Spritely – FIRST CONCERT EVER

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

[It’s 2004. HitClips are all the rage. Avril Lavigne has just come out with the “Under My Skin” record and “Nobody’s Home” is the anthem to my prepubescent angst. Life is good.]

My babysitter and I were at the local mall, passing the Verizon Fios store, which we noticed was having a karaoke contest. The prize? Eight tickets and backstage passes to see Avril Lavigne at Jones Beach Stadium. My hyperactive nine-year-old brain went wild.

I probably sang “My Happy Ending” for the contest, made it to the finals round, and totally schooled the older teenagers competing. I remember feeling so smug about myself being nine years old and beating the teenagers, but also feeling deeply that this was some young sign from the beyond, nudging me down this musical path.

The actual concert is kind of a blur — I remember being underwhelmed by how massive the venue was and wishing I could see better. I was SO embarrassed after the meet and greet, where I naively worked up the courage to say “I want to be a singer just like you!” — thinking she was going to be like “Wow! Here, meet my manager” lol. She just said “that’s great!” and we took a photo and were ushered down the line.

This whole memory is so warm to me because of the serendipitous way it came about and how much winning that karaoke contest meant to me. That one moment probably shaped me in more ways than I count. So thank you, Verizon Fios :) And Avril: you still rock.

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