Many music lovers enjoy listening to music on their phones with speakers or headphones. However, something that almost all people agree with is that seeing their favorite artists live in concert is much more amazing than simply listening electronically.

Concerts are one of those memories that we love to relive over and over again. While among friends, we often share the details of the latest concert we attended or the most recent festival we spent the weekend at. Something that we don’t often contemplate is what our teachers’ first concerts were like. But some of their stories are pretty great.

History teacher Aaron Buck

Buck had trouble even remembering the first concert that he attended. Buck has a love for concerts, as he used to work concessions for them while in college. The one he remembers clearest was a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in 1996.

Buck was working concessions all night during the concert. He closed early as there was just one more song that the band was going to play. Since the crew finished all of their work, their boss let them go watch the final encore of the song “Free Bird.” Once Buck walked over to the lawn of the huge amphitheater, he noticed a man laying on the grass. “No shoes on, no shirt on, cut-off jean shorts, just flat laid out,” Buck said. “If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was dead.”

After their second-to-last performance, the crowd knew what was about the happen. “They had all their lighters out, chanting, ‘Free Bird! Free Bird! Free Bird!’,” Buck said. Once the band came back out and struck the first chord of the beloved song, the guy jumped from his position laying on the ground straight to his feet.

In his many years of working in concerts, his Lynyrd Skynyrd experience was one he will always remember due to the rowdy crowd and the festive nature.

English teacher Brandon Kendall

Saying Kendall was into music as a high school student is an understatement. He attended countless concerts in his high school years and has trouble remembering his first one. However, he remembers two concerts very clearly. Those of the death metal bands, Slayer and Grindcore.

Kendall has a love for heavy metal music as he was not only obsessed with heavy metal but was in a heavy metal band himself. The Slayer concert, unlike Grindcore, was in a larger venue, and was a crazy, loud heavy metal concert.

“It was very chaotic,” Kendall said. “You know, mosh pits and a lot of illicit stuff going on.”

The second concert he mentioned, that of Grindcore, was one of the favorite events he has ever attended.

“No matter where you were, people were like pushing and throwing fists and kicking so you were always being hit,” Kendall said.

While these bands may not be the most well-known, or perform in the biggest venues, some of the best concerts are in smaller, intimate settings.

Assistant principal Krystin Hall

Hall specifically remembers the experience of her first concert. In college, Hall and a group of  her friends went out to see one of the most beloved boy bands of the late ’90s and early 2000s, N*Sync.

“It was one of our first times going to Atlanta as a big group,” Hall said, “It was really exciting and very fun.”

As she went in 2000, N*Sync was just hitting the height of their popularity and the atmosphere of the concert to her was an amazing feeling. The boy band, with her favorite member Justin Timberlake, performed many of their popular, iconic songs as well as her favorite hit, “Bye Bye Bye.”

Many of us remember and cherish the memory of our first concert. However, while we love sharing our concert experiences with our friends, it’s interesting to hear concert experiences from those we may not expect to even go to concerts, our teachers.

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