I am one of those people who prefers spending some of their monthly pay on live bands and short-term vacations rather than on fashion items and long-term products.

Whether one can call this one a vacation is debatable, though, since a near-30 hour long break is more stressful than the lifestyle I fly away from, filled with plane rides and train rides, walking and waiting. 

However, the exciting element of it emerges within those two hours of the band’s performance, between their entrance on stage and my exit out of the arena after the concert, when the crowd is still buzzing and the stage lights are still cooling.

It is the kind of two hours which makes me and whoever I am travelling with look at each other on the plane back home, nod a couple of times and say “it was worth it” as we watch the videos on the small screens of our cameras over and over again, distracting ourselves from our fatigue induced by the early-morning flight. 

My latest impulsive band purchase was a ticket to Alanis Morissette’s performance at the closed and intimate Birmingham 02 Academy last June. Alanis’ songs barely feature on my iPod, however, there is something about her and her music which is timeless and soul-lifting. That, together with the fact that she has not done a European tour since pre-ipod days, were what made me click the “purchase” button on Ticket Master.

Managing to entice another three of my friends to come and watch the ’90s rockstar with lines such as “post-exam treat” and “Ironic is going to be amazing live”, on June 25, we found ourselves wheeling our Ryanair-sized hand luggage through the heart of Birmingham.

Rush is one word that could be used to sum up this 30-hour vacation. A rush as we hurried from one place to another, scoffing down food and running haphazardly through unknown streets with our wheely luggages. The adrenaline rush we got as we, together with the crowd, sang our hearts out in harmony with the famous singer standing nothing but a few metres away from us.

The opposite of rushed and adrenaline-rush inducing, however, is the waiting in line. The trick at these concerts is to go to the arena at least two hours before the doors open.

As a sacrifice to get a good spot in the crowd, you place yourself in the front of the line for two hours, voluntarily putting yourself in the position to be the victim of time, passive smoke and either the inability to answer nature’s call or dehydration. 

We waited for two hours amid several leather and chain-bearing fans, a throwback to Alanis’ You Oughta Know days, until we finally went in, only to wait for another hour until she came on stage.

The rush and the waiting was all worth it the second Alanis walked on stage in her leather leggings (to the delight of her older fans) and her signature long brown hair. For the next two hours, Alanis, together with the crowd, sang out tales from Alanis’ life in songs such as Hands Clean, Head Over Feet, Ironic, Hand in my Pocket, Uninvited and Thank You. 

Despite the length of the trip, we flew back home the next day feeling somewhat enlightened by the peformance, and the fact that we went out of our comfort zone to watch the band made the experience even more exciting and unforgettable.