By Jake Zabski
As a music fanatic, concerts and listening to live music are some of my favorite activities. During the pandemic, those experiences dwindled down to streaming concerts online or jamming out with my friends in our rooms to music, pretending we were performing at our own shows. While those activities are fun, and I enjoy them, I was missing out on that classic concert experience. The experience of waiting for hours for your favorite act to come on, feeling the emotions of the crowd, paying a million dollars for merch or food and drinks, and getting to enjoy a show with the company of others is like no other.
Before the Dua Lipa concert that I recently attended in Boston, I had not been to a concert since 2019. I blame the pandemic for that, as many of my favorite artists released amazing projects over the last few years but they’ve been unable to tour due to the pandemic restrictions, and even today it still seems like a risk. However, when Dua Lipa announced she was going on tour back in September, I immediately bought tickets. Whether the show would be canceled or not, I didn’t care. I knew that I needed to get those tickets no matter what. I went with my gut and bought tickets for her Boston show, and hoped that the show would go on for months, even when things started to get worse with Covid. Luckily, the stars aligned and I was able to go.
I feel like this might come as a shock to some for my more introverted nature, but deep down inside my soul burns for fun, dance-y, upbeat music. I love all kinds of music, but dance has a special spot in my heart. For me, it is like an escape from reality and often the feeling of most dance songs is light enough where you do not find yourself questioning your life or decisions after listening. Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia album came at the perfect time for me. I’ve been following Dua since 2016 and have always been a huge fan, but when she dropped the 70s and 80s throwback inspired Future Nostalgia project in the heat of the first wave of the pandemic, it immediately became an all-time favorite album of mine. During the stress and anxiety of the first wave, I was able to put that album on and for an hour, feel that I was in outer space, dancing my way around the fears back down on earth. I knew that it would be an amazing album to experience live, which is why I was so excited to go to the concert.
Miss Lipa did not disappoint in her concert at all. The anticipation of waiting almost two years to hear some of my favorite songs live definitely paid off. When she opened with my favorite song of hers, and one of my favorite songs of all time, “Physical,” I immediately was able to step back into that feeling that was present during the more uneventful periods of the pandemic or before March 2020. The feeling of life being ever-present, and no fear about what lay ahead or what came next. Being surrounded by the amazing colors and visuals, people singing and dancing, and feeling a sense of relief that all the craziness of the world would be paused for the next hour and a half of the show felt so freeing, and I don’t think I’ve felt that way in quite some time.
Going to the concert made me appreciate my life at that moment for what it is. As Covid seems to die down, and as restrictions are being lifted, I feel very happy about what is to come in the future. Feeling that sense of freedom and release and enjoying it with others is something that not many of us have experienced in quite some time. I am looking forward to more of these experiences as the world starts to open back up again. Thanks, Dua Lipa for a great night out!