I was telling my fiancée, some time ago, that when she listens to recordings, she’s only getting HALF the music. I described it to her as the difference between us texting and calling, versus actually being there with each other…
Going to Rootstock at the Icehouse after the Giant Pencil Sharpening block party, that was an electrifying experience. Up until I moved to Minneapolis… the only live performances (outside of the Joyful DJ Bike Raves) I’d seen up close was a production of The Producers done by my local hometown theatre, and some performance of Randy Newman somewhere in or near L.A. (or was it Hollywood?) when he clearly had a cold. I remember the former only dimly (though I did enjoy it), and the latter even less so; I was only a child, and I possibly was too short to see much. The two biggest things I remember of that The Producers production were the orchestra tuning prior to the start of the play, and the performance of the woman playing Ulla. Since Rootstock, I’d been FOMOing into every live music event I can get my hands on.
Listening to music, for me, for the longest time, was a solitary event. Me in my room, with a pair of headphones. Half the time, I was doing homework during it. I didn’t really know what music was like. I didn’t know it was any different.
Now she’s involved in amateur theatre… It’s different, so different. How many people are like me, having grown up never seeing a concert in their life? You miss out on so much. I, personally, would have lost my fucking mind if I saw BABYMETAL and KINGSLAYER perform live.
Goddamn.