Day in the Life of a Concert Freak! - Liverpool

I see my favourite bands a lot. When my favourite band is on tour then so am I. One date just isn't enough for me; I have to go to at least 5! I always get asked if I ever get bored of seeing the same bands over and over again. After all if you've seen it once you've seen them all right? Well...technically yes. They're performing the same set every night, it's the same set up but no 2 concerts are the same. I think what frustrates me the most is that when people find out how many times I see my favourite bands they ONLY think of the concert, they don't think of the build up of excitement, exploring other places you might never have been to before, talking to different fans, the travelling, a lot goes in to these kinds of days so I thought it would be a good idea to show you what a typical day is like as a concert freak! The Vamps are currently on tour at the moment and I spent a couple of days away in Liverpool where they were playing.

The Night Before

Okay, I actually start preparing my tour days pretty much as soon as I purchase the tickets but I can imagine that that will be an incredibly boring read so I'll start with the evening before I leave. Every time I go on tour, I like to have at least one date where I spend the night. I love long journeys and I love staying in hotel rooms; it works as a small get away. So of course I've got to make sure that I pack everything I need. I usually take 3 bags with me - 2 if I don't bring my camera - and this is what I typically pack in them:

Suitcase:

- Pjs

- Change of outfit (outfit you'll wear to the gig)

- Comfy clothes (for the long journey home)

- Hair dryer

- Hair straighteners (or whatever you need to do your hair)

- Own shampoo

- Wash stuff (toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.)

- Make-up

- Jewellery

- Change of shoes (if necessary)

Camera Bag:

- Camera (obviously...)

- Change of lens (if needed)

- Instax camera (instant print camera)

- Spare memory card

- Camera charger

Travel bag/Hand bag:

- Phone charger

- Lunch (I like to pack a lunch so I don't eat out so much. I want to eat healthy).

- Book (Maybe 2)

- Phone

- Notebook and pen

- Purse

The evening before consists of me trying to find everything I need and hoping I don't forget something (I do always forget something though. This time it was socks...). This seems a lot but it isn't really. My suitcase things fit in to one small suitcase and I'm never carrying my camera bag and travel bag at the same time so I'm not carrying much whilst I explore before checking in to our hotel.

The Day Begins

If you're a concert freak like me, then you know what an early morning feels like! I used to queue for hours outside of the venue to make sure I got to the barrier right in front of the stage. My record was 12 hours! I used to get up EXTREMELY early in the morning just to sit around all day. I eventually realised that life was too short for that and that I can actually see better if I stood back. So the barrier days are over for me, but I still like to get to wherever the concert is early. This allows me to spend some time exploring wherever I am, do some photography, shop around it and maybe get something to eat.

6:00am

It's time to wake up. My bags are already packed so there isn't much I need to do...which is just as well because my neighbours were having a party the night before and I haven't slept that much! I get myself together and put some comfy clothes on for the long journey ahead. I quickly put my hair in a ponytail and leave my make-up for later because nobody is going to be seeing my face this early on a Saturday!

6:30am

Half an hour later and our suitcases are in the boot of the car and we head off! This journey was over 3 hours long for me and I'm not the one driving so I can get quite bored. I always make sure that I bring something to do. I'm not prone to travel sickness so I've started to read in the car. I don't like concentrating too much so this is usually a magazine or something with illustrations in it. I decided to pick up a manga for this journey. Never read one before but my best friend - who's also an illustrator - has always loved them so I thought I'd give it a go (Spoiler - it was very good. I surprisingly loved it).

Of course, when I'm not reading, we do pass the time listening to music. We usually end up listening to who we're seeing that day to get us in the mood.

8:45am

We take a quick toilet break. Okay so...I'm a bit of a weirdo. I LOVE service stations. Although everything there is unreasonably expensive I love people watching. Everyone sat in those service stations are all going to different places for different reasons and I am always curious about where they're going. But I also like them because it's good to stretch your legs and have a break. We had a drink at the Starbucks (a classic hot chocolate for me) before we set off again.

Exploring!

10:45

We finally arrive in Liverpool and check-in at our hotel isn't until 3 o clock so we had some time to kill. This was okay with us because we wanted to do some shopping and I wanted to take some photos of the area. We started with the photos. I wanted to take pictures around the docks before we headed off to the shopping centre:

Town centre was VERY busy. It was a bank holiday weekend and everyone was out. I got a few pictures on my DSLR on the walk in but it was proving to be quite difficult so I stuck to some phone shots for the time being:

It's common knowledge that Liverpool is the home of The Beatles and you can't go to Liverpool without visiting The Cavern Club. The Cavern Club is a music venue that The Beatles performed in several times during their career. Other major artists also performed at this venue and the bricks in the building have the names of the artists who have previously performed there. There was such a ridiculous amount of major stars that have performed at such a small venue. It was interesting to see a tourist attraction that is clearly iconic amongst the music scene:

The Beatles play a massive part in Liverpool's culture and it certainly shows. They were everywhere. The Beatles were around in the 60s and this theme seemed to be everywhere also. On the road where The Cavern Club was, there were several Lambretta motorbikes parked for people to admire. They were there to raise money for charity and they certainly gained a lot of peoples interest:

After we visited The Cavern Club we still had a bit of time to kill so we went back to do some more shopping and I just started taking pictures of anything that caught my attention!:

Time for a Dance

15:00pm

By now we were getting pretty tired but it was nice exploring the city! We've been to Liverpool a few times but never really saw any of it so it was good to make time to see some of the sights. We actually spent the night in a really nice apartment opposite the venue that was surprisingly cheap. We had a rest and cooked dinner before I started to get ready for the concert. This doesn't usually take me long so I was able to rest up before the show. I like feeling nice on concert days and it takes me ages to prepare what I'm going to wear. I usually like to dress up for at least one date. For this gig I chose a red dress with black tights and kept my hair and make-up simple, pretty much like I always do!

18:45pm

Doors have opened by this point so we join the queue to enter the venue. You can't go on tour without wasting money you don't have on band merch...it's basically illegal. The queue for the merch was GIGANTIC so we went to go find our seats first. This is either one of the best parts of the day...or the worst. Lucky for me on this day we found we were actually closer to the stage than we originally thought and NO-ONE was stood in the seats in front of us blocking our view...woo!

19:25pm

We are those people that like watching the support acts and because I always see the same bands, you get to know the support acts as well. However, this time round I am not familiar with the first support act. I'd already been to 2 other tour dates by this point so have already watched them to know that they're not my sort of thing so I chose this time to get the merch that I wanted (a t-shirt, a tote bag and a tour programme if you're wondering).

19:45pm

The next support act is HRVY who I actually do really like! He opened for The Vamps last year so I already knew I was going to enjoy his performance. Personal still has to be my favourite song of his! He also did a cover of Lewis Capaldi's big hit "Someone you Loved" which went down really well with the crowd.

20:00pm

The third and final support act were the boys of New Hope Club. They open for The Vamps pretty much every year so I was very familiar with them and their songs. My personal favourites have to be Fixed, Medicine and Beatles cover I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed my phone in to concerts and didn't get any decent photos of the support acts...sorry about that.

20:15pm

This has to be the longest wait of the day. The final half an hour before The Vamps finally grace us with their presence. The day itself for me usually goes pretty quick but it doesn't matter because this last half hour feels like an eternity. I'm clock checking every few minutes and when it finally turns 20:45pm, the time they're due to start...

20:45pm

...they're late! I've travelled all the way up to Liverpool and spent the whole day trying to kill time and they're late! The nerve! (...I'm joking obviously. They were only five minutes but let me tell you those five minutes felt like five hours. I get very impatient).

This was the third date I've been to one this tour and it keeps getting better. I love this setlist, I love the performance, I absolutely adore the band. Everything about it was just perfect and I loved every moment of it:

The concert finished at around 22:30pm and we headed back to the apartment to get some shut eye before our long journey back the next day.

So that pretty much sums up what a typical concert day looks like! As you can see, it isn't just about the concert. Yes that is the reason that you're there, but I did so much this day and the gig just finished off the perfect day. So yeah you might think that because I see the same bands all the time that I might get "bored" - never going to happen - but I look forward to the WHOLE experience. From planning what I'm going to wear to the long journeys to exploring new places. It's fair to say that I am never going to stop doing this!

I still have more dates to go to on this tour so if you want to see what I'm doing then be sure to follow my Instagram accounts:

Personal - @shinealightonem - https://www.instagram.com/shinealightonem/Photography

Photography - @em__media - https://www.instagram.com/em__media/