Feel the Beat
Strobe lights flash to a pounding beat. The same beat brings hands flying through the sky and make bodies shake. A video screen plays a scene of a black and white swirl, rippling to the tempo of the music, bending the minds of all who stand still enough to watch. The scene is a rave, one of the many forms of live music that is enjoyed around the world by people of all ages. There is nothing more incredible than being in the moshpit of a Slayer concert, nearly fearing for the lives of the people involved, or watching the scene described above develop and go on for hours upon hours, the kids never getting tired. Live music is a fun and exciting way to release energy, and a great source of income for musicians, and because of that, there is more live music available to kids, especially here in the Bay Area, than ever before.
By the time most people are in college, they have experienced some form of live music, some more than others. Some people make it their passion or by becoming involved in the performance of music, are at concerts all the time. There are concerts locally for as little as two dollars, and a recent two day festival in the Coachella Valley charged one-hundred and forty dollars to attend both days. Even more ridiculous was Sir Paul McCartney, who fetched four-hundred big ones for a less than decent seat on his recent stop in Oakland. If a person is content with a small scale performance, live music is available to anyone and everyone. The more outrageous ticket prices are in part due to the monopolization of the venues, ticketing companies, and advertising platforms. A company called Clear Channel, owned by Viacom Entertainment, owns a large number of Bay Area venues, Bay Area billboards, Bay Area radio stations, and works hand in hand with the two largest ticketing companies in the area, Ticketmaster and Tickets.com. There are few ways around paying whatever Clear Channel asks for their ticke...