Can Cannabis Heighten Sensory Experiences at Live Concerts?

Auditory Enhancement

When THC—the primary psychoactive component of cannabis—enters your system it binds to cannabinoid receptors along all of your auditory pathways. This binding can temporarily alter the way your brain processes sound information.

Most users say that they can more easily hear the difference between instruments or pick up on subtleties in the music that they would otherwise miss. Bass lines sound deeper, treble notes sound sharper, and the separation of sounds can become clearer.

One producer explained it in this way: “Without cannabis I hear the song as a whole but with it I can almost deconstruct the layers hearing each part individually before experiencing how they all fit together.”

This is perhaps why some artists claim to use cannabis while working in order to improve their focus on specific parts of their music.

Visual Stimulation

Concert light shows are an entirely new experience to some marijuana smokers. Colors may be more vibrant patterns more intricate and movements more fluid. This is due to the fact that THC can affect the visual processing areas of your brain particularly in areas that handle color detection and movement.

The visual augmentation merges with the music to form what some describe as a more “immersive” or “synesthetic” experience in which the boundaries between hearing and vision are less defined.

One concertgoer put it this way: “The visual effects and lights at concerts appear to sync perfectly with the music to create this whole sensory experience that’s more integrated and meaningful.”

Time Perception Changes

Have you ever been so engaged in a musical performance that time stood still? Cannabis can enhance this experience by altering the way your brain deals with temporal information.

A three-minute guitar solo may be experienced as an epic journey. The silence between notes could stretch out with a sense of the music having more space to breathe. Such a change in perception of time can cause concerts to feel longer more elaborate and more captivating to some users.

Emotional Amplification

Perhaps most significantly to the average music fan is the extent to which marijuana might deepen emotional engagement with music. The endocannabinoid system is directly active upon our centers for emotions perhaps even magnifying such emotions of euphoria or nostalgia or sadness which music elicits.

“I get goosebumps more readily or even cry at powerful performances” remarked one frequent concertgoer. “It’s as if the emotional guard is let down and I connect more powerfully with what the artist is expressing.”

This affective augmentation might be the reason why so many people remember forming more vivid memories of cannabis-enhanced concerts than non-sober ones—emotionally arousing experiences simply leave more of an impact on our memory.

The Jazz Era Revolution

During the 1920s-1940s, cannabis became associated with jazz culture in urban areas like New Orleans, Harlem, and Chicago. Many creators of jazz incorporated cannabis into their creative process with the belief that it allowed for freer improvisation and experimentation with unconventional musical patterns.

The very vocabulary of jazz itself came to be filled with cannabis allusions—slang words such as “viper,” “reefer,” and “tea” came into the jazz vocabulary as cryptic references to cannabis culture. Songs such as Cab Calloway’s “Reefer Man” and Louis Armstrong’s recording of “Muggles” (cannabis slang of the day) demonstrated this connection.

This cultural fusion took place within the context of prohibition that gave rise to an underground counterculture where music and cannabis, together, represented freedom from mainstream prohibitions.

The Psychedelic Sixties and Seventies

The 1960s and 70s saw cannabis becoming an integral component of rock music culture. The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead are some of the artists who utilized cannabis as a recurring subject in their lyrics as their music evolved to encompass more experimental types and sounds that many discovered were complementary to cannabis consumption.

Woodstock and other festivals opened areas where cannabis use and music appreciation freely intersected to provide a collective experience that was life-changing for the majority of those involved.

Reggae and Rastafarian Influences

No genre of music has embraced cannabis as openly as possibly reggae. Originating in Jamaica in the late 1960s, reggae musicians such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Burning Spear used cannabis in spiritual and musical endeavors as part of Rastafarian traditions.

For these artists cannabis was more than a recreational drug but a sacrament—a natural herb with divine qualities that allowed them to connect with their music on a higher level. It introduced to many Western listeners a new cultural paradigm for the relationship between cannabis and creativity.

Contemporary Music Festival Culture

Today cannabis continues to influence music culture particularly in the festival scene. Festivals like Northern Nights in California have created areas where cannabis can be consumed as legalization continues to spread while musicians across all genres from hip-hop to electronic music continue to make reference to cannabis in their tracks.

The recent emergence of cannabis companies aligning with musicians and festivals is the latest chapter in this long history of synergy mirroring shifting legal and social attitudes.

Intimate Indoor Venues

Small clubs and theatres place performers and audience members in close contact often with minimal production elements. Cannabis in these settings may enhance awareness of musical subtleties and allow for more intense sensations of connection with performers.

“At intimate jazz clubs I enjoy how cannabis allows me to focus on the subtleties—the brush strokes on the drums the walking bass lines the conversation among instruments when improvising” writes one regular at small clubs.

The acoustics of smaller rooms tend to give cleaner more detailed sound which some marijuana users claim to enjoy more intensely as their auditory perception alters.

Outdoor Music Festivals

Multi-day festivals are a completely different world where cannabis can influence not just how you hear the music but how you experience the whole environment.

The open spaces, various platforms, and variety of sensory stimuli make for a complicated environment. Most festival-goers swear that cannabis makes them more present and less stressed by the stimuli present.

“Cannabis at festivals allows me to relax and enjoy each act instead of running around from stage to stage stressed about what I may be missing out on” remarks a seasoned festival attendee.

The social nature of festivals also provides the potential for communal cannabis experiences that can be utilized to bond with fellow music enthusiasts.

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Concerts

EDM events offer the potentially most overwhelming sensory experience with their coupling of pounding rhythms lavish light shows and often physically interactive aspects such as confetti cannons smoke machines and synchronized visuals.

For others, cannabis use enhances the synesthetic experience wherein music and vision become a single unified sensory experience. The rhythm of electronic music coupled with the complexity of its texture creates patterns that are highly engrossing for most cannabis users.

One regular attendee of EDM festivals had this to say: “The manner in which the bass vibrates bodily the intricate light displays and the cannabis effect together creates these periods where I am completely absorbed in the moment—like I am a part of the music itself.”

Classical Performances

Orchestral and chamber music environments present another unique setting. The intricacy of classical pieces with their various movements complex arrangements and emotional ranges can provide a rich terrain for cannabis-enhanced listening.

“I catch myself following themes as they thread their way through various parts of the orchestra, hearing how motifs develop and grow in a piece” is what one classical music lover remarks. “Cannabis appears to increase my capacity for remembering the overall composition while still allowing me to enjoy each moment.”

The less rowdy social environment of conventional establishments presents alternative social concerns for cannabis consumers who need to be extra attuned to establishment policy and fellow patrons.

Individual Variations

Your own biology, psychology, and history with cannabis have a big impact on your response. What enhances one person’s concert experience might ruin another’s.

Tolerance, prior experience with marijuana, and your personal sensitivity to THC all play an important role in how you react. Some individuals experience heightened anxiety in public spaces after cannabis smoking, while others report that it makes them feel more comfortable socially.

Even your mood when entering the concert can mix with cannabis effects in unforeseen manners. Entering with a positive attitude makes a positive experience more probable.

Overwhelming Sensory Input

To others, the mix of cannabis and concert settings can be sensory overload. The music bright lights and crowds may become overwhelming instead of enhanced.

“I have discovered that high-THC cannabis at concerts makes everything get too much—all of my sensory dials get turned up past comfortable levels” states a concert-goer now who sticks to the lower-THC varieties when attending concerts.

This potential of being overwhelmed by experiences is particularly relevant for individuals who are anxiety-sensitive or who are attending particularly provocative events like EDM parties featuring high lighting and sound output.

Venue Policies and Legal Considerations

Despite changing attitudes most venues strictly ban the use of cannabis regardless of local law. If discovered, it can result in ejection from the premises or worse.

Even where cannabis use is legal, smoking or vaping can be a violation of clean air laws or the rules of a particular venue. A few venues do provide cannabis use area but this is the exception and not the rule.

Knowing the particular policies of the venue you’re visiting and laws in your area is really essential to make well-informed decisions.

Social Dynamics

Not everybody enjoys being around cannabis at concerts. Being considerate of others is respect for the concert-going experience that everybody shares.

If choosing to use consider methods that are less impactful to others such as edibles or vaporizers rather than smoking which generates more noticeable smell and smoke that can affect nearby attendees.

Transportation Safety

Most important, possibly, is a safe transportation plan. Drinking and driving puts you and others at risk and is illegal everywhere.

Planning for rideshare public transportation or designated drivers ensures everyone gets home safely when the show is over.

Shared Rituals and Bonding

Most of the concert attendees refer to cannabis use as a social bonding ritual. It is said to be bonding strangers together at concerts immediately.

“Some of my closest friends began by trading cannabis at concerts” a concert attendee explains. “There’s something about the music, the vibe, and the experience that instantly bonds you.”

This social element can be especially potent at multi-day festivals where communities are built on the basis of common interests and activities.

Less Social Inhibitions

It makes the social anxiety that might otherwise make them uncomfortable at the concert experience more manageable for some.

“I’m somewhat embarrassed to dance or sing along at concerts” admits a fan. “With marijuana I don’t worry as much about what I appear like to others and can just have a good time for myself.”

This lessening of social inhibition is perhaps one explanation for why cannabis is still popular in socially expressive settings such as concerts and festivals.

Community Rules and Etiquette

Various musical cultures have their own unspoken social norms regarding cannabis consumption. Being aware of these social norms facilitates respectful social interaction.

For instance, at jam band concerts sharing would be ordinary and to be anticipated, yet at classical music concerts discretion would be the norm. There might be special locations at electronic music concerts, whereas hip-hop concerts may have totally different expectations.

These community norms are learned through observing and participating in a plethora of musical subcultures.