By Davis McClure

With concert season in full swing, it’s hard to escape the Instagram posts and tour T-shirts on campus. But are they more than just nights to brag about?

Many students feel like concerts have an impact on their sense of belonging. Abby McDonald, a senior at the University of Arkansas, is an avid music lover.

“Live music is more than just a show, it’s about finding community,” McDonald said. “I’ve
found so much community within the music scene, that experience is invaluable.”

One option for U of A students is the free Springtime Of Youth tradition programmed by the student-led Headliners Committee. Each year, the committee brings local and national artists to perform in the Baum-Walker Stadium parking lot. The SOY concert might be some students’ only chance to see bigger artists in Arkansas. Last year’s lineup featured larger artists, including JT, Benét, Snow Stippers, and local artists, like Thoughts on Bowling, Modeling and Oil & Sun.

Music enthusiast and U of A junior Lily Revard said, “I went to Springtime Of Youth last year, and I don’t really listen to JT, but it was still really fun and I enjoyed it a lot.”

For some, concerts are the only place to make new friends without anxiety as the experience serves as a natural ice breaker. Revard said it was easier for her to make new friends at SOY.

“I was able to mix some of my friend circles, and make new ones because it was so accessible to everyone in the university,” she said.

Whether it be on Dickson Street, at Georges, or at the Walmart Amp, concerts can serve as third spaces to students where they feel free to express themselves and take life a little less seriously. Live music allows people to connect without social expectations by providing a common ground to share.

As modern concert styles evolve, more big-name artists are pivoting to residency style tours. A residency tour is when an artist plays for an extended time period in one city. This can be for weeks or even months, while traditional tour styles travel from city to city.
For example, Harry Styles is playing 30 sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City from August through October.

This shift to residency introduces a new burden to the consumer, as travel costs are passed down to the fans. Additionally, as fans of Styles prepare to travel for their concerts, they also have to take into account the lectures they’re missing.

This raises the question: how far are students actually willing to travel to see their favorite artists?

Savannah Sommers, a freshman at the U of A said that she is making the trip to see Styles in NYC this fall. Sommers said that missing school is worth it because she will get to experience the music that soundtracks her life in person.

“I had to check my syllabi and talk to my professors and everything,” Sommers said. “I’m
willing to travel literally anywhere for Harry Styles,” Sommers said.

McDonald shared similar sentiments and said that she just recently made a trip to Austin City Limits to see artist ROLE MODEL. Revard also plans to travel this fall to see Phoebe Bridgers in Fort Worth. She shared how she wishes that bigger artists, like Bridgers, would play more shows in Northwest Arkansas.

“I definitely am not waiting around for her to pull up to Fayetteville,” Revard said.

Music artists are increasingly following the trend of skipping out on a traditional tour style for a residency style tour. This often generates more profit for an artist, however attendees end up paying more travel costs. For an artist, a residency tour can guarantee sold-out shows in a singular city. It cuts down travel time and the hassle of moving a whole production from city to city. But fans who don’t live nearby performance locations, have to foot the bill for travel, hotels and time off work

“I kind of wish bigger artists would go to a lot of states instead of just one, but I’m glad they’re going to at least one so I can go,” Sommers said.

Revard said that she understands that residency style tours might be more realistic for the artist lifestyle, but she herself is not willing to spend that much money on travel.

“It’s frustrating because if Harry Styles was coming to Dallas, I would go, but I’m not traveling to New York, it’s so expensive, ” Revard said. “I think that it’s great that people get to see him now, but I just wouldn’t be willing to do that personally.”

The residency trend may be reshaping how artists tour, but it hasn’t changed why students go. Many will still skip class, catch a flight, and plan months ahead for a few hours of music and community that forms around them.