Growing up, I was always surrounded by music. My parents are avid listeners of all sorts of genres of music, especially alternative rock. Eventually, my music taste began to develop and is still growing, but I have certainly discovered that music is not something I could live without.

I remember the first time I went to a real concert. The Pixies were in Kansas City and my dad was very excited to bring my sister and me to experience our first ever live performance from a group we really liked. Overall, it opened my eyes to what a concert experience is like and why people enjoy them so much, but it wasn’t too life changing. Sure, I saw a great band play, but I really had no true love for the art of music at the time because I was younger and would rather spend my time otherwise. That was, of course, until I went to my first music festival during the fall of 2019.

My parents surprised my younger sister and I with tickets to a music festival in Austin, Texas. Austin City Limits was one of the best experiences in my entire life. For three days, I was able to not only see one concert, but up to fifteen each day from popular artists that I actually listened to. The atmosphere consisted of beautiful warm weather, kind people and music everywhere you looked. I almost wish I could go back sometimes to relive the experience I had of a music festival before the pandemic. Some of my favorite artists like Tame Impala, 21 Savage, Childish Gambino, Lil Uzi Vert and many others had the most wonderful performances whether they were calm and peaceful or loud and rowdy. The memories from Austin City Limits have not left me and I am very eager to experience more music festivals in the future.

Now that places are returning and recovering from the pandemic, so are music festivals. My parents usually go to Lollapalooza every year because it is their favorite music festival. Lollapalooza is in the summer this year and they have decided to let my sister and I go with them to Chicago. I cannot wait to see more performances and what has changed from the pandemic’s impact over the past couple years. I also am gleeful to see certain artists that I have recently started listening to since my last time at a music festival. To sum up, music festivals bring me to my highest levels of joy and therefore are simply the best.