Halo Kitsch – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the pop rock artist, Halo Kitsch, talks about the story of her first experience with live music. You can check out the story, after the break.

The memory of my first concert, it’s been a while since I recalled the day. It was my birthday. I think I was turning either 14 or maybe 15. I know I was older than 13 because for that year I had sent out invitations (with me as a mock magazine covergirl -ha) to see High School Musical 3 at the El Capitan. Troy Bolton was my first major teenage-girl crush. Harry Styles was my second.

My sister and I were in the first wave of american girls to discover One Direction and we were obsessed, hide-in-the-corner-of-the-library-to-listen-to-the-album obsessed. Like, in addition to posters, I had pencils and miniature tape dispensers with their faces on it. I mean total Directioners- constantly feuding with Directioners. Ha. We had a fanfiction account (I’m embarrassed to confess), had seen every interview, knew every word to every song, and once even stood outside of a hotel for hours thinking we might get a wave. I always knew I wanted to make music, but something about their story made it seem possible for me. They gave me hope.

Anyways, my point is… you can imagine how high into the air I jumped when my mom revealed they’d be singing on Ellen the exact same day as my birthday – and that she’d gotten tickets. My sister & I got to skip school. We tried on a million outfits, naturally seeking something that would catch their eye from the stage. Ha, ha. I settled on something that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing today; it included sparkly purple eyeshadow and a weird purple knit hat, kind of like a beret (?) with a big old bow on it.

The rest is pretty anticlimactic actually. We waited in line for what felt like a decade in miserable weather. When we were finally seated the row cut off so that I was separated from my mother and my sister and 20ft away all alone in the next aisle. Young and naive as I was, I spent the whole time thinking somebody somewhere must know it was my birthday and that they’d surprise me and call me up on stage. Silly, I know. They called up somebody else. I was burning green. Nevertheless, the sun came out, the boys sang beautifully, and I laughed and cried and danced next to a bunch of strangers in my stupid purple hat and the whole day was magic after all.

That may have been one of the first times I consciously realized the power and the beauty of music. It has this inherent and rare ability to alleviate so much – from thoughts to nuisances to a bad mood to pain to suffering. And equally cool is its capacity to unify. It’s so spiritual to me. Even today I feel like it’s a form of meditation when I put on my headphones, hit play, and just be as I am. Song and sound has changed me from inside out – and been there like a friend through all of my phases. It’s an honor that about 9 years later… I’m finally making my own. :)

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