Isle of Wight Festival: Why Live Music Makes Us Happy

by Filippa Furniss

What is it that drives the human's passion for music? Music remains one of the fundamental cultural phenomena that has defined not just generations but countless historic eras. 

The most iconic place to witness people revealing their music taste is at a music festival. I happen to be lucky enough to find myself at the festival not far from home, the Isle of Wight. The mood is set by the silky tones of Kool & The Gang, with people, mainly of my parents' age, embarrassingly "boogying on down" as the sun begins to set. A band from almost three decades ago, can still have this effect on people, their records frozen in time, the music meaning something different to every generation and individual.

The festival brings together every genre of music you could possibly think of, and with it every type of music lover. So why is it that thousands of people are willing to wait for hours at a time, in the pouring rain, cold and impatient for some other person to perform for them? Surely iTunes does that job for you, so why suffer? 


Well, sitting here at this very moment with my friends answers all those questions: live music brings with it the soul and the physical feeling of the beats being blasted out of the speakers, which a recording could never convey. Live music reminds us that we can dance (albeit extremely badly) and bask in sunshine, covered from head to toe in mud and yet still be smiling. Music makes us happy, it's as simple as that.


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