sahara – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the singer-songwriter, sahara, talks about the story of her first experience with live music. You can check out the story, after the break.

Although the memory itself is a little foggy now, the feeling that washed over me during my first concert is unforgettable. I was about 8 years old seeing Hilary Duff at the PNE Forum in Vancouver, BC. A lot of the other girls in my class at school had tickets as well; most of them went with groups of friends and their parents. At the time I remember feeling disappointed that I didn’t have a friend to go with, but my dad took me to the show, and it was just the two of us. I love looking back at that moment now because music is the largest thing we connect over, he is undoubtedly my biggest fan and strongest believer. There hasn’t been a single moment in my life that I haven’t had his full support. So that was it, we went together, sat way up in the nosebleeds, and I belted out every single song. Watching Hilary Duff perform (even if it was mostly from the screen projecting what was happening on the stage), I saw so much confidence from a young woman. She was doing the damn thing!

Before I knew it the lights went down and I had this nostalgic feeling engulf me as soon as we walked out the doors. I was in such a daze that I couldn’t even remember the order of the setlist. I knew as soon as we got in the car and started to drive home that I had to feel that feeling again, I had to find a way to create that feeling in my life.

It’s crazy to think that little girl at the Hilary Duff concert would go on to make music too – neither my dad nor I had any idea at that time. To be transparent, I didn’t really show any early signs of excellence or musical talent; I was actually a pretty slow learner. Now, when I’m back in my hometown he and I go on drives to get coffee and he’ll say things like “alright, queue up ‘bad news,’ or actually wait no let’s hear ‘masochist’ first!” and he’ll just sit there and sing every word. When I sit down at the piano and I have those epiphanic moments during my writing sessions, I’m right back there in the PNE Forum with that same feeling. I’m so lucky that I found it again, but every so often I’ll put on “Come Clean” by Hilary Duff and close my eyes in a dark room and teleport back to that place where I felt it first.

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