thoughts of how funny they thought the set was.
At the end of the day, it truly is an experience, and an experience that is easily missed if you stay on your phone at home.
Fourth, this is the perfect time to dress yourself up and go out! You are free to wear whatever level of outfit your heart desires and getting ready to go somewhere can be fun. Reach out to that one person you want to be friends with outside of class and see if they’ll join you too.
Fifth, and the best part, is that a DIY show is so intimate that you will not see these artists in that way ever again. That is so special because in an arena you are not getting close without paying a ton of money. You also get to be the person that can see an artist who could make it to those arenas eventually and say, “I remember seeing them in some gross basement when I was in college”.
You might call my bluff on that and tell me that there hasn’t been a big artist who has played in Fredonia, but I will give you some examples and let you in on a secret. First, we have had Femtanyl before they had their tours with Machine Girl and Danny Brown, M.A.G.S used to go to college at Fredonia and a personal flex is that my friend and I booked this band that has shared members with a sick Canadian band called 9million who has been touring opener for Ethel Cain.
Now for the secret: there is an insane recording studio nearby called Tarbox. If you look at their credits, I promise you will find that they have worked with at least one person who is on your current playlist. Sometimes they book shows at BJ’s, and they’ll bring those artists in.
Who have they brought in? MGMT and Anamanaguchi are the first to come to mind, but they did bring The Flaming Lips to a house show that I booked this past semester, so I think anything is possible.
With that in your brain, I hope that I have convinced you to go to a show. Have fun!