Halsey is one of those artists I keep close to my heart. Seeing her live is so special for me because I've been a fan of hers since the beginning. Her success came so fast after her first EP came out way back in 2014. Since then she's released two full studio albums Badlands and hopeless fountain kingdom.
The first Halsey show I ever went to was my senior year of high school when she performed at the San Diego House of Blues in downtown. There were only a couple hundred there, it was a very small capacity venue, but that's what made it so special.

In 2016, I surprised my sister with front row tickets to Halsey's second installment of her Badlands tour. This time she played at an amphitheater which fit a couple thousand people, but it still felt intimate especially because she talked about me and the group of people who were there at the House of Blues the last time she was in San Diego. It was crazy to see how far she's come in such a short period of time.

The third time I saw her, I also met her at the Channel 933 Summer Kick Off this past May. I wasn't even sure if I was going to the show until three days prior to the concert. I received an email from the radio station saying I won tickets and a Meet & Greet with Halsey. It was such a surprise for me because I'd never really won anything like that before, so I was over the moon that I was actually going to be able to hug her and tell her how much I appreciate all that she's done over the short few years of her career.
She was so sweet in person, I'll never forget the feeling of meeting someone whose writing and music you admire so much. I liked her even more after meeting her because she was so genuine and nice.

What I love most about her music is that all her work is based on concepts. My favourite type of albums are concept albums, I absolutely love those. The artists get to come up with a story, write and sing about it, making it a part of your life as much as it was a part of theirs.

Although I wasn't able to get tickets for hopeless fountain kingdom tour during the presale, I decided to go to the show three hours before it started. I got a last minute ticket and actually ended up being barricade for her first ever arena tour.
The production of hopeless fountain kingdom tour was so amazing. I honestly enjoyed every single second of this show, from visuals to the singing and the dancing, it was so well executed. Although I liked her first album Badlands more, this tour was definitely her best performance and production she has done so far.
She also brought out Andrew McMahon, who is one of her favourite artists. He played the piano during Sorry, and then they sang a cover of Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin. She explained that Dark Blue was one of the inspirations behind her song Colors.

This was a really special show that I was so glad to have been a part of. Because Halsey holds such a special place in my heart, I don't think I'll ever be able to miss any of her future tours. It just brings such a special feeling and an experience that I'll never forget.
Attending multiple tours from the same artist really makes each new one more special and it feels like you're growing up and evolving along with them as their success and tours become bigger and their music becomes more influential.
I'm so endlessly proud of all the music she's released, and I wish I could thank her every day for soundtracking my life. Halsey's music has been a part of many important and special moments of my life, and I hope it continues to be that way for a long, long time.

You can grab a copy of her second album, hopeless fountain kingdom here.

Setlist:
The Prologue
Eyes Closed
Hold Me Down
Castle
Good Mourning
Heaven in Hiding
Strangers
Roman Holiday
Walls Could Talk
Bad at Love
Alone
Closer (Piano Version) [The Chainsmokers cover]
Sorry
Dark Blue (Jack's Mannequin cover)
Angel on Fire
Lie
Don't Play
100 Letters
Is There Somewhere
Now or Never
Colors
Young God
Hopeless
Gasoline
Hurricane

For concert's I've been to, and the ones that are coming up, check here.

Another art museum visit to a museum I was lucky enough to visit more than once. Los Angeles County Museum of Art holds some of the most amazing artworks from periods like abstract expressionism as well as, my personal favourite, pop art. Many of the art works below I've gotten to study in class so seeing them in person was very interesting and cool. 

Visit LACMA's website to see which artworks are on view here.

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Check out my friend's video of our LA road trip!

Jack Antonoff was an artist I was introduced to after he began his Bleachers project. When Strange Desire was released I was an instant fan of his work. The combination of his songwriting, and production and every single sound, voice and noise in his notoriously diverse production arrangements, all resulted in the masterpiece that was his first album (I mean he's even featured Yoko Ono!). 

The very first time I saw Bleachers perform live, was in May of this year, right before Gone Now was released. I drove up to Los Angeles with my friend to see him perform on Jimmy Kimmel's outside concert stage. Although he could only perform five songs, that performance meant so much to me just because I've been a fan for so long and to finally see him live was just the most amazing feeling.

For me personally, being front row at a show magnifies my experience at a concert by a thousand. My friend Bianca and I have a saying, "once you go front row, you cannot go back" and "barricade life is the only life", and it's so true in my experience. So when Jack announced a brand new Bleachers tour for his new album Gone Now, I knew I had to go, and do everything I could to be front row again. 

As it turned out, his show in San Diego was on a Wednesday night, on the completely opposite side of town from where I live. Plus, my art professor announced two weeks prior that we will have a test on that Wednesday so I knew I wouldn't be able to line up early in the morning as I had planned. 

Nevertheless, I got to the venue at about 4pm that day and surprisingly there were only six people in front of me and my friend, which meant we were basically guaranteed barricade. 

The venue was one of my favourites in San Diego, North Park Observatory is like a mixture of an actual theater look and the House of Blues, but bigger. The last time I saw a concert there was two years ago when I went to see The 1975.
An odd fact about this venue (if you ever see a concert there) is that an hour before the doors open, they separate guys and girls into two separate lines. I've never been to a venue that does this, so it was sort of strange, and I was scared that I would lose my spot in line, but everything was alright in the end because I still got a really good spot on the barricade.




The show itself was so energetic and it was radiating happiness and it truly felt like a community. The crowd was loud, singing back every word Jack wrote and making them their own. My favourite thing about this show was that Jack was smiling almost constantly, and that just made my heart feel warm. Here is an artist who gives his all to his art, and his payoff isn't the money, it's the feeling of a crowd absorbing all of his work and screaming it breathlessly back to him. It's pure happiness and pure enjoyment to watch it all happen.




The moment of realization during the entirety of the high at a show, that everyone around you is radiating positivity and happiness, is the moment I realize how many times I'd wait hours and days in line just to be able to experience it all over again.
I'm so devoted to attending concerts and being able to experience this feeling over and over again, it's better than any drug out there.


There are people I know who don't really understand why I repeatedly spend my money on concerts, and I don't think they will ever be able to understand, unless they experience it themselves. It's not about the money, at least not for me. It's about this feeling, it's about the community of people I choose to spend an hour and a half with singing the words to my favourite songs.
I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to attend music events, because if I didn't find this environment I might be looking for it somewhere else, or even worse, never find it. I also feel sad for the people who don't find concerts the most rewarding, because these experiences have truly shaped my adolescent years.

You can find the new Bleachers album, Gone Now here!

Setlist:
Dream of Mickey Mantle
Goodmorning
Shadow
Wild Heart
Everybody Lost Somebody
Hate That You Know Me
Wake Me
I Miss Those Days
Let's Get Married
All My Heroes
Rollercoaster
Carry On (fun. cover)
Like a River Runs
Foreign Girls
You're Still a Mystery
I Wanna Get Better
Don't Take the Money

For concert's I've been to, and the ones that are coming up, check here.

I believe that you can tell a lot about a person based on the music they listen to. Here's a bit of my world introduced to yours.

These are the first 25 songs that came on shuffle from my Apple Music library:

1. Hollywood by Marina & The Diamonds

2. Daft Pretty Boys by Bad Suns

3. Body Talk by Foxes

4. Someone Else by Miley Cyrus

5. I Know Places by Taylor Swift

6. Never Be Like You (ft. Kai) by Flume

7. Dog Days Are Over (Live from MTV Unplugged) by Florence + The Machine

8. Settle Down by The 1975

9. Talking Dreams (Acoustic) by Echosmith

10. Down With Me by X Ambassadors

11. Be the One by Dua Lipa

12. Vroom Vroom by Charli XCX

13. Walking Away by HAIM

14. Haunting by Halsey

15. This Charming Man by The Smiths

16. Savage by Ben Khan

17. Wait by M83

18. warm glow by Hippo Campus

19. All I Need by Radiohead

20. Entropy by Grimes x Bleachers

21. Laura Palmer by Bastille

22. Never Going Back Again by Fleetwood Mac

23. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys

24. The Less I Know the Better by Tame Impala

25. Eyes Shut by Years & Years

It's a Monday morning, I am 11 years old and I'm waking up to Pride (In the Name of Love), because that is the track number one on my dad's U2 Greatest Hits CD. The stereo is loud enough to reach my room upstairs and my eyes are finally open, I'm ready to start my day.


I'm very heavily influenced by my parents' music taste. One of the first songs I have any recollection of listening to, was Angie by The Rolling Stones. My mom's friend had an acoustic guitar that he'd bring over to our house sometimes, and strum Angie cords for me.
Both of my parents had a big diverse music library from U2, The Stones, Bon Jovi to artists like ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and even some 80s pop such as Madonna and ABBA. Those are some of the artists that defined my childhood years.
As I started getting older I was able to branch out and find my own niche of artists. I began listening to The Beatles on my own, as well as artists like Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths, and later bands such as
Radiohead and Coldplay.


However, U2 has always been one of my favorite bands to listen to growing up. Besides being driven by the musical aspect, the band has been very politically active. Coming from Ireland during the talk of the Irish Independence from the United Kingdom, it's almost impossible for the band not to be politically motivated and explore political issues in their songs.
Written entirely by Bono, the U2's frontman, The Joshua Tree represents independence, freedom and the voice of a generation; it represents the myth of America. The good and the corrupt America.
Prior to the making of The Joshua Tree, Bono had made multiple trips around world, specifically to Latin America. There he saw the complications and consequences the Reagan administration had stirred in the countries of Central America. He witnessed the war and devastation in countries like El Salvador and Bolivia, which inspired songs on the record. The reoccurring theme of the great and powerful America can be seen throughout the entirety of The Joshua Tree.


Musically, this album was an important step for the band; transitioning from the mainstream New Wave, into blues and country. Being closely associated with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Bono was introduced to the music Jagger and Richards have been fans of for decades before The Joshua Tree. Bono became very inspired by blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker.


When the album first came out, it brought an unbelievable amount of success for the band. Although U2 had already been a well known band around the world, this album put them up front with some of the bigger names of that decade. The Joshua Tree was a lyrical masterpiece that really pushed U2 artistically into new directions they were very eager to take on.


In a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Beats1, Bono discussed how necessary this 30th anniversary  of the album was. With all of the things that are happening in America and around the world, how easy it is for political leaders to operate in such corrupt ways against their people, it's essential for the nation to need something to hold onto again.
U2 has not only brought back The Joshua Tree on this tour, but they've brought the fight against the establishment that is weaved through their entire show. The spectacle is portraying U2's version of America; and during Bullet the Blue Sky when Bono's final words are "into the arms of America", there is a sense of unity, warmth and progression.

The performance its-self was most entertaining and remarkable to watch. This band has been doing this for more then 40 years, and you can see that they breathe and feed off the music, it's something they need to do in order to survive. Bono is not just a singer and a songwriter, he's an actor, a true performer. I was impressed with his stage presence and his acting skills during Exit, the whole crowd was engulfed into the battle between good and evil.



But the story is not just about America, it's also about women. As Ultra Violet (Light My Way) plays, pictures of important women, who've done remarkable things, flash on the screen. Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rosa Parks, Mary Wollstonecraft, Ellen DeGeneres, are just some of the women I recognized along the big screen of star studded female icons who fought for the rights I have today. It was an ode to the feminist movement and all the amazing and powerful females who believed in what they achieved over the years. You could feel the energy and the emotional response people had during this performance, it was truly powerful.


I'm most grateful for this experience because it meant so much seeing U2 with my whole family. It's my favourite concert I've gone to so far in my life. I can't even begin to compare this show with anything I've attended to so far, because it's not just a concert, it's not just a tour; it's a movement and its lasted for thirty years. The Joshua Tree album is a monumental piece of art and culture from a certain point in time that's become absolutely and completely timeless.
This concert was timeless, and I will never forget it.

Setlist:
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Years' Day
Bad
Pride (In the Name of Love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers of the Disappeared 
Miss Sarajevo
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Vertigo
You're the Best Thing About Me (acoustic version)
Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
One

For concert's I've been to, and the ones that are coming up, check here.

If anyone knows me at all, they know Harry is my favourite member of One Direction. I've always thought he was such a genuine human, and I always admired that he was a writer as well (even though while being in One Direction he wasn't allowed to show it as much). So when I found out he was finally hitting the road as a solo artist, I knew I had to go. 

I have never been as stressed, in my life, as I was during the Harry Styles pre-sale. I woke up an extra two hours before the tickets went on sale just so I could calm myself down. I knew these tickets were gonna be hard to get, especially because he was only playing one show in all of Southern California on this tour.

It took my friend and I about eight tries, including our blood, sweat and tears to finally get these tickets. I knew many of the people who were trying to get them didn't, and I felt bad because some of those people were friends of ours who we've gone to many One Direction shows with. 

Fast forward to the day of the show; I arrived a day early because I was also attending the Niall show the day before. I essentially made a mini road trip to LA to see the boys.
I stopped at USC a couple of hours before the show, to drop off my friend there. Then I headed down Vermont Avenue all the way up to the Greek. The traffic was awful as always, but that wasn't gonna ruin the fact that I was seeing Harry in what felt like days, but were really just a couple of hours.
Once I parked I took my spot in the longest line ever, waiting to get inside the venue. I met up with my friend with whom I bought the tickets, and we bought merch first then headed to find our seats. Our section was in the middle of the venue, to the right, meaning we weren't too far but also not as close as we might have wanted ( but I was just glad we even got those tickets!! ).

MUNA opened the show with an energetic set and engulfed the crowd into what was going to be an amazing show. Once Harry came onto the stage, the crowd went wild and the screams were so loud I couldn't hear myself think. But this is exactly the energy he feeds off of, and it's amazing to watch. He has such a stage presence, it's hard not to be moved by it. At times I felt like everyone was so starstruck by the man on stage, they failed to look around and see the lit up faces of people who felt like nothing could go wrong in the world, and their lives were perfect; at least for an hour and a half that night.

It felt nostalgic to be at a show like this, it made me miss what One Direction concerts felt like. Although this felt like a 1D concert, it was also new and refreshing, and just beautiful to watch how much freedom and happiness radiated from both the stage and from the audience.

Harry is scheduled on the road next summer on his world tour, and I'm planning on attending all of  the California shows! Hope to see you there.

His debut album is out now, and you can grab it here!

Setlist:
Ever Since New York
Two Ghosts
Carolina
Stockholm Syndrome (One Direction cover)
Sweet Creature
Only Angel
Woman
Meet Me in the Hallway
Just a Little Bit of Your Heart (Ariana Grande cover)
What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction cover)
Kiwi
From the Dining Table
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Sign of the Times

For concert's I've been to, and the ones that are coming up, check here.