Taylor Noelle – FIRST CONCERT EVER

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

My very first concert was in 2001 when I was almost six years old. If I recall correctly, it was a surprise to even go to the concert at all. When I was little, my family and I went every year to the LA County Fair in Pomona, California. My memories of the fair are a sunny blur of carnival rides, funnel cake, farm animals, and sleepy car rides home. This particular year, at the end of our day at the fair, instead of heading for our car to leave for the day, we went to the grandstand stage at the Fairplex to see the headliner of the day: the Beach Boys!

I can’t explain how over the moon I was to see the Beach Boys. I was in awe. For a five-year-old in 2001, that might seem a little random, but the Beach Boys were probably one of my favorite artists at the time. The music that played in my house growing up was mainly throwbacks like the Beach Boys, Diana Ross, the Jackson Five, the Beatles, and Carole King. So to see the Beach Boys in person and hear all the songs that soundtracked my everyday life? Five-year-old Taylor was having the time of her life. It was like seeing one of my favorite Disney cartoons come to life. The fun, carefree songs about going to the beach! The beautiful melodies and dreamy harmonies! I felt like I could hardly take it in.

It’s sort of bittersweet to look back on it now. I now know that the lineup I saw was a Mike Love-fronted Beach Boys. It’s so sad to me to know the discordant history of that band. I was also shocked to notice that the date of the concert was only a couple of weeks after 9/11. I was too young to remember or fully process the grieving that the country was going through at the time.

Thinking back on that concert makes me miss my childhood and its beautiful simplicity. I think that’s why I like to draw upon sonic influences from my favorite artists of that time. It helps to take me back to that time and to that feeling. Now, please excuse me while I go spin Pet Sounds on repeat for a few days.

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