For most people, concerts are an occasional event that allow friends to spend time with each other seeing a favorite musician live. But for juniors Summer Votaw and Bridget O’Shea, concerts mean something different: long-planned trips that last all day, requiring them to wake up as early as 4 a.m. the morning before in preparation for the big event.

Votaw and O’Shea, both who are hardworking students balancing school with their outside activities, attend a myriad of concerts compared to the typical teenager, who goes to one or two concerts a year, according to a study at Branham.

The two juniors most often go to concerts together, due to their similar music and band interests. Their way of preparing for the events are not very routine for most people.

“Every couple months, we try to always go together because we’re concert buddies and we have a system going – we always camp out together; we make a plan a week before the concert,” said Votaw. “[We go to] Twenty One Pilots, The 1975, and anyone we see coming to town that we like, really.”

Votaw and O’Shea typically have their campouts outside the show buildings, to which they often arrive as early as midnight. To grasp front seats, they arrive early, having already bought their General Admission tickets, which refer to a first-come, first-serve basis. To avoid the overwhelming excitement of the concert while they wait, the concert junkies indulge in conversation. “We just try not to use our phone battery. We normally just talk. The wait is fun too, because it’s not just about the concert,” said O’Shea.

Going to concerts, however fun, can be expensive at times – as a solution, they buy their tickets early when the cost is low. Alongside that, O’Shea, who is a gymnastics coach at the California Sports Center, saves up for the concerts with the money she makes at her job and sometimes support from her mother.

Although Votaw doesn’t yet have a job, she doesn’t have a problem with buying the tickets. “I just kind of have extra money. I’ll pay for one concert and she’ll pay for the next one,” said Votaw.

Votaw and O’Shea’s last concert was just a few months ago, when they saw Glass Animals perform in Berkeley at the Hearst Greek Theatre. Their concert adventures will be continuing in the future as they plan more of their unique campouts for upcoming shows.