Brittany HapneyMusic has always been a big part of my life. I sang to the radio in the back seat of my parent’s car and in the shower for as long I can remember. My parents took me to my first concert when I was 8 years old. They surprised my sister and I with Aaron Carter tickets and I can remember being so excited that I almost cried! Since then, I’ve been to hundreds of concerts; from big stadiums to little hole in the wall bar shows.
Dustin Lynch, Thomas Rhett, Randy Houser, Florida Georgia Line, and Luke Bryan at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio 2015.
Concerts are my favorite thing to spend money on. You aren’t just buying something materialistic, you’re buying an experience, and to me, experiences are priceless! I give concert tickets as gifts all the time because it’s an easy way to spend time with someone and make memories together. (Plus the ticket giver gets to enjoy it as well!) I have countless stories from road trips and concert memories that will last me a lifetime of laughter and smiles.
The concert experience isn’t just about the music, either. Along the way, I’ve made friends with some of the other fans I’ve met, some of which have become my best friends. I met a group of girls in an online fan club of an artist we all liked. Ironically, they were coming to this artist’s concert in Marietta. We decided that we needed to finally meet in person, so we did. When I met these girls, my boyfriend (who is now my husband) was about to deploy to Afghanistan for 13 months. Throughout the time he was gone, these girls used concerts as a way to keep me excited and looking forward to girls weekend road trips to help pass the time until my boyfriend came home. I will never be able to thank those girls enough for coming into my life at the most perfect time! It’s funny how music and artists can bring people together.
Adelphia Music Hall Marietta, Ohio
Years later, the girls came to spend the weekend with me and we made it a point to go back to the place we first met. The Lafayette Hotel room 203.
I now have friends from a bunch of different states. We only get to see each other a handful of times a year, but concerts give us the perfect excuse to spend weekends together. From the time tickets go on sale, to the group texts leading up to the event, to the moment you’re finally all in the same car playing catch-up on each other’s lives, to waiting outside of the venue for the doors to open, to the final moment when you’re front row at the stage watching your favorite artist… that is the experience and those are the memories you’ll cherish forever.
Music heals. It’s good for the soul. If only for an evening, you get lost in the music and experience and forget all about life’s little problems. It has changed my life and without it, I’d probably be a boring homebody with no friends. Instead, music has taken me all around the country and introduced me to people I would have never met without it!
Roadtrip memories of driving through the snow to the Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio for a concert weekend