I have a confession to make. The opinion I’m about to voice is undoubtedly one of the most polarizing positions I will write about in my career, and many of you will most certainly lose a certain level of respect for me after reading this.

I’m not a big fan of concerts. You read that correctly. I don’t like going to concerts, and I’ve taken a considerable amount of flack over the years because of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of music. I’ve always got some kind of music playing at throughout the day. In fact, I’m one of those annoying people that listens to all kinds of music and can’t pick a favorite. I just don’t like concerts.

I know what’s going through your mind. I must not have been to any decent concerts in my life, right? Surely if I was at some of the totally awesome concerts you’ve been at, I’d be forever transformed. Wrong.

I’ve been to some great concerts over the years. I saw the Foo Fighters in Minneapolis a couple years ago, along with Weezer (when they were good) and the up and coming Kaiser Chiefs. The show was great and Dave Grohl completely rocked my face off, but here’s the thing: I have no desire to ever go again.

I can only imagine the amount of scoffing going on at this point in the story, but let me explain before you pass judgement.

For me, a big part of music is the memories a song stirs when I listen to it. And although I had a great time at the concert, it doesn’t stack up to some of the other incredible memories I have where the Foo Fighters served as the soundtrack.

For example, every time I hear the song “All My Life,” I remember flying down dirt roads in my old 1989 pickup truck with a boat hitched the back, fishtailing around every turn. The cab was stuffed with as many friends as I could fit. We had just graduated high school, and we spend a lot of that summer out on a tiny fishing hole in the middle of nowhere that seemed so full of smallmouth that it didn’t seem possible.

We had the feeling you get when you know a chapter in your life is about to close. Listening to that song rarely makes me think of the time I saw them in concert. Instead, it brings me back to that long-closed chapter with a truck full of friends and it never ceases to make me smile.

We’ve all got memories just like that, and maybe for some of you, it does involve that one great concert. For me though, my favorite memories are slow dancing in my dorm room to Bob Dylan after a great first date, or performing some Rage Against the Machine at a party in Germany. That’s what I think makes music great.