Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

Coming from a small town in Indiana, there weren’t many opportunities to see my favorite artists perform live. I knew that in L.A. I’d have the chance to see many of the artists I’ve always dreamed of seeing, so the first thing I did when I got to my room was begin looking at which artists were coming to the city. 

The first show I went to was The Neighborhood at the famous Hollywood Bowl. My friend Rachael and I could only afford tickets in the nosebleed section, but even so, the performance was so worth it.

I then got to see the band Coin at The Wiltern, which had a line wrapped around the entire building. I screamed out every lyric along with everyone else at the show as the band performed. Several of us from the program went to a Rolling Stones concert at SoFi Stadium. We then went to a warehouse concert hosted by Tana Mongeau that had multiple artists perform such as Comethazine, Trevor Daniels, Lil Tracy and more, and I got to talk with Ethan Cutkosky, who plays Carl Gallagher in the TV show “Shameless.”

I also got to see one of my favorite artists of all time, Tame Impala, with my close friend and roommate, Jamari, at the Hollywood Bowl. I was so eager to see Tame Impala that I crashed and fell off a Lime going full speed on the way to the concert, but Tame Impala’s performance combined with the absolutely insane light show at the venue made his concert one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. 

One of my favorite shows I attended was a Modsun and Tyler Posey concert, which was also at an iconic venue called The Roxy. This venue is much smaller than the Bowl, but so much more intimate and interactive. We were literally feet away from the artists performing, and the whole show felt so much more personal. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the show “Teen Wolf,” so I was so excited to see Tyler Posey, who is also an immensely talented actor and plays the main character in the show.

When I was going to the bathroom before the show, I walked right past him and didn’t realize it until he was already gone. I felt like I had missed my chance to talk to him, but after the show I saw him outside the venue, so I took my chance and had a really cool conversation with him. He was genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and we both laughed when I brought up a joke about “Teen Wolf.” Meeting him was definitely one of the highlights of my time in L.A. 

Not only were the artists I saw amazing, but the venues themselves were extremely iconic. Getting to see all of my favorite artists perform at legendary venues like the Hollywood Bowl, The Roxy, SoFi Stadium and The Wiltern added so much to my entire L.A. experience. These are venues that incredibly talented and famous artists have performed at in the past, and I couldn’t have been more blessed to see shows at most if not all of the major L.A. music venues. 

I was fully planning on going to all of the shows by myself just because of how much I genuinely love the art of music and all of the artists I wanted to see, but after talking to people in the program, we all became such close friends that we made going to concerts a bonding experience. Being able to enjoy music with people I’ve become close with during my time here has been the most rewarding part of the semester. I couldn’t be more grateful for the lifelong friends I’ve made during this program. It has really opened my eyes to the culture of and the potential way of life waiting for me in Los Angeles.