I REALISE I'm probably in the minority when I say this - but I just don't see the appeal of live music.

I'm not talking about being serenaded by a jazz band at a restaurant, or listening to a Spanish guitarist in a hotel bar on holiday, but more specifically concerts, gigs and festivals - basically any event where I have to part with my hard earned cash to watch a band play songs I could easily listen to over and over on a CD for a mere £10.

Reading about the hundreds of people queuing for hours on end outside the Bournemouth International Centre to get their hands on Oasis tickets, I didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

I would much rather spend the evening in my warm, dry house, watching a bit of telly with a cup of tea and a biscuit, before cosying up in bed - not sitting outside in the cold and rain throughout the night for an event that will only last a couple of hours.

While I may be a relative spring chicken (at the age of 21), in musical terms I guess you could say I'm more of a toddler, having only ever been to three gigs. The first, as a love-struck teenager, was to drool over Justin Timberlake bodypopping and beatboxing at Earls Court. I couldn't have cared less about the music, I was simply there to catch a glimpse of my crush in the flesh.

For the second, I accompanied my mum to watch housewives' favourites Keane.

While it was all very pleasant, and I quite enjoyed singing along to the five or so songs I knew, for the rest of the time I sat there twiddling my thumbs. It's hardly music you can dance along to, more the sort you listen to while you're driving, or play in the background during dinner.

The third sounds pretty impressive - seeing rock giants Muse play to a crowd of 90,000 at the newly completed Wembley Stadium.

In reality I spent six hours sitting on an uncomfortable plastic chair as far from the stage as humanly possible, eating £8 hot dogs and watching all the action on a big screen.

Not my ideal way to spend an afternoon (or £100), but my boyfriend loved it, and seeing as I'd bought the tickets for his birthday, I earned myself some major Brownie points.

I'm equally as baffled about music festivals. OK, you get to see all your favourite bands perform in one weekend, but the likelihood is that it'll be cold and rainy and you'll spend just as much time trudging through the mud and struggling to keep your tent from blowing away as you will listening to music.

Then there are the hygiene issues - notoriously bad toilet facilities and dodgy burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Weekend camping tickets tend to be around £150 for the big festivals. Add to that money for food, camping gear and getting there and back, and you're looking at around £250.

For the same price, you could be heading off to Spain for a week of sunshine, where you can still listen to the same music - only rather than standing in a muddy field, you'll be relaxing on the beach in the sun with your MP3 player.

Maybe I'm missing out on all the atmosphere, but with the money I've saved I could buy myself a plasma TV with surround sound to watch everything on - surely that's just as good as the real thing?