Anyone who has been to a concert is familiar with the feeling. The bass reverberating under your feet, your lungs burning from screaming along to your favorite songs. Those things never change. But a $10 ticket to see your favorite hall-of-famer isn’t attainable anymore. Neither is standing in line at the box office and blindly hoping for the best.
For today’s fans, the culture of concert-going has shifted. In the 21st century, experiencing live music doesn’t look the way it did for earlier generations. History teacher Leslie Ringle is coming up on 50 years of concert experience, and has had a front row for the changes in the concert experience.
“My first concert was the Osmonds in 1976. My mom took my brother and me. I was 8 years old,” Ringle said. “I saw U2, my favorite band in college, in 1987 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis for $16.50. It was an amazing experience.”
Ringle is still an avid music lover and concert-goer, and some of her tastes have remained the same. In 2024, she saw veteran acts like Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Stone Temple Pilots, but her preferences have adapted over time to include several newer artists and a love for their shows as well.
“This past year, Noah Kahan was my number one,” Ringle said. “I love when an artist interacts with the crowd, seems genuinely interested in making sure the crowd has a good time, and plays great music.”
In just the past year, she attended a total of twenty-seven shows at the Ruoff music center alone. According to Ringle, this has resulted in her having a very expansive musical palette. Such an impressive concert resume might seem unaffordable to today’s concert-goers. Price gouging, reselling, and ticket pre-sales have placed a wall between musicians and their fans. Ringle has managed a convenient — yet fleeting — way around these crippling prices.
“For the past few years, my husband and I, along with a group of friends, have purchased the Lawnie Pass through Live Nation for Ruoff,” Ringle said. “Sadly, Live Nation has discontinued those passes for 2025. Instead we will try to attend free shows like the Fishers and Noblesville summer concert series and try smaller, more affordable venues.”
With the loss of the Lawnie pass, junior Roxie Eden is another concertgoer who has found solace in more affordable ways to live out a love for music.
“I’ve been going to shows for fifteen years,” Eden said. “Local venues are a really great opportunity to escape the capitalistic aspect that has kind of overtaken the experience of going to a show.”
Junior Prue Mahurin takes a different approach. Like Ringle, Mahurin primarily attends shows at Ruoff, but has noticed stark differences between the concerts of her childhood, and the ones she sees now.
“Back then, when you went to a concert, I felt like it was more like you sat in your chair, talked to the people around you, and enjoyed music together,” Mahurin said. “I feel like now, it’s just like everybody is in it to say that they’ve done it.”
Eden believes that when it comes to concerts, some things can’t be linked to time and place. She feels some issues are simply inherent to experiencing live music.
“There’s always been someone who’s just a tad too tall in front of a short person,” Eden said. “Or a guy who got too drunk at the mini bar, or someone wanting to pick a fight with the first person they see.”
Still, concertgoers like Mahurin believe that the way you fans experience concerts is in their own hands, and she says it is entirely possible to make meaningful memories out of an oftentimes unpleasant experience.
“For me, before the Noah Kahan concert, we had a giant circle of people just start chatting, and we barely took any pictures,” Mahurin said.
Mahurin believes that no matter what, the key to enjoying live music is to really live it. As she puts it, who cares what anyone else is doing? Who cares what they’re thinking about you?
“I was so in the moment,” Mahurin said. “I really feel like that’s how a concert should be.”
