Hi there! My name is Nicolas Kozachuk and I consider myself to be a melomaniac (someone with an extreme fondness for music). Music is an important part of my life and day as the first and last thing I do every day is put in and take out my earbuds. In 2021, I listened to over 2,000 hours of music, which amounts to almost three straight months, and listened to over 3,000 different artists. I also have been collecting vinyl records for years due to my love for music and have a collection of over 80 vinyl records, consisting of new and vintage records, as well as three record players. My taste in music is very diverse and in this blog, I go into detail about my favorite albums that I have on vinyl record. My passion for music does not stop at collecting vinyl records, as I am an avid fan of attending concerts.

The Beatles - Love

The first concert I ever attended was when my parents took me to see a Broadway show of Love: The Beatles Tribute Band for my 8th birthday. The Beatles were the first band I ever got into and seeing the tribute band on Broadway was amazing. The second concert was during the summer when I was 16 and was a one day festival in Central Park called Steez Day Festival. This festival was in honor of the late rapper Capital Steez, and featured many rappers associated with Capital Steez, such as Joey Badass, Flatbush Zombies, and The Underachievers. The event was so much and was an experience that got me hooked on the thrill of being at a concert and seeing my favorite artists live.

Me and my friends at a G-Eazy and Logic concert in 2016

The next concert I went to was a couple months later in December, which was another rap concert featuring Playboi Carti. At the time, Playboi Carti was one of my friends and I favorite rapper and he was playing at a local venue five minutes from my house. This concert was also extremely fun, as many of my favorite songs were played, and I even saw some random friends from school in the crowd. At this time, I just started my junior year of high school and was beginning my college search. For the following months and into the summer, much of my time was dedicated to high school/club baseball and preparing for the SAT and college applications. Due to this, there was never good timing for me to be able to go to a concert, and before I knew it, it was senior year. The beginning of senior year was also hectic due to finishing college applications and sports, and before I knew it, it was spring. Then, as many know, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and everybody was on lockdown.

Rolling Loud Festival Miami 2021 Entrance

Finally, after a year and half in quarantine, my friends and I bought tickets and booked flights to Miami to go to the rap festival Rolling Loud 2021 Miami.After being in quarantine for so long, and having missed out on so much my senior year of high school, it was amazing to finally go out and live somewhat normally for once. One of my long time friends who moved away even also came to Miami and the festival, which was great as we shared many favorite artists going far back to our early childhood. Many of my favorite rappers were at the festival and it was very cool to see them live. Additionally, the festival was three days long so I was able to see many other rappers I enjoyed too. It was definitely an experience as three days becomes very taxing on your body, especially at an event with over 250 thousand people and in Miami.

Lil Uzi Vert at Rolling Loud Festival Miami 2021

In the fall of 2021 I planned with some friends to again go to a Playboi Carti concert in December. The concert was the tour for his new album and and my friends and I hyped each other up for months for the concert, but then right as the concert was approaching, the omicron variant began to spread rapidly. My other friend invited me to a two day EDM festival, but I was already going to the Playboi Carti concert so I declined. Then, a week before the concert, it was canceled due to COVID-19. I was saddened due to how long I was anticipating to go and how close it was, so I decided, why not, and went to the EDM festival with my friend.

HiJinx Festival NYE 2021/2022

It turned out that I enjoyed the EDM festival much more than I anticipated. It turned out to be a really cool experience and was very enjoyable. Then, in the spring of 2022, I went to a Lil Tecca concert near my college. I have listened to a little bit of Lil Tecca, but my roommate was a huge fan and convinced me to go with him. It turned out to be a great time and I was glad that I went. The dj and the opener were very fun and Lil Tecca’s performance was much better than expected. I plan to attend another festival this summer.

Lil Tecca at One Centre Square April 2022