Follow us on Twitter:
Astrology
Conscious Shopping:
Food
Green
Health
Inspiration
This morning I was talking to a co-worker about the Moody Blues show she went to last night–all extra beamy, she talked about how much it brought back memories and inspired her. It got us sharing some highlights of our concert-attending careers. Like, for me, the four-hour, mid-summer, break-up-healing Blues Traveler show in 1990, or the heart-opening Grateful Dead concert in 1991, when I thought I just mght explode into protons of joy when they finally and climactically played my favorite, Sugar Magnolia. And the zillions of Fishbone shows when I was a tough but tiny teen skanking along with the big boys (including John Cusack who accidentally moshed on my friend’s toe really hard. She was in pain but, hello, John Cusack!).
Actually if I look at my concert patterns, a cool kind of autobiography surfaces. My first was a Madison Square Garden U2 extravaganza where I marveled at the hugeness of 15,000 hearts beating as one. Followed by a UB40 show at the Beacon Theater–”Red, Red Wine” still gives me happy chills. Then I plunged into hardcore, punk, and ska–seeing bands like Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Fishbone, Nina Hagen, and local bands like The Toasters. I’d do my most severe Siouxsie makeup, lace my self-distressed combat boots, and slip on a skirt that was actually a shirt and brave the night. I know I was a poseur extraordinaire, or at least a “Johnny Come Lately” as my old punk babysitter liked to call me, but I am still in awe of that badass little be-mohawked chick sneaking out into the Bowery at all hours to flail and flirt.
Then came the hippies–lots of Dead shows, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors. I found heart, noodle-dancing, and smooth rhythm, learning a sway could feel just as good as a mosh. That was followed by a mid-college passion for Ani DiFranco, who I saw throughout the Midwest and East Coast. Each time the righteous babe snarled (this was back when she snarled. A lot) things like “That’s MISTER DIFRANCO TO YOU!” my furious, feminist heart felt seen, heard, and met. She got to me with her poetry that wasn’t afraid to talk about menstruation, love, loss, abortion, and picking her nose. But mostly I think I loved her because she sang about, from, and with her body–just as I was learning to live in and accept mine, uncomfortably. In song/poems like The Slant, the anger and the body and the pain and the yearning came crashing together: ”…like a woman was a drum like a body was a weapon/ like there was something more they wanted/ than the journey/ like it was owed to them/ steel-toed they walk/ and I’m wondering why this fear of men/ maybe it’s because I’m hungry/ and like a baby I’m dependent on them/ to feed me.”
Then for years I disconnected from music a bit, going to a concert here and there–Prince (OMFG), Madonna (eh). After that, my music love went into seeing Michael Franti & Spearhead–the only band I still might pack up a van to follow. His rumbling voice undoes me and the optimistic, spiritual-sexy poetry for a better world finishes me off. And finally, a few years ago I started getting hardcore into chanting–especially chanting with an edgy, jammable twist: Krishna Das, Wah, Donna Delory, MC Yogi. It brings together my need to commune with the beat, that internal, infernal, everywhere beat, plus God. Plus other people who find they are similarly opened by those particular spiritual love songs. Like gospel for yogis, and I’m guessing quite a few former Dead Heads, ’Boneheads (as they called the Fishbone fans), and Spearheads. My inner punk-rock girl, African dancing queen, feminist, hippie, and yogi all meet. Toss in a hip-hop beat like MC Yogi does, and I’m in samadhi.
What are some of your most meaningful concert experiences?
[Image of Michael Franti via: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/PANEw0_JN0C/Michael+Franti+Spearhead+Play+Sydney]
posted August 22, 2009 at 12:24 am
My most memorable but not first concert–was Japanese new age– showing my older age–musician Kitaro–my mind body and soul were all connected then. I had had my times with Grace Slick–Chicago and Iron Butterfly. I was mezmorized by Kitaro during his drum meditation–his music moved me to extremes–I was energized and then reduced to tears–could it be that I was just disconnected then –nah– But my very favorite was the American Idol 2009 Tour Show I was at with my daughter just last night in Philadelphia–It was an 18th birthday present for her–and I was in heaven watching her–scream with joy and shed tears over Adam Lambert and the rest of the gang–she was truly transported into the experience–and that is afterall what we hope for!!!
posted August 22, 2009 at 3:34 am
To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. Greek philosophers and ancient Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as “the harmony of the spheres” and “it is music to my ears” point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to.
posted August 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm
U2 was my most meaningful concert. We had awesome seats, compliments of our daughter who gave them to us after I messed up trying to get the tickets because of a recent TBI. She knew how long I had waited for the chance to see U2 and just traded tickets with us so we had the best seats in the house. She’s amazing. The concert was amazing!
posted August 22, 2009 at 11:59 pm
James Taylor- hands down!
posted August 24, 2009 at 6:32 am
I HAVE NOT SEEN A LIVE CONCERT YET,I GOT NO CHANCE MAYBE JUST YET THOUGH I LOVE MUSIC AND I LOVE TO SING THOUGH I DON’T HAVE THE PERFECT
VOICE I GIVE MY BEST WHEN I SING.I HAVE WATCH SEVERAL CONCERTS ONLY ON VIDEO,ON TV STATIONS.ONE NIGHT AFTER WORK, ME AND MY CO WORKER
WENT OUT TO A RESTAURANT WHERE THERE’S A KARAOKE SHOW,I HAD A GREAT
TIME SINGING 2 SONGS ENTITLED”HOW DO I LIVE WITHOUT YOU”AND “I’M CRAZY FOR YOU”BY MADONNA.WE HAVE DRUNK 3 BEERS AND THAT’S IT.WE MADE OUR DAY OUR WAY.
posted August 24, 2009 at 7:51 am
I also saw The Moody Blues several years ago in North Carolina. We were two rows out from the cover of the ampitheatre and got pretty wet when it started misting rain, but I wouldn’t trade the experience. The show remains clear in my memory and they remain my favorite group. I would encourage anyone to see them.
posted August 24, 2009 at 10:34 am
Cool! Thanks to those who’ve shared so far. It’s really neat to hear your experiences. Would love to hear more–maybe we can get enough stories together to make a Beliefnet slideshow of them. – Valerie
posted August 24, 2009 at 10:58 am
My son was born early and with medical problems. It was a month before I was allowed to hold him because of several surgeries. His dad an I spent all our time with him in the hospital, peering through the little isolet in the busy neonatal intensive unit. We would touch him through a little portal on the side and tell him we love him. But we really were not sure how to help him. His dad discovered Ann-Margret was performing at Radio City Music Hall and about 10 days after the baby was born we decided to go. When I heard her sing “Got A lot of Living To Do” from Bye-Bye Birdie, something in me came alive again. We went back to the hospital and I opened the little portal and sang it to him, albeit in a whisper, and told him he had so much to look forward to in life and to please stay with us so that he could experience it all. I sang it every night he was in the hospital. Then one day, he was ready to come home. This week he starts college, so I think it helped! And he is someone who truly enjoys life!
posted August 24, 2009 at 10:59 am
The above is my comment.
posted August 24, 2009 at 11:50 am
On the morning of my fifty-something birthday my husband surprised me with tickets for that night for Paul McCartney’s 2002 “Driving USA” tour at the Meadowlands Stadium in NJ. Paul was touring to show support for the U.S. after 9/11–he hadn’t toured here in 8 years. It was simply fantastic. Paul was always my favorite Beatle, and he was and is an amazing showman and musician. He not only had huge production numbers, like “Live and Let Die,” but he also did a simple set alone playing his piano, including “Baby I’m Amazed” dedicated to his late wife Linda. It was an unforgettable night. I called our kids on my cellphone and all they could hear was screaming…