Walking into Madeline Carsello’s physics class, every class, you will see words plastered on the whiteboard such as “momentum,” “force,” and “gravity,” and standing in front of them, you will always see her in a band tee. The band tee is what is most unique about this scene, as they resemble not only her plethora of attendances at concerts but also the presence of music in her childhood and a whole other job she works at outside of the Poly Prep community.
On March 1, 2009, Carsello, Upper School Science Faculty since 2023, first encountered live music. Carsello recalled that her “cool older sister heard that ‘We The Kings’…were playing an hour away…so we begged our mom to take us,” she said. “Even though the venue only held 300 people, these bands were full-blown rockstars in my eyes.” Watching the band play, Carsello was in awe. After the show, not only did she feel a newfound love for music and performance, but from then on out, she “aspired to be playing on a stage like them one day.”
Growing up with a dad who had previously played in a band in high school and a sister who was in a band throughout her childhood, Carsello was destined to be a music-lover. As she got older and eventually entered high school, she began to follow in her family’s footsteps and picked up a few instruments, such as the guitar, drums, bass, and trumpet. As she began learning these instruments, she became inspired to start a band with a couple of friends. Carsello continued to play with a variety of bands in college, bringing her closer to music and fueling her love for it.
After around 150 pieces of musicians’ merchandise and hundreds of shows, Carsello can point out the best features of some of her favorite artists. She highlights that the most “polished live metal show” she has ever seen is “Bring Me The Horizon,” which constantly raises the bar for the metal genre. Adding to her list of rock and metal favorites, she appreciates the Swedish band “Ghost” for their incredible performance and production. Carsello adores Green Day for its ability to make everyone feel part of the experience, both onstage and off. While Carsello’s band tee collection and concert experiences entirely reflect a metal and rock fan, she also holds fond memories of seeing Taylor Swift during her 2009 “Fearless” tour. The energy and enthusiasm of that crowd are unmatched, according to Carsello. Even 15 years after this show, Carsello thinks about the show she attended “when I’m watching grainy live streams of The Eras Tour on TikTok,” joking, “It was rare, I was there, and I remember it all too well.”
Carsello has also played a role in the behind-the-scenes process of concerts as a talent buyer. Being a talent buyer, Carsello looks for the best entertainer for a particular venue. Her frequent attendance at shows is not only a way to have fun but also helps prepare her for the task of finding the right people to book a venue. Carsello got the job after a friend, also in the industry, heard her talk about her love for performances and how she’d maybe like to book them one day.
Although this job clearly ties to Carsello’s hobby of going to concerts and her strong love for musical performance in general, she has had to step away from it. Due to the uptick in stadium show attendees and the decrease in attendees in smaller venues, Carsello has had to shift her focus as a talent buyer for comedians. “I’ve kind of put that on pause because we mostly work with smaller local shows, and the industry itself is just not conducive to local shows lately,” she noted. “It’s really killing out smaller local bands.”
With the hope that small musicians will have an audience and opportunities, Carsello urged everyone to support and watch their local artists. “It’s funny because, like, these huge artists play these stadiums, and everybody’s like, oh, you know, imagine seeing them in a two to 300-person venue,” she said. “Well, the next Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, they’re playing in 200 to 300 person venues right now.”
Carsello’s love and passion for music is clear, as she closed off her email statement by saying, “Let me know if you need anything else from me,” she writes, “I have zillions of pictures from a lot of these shows and love yapping about music in general!”
