Thousands and thousands of people at a Grateful Dead concert and almost anything goes. People are on LSD, smoking and selling weed, recording the concert to then sell, and having sex on blankets while people walk by. 

“It was a rock and roll circus, but the atmosphere was phenomenal,” sociology professor Phill Lamy said, sharing one of many live music memories. 

However, Lamy is not the only one in the VTSU Castleton community who has a love for the live music realm. 

When asked why she enjoys music events and what it does for her, communications professor Sam Davis-Boyd said, “It is just cool to hear the different takes on music from both big and small venues.”

Growing up, Davis-Boyd and her mom would ride to school together and they would listen to her mom’s favorite songs. She said the music made for fun memories.  

Davis-Boyd then shared the connection that music allows her to feel. She said it’s fun to be in the same place as people who also love the same music artists that you do, and music can do a lot of things for people. 

“It’s a form of escapism. Certain songs do certain things for me,” she said.

Director of Nursing at Rutland HealthCare and Rehab, Racheal Dupuis, said that her, her daughter Hailey, and son Kaden, go to concerts with her all the time, and it makes her happy to have those memories to share with her kids. 

“Music in general is just so connecting, both live and recorded,” she said. 

Dupuis shared a wholesome moment of hers from a random Sunday morning. 

She explained how she went for an early grocery run and found herself singing and swaying to the song “Take On Me” by A-ha as it was blasting through the Hannaford speakers. She noticed that the short, shelf stalker lady, with salt-and pepper colored hair, was casually reacting to the song in the same way. 

“Don’t you just love this song,” Dupuis said to the 50-something-year-old woman before asking where to find the Good Culture Cottage Cheese. 

The Hannaford employee said, “YES! I used to listen to it when I was in high school.”  

Dupuis explained how the 1985 tune allowed for an even more positive customer to employee experience because of the quick connection the two made over the song. 

Now, every time she hears that song, Dupuis says that the lady from the grocery store pops in her head.

“I never would have even given her a second thought if it were not for the music playing in the store that day,” she said.

For some, like history professor Andre Fleche, it’s the energy and being in the present moment that fills the heart with the art of live music. 

“Live music captures things that a recording just doesn’t,” Fleche said. “The community experience with the crowd leads to a different kind of energy.” 

Others find their love for live music stemming from the specific characteristics it brings. 

Lamy explained how you can’t save live music. He said it’s a form of art being created instantly and then “snap” it’s gone. You can never hear the same exact version again, and recordings are just not the same.

“You can literally feel music. I get chills even thinking about music,” Lamy said.

He then shared his “best live music experience” with a big smile covering his face the whole time. 

While managing a London Study Abroad semester In the winter of 2004, Lamy and his wife, Whitney, decided to take some time for themselves away from the 24 Castleton students that were with them on the trip.

The two of them went to see multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, and performer, Steve Winwood and his band at the Dominion Theatre. 

The famous music venue in London’s West End on Tottenham Court Road, is a smaller venue with a capacity of just over 2,000 seats, allowing for a more intimate setting.

“For me it was an electric feeling to be seeing one of my idols, who performed with some of the greatest rock bands ever, in a famous music theater, in the historic capital city of British rock,” Lamy said with excitement.

He remembers coincidentally sitting next to a man who was from the same generation as him. Lamy said he and the British man talked through a whole entire song during the concert. 

“Would you two shut the fuck up,” a random guy sitting in front of them yelled.

Lamy laughed and said he normally hates when people talk through songs too, but the connection he made was just super fun. 

Fleche shared an unforgettable concert experience as well. 

It was his first concert and he and his dad went to see the “Black Crowes.” Located in his hometown of Rochester, New York, the Auditorium Theatre was a small venue that was built in the first half of the twentieth century, allowing for an up close and loud performance from the band. 

“You could feel every note. It was a packed show and an energetic performance, so it was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the crowd,” Fleche added, “It was a GREAT performance.” 

Nursing student at VTSU Castleton, Kallie Haynes, shared an unique experience of hers from a PitBull concert. 

Sept. 8, 2024, Pitbull was performing live at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where Haynes and her family went to see Mr. Worldwide in action. 

Haynes said that the venue was absolutely packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder and being stuck next to a 30-year-old woman who was drinking a White Claw. 

“Although she was breathing her alcohol breath in my face while trying to talk to me the whole show, she was actually pretty fun to be around,” she said. 

Haynes said that the intoxicated woman said her name was Madison and that her birthday was next week. She then went into giving Haynes a whole run down of her job, her boyfriend, and how she should be wearing a ring on her finger since she has been in a relationship for 10 years. 

“She was stomping on my foot and getting hit by her sister for most of the show but I had a really fun time dancing with her,” Haynes said.