You’ve paid hundreds of dollars for a ticket and braved the pouring rain to see your favorite artist perform for an unforgettable evening.
But three hours and 40 songs later, you come home and realize you don’t remember anything.
It almost seems unbelievable, but many Taylor Swift fans claim to suffer from „post-concert amnesia.”
Psychologists say that emotions and timing may be behind this phenomenon.
From out-of-body experiences to entering a dreamlike state, fans of Swift — or Swifties as they like to be known — have been venting their guilt on social media in recent days. Tour.
Amnesia, which refers to the loss of memories, experiences and information, can be a more serious symptom.
But Dr Michael Phillips, senior lecturer in music psychology at the Royal Northern College of Music, says the idea of post-concert amnesia is not as scary as it sounds.
It’s rare for fans to have no memories of being at a concert.
„In fact, it will be one of the things they remember attending for the rest of their lives,” says Dr. Phillips.
„They encode some aspects of the event in memory and not others.”
So, whether you tend to focus more on your favorite artist’s dance moves, or enjoy attending a concert with your loved ones, people tend to focus on what’s important to them—and encode memories of these things rather than music.
The old adage „time flies when you’re having fun” is an easy way to think about the idea of post-concert oblivion.
According to Dr. Phillips, when fans are engrossed in a moment, they can feel that „time has suddenly passed,” and they can’t properly process everything they’ve seen, heard, and felt.
Gone are the days of musicians singing on an empty stage with their microphones and an instrument.
These days fans are treated to mind-blowing spectacles, strobe lights, grand props and more costume changes than you can keep track of – so it’s no wonder you’re not going to remember everything you experienced after so much processing.
Anushka Sri watched Korean K-pop’s BTS perform Suga on May 11 in Los Angeles.
He thinks most of the concerts he goes to have „elements of surprise all the time” and intense light movement and fireworks „cause memory loss”.
Anushka feels she can tell friends about „one or two moments” from the concert, but can’t remember the entire set because „it’s a blur.”
Dr Helen Prior, a senior lecturer at the University of Hull, is keen to see if Taylor Swift’s fans can recall some of the forgotten memories and emotions when they listen to her songs later.
Whether it’s listening to your first wedding song or playing your breakup anthem on repeat, music is an art form that has the power to transform you at a certain point in your life.
So for Swifties worried they’ve forgotten parts of the show, listening to the set list again might bring back all those memories.
Security stopped Taylor Swift fans from opening the concert midway through