As Taylor fans anxiously hold onto the tickets they’ve had in their pockets for months, awaiting her global ‘Eras’ tour, we are left wondering what the fascination is with concerts and why we idolise celebrities so much.
The Utilita Arena Birmingham welcomes around 700,000 guests per year who join together to sing, dance and some even worship, celebrities from around the globe. From the moment we race to get the tickets, the rush and thrill of the concert can be felt from all over; fans come together to rejoice before their favourite bands and let go in an atmosphere that cannot be replicated anywhere else. With concerts becoming increasingly expensive and selective it heightens the stakes and makes the experience feel even more intimate. But does this justify the amount of money we’re willing to spend?
Ticket providers sell off tickets for an extortionate price that surpass the hundreds and go into the thousands if you want that front row, personal experience that is falsely sold to you- and that doesn't even guarantee you a seat! Taylor’s most expensive tickets are going for £662 and will get you ‘one unforgettable reserved seated ticket’, and merch: a tote bag, pin, sticker and lanyard. Retrospectively, this is a minor dent in your purse compared to Beyonce’s £2400 VIP ‘Pure/Honey on stage risers’ who got a front row, on stage experience (from the side) of their idols meticulous and extravagant performance. Just imagine how many driving lessons you could pay for with that! It’s not to say that these artists don’t deserve the recognition for their magnificent performances and months they spend preparing, but do they really need the amount of money that we’re willing to spend.
Celebrities act as our escapism, providing us with a false reality and allowing us to fixate on something that appears to be more talented, powerful, intelligent and put together than we are. We become invested in their personal lives to distance ourselves from our own and believe they are something to aspire to. Somehow their holidays, gossip or even what they had for dinner is more interesting to us than what our friend may have done: we’ll ask, “Have you seen Kylie Jenner’s Halloween look?” before we’ll ask, “How was your day?”. Whilst it all looks so extravagant and mesmerising how much of it is real, how many of them are contented in their lives and aren’t looking for the next big thing to buy, the next partner to marry or the next friend to sell out so they can benefit from their downfall and gain a profit. Are these really the people we want to look up to? The new job title of ‘Tv Personality’ that is so loosely flaunted around makes us question what they do for us that we can’t do for ourselves; whilst it is more than customary to have a favourite celebrity and follow them on Instagram it's not necessarily healthy to devote so much time to these people who don’t even know our name.
A handful of celebrities have contributed positively to our society and we recognise them for it, but maybe we should put just as much energy into supporting ordinary people who are fundraising, starting a small business or performing in our local community as we do investing in the rich and famous. Do we truly value their morals or are we just following them because we’re in too deep and can’t let go?