Imagine this:
Your morning alarm blares, jarring you awake from a deep sleep. Groggy-eyed and slightly congested, you roll out of bed and get ready for work like every other day. You brush your teeth, struggle to put your contacts in, get dressed in the same outfit you wear every four days with a slight variation – blegh.
It’’s a dreary November morning, cold and drizzling. As you listen to your coffee machine wheeze to finish it’s daily chore, you pull out your phone and begin your first doomscroll of the day only to see – wait – WHAT!
Your favorite band is going on tour for the first time in 6 YEARS! You check ticket prices and they’re sky-high – but you don’t care. You want this. You need this. As your heart races, you shoot a text to your friends, but you don’t care – you’re going and you don’t care who’s coming with you. You’re gonna be there.
You splurge on good seats – $500 a pop – nearly breaking the bank, but you can always make your money back, the memory is priceless. Months go by, and each day that passes you feel yourself fill with more anxious excitement. Are they going to play your favorite song? Will they play any deep cuts? Will they bring out any special guests?
Show day arrives, and you’re sitting in your seat, literally shaking, surrounded by thousands of fans just like you, waiting to cling onto every word the lead singer expresses until – the house lights turn off, the stage goes black, and out runs the band. Words cannot describe the emotions blasting through your veins as the lead singer steps up to the mic, opens their mouth and starts t-
Huh?
Wait.
What happened???
On June 1, the BBC reported that Taylor Swift fans have been experience what they called “post-concert amnesia” – and psychologist believe it’s real!
After shows on her Eras Tour, tons of Swifties took it to social media to share their stories of guilt in not remembering moments of the show. According to Dr. Michelle Phillips, a music psychologist, when fans are so excited and immersed in the show performance, they are unable to process their experience properly.
Along the modern day pop music show biz expectations of changing outfits, flashing strobe lights and animated backdrops along with massive screens showing closeups of the performer of all angles – it’s almost not surprising memories can be clouded by stimulation.
With so many fans left behind with nothing but hazy visions of an incredibly special (and expensive) once in a lifetime show, one can only be curious as to when scientists will begin carrying out studies on this strange phenomenon.