The past weekend feels like a dream. After watching every dance practice video, endlessly streaming their albums on Spotify and laughing about their compilation videos on Youtube, I was lucky enough to attend the BTS ‘Love Yourself’ world tour in Singapore on January 19th. It was everything I expected at a concert and more – Jin was super funny; Jungkook, Jimin and V hit every high note; RM, Suga and J-Hope put on a lit rap stage, and their dancing was on point.
Since I left the National Stadium on Saturday night, I’ve been groaning and whining about how I want to see them again. I’ve been listening to their music on repeat, replaying the videos from the concert, and staring into space while thinking about the concert. If you’ve ever been to a concert, you would know how I’m feeling and what I’m suffering from – post-concert depression.
What is post-concert depression?
Post-concert depression (PCD) is a syndrome that affects fans after they attend their favourite group’s concert. You’re bound to be hit with a roller coaster of emotions after leaving the concert venue and going back home to normal life. Going to a concert is an exhilarating experience because you’re actually seeing your favourite group in real life and not on a screen.
Concerts are a form of escapism – they provide a safe space for you to sing, dance and fangirl to your heart’s content. After waiting in anticipation for months and then with the concert being over so quickly, it feels like there’s nothing to look forward to in life anymore (this is dramatic but bear with me). Time really does fly when you’re having fun. Having PCD is one of the worst feelings ever because you don’t know when you’re going to experience this kind of bliss again.
There are four stages of post-concert depression that fans generally experience.
Stage 1: Euphoria (any Jungkook stans?)
I found myself in this state when I was going home after the concert on the MRT and bus. This is when you tell yourself that what you just experienced is too good to be true. You’re constantly smiling without even realising it, and replaying the concert in your head.
Stage 2: Reflection (RM stans, I’m looking at you!)
You will find yourself staring into space and thinking about the best moments from the concert. For me, I kept thinking about the bittersweet moment when Jimin (my bias) sang the chorus of his newly-released self-composed track ‘Promise’ on stage and the whole crowd sang the lyrics back to him. You will also be scrolling through all your photos again. In this stage, you will talk about the concert non-stop to your friends and family… I’m sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about BTS by now.
Stage 3: Depression
Not only is this the stage that I’m currently in, but it involves groaning, whining, aching, and in the worst-case scenarios, crying. You will keep thinking about how you won’t see your favourite group again for a long time. At this stage, fans will make playlists of the songs that were performed at the concert in the order of the setlist (here’s mine!) so that we can relive the concert (in our heads). This leads us to reminisce about how fun the whole experience was, which will prompt another wave of depression to hit you. It’s hard to stop thinking about the adrenaline high you felt from that night. There is also an increased use of the crying emoji ?.
Stage 4: Acceptance
At this point, there’s nothing you can do except to accept the fact that you have PCD. After all, it’s completely normal for fans to experience it. You will know when you have reached this stage once listening to their songs and watching their videos are not painful anymore. Ultimately, you will look back at the whole experience and smile because you were actually there.
So how do you cure post-concert depression?
Well, as long as you continue to love and support the group whose concert you attended, it will probably never fully go away. However, like all wounds, it does heal over time. Even though I won’t have this same experience so soon in the future, I feel grateful that I was able to attend it in the first place (45,000 tickets sold out in less than four hours!). Treasure the merchandise you bought, replay your playlists on Spotify, and keep re-watching videos from the concert. If you have the time and money, you could always attend another one of their concerts – but then you would inevitably go through this whole painful process of having PCD all over again.
by Lindsay Wong
