Loving The Sound at My First Concert: The 1975

Twenty-one years and 20 days: that's how long it took me to finally go to my first concert and cross it off my bucket list.

I've always known that I wanted my first concert to be a great one, one with a musical artist I really enjoyed. I didn't want to just sort of like the artist and like just a few songs. I wanted to know the words to the songs I would hear. I wanted to be able to hum and sing along with the singer or band and the rest of the crowd. I wanted to recognize the song being played within the first few seconds. I wanted to connect with the music. I wanted to smile and be happy while listening to quality songs full of emotion.

The 1975 concert at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, definitely fulfilled all of those wishes for my first concert.

My sister (left) and I at the concert (Thanks, Live Nation for the awesome Snapchat filter!)

Of course, the music was awesome. They played a lot of great songs, new and old. It kicked off with "Love Me," which was a great one to get the crowd going and ended with two crowd-pleasing fan favorites, "Chocolate" (the first The 1975 song I ever listened to) and "The Sound." In addition to those more energetic, rocking songs, they also played "Girls," "If I Believe You," "Somebody Else," "Paris," "She's American," "Change of Heart," "Love Me," and "Robbers."

I'm sure they played more songs, but I can't remember them all. My favorites were "Chocolate" (everyone got so excited when it started, myself included), "The Sound," and "If I Believe You."

Not only was the music awesome, but the visuals and set design were, too. The lights, graphics, and video were different for each song to match the vibe. I've never been to a concert before, but I'd still say it's hard to top The 1975's concert set designs. There was a screen for the background, four video board columns in the back, three square lights at the top, and two screens on the side.

The setup allowed for lots of cool combination, and sometimes it even looked like the rectangular columns were moving. Quite a few of the sets included flashing and pulsing lights, which were a bit much at times, but they were manageable. (Warning if you're epileptic and want to see their concert, though!)

Because it was my first concert, I definitely wanted to get some sort of souvenir to remember it by. Weeks before the concert, I looked at The 1975's merch online to see what they'd be selling so I'd know how much money to save/bring to the concert.

At first my sister and I couldn't find the merch table and were worried they weren't selling any! But after taking our seats early and seeing people come in with what appeared to be shopping bags, we decided to take another walk around the arena to make sure we didn't miss it. It turns out the merch was being sold downstairs, which we completely missed because we entered at the main level where most of the seats were.

It's safe to say I'm glad we got to the concert early and decided to check for merch again because it gave us time to walk around and actually get what we wanted in case what we wanted sold out. I got a white graphic tee that's unique to the North American tour. Like many other tour shirts, the back has a list of the dates and locations of the tour.

This isn't really about the concert, but I really loved my outfit for it. I always see people on Instagram and Facebook posting pictures of them at concerts, and they always have such great outfits! I, too, wanted to wear something awesome, especially since it was my first concert and I love fashion.

It was a relatively warm day, so it wasn't really cold at night around the time of the concert. But I did make sure to wear layers because I knew it could definitely get hot in there with all the people and the lights and everything.

Bomber jacket from Ragstock | Urban Outfitters choker | Forever 21 romper and bralette | Delia's tights | Madden Girl combat boots

All in all, I had a fantastic time at my first concert. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I knew 95% of the songs they played, and I found myself smiling throughout. I cherished the times where I instantly recognized what song was playing and was super excited when they played my favorites at the end. Seeing and hearing everyone enjoy the music and sing along is a special experience I've never witnessed before, so it's definitely one I'll never forget.

Tell me what your first concert was and who you'd love to see in concert!

Check out more of my photos from the concert below!