American beauty / American Psycho tour.

Hey there!

A little over a week ago, on October 20 2015, the time had finally come. After months of waiting it was time to catch the train to Amsterdam to see Fall Out Boy on their American Beauty American Psycho tour.

This was the second time I got to see them in concert and god it was incredible. Last year already blew my mind so the stakes were high. A couple of hours before the doors opened my friend Charlotte and I arrived at the venue. As we left the train we were observing the others that also got off the train. Who might be going too? Turned out quite a lot. As we got closer to the venue we noticed the queue was pretty freaking long already. We walked past one side of the queue and over to the other side of the queue which was a little shorter so we sat down on this end.(I know this sounds weird but for some reasons there are two sides to the FOB queue at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.) A little later one of our friends contacted us and we joined with her as she set closer to the entrance than we did. 


Then the venue doors opened and everyone started acting like primitive human beings to get inside the venue as fast as possible. This is possibly one of the most funny yet utterly terrifying parts of the entire concert because the chance you die due to falling down and being stepped on or choke to death are quite high.


Eventually Charlotte and I got inside, put/pushed all our stuff in one little locker and went inside the actual concert hall. Thankfully there were some nice peepz around us so that was cool. About half an hour later the time had finally almost come BUT FIRST it was time for the supporting act to give us their best. This year the support act was Charley Marley whom I had never heard of before so I was kind of curious. They did manage to get the crowd going, I must give them that although it wasn't really my style and I personally thought they weren't quite right as a Fall Out Boy supporting act. Which is just my personal opinion!









Then the time had finally really come!!!!!! I put my ear plugs back in (hearing safety everybody) had a small freak out session with Charlotte and was ready for the actual show to begin. The entire thing was just amazing! The lightning was perfect, the set list was great, the background effects were magnificent. The entire crowd was singing along and there was an amazing atmosphere going on. During one song they released a whole bunch of massive balloons from the ceiling which honestly scared me a lot, yes I am one of those people but with a valid reason (I think).

Before the little acoustic part started off Pete or should I say Pepe (thanks Charlotte) hit us with a classic dad joke which I won't repeat. The acoustic session was amazing, I nearly cried (again). 

The concert was over way to soon and still a bit mesmerised we headed back to the train station with nearly everybody that had also been at the concert. Fall Out Boy merch everywhere. Fall Out Boy you did it! Once again I went home with a feeling of wow with a bit of amazing and a slice of 'never going to forget this ever' which is personally my favourite after concert recipe. It had been a wonderful night and I am glad I decided to go again. See you next year?

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

ThatDutchGirl's survival guide: concerts.

Hey there!

Welcome to my personal survival guide. A guide in which I share my own tips and tricks to (hopefully) successfully survive a lot of different events in life. How I survived them or what I have learned from them anyway. This week I would like to share my most precious survival tips and tricks regarding 'Concerts'. Grab some tea, snacks, pen and paper and take notes. 

Warning: the content of this survival guide do not guarantee you to survive the different events in this survival guide successfully or at all. These are all personal experiences and life lessons so you might be helped more by a trying a different approach.

Concerts.
Concerts: a performance of music by one or more musicians or singers.

A little bit of personal history, the first concert I ever went to was a long time ago. I think I was around 8 or 9 years-old by the time and it was a concert of the band K-otic. At the time this was one of my favourite bands and my mum took me to one of their concerts by surprise which was absolutely amazing. After my first concert more followed all of which led to the following tips and tricks. 

Buying tickets.
Before you can attend a concert you will have to buy tickets. How difficult it is to get tickets to a certain concert depends on which musician/band/singer you want to go see and the venue it will take place. When the musician you want to go see isn't very well known chances on getting a ticket are much bigger than buying tickets for let's say One Direction. Besides who you want to go see in concert, it's also important to check on how many tickets will be sold / how big the venue they are going to play is. Some venues offer seats as well, sometimes these tickets are cheaper because they are further away from the stage but this variates per venue/concert hall. 
Then there is the 'buying tickets process'. Once you know who you want to see in concert and you looked up the venue the band is going to play you will find when and where the tickets will be sold. Sadly there are still people/websites that try to sell you tickets but are actually frauds. So when buying tickets watch out. The safest way to buy tickets is to call the phone number of the venue or the one that is one the venue's website or via the link one the venue's website. These are the safest ways and guarantee you of a valid ticket for a 'normal' price. 
More about the 'buying tickets process'. Now you know where to buy tickets but there's more to it then just that. Some concerts sell out real quick. For instance once again a One Direction concert. These are most likely to sell out under 10 to 15 minutes so if you want a ticket to one of these concerts make sure you know when and at what time they go for sale. Make sure you are on the website or phone on time, preferably 30 minutes to 1 hour before the actual sale starts. Keep refreshing the website and have everything you need to buy tickets ready. If you would like to visit the concert with a group of over 4 people make sure every person of that group is ready to buy a ticket or at least most of them as some venues or companies that sell concert tickets let you buy a maximum of four tickets per person. The more people you have that will try to get tickets with you the bigger your chances on actually getting a ticket are. THIS DOES NOT GUARANTEE A TICKET THOUGH.
So if you want to buy tickets to a concert, know what kind of ticket you want (VIP, standing, seated, etcetera), know when and where they go for sale and make sure you (and your friends/family) are ready on time.

Waiting in line.
Waiting in line for a concert is pretty much inevitable. If you get to the venue early there will be less of a line compared to when you arrive rather late. I personally prefer arriving at the venue two to three hours before the doors open. So far this has always led me to a decent spot in the audience. I am very lucky to say I have always had a great spot during concerts. Sometimes someone you know might already be in the queue (long) before you arrive. If so, contact this person and ask if you could join them. This way you will be closer to the front of the line and you get to catch up with that person again and maybe meet some of their friends. So it's a win win. 
Whilst waiting in line make sure you have something to eat, something to drink and something or someone to keep you warm. When you have to wait in line for a long time you can and probably will get cold so make sure you bring a coat, scarf, poncho or blanket. 
Then the moment arrives that the doors open and the line will start moving. ALWAYS, I repeat, ALWAYS stay together with the person you are there with. When lines start moving it's easy to lose one so don't. Also don't push, scream and try your hardest not to fall down or trip over something. Just be nice to your fellow fangirls/-boys. Everyone is trying to get inside the venue and everyone will so stay calm and join in with the flow of the line. 

Money.
When visiting a concert I would advise you to take some cash. If you want to buy some merchandise you check how much that piece of merchandise costs on their website (in most cases). But the cash is not only for merchandise, it can also be used to buy some drinks during or before the concert as it is incredibly important to stay hydrated and you can use your cash hire a locker or have your bag/coat stuffed away in a secured cloakroom. This way you are sure (99%) none of your possessions will get stolen.

Merchandise.
The merchandise stand is a very popular spot inside the venue. Before the concert starts it will be overflowed with people so if you don't mind small crowded places you are free to go before the concert. If you would like to buy your merchandise when it's more quiet I recommend you pay the merchandise stand a visit a little while after the concert has ended. At this time it will be the most quiet at the merchandise stand, it is possible however that at this time some of the merchandise items will be sold out but it's a risk worth taking in my opinion. 

Inside the venue/concert hall.
Once your inside the venue you will have to choose your priorities. Do they lie with buying merchandise first or would you like to stuff your bag and coat away first or maybe you really need to pee and want to pay the toilet a visit before you do anything else. As long as you keep the following in line: DO NOT lose the person you're there with and DO NOT scream, run or push or pull people aside. It will be like a chaotic beehive inside and people will be walking/ running everywhere and it is of high importance that you keep calm. Once you have done everything you needed to do you will enter the hall the concert will actually take place. Depending on when you get in there the room will be pretty full or still quite empty. Choose a place you want to stand, as long as nobody else is standing there yet and make yourself comfortable. Until the concert start you are free to sit down on the floor, get yourself a drink and enjoy the room filling up and the atmosphere that fills the room. Once the concert has started I recommend you stay where you are because sometimes you might run into a person that won't let you through again so you won't be able to go back to your friend(s). 
Now during concerts the volume might pass the safety line which means you risk hearing damage. I personally carry a pair of earplugs to every concert/music event I go to, just in case (which is basically every concert/ music event I've ever been to). 
Also beware of the rising temperature in the concert hall. Make sure you have enough space to breath and warn people around you as soon as you start feeling unwell. If you are feeling unwell never try to leave the concert hall alone! Make sure someone is with you at all times just in case you faint and lose consciousness. 

So these are some of my tips and tricks to successfully survive a concert with. They don't guarantee a great concert though that is still up to you and what you make of it. They might help you prepare a bit better or make you feel a bit more confident whilst at a concert. Maybe they aren't useful at all who knows?

If you have some concert survival tips of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments below and together we will create the ultimate concert survival guide!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96