THIRTY-SEVEN

Image © Jose & MidJourney

I love live music.

I remember my first large scale live music concerts in San Diego when I was 18, I saw Pat Benatar and the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger ran a marathon on stage. Later back in Portugal, some of the large bands wouldn’t do Lisbon, we had to go to Madrid, and I remember bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Supertramp. There always concert buddies, who we’d plan with months in advance to ensure we could go with the least possible investment. Later, the Sudoeste Festival started happening in the south of Portugal, I’d go the three days, sleep in the car and do the whole thing. It was the music, but also the people, the tribes, the crowd. I remember sitting with my back against the stage when Placebo started playing the first accords, hundreds of black dressed white-faced fans ran to the stage like a scene from the Walking Dead. This was fascinating, I loved seeing the parents and their children, the grandmothers, the disconnected, the stoned, the lovers, humanity at its best, at its freest and fullest.

I am not sure how many concerts I have attended, lost track. I am not sure how many times I have seen Pearl Jam, and I went to see them one more time, this time in Boston. Double whammy for me because Glenn Hansard was opening, since the movie Once I have been a fan. But Eddie Vedder and his troupe have a special place in my heart, my body recognizes his music and electric current flows through me, I rejoice, I dance, jump up and down like the teenager that saw them so many years ago. Soon they will be celebrating their 35^th year as a band, and I believe I saw them as soon as they started touring Portugal, I love the way he connects with the crowd, he does not mince his words, you know what Eddie thinks. And the music is powerful, loaded, direct, his lyrics are incisive, alive. He can scream or whisper, the song he played with Glenn on acoustic guitar was memorable, goose pumps just remembering. There is something about a crowd of 40,000 people singing at the same time, you look everywhere, and you capture the ecstasy via their shining eyes, you relate and connect with other human beings in this shared experience, independently of who they are, what they eat, who they vote for.

But, very early in my life I was surprised to find out that, this seemingly fantastic thing that I love so much, was not enjoyed by many. And I have also learned that there isn’t correlation between loving music and loving live music, while some might prefer small venues to large arenas, or prefer to go see Pat Metheny (whom I have also seen live many times) instead of Pearl Jam, for me all fall in the category of loving live music. The reasons why people don’t love live music are many, my own children do not have the same connection I have, and I don’t think it’s a reasonable expectation to think they will change this as they grow older. So, my reflection is about what makes some people love live music and some don’t, while those 40,000 should have many different reasons to be at Fenley Park, it is fair to say the majority chose to be there, and there are probably at least two people that wanted to be there for everyone that attended. To me this is another great, humbling lesson about human beings, people are different, and they love different things, and different people can come together when they love the same things. Live music can bring people together, but I equally love those that don’t love it like I do. Peace, and live music.