Annika Catharina - FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the country artist, Annika Catharina, talks about the story of her first experience with live music. You can check out the story below:

Concerts are my favourite, and I spend too much money on them. I am still determining where my love of concerts came from. My parents enjoy concerts, but when I was younger, I don't remember them attending many; it could be that we lived on a farm pretty far from any music venue and taking four kids with you gets expensive! They also weren't the ones who took me to my first concert.

The first concert I attended was when I was 12 years old; it was to see Britney Spears on her Circus tour in 2009 at Rogers Arena, which was called GM Place at the time. My friend Kenzie and her parents took me! I remember being so excited because I couldn't wait to drive to Vancouver and see her and her openers The Pussycat Dolls - so fun to watch. I remember The Pussycat Dolls singing “Jai Ho!”, and Nicole Scherzinger was on some high-rise dancing. She was such a great singer and dancer then – and is still a fantastic singer to this day.

Being 12 years old, I didn't have a lot of expectations leading up to the concert; I just hoped Britney Spears would sing the songs I knew. Britney has countless hits and is a great dancer as well; I was in dance then, so I loved watching her and her dancers’ choreography. Since it was the Circus tour, I remember she had a lot of acrobats and hula hoop dancers. I also remember a lot of cages on stage. Britney Spears wore this circus conductor outfit, which was super cool, and had many costume changes.

One thing I remember vividly was her waking off the stage after the concert just started. She took a long break because too many people were smoking in the building, making ventilation a problem on stage. A lot of people were upset; I remember being so excited that when she came back out to finish the concert, I didn't care that she took a break; she sang all her hits and ended the show with a bang by singing "Baby One More Time" before her encore set. It was all drama the next day. The news even covered the issue of her walking off stage; I, on the other hand, was super happy with her performance.

After my first concert experience, all I wanted to do was go to more, but I was 12 and couldn't drive, so I waited until I was old enough to get my license and get a job before I started attending concerts. Though my parents weren't into concerts, they took me to Rockin’ River, a country music festival in BC, a few times; the main reason was that I was singing at it- lots of good festival memories there, watching artists perform. Watching the different acts was my favourite. I was always intrigued with how artists worked the stage. Everyone was always different, but those who looked like they were having the most fun on stage caught my eye. I would pick up on these things while watching and knew this was the kind of performer I wanted to be.

Being on stage is such a thrill and always a good time. I love singing with passion, emotion and authenticity! I hope people see and feel this energy when they come to watch. This is also how I hope people feel when they listen to my music. “Bandit” is my latest release; I put my whole heart into that song while singing; it is also one of my favourites to sing live!

All in all, live music is the best. I love to listen, and I love to learn from others! Britney Spears ignited this spark in me that transformed into a love for live performing!

Keep up with Annika Catharina on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and her website.