If there is one thing I am entirely sure about, it is my constant urge to procrastinate. I made two trips to Amsterdam last year mainly based on procrastination and I initiated and planned an entire summer vacation to Vienna in order to escape last year’s Statistics exam preparation. When I try to get around something, I actually manage to not only come around my assignments, but apparently also European capitals. And since there is always something that I procrastinate about, I come around a lot.

Luckily, all trips to European capitals in the past two months were not a product of my Statistics-avoiding nature. But you obviously do not have to procrastinate all the way to Vienna in order to tell a story. And because this column is dedicated to music, it is a story about music. But not any kind of music. It is a story about live music. Concert music.

I missed out on concerts when I was still going to school, but I have caught up since living in Nijmegen. And with the past two months harbouring mere endless possibilities to procrastinate, I was a frequent guest on concerts. To be fair, two of the concerts were planned for quite some time and with their unfortunate placement in my exam period only an indirect medium of procrastination. I could tell good stories about my wild travel to Hannover in order to see James Blunt this October (guilty, I am a huge fan) or my most frequent Milky Chance concert in Nijmegen. But I would rather focus on my spontaneous visit of the Hurray for the Riff Raff concert.

I can only leave you with some of their songs on the Spotify playlist and a warm recommendation to listen. Obviously, a concert visit is somewhat different from listening to songs on Spotify and my subjective opinion is completely blinded by the fact that some pieces spoke to me with the right words at the right moment. But there was this undeniable presence of lead singer Alynda Segarra that was deeply fascinating. And here I am, almost a month after the concert, still listening to songs I have never heard before I sat a foot into the Doornroosje that evening — and, still, being deeply moved by them.

There are for sure certain pitfalls of being the procrastinator I am. But sometimes, while running away from your responsibilities, you stumble across something beautiful. Life seldom shows the rare moments within a perfectly timed schedule. And if all-nighters for assignments are the price I have to pay in order to discover the right music — so be it.

Every two weeks, Antonia will add the songs she writes about to the Spotify playlist below. This way, she creates a soundtrack to her time in Nijmegen. Click left and right for more songs.

Read Antonia Leise's blogs here