Last weekend, I went to the Arctic Monkeys concert in London at the Emirates stadium. It being my first ever concert, I found myself slightly overwhelmed, which was followed by travelling in London through the Underground, also something that I wasnât very familiar with. Once all the stress was put behind me, I found myself surrounded by thousands of people enjoying the same things that I did.
It took hours for the stadium to fill up, as thousands of seats became covered in people flashing the torches on their phones. Almost not noticeable if not for the blinding light, followed by screams of excitement.
Due to it being my first time at a concert, I made the foolish and naive mistake of not realising when the concert actually began. Originally, I had thought that the concert would begin at 5, as thatâs what the ticket said. I read online that the Arctic Monkeys act took 90 minutes, so I assumed Iâd be out by 7pm. Little did I know, I was let into the concert at 5:30, only to be seated. It was quite the mistake to make, as I had friends waiting for me in London⌠still unaware that they would be waiting till roughly midnight when we arrived in London for around 11 in the morning.
When the supporting acts began, not all the seats were taken still. Many people waited for the ârealâ start of the show, when the Arctic Monkeys arrived. I didnât see the point in not being there from start to finish, especially as I arrived an hour before we were even let inside the stadium. If I was going to pay so much money to see an artist I love, I will get every second I possibly can from this experience.
The supporting acts werenât anyone I ever heard of, but I suppose I do live under a rock when it comes to discovering new artists. The acts were enjoyable, as the loud music and sounds began to quickly deafen me. For the concert, I was seated in the upper isle, giving me perfect view of the stage, and the mosh pit beneath me- which quickly began acting wild.
People began dancing, singing, and doing everything they wanted. For quite some time, I observed something that looked like a fight, which was broken apart quickly. People without shirts on began pushing each other around, which I can only assume was their form of fun due to the smiles that I could see on their faces. Nevertheless, as quickly as it was broken apart, it still occurred often at the concert, always in the same place.
After one support act, came the other, clearly much more experienced, and charismatic. With loud rock music blaring from the speakers, people only grew louder, wanting more validation for their screams.
Outside the stadium, I noticed some very fancy looking apartment blocks, which I can only imagine must have been either a blessing or torture having to hear concerts none stop. I suppose it must depend on your style in music, as I can definitely say with certainty that the entire local area heard this concert due to how loud it was.
Turning 8pm, I looked at my friend in horror as we realised on how wrong I actually was. My other friends in London were stranded with their phones near 0% with most shops closing, as we werenât any closer to being finished. My phone was on 15%, realising that I would need to pay for the underground I quickly turned my data off, and began to enjoy the main act of the show.
The stage was impressively designed, with a massive wheel in the middle - which I assumed was meant to resemble a car wheel due to the concert being a tour of their new album: The Car. Just before the concert began, on the huge monitors it displayed the little car icons such as the engine icon, which I felt was a nice touch.
Once the act finally started, the wheel began showcasing different camera angles of the band members- which looked glorious on the large screens. Smoke and lights surrounded the stage, followed by music louder than before. It was something extraordinary, as the stadium was now full, with everyone singing, screaming, and clapping.
As the darkness surrounded the sky, the brightly coloured lights on the stage surrounded the area. When the songs began, everyone joined in unison to sing along. It was something that put a smile on my face, as for years I used to be insecure about my music taste, and now so many people were experiencing their favourite artist in the same place as me, and they were happy.
I joined in with the singing and clapping, to the point that my hands and thighs turned sore. Ignoring the pain and numbness, I kept going, deciding that this was an experience more important than the pain, something that changed my life forever. The songs kept going, which only made the crowd grow more insane. Some people had canisters of pink smoke that they opened anytime their favourite song played, while others waves a yellow banana inflatable. It was a bizarre experience when I would reach for my drink, and I would feel vibrations inside the cup, and inside my stomach. It like as if I was swallowing sounds, rather than liquid.
When the clock reached 10pm, it was all over. All that excitement and joy finally left people as they began turning drunk from the cheap beer they had bought at the stadium. Leaving the loud concert hall, I found myself partially deaf, having to scream into his ear to say the simplest things. Naturally, this was something I should have expected but I did go into the concert with a âvibes onlyâ mindset and didnât know what I was getting myself into.
We quickly made our way out the stadium, and to the Underground. While all seemed well, we made our way to the station ever-so quickly, there was one mistake we didnât factor in. This station was closed, and we were roughly 20 minutes away from the next one. Swiftly turning around, we used our phones which were 5% and 20% and found our way to the station. The streets now overran with drunk people, we decided we had to run to the station to make it in time and try to overtake everyone.
It was the first time in a very long time that I had actually ran, and it was the first time in such a stressful situation that I felt no stress whatsoever. When I look back at the experience now, I see myself as an idiot, but in the moment, it was so much fun.
When we were close to the next station, we ran into the crowd who was also heading there. Everyone was singing and vibing, with half the crowd definitely being intoxicated. We were left with two options, stay in the back or try to navigate through. Choosing the latter, we zigzagged past people, constantly looking back to ensure we didnât lose each other in the crowd of hands.
Almost falling over a plant pot, we made it to the station. Not being educated on the underground, we had a choice to go left or go right, as no signs told us where to go. We went left, and luckily made the right decision as it was exactly where our tube was. We jumped on and found seats not long after. It was now 11pm, before my friendsâ phones died, we were texted that the last tube to Richmond left Kings cross at 11:30, which gave us very little time to get the tube that we needed, or we would need to find alternative ways to travel to the Richmond carpark.
Finally leaving the tube, we rushed our way to our next station. Laughing at the situation, we had to run up the stairs, to not miss our next tube. It was now 11:40 at our next station, and I almost fell down the stairs as I jumped up every 2 steps. I do not recommend doing that after only having 3 hours of sleep the night before.
As soon as we ran up the stairs, our tube arrived and left 30 seconds later. If we never jumped up those stairs, we wouldnât have gotten on the tube in time. We made it, we could relax and head to Richmond. Our friends no longer had any charge in their phones, so it was impossible to communicate, we werenât certain whether they were waiting at our next station or at the car.
After almost falling asleep on the tube, we finally came off and reunited with our friends. They had been waiting for us for hours and saw many other people in Arctic Monkeys merch arrive before us. We were roughly 2 hours late, as we arrived at Richmond at midnight.
The drive home was roughly 2 hours, and I think I passed out on the couch as soon as I got home.
Lesson learned: Read more about events.
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