Rydell – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the alternative R&B artist, Rydell, talks about the story of her first experience with live music. You can check out the story, after the break.

For some reason, The Rolling Stones had a stop at the “Brennbichler Wiese” in Tirol, during their Bridges to Babylon tour in 1999. I was 7 years old and lucky enough to be taken to the concert by my parents.

If the Rolling Stones show up in a tiny city in the mountains of Austria with a few thousand inhabitants – half of them old and/or uptight enough to despise any form of distorted guitar sounds, another quarter too young to know what that is – you are left with a pretty intimate alpine Rolling Stones concert. Well, intimate if intimate also involved major firework explosions and a couple dozen fainting groupies.

This 1999 summer day came with rain. Lots and lots of rain. So the mountain field the festival grounds were on turned into one big pool of mud. 7 year old me experienced it more like swampy swallowing ocean. The XXL Rolling Stones T I was wearing was turning into a brown weighted blanket. Getting dirty with the excuse that I couldn’t help it was the fun part. But seeing colorful light flairs peak though between what felt like every single adults’ butt in the world…not so fun.

Once the Stones got started I found myself in the best possible seat. The VIP area. The premium section: My dad’s shoulders. The next couple of hours were explosive. It is safe to say I had never felt energy like this. These guys on stage ripping apart songs meeting roaring and vibrating gratitude from a huge crowd of die-hard Stones fans. Unbelievable. I have always been intensely drawn to music. But this night gave me my very first feeling for the power of live music.

To this day I cannot think of many things as enriching as high-quality live music. It’s the strongest drug. Straight to the brain, Right through your blood.

My dad says I was so excited I peed into his neck. But that’s not true.

Keep up with her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.