Club Downunder Concert Experience

I was thrilled when I found out that as an assignment we would have to go to a concert and write about our experience. I love going to concerts at Club Downunder. Fall semester last year I went to concerts almost every night with my roommate. I even went to concerts of bands I had never heard of before, just to have fun and enjoy the concert experience. This semester I have not been to nearly as many concerts, but I did go to a few and enjoyed them immensely. I saw Diarrhea Planet (for the second time), Thee Oh Sees, FIDLAR, and Noah Gundersen. Though I loved all of the concerts, seeing Noah Gundersen was an experience I do not think I will ever forget. Let me set the scene for you by first talking about the environment of the concert. Club

The instruments that were used during the concert were the guitar, violin, keyboard, bass guitar, and drums. Noah’s sister Abby Gundersen is an excellent violinist and has beautiful harmonies while singing vocals with him. This band has a soft sound with a thin texture because of the small number of performers and the slowness of the music. Noah is known for usually performing solo, but I was happy that he brought more people with him for the concert at Club Downunder. Once particular song that stuck out to me was “Boathouse” from his February 2014 album, Ledges. I wasn’t sure if they were going to play any old songs, but as soon as I heard the beginning strings of the violin in the song, my heart soared. “Boathouse” was the first song I heard from Noah Gunderson and it still remains to this day my favorite of his. The crowd also got very excited when they started to play the song. Before the band had been playing new songs from their August 2015 album, Carry The Ghost. I’m sure that the crowd felt the same wave of nostalgia from whatever memories they have associated with the 2014 album, just as I did. This music would relate a little to the folk music we talked about in class, though it is still very different. It does have simple, memorable melodies, just as we discussed, but there is not stomping and clapping. It also does not sound like country folk music. The drums provide strong beats and most

I was at the concert so that I could be washed with wave after wave of beautiful music: an angelic violin and melodious, sometimes eerie vocals. I’m sure other people were there for that exact same reason, while others may have had a different reason for being there and what the music made them feel. The people that attended the concert were not an overwhelming amount of either gender, but a nice ratio of both. This may have surprised me a bit because my mind does not really associate guys with listening to soft music like Noah Gundersen’s. But it was a pleasant surprise because I think the more people who like Noah, the better, no matter what gender, race, or class they are. The themes that Noah sings about are relevant to any gender, race, or class. This concert experience would be very different if it was in a different, older place and time. Noah openly shares that he came from a religious family, but he does not believe in God. Many of his songs are about his confusion on the idea of God and about how we are not born good, but are actually born “empty.” This open acknowledgment of not believing in God would not be taken well by many in the not so distant past. If this concert had taken place in an older time, I would not be surprised if Noah got hate and