Live music is my favorite kind of music. If live music is considered a genre, it's my favorite genre. There's something about going to a concert and seeing the band live, hearing the passion and the little quirks in the lead singer's voice and feeling the drums and bass in your body that makes live music so special. This year I've seen a ridiculous number of bands/artists live, but it might only be ridiculous to me. I usually average one or two shows a year and this year I've seen nine and 17 artists in total.  I feel so grateful to have seen all of these people live and it also makes me wish I had never quit learning how to play the guitar. So without further ado, here's the list:

APRIL 20: THE GRISWOLDS/MAGIC MAN

When two bands you really like say they're going on tour together you just gotta go. Be Impressive was one of my favorite albums in 2015 and Paris has been one of my favorite songs even before Magic Man had a record out. And per the 4/20 reference, they passed around a joint on stage at the end. True showmanship. 

APRIL 22: JUSTIN BIEBER

I'll admit the only reason I went to see Justin Bieber is because Tisko had an extra ticket (also Tisko I still owe you money I'm aware). The concert was terribly disappointing but I had fun jamming to the classic Bieber tunes. 

JUNE 7: HAIM

The actual lights of my life and lights of my summer were definitely the Haim sisters. Haim is in the top three of my favorite bands (I'm not sure where they stand right now the list varies accordingly) and they finally came to Louisville. When I saw the tour dates I think I shed one single tear. I'm obviously biased because I love them, but I think they put on one of the best shows I saw this year. Their music is filled with jams but when they slowed it down it was just as good.

JUNE 22: SELENA GOMEZ

Selena Gomez literally makes the most perfect easy-going pop music. She cites 80's dance music as her inspiration and I think that's what makes her music so good. It was a last minute decision to go see her but I'm glad I did. People like to talk about how she can't sing live and she may not be the best, but her visuals made up for it for sure.

JULY 16: FORECASTLE FESTIVAL (BANNERS, SHAKEY GRAVES, DR DOG, LOCAL NATIVES, ALABAMA SHAKES)

Forecastle Festival is an annual event in Louisville and I finally got to go this year after asking my dad if I could go for like four years now (lols). I only went for a day but the heat was terrible and if that day was supposed to be considered the coolest of the three I'm okay with that. The thing about festivals is you can walk around and you don't have to watch the entire set so I got to see tons of super cool artists. I caught the last chorus of Cecilia and the Satellite by Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, so can I technically say I saw six artists? We'll say six.

JULY 27: WATERFRONT WEDNESDAY (LUCIUS, KALEO)

Wfpk is a local radio station of mine and they host an event called Waterfront Wednesday where bands will play and you can sit and watch (for free!!! which is the best part). I hadn't heard of Lucius until I saw the flyer with Kaleo's name but I decided to give the other acts a shot because they had to be good to be on the same stage. I've been a fan of Kaleo for a while and to see them live (for free) I knew I had to go. Kaleo was everything I hoped for and more (even though there was a one hour rain delay (but it was free so that's okay)). 

OCTOBER 3: JAMES BAY

James Bay is my actual indie king. I obviously have watched live performances from him and knew he would be an amazing artist to see live, but my expectations were exceeded and I didn't think that would happen. When he started to sing I literally thought I was listening to his record. He sounded just as good as the recording and like I said, I knew he would, but if you have the chance to see him live please do it.

OCTOBER 17: SAINT MOTEL, HIPPO CAMPUS, WEATHERS

As far as shows go, Saint Motel was one of the best artists I've seen live. They played most of their new album during the show and I couldn't wait to play it on repeat once it came out. I knew Hippo Campus because Alt Nation would exclusively play Suicide Saturday every hour when it was really popular but it turns out they're also fantastic live. And I got a set list which always equals a win.

OCTOBER 30: THE 1975

Let me tell you about a girl I used to know. This girl was mean. She didn't like to listen to anyone but herself. She only did things for herself because she didn't care about how others felt. Whenever people were mean to her she didn't forgive them and she tried her hardest to make them feel bad about themselves. Even when people weren't mean to her she made them feel bad about themselves. She wasn't happy. She wasn't confident. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life.

Want to know what happened to her? I decided she shouldn't be a part of my life anymore.

I think the most important and overlooked part of humans is our growth. We focus on it physically, but why not mentally? Mental growth is one of my favorite parts of being a human and of other humans. Hearing someone's story of what they've overcome and what they've learned is endless. You can hear about millions of billions of things and you haven't even scratched the surface of what people are capable of. But it all stemmed from their growth. The experiences they share all come from times that showed them who they were, whether they were fun or difficult times.

Growth is our real life character development. It's what leads us to be better, pass on wisdom and write awesome, totally amazing blog posts. What I've learned is that everyone grows differently. You have to take time away from your thoughts and the gossip to understand that people and their brains are weird. Especially at this age, finding out who you are and trying to become a better person is hard. Almost harder than when we were in middle school, because now the weight of our future is on our shoulders and the looming cloud of failure grows nearer.

That girl I mentioned was me when I was younger. I'm not sure if it's natural for everyone to go through that stage, but I think all of our younger mental stages include being unconfident and unhappy. And for some of us we take that out in different ways. I didn't choose to see what I was doing wrong for the longest time. I was bullied and I didn't feel as if I was doing anything great in middle school and high school so I took it out on other people before realizing I needed to change my mindset.

Hormones and puberty are great. And that's sarcasm. School is hard enough so when you pile all of these personal issues on things just get really messy. But it provides times for growth when you move past it and can look back on it. My 13-year old self didn't try to do a lot of personal growing (I didn't try to do any actual growing either, ha, made the joke before you could), but my 19-year old self is much different.

We're constantly growing, so I'm not saying that all of my problems are solved because I got out of southern Indiana, but there's a difference and I'm starting to become more proud of who I am. If there's anything I could tell my younger self about how she was feeling, I would say take a step back and just breathe. It all takes time. Nothing changes overnight and life will never be happy 24/7, no matter how much you're doing what you love.

I like talking about growth, but more importantly I like seeing it. I like looking back on it and realizing how much of it that I've done. It's nice when your family points out how well you're doing, or your social media reflects your strengths, but it's better to work on it by yourself. Spend time with yourself, realize what you need to improve and don't just say it, do it. It's hard, but practice makes perfect.

The girl I know now tries to be more aware of her actions, because different people are affected by different things. She tries to be more empathetic, because things aren't all about her and others go through just as much as she does. She has accepted that not everyone is going to like her and that it's perfectly normal. She's learning how to be better at forgiving, because you don't need that to sit with the good parts of your brain that show you your loves and hopes and dreams. She knows that people will read this and say that she doesn't understand any of this at all. But that's okay, because she's still growing.