How to: be grateful for past show experiences

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is spending today doing something nice with people you love.

I want to take this day as an opportunity to reflect back on some of the amazing shows I’ve had the pleasure to attend within the last few years! As I posted on Instagram this week, I keep a collection of all my past festival and event wristbands. I don’t look at them often, but just knowing I have them all is one way that I feel I can hold on to those memories! With that, I am going to briefly talk about some ways to preserve your show memories so you can always feel thankful for them.

Merch

I mean, obviously. This is definitely one of the easiest (and most direct) ways to commemorate a show experience! I don’t always get a merch item, but it’s something that I like to do when it seems feasible and if the options are good! My personal go-to for festivals is a t-shirt, particularly a lineup tee! If I attended all days of the event, the lineup is the way to go so I can look back at all the names I got to see!

Momento box

Like I already mentioned, keeping any and all wristbands, lanyards, tickets, etc., is great to do! Personally, I even go as far as to keep my past momentos in my old Coachella ticket boxes! It started as a makeshift move, but seems just as appropriate of a storage place as any! When I kept my first wristband, I had no idea I would end up at this point in my life (AKA obsessed with music and festivals!), but looking back I’m so grateful that I had the foresight to hold on to them! Plus, it’s a great way to keep track of all the shows you’ve been to.

Pictures

I know we’re supposed to live in the moment, but I’m a firm believer that I can live in the moment, take it all in, and still snap some shots to relive it by! Nothing quite captures your personal experience at a show than your personal shots!

I used to only take videos, and while this is a great thing to also have I really recommend getting pictures too! Of yourself/friends sure, but also of the venue and spaces. (Ps, this is unrelated but make sure to take vertical pics/videos on top of horizontal ones! Better for posting online…)

Playlists

I’d never done this before, but after going to Life is Beautiful this year my friend asked me to make him a playlist of all the artists we saw! It took a bit of time, but I managed to pull a couple songs by every artist we saw throughout all three days of the festival! (Plus they were in order of when we saw them, first to last. Because, extra.)

If that’s too much work for you, and I really don’t blame you if it is, then most festivals also have big public playlists made for them, both by the event promoter and by other fans! These playlists usually have songs by EVERY artist on the lineup, so it’s more fun to me to have a list solely consisting of who we saw so I can individually remember them!

Posters

One thing I’ve always loved is getting concert posters! This was mostly because my dad started getting them for me (more on this later, but my dad has been going to Coachella since 2012 and has been bringing me back the lineup posters since 2016!) Again, this was all before I dug into the music world as I have now. But since digging in, I’ve got several framed posters from shows up on my walls now. This is especially fun because it’s a way to decorate my space with memories of past fun and brought my love of music into my room aesthetic! (To manage wall space, all five past Coachella posters are stacked up in the same frame, newest poster showing).

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As much as I love live events, you can only truly have each experience once. That’s why I find it so important to be able to memorialize each event as much as I can! This year in particular has been huge for me as far as my passion goes, learning and experiencing many new things, so I have a lot to be thankful for regarding that too.

Happy Thanksgiving!