My brother told me it was the first time in nearly sixty years we had done this together, at least voluntarily. What was this landmark we experienced? Going to a concert. Looking back, I am sure there were a few concerts we were made to attend by our parents in our childhood, but those were artists and music of their own choosing. As far as I remember they were all classical, and I would watch fascinated, studying each member of the orchestra. I particularly looked to see if they were enjoying themselves. I like to see artists enjoy what they are playing, as I suspect the artists themselves want to see an audience who are into what they are doing. I am very grateful to my parents, particularly my mum for giving us a love of music, and being able to appreciate music of many genres, although she didn’t particularly enjoy some of them. One time I played her the first couple of tracks off of “Dark side of the moon” and she asked me to turn it off!
Peter and I were at the Royal Albert Hall to see another progressive rock legend; Steve Hackett. The lights dimmed again following the interval as the second half of the concert got under way. The first half during which Hackett played his solo material was great, but in the second half he was going to play early Genesis songs, and I suspect, like me, this is what most of the audience were really looking forwards to.
The band retook the stage, and they kicked off with “The lamb lies down on Broadway,” followed by other wonderful songs like, “Carpet Crawlers, “The Cinema show,” and “Firth of Fith.” The music and performance were mesmerising, and we were all transported back to the early seventies and for many of us, our youth. The music of your youth never leaves you; it is absorbed into you as it accompanies you through so many key moments of life formation, and as we age, we often turn back to it, trying to find solace or relive fond memories.
On the rare occasion I did glance away from the stage at the audience, I noticed hardly anyone had a phone out. Yes, some people did record songs because I have seen them on YouTube, and I am grateful because I get to relive it, and indeed I recorded a couple of snippets for posterity myself, but generally speaking most phones were pocketed. There is a strange phenomenon these days where everything has to be recorded. In fact I have seen people at concerts and football matches view just about the whole event through their phones. I wonder why they bother to come, save the time and expense, just stay home and watch it on a screen there. Often you would see it better! It is hard to engage what’s going on in front of you through a lens. Hard I imagine for an artist to engage with their audience when they look out and all they see is a forest of screens held aloft looking back. In fact, I know this because a few years ago my wife and I went to see Coldplay, and at the start of one song Chris Martin asked everyone just to put them down and engage in the moment. Even then I noticed quite a few were unmoved by his request and still held their phones high.
Perhaps it is an age thing, but I don’t think so. I see older people just as addicted to their phones as the young. It could be the genre of music. When I go to classical concerts (yes I go voluntarily these days) I don’t see anyone pulling out their phone in the middle of a Mozart aria. It would be too disturbing for the people around them, and why would you trade in experiencing that moment of beauty for a screen?
I returned my focus back to the stage as the Hackett and his band began playing “Dancing with a moonlit Knight.”
“Can you tell me where my country lies?”
Said the uni faun to his true love’s eyes
“It lies with me!” cried the Queen of Maybe
For her merchandise, he traded in his prize
Post COVID I have been on a bit of a concert binge. Many of my favourite bands are on their final, final farewell tours, and despite singing songs of unending youth age has finally caught up with them. It’s now or never to see them. Often, as with Steve Hackett the event naturally attracts people of that age and era, but not always. My grandson is in to heavy metal, and his favourite band is Metallica. A couple of Christmases ago I was wondering what to get him when I saw Metallica were going to be playing in Seattle in September, so for his present I got him tickets. As it turned out it wasn’t the following September but the year after! Who sells concert tickets two years out? We had no choice but to wait until at last the right September came around and off we went for not just one night, but two nights of Metallica. To my surprise the majority of the crowd was not fifty/sixty somethings but more twenty/thirty somethings. There is no doubt Metallica connects with younger people, although I am not sure why. I have read it is about the community, and I suspect that is true, but it appears this is a community who feel more on the fringes of society; out priced and left behind by “success.” They are left unmoved by superficiality of syrupy pop songs, and their pent-up frustration and anger connects with the energy and sentiments of heavy metal.
We got to Lumen Stadium just as the second support band took the stage. They were fine but not what we were here for. They finished their set and the stage was prepared for Metallica. The anticipation built, reaching a crescendo as the cemetery scene from “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” played on eight giant circular screens around the stadium. As the music reached its crescendo the band took the stage bathed in red light pieced by searching spotlights. The music was loud; my chest cavity beat in rhythm with Lars. The crowd were on their feet, jumping, hands held high with thumbs and pinkies extended to the sky. And of course, there were phones. A woman in front of us had her phone held up too, but after the initial euphoria had been recorded, many of them were lowered, but hers stayed aloft. It stayed up through the next song too, and the one after that, in fact it remained held high for half the concert before it was finally lowered. Then its owner sank herself in to her seat and disengaged from the proceedings. I thought she was just taking a breather, but she never got up, so curious, I peered over her head to see what she was doing. She was scrolling through her social media to see how many likes she had to the postings of her concert clips. Perhaps Metallica would give her a record number. As she scrolled James Hetfield sang “King Nothing;”
Wish I may, wish I might
Have this I wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
Dig for gold, dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?
All the wants you waste
All the things you’ve chased
Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there’s no one around
Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle’s crumbled
And you’re left with just a name
Where’s your crown,
King Nothing?
Where’s your crown?
Apparently, she was unmoved, too intent on finding her crown.
Pike’s Fish Market Seattle
My year began with yet another concert, again at the Royal Albert Hall, which I had never been to in my life before, and then within the space of a few months I go twice! The artist was again from my younger years although he is well known to people much younger. If I name just one song nearly everyone will instantly recognise him; “The Summer of 69.” Yes, it is Bryan Adams, he only had to play the first chord and the whole hall took over shouting out; “I got my first real six-string, bought it at the five and dime,” (not sure anyone in London knows what that is), “played it till my fingers bled, was the summer of 69.” Everyone was on their feet, moving and singing, it was what we had come for. When I say everyone, perhaps not everyone. There was a young smartly dressed couple a row down in front of my wife, and although the woman was enjoying herself, or at least trying to, clearly her partner was not. He stayed motionless while she danced and sang. I suppose Bryan Adams was not his cup of tea, and he remained unmoved. But his partner so wanted him to show some kind enjoyment, just a hint of a smile, a little shimmy, something, because it would have meant so much to her to know that although it might not be his thing, for her sake he was doing his best to enjoy it. But every time she glanced over at him her hope was dashed. If he was here because he felt duty bound to support her in her happiness, he would have fulfilled his duty better if he had stayed home and let her come alone. He was ruining it for her.
For the first half of the show Adams played through his “Reckless” album and then after an interval, (when you reach a certain age you need intervals) resumed with more of his songs and hits including the song from “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves;” “Everything I do.” Again, we all sang along with him;
Look into your heart, you will find
There’s nothin’ there to hide
Take me as I am
Take my life
I would give it all
I would sacrifice
Don’t tell me it’s not worth fightin’ for
I can’t help it, there’s nothin’ I want more
You know it’s true
Everything I do
I do it for you
Oh, yeah
There’s no love like your love
And no other could give more love
There’s nowhere unless you’re there
All the time, all the way, yeah
Look into your heart, baby
Shortly after this song and well before the end the couple left. The man had sacrificed enough, and the woman couldn’t take any more of his displeasure. His display had given a glimpse into his heart and it was unmoved by Bryan Adams, but more importantly it seemed unmoved by love for his partner. Music has a way of exposing what lies beneath.
One-time John the Baptist sent a couple of his disciples to Jesus when he was languishing in prison. Reports had reached him about the kind of music Jesus was playing and he wasn’t sure whether it was really God’s tune or not. So John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ”[1] Jesustold them to go back and tell John what they had seen and heard; how people had been moved. The blind received sight, the lame walked, lepers are healed, the deaf hear, and the poor have good news preached to them.” But not everyone had been moved.
After they had left Jesus asked the crowd why so many people had gone out into the wilderness to see and hear John. Not because he was something special by human standards; you find them in palaces. John was known for his austerity; dressed in camel skin and eating locusts and honey. Yet John’s “tune” had connected with many, and they had gone out to be baptised by him. But not the religious authorities, they remained unmoved. And now Jesus was on the scene playing a different tune, but again the religious leaders remained unmoved. Jesus was a glutton and drunk, a friend of tax collectors they said. As Jesus pointed out there was no tune which God could play, either happy or sad which would open their hearts, not even if God sacrificed everything for them. They could not even be happy for the people who flocked to be touched by Jesus’ music, in fact it just made them angrier and more resentful.
Jesus connected with people they were unable to reach, or rather they were unwilling to reach. His words resonated with those who had been left on the fringes, barred from any kind of community because they didn’t meet the cultural standards of success. But Jesus invited them into community with Himself and through Him with His Father, and He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to make it happen. It didn’t matter where you had been digging for your gold, all that mattered is to put down the lens you had been using and focus on Him. No doubt if there had been mobiles in Jesus’ day people would come just to get some good clips of Him to post in their social media and accumulate likes. Jesus is just a means to success. Sometimes it seems much of church and worship has become just that; something to viewed through a screen. Everything is formatted for maximum social media engagement; nothing longer than a minute, ideally thirty seconds. But Jesus is not about sound bites and clips, He is not someone we can use to gain social status or monetise although many try.
Many people only know the later iteration of Genesis and their pop hits such as “I can’t dance,” “tonight, tonight, tonight,” and are unaware of the band’s past when there were five members (including Steve Hackett) and they played the less commercial musical genre of progressive rock. Genesis means origin, and in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis we have the story of how God weaved together creation, it was a bold composition intertwining many expressive elements in sophisticated harmonies and keys. It plays on all around us still, although we have distorted the melody and lyrics and left ourselves disenfranchised from the composer. But Jesus came to play a song which invites us to have a new genesis, a new origin in Him, and we will never have to play a final, final tour. It’s a remarkable piece of music, the only question is does it move us?
[1] Luke 7:20 (ESV)
As I said above, I am not one to spend much time filming in concerts other than some brief excerpts for posterity. If you are interested there are links below to them, but they are short!
Steve Hackett
Except one
Excerpt two
Metallica
Except one
Except two
Bryan Adams
Except one
Excerpt two
Excerpt three
Excerpt four
Excerpt five
