Enjoying concerts/loud venues

[SDRSpark]

I'm thinking about this, because it seems "odd" for an autistic person (self-diagnosed or otherwise)...stereotypically we should hate this (I know stereotypes are nothing to go by).

I just got back from a concert that I really enjoyed. It was an outdoor concert, at a crowded festival. I had my bluetooth earbuds in with a pink noise app that took the edge off the noise - I wasn't planning on going to a concert, but the festival is right next door to where I live, and I decided, despite it being a 'poor functioning/processing' kind of day, to wander over and get lunch from a food truck. It wound up being a much bigger affair than I had intended. I got nachos and found my way to the beer garden area. Found a place to sit down and eat my food and the live band started.

The crowd was difficult to navigate, and the beer (and earbuds) definitely helped. I love music, and I really enjoyed it, to the point that I was right up front dancing my butt off and the event photographer got a few snaps of me that I'm sure will end up on Facebook.

It seems unusual, because I would think most people with sensory issues would be hiding in the back row miserable. (To be honest, if it weren't for my self-made accommodation and alcohol, I probably would have been myself. It was kind of cool explaining my earbuds to the others sitting at my table without using the word "autism" - and being able to.) I've also enjoyed other music venues provided I have some earplugs or something to accommodate my sensitivity to loud noises.

Who else here is able to enjoy things like this?

 

[Nitro]

I went to two outdoor concerts this summer.
The Outlaw Music Festival, then ZZ Top's 50th year tour with Cheap Trick.

I went to the Outlaw Music Festival last year too

I have tickets for Arlo Guthrie at an indoor venue in November.
At one point in my life, I helped put on smaller music festivals that were much like Grateful Dead shows.
AllGood was huge, but amazing.
All Good 2009

I have never let a crowd or the noise stop me from attending any show, because of my love for music.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017

 

[Fino]

I love concerts, but I would never go up front and start dancing, not in a million years!

 

[Progster]

I love music too, and have been to and enjoyed concerts or live music events, where due attention has been given to the quality of the acoustics. I tend to stay at the back at the edge of the crowd and away from the loudspeakers. I've never been to a really packed venue, though, don't think I'd like that.

Live music that I don't enjoy is that at weddings, or at fairs where the audio equipment is inadequate and the sound is distorted, or the venue has really bad acoustics - in that case, I leave, fast.

 

[Bolletje]

I love concerts and music, used to go to raves all the time. These days I really have to be in a good place (or drunk) to be able to enjoy it. I get overstimulated a lot easier than I used to.

 

[SusanLR]

I go to every loud concert I can if it is someone or a group that is one of my favourites.
@Nitro you got to see ZZ Top's 50th with Cheap Trick? Lucky!
That was close to the area I live also, but, didn't go.
I've seen ZZ Top twice and Cheap Trick once, but, I would really have liked to seen them together.
I've been to quite a few of the '80s groups and would spend my time trying to see all of them
before they are past if I had the money.

I just get so into the show and the music I don't let the noise or crowd stop me.
I'm up shouting and dancing with everyone else!