I like music without being a serious listener. When I come down for breakfast, I switch on my wireless speaker and the free media player on my phone. Playing on shuffle, moving through the songs I have stored on the phone. I do not actively listen to music unless something hooks my ear. While I write this newsletter, I am playing and passively listening to music on my laptop. My taste in music essentially fossilized decades ago, which does not bother me in the slightest. There are constant surprises in my saved music, songs I never knew I had. It may not be new in a chronological sense; it is new to me.
My wife and I watched Avril Levine playing at Glastonbury. It was a superb concert. My daughter was a fan of Avril Levine when she was in school, so the songs got a lot of airplays in our house. My wife took my daughter to Avril Levine’s first concert in Dublin. I. Upon her return, she informed me that two girls, younger than my daughter, had sat beside them. The girls looked to be longing to jump up and dance like my daughter, but they were unsure about doing so. My wife smiled at them and invited them to stand. They did so and spent the rest of the concert on their feet.
I went to the next concert because my daughter felt the pressure from her peers that Avril Levine was uncool. I enjoyed it hugely, despite getting questioning glances for being a lone adult male. Watching the concert this week could have been an exercise in enjoyable nostalgia. Instead, it was a reminder of the pleasure of live music delivered by talented performers to an enthusiastic crowd. Most of the audience looked to be the same age as my daughter. There were a few young children as well. They knew all the lyrics and sang along without ever distracting from the singing by Avril Levine. The energy and enjoyment of the audience raised the performance and gave the entire event a significant lift.
It made me think of other memorable concerts that I had attended. Not only did it make me enjoy it; The atmosphere and the connection between the performers and the audience was special.
Bob Dylan-Dublin.
I have been a fan of Bod Dylan from when one of my brothers brought home Blood on the Tracks. I had no expectations for the concert other that seeing Bod Dylan live. There had been a lot of negative talk about his playing and the way he was altering songs. I was prepared to feel disappointed or confused by the music. It did not matter; I was getting to see a genius in the flesh. I was sure I would be the youngest person in the audience. When I arrived early enough to walk up to the front of the arena, I found that a large crowd of teenagers was already there. That was the first surprise. The next was when Bob Dylan came on stage with three musicians and showed everyone why he was BOB DYLAN. Bob Dylan delivered all the songs I had hoped for with a punch and force that made my blood sing in response. It did not feel like a performance delivered from the stage; it felt like a conversation.
Van Morrison–Dublin
Van Morrison entered my ears and my life like Bob Dylan did. An older brother had an album. It may have been Moondance. I was aware of Van Morrison’s reputation as being a grumpy performer. You could be brutally unlucky at a concert. I found this out for myself at a concert I went to in Hamburg. Van Morrison clearly did not want to be there, and he radiated resentment at the audience. It was appalling, his dislike drowned the songs, and the entire event became a negative experience. Some years later, he played a concert in Dublin. I got two tickets and took a friend of mine who was a fan as well. I warned Brian that it could be a complete fiasco, we both didn’t really care. Fans are fans and that was that. Van Morrison came on stage wearing a blue blazer with gold buttons, gray slacks, and shiny black shoes.
He looked like the least like a musician that I could imagine. My heart sank. Then the music started, and the talent came forth like the sun from behind a cloud. As we sat in the front row, I observed him enjoying the show, interacting with the band and the audience. I still get a thrill when I think about it. Magnificent songs delivered with precision and force.
Blondie- Dublin
When I was in secondary school and Top of the Pops on BBC was must-see-tv. It was where you got a chance to see the musicians you heard on the radio. I arrived in school on one Friday to find boys lying on the floor everywhere. All they could say was “Denis”. Blondie had featured on Top of the Pops; it was a film clip from a live performance. Debbie Harry wore a jacket, which she took off to reveal a striped swimsuit. She blew our minds.
Decades later, Blondie was doing a tour, celebrating the release of Parallel Lines. The venue was a small space in Dublin. Blondie had become a legacy band. No arena for them. My wife, daughter, her boyfriend and I went. My daughter had grown up on Blondie. She knew the music as well as we did. There were a lot of parents and young adult children in the audience. The listings in one newspaper that week said. “Debbie Harry is coming to Dublin. Lock up your men”. Debbie Harry was in her sixties. When she came on stage, the newspaper was spot on. She has a palpable charisma that just filled up the venue and set the audience on fire. It was and still is the best party I have ever attended. Everyone was enjoying themselves, the audience and the band. The venue was small enough to generate a serious atmosphere of enjoyment.
Robert Plant – Nottingham
I have never been much of a Led Zeppelin fan. A strong shard of memory is about watching a fellow student, we were on a school trip to Stratford-on-Avon, sitting on the floor and headbanging while Black Dog was playing on the tv. I did fall in love with the Raising Sand album that Robert Plant and Alison Krause released. Going to see Robert Plant live this year was mostly an opportunity to see a rock god and hope for some songs from the album. It was obvious from the start that Robert Plant was touring solely because he felt like it. There was just himself and the musicians on the stage, he did not make anything of his past. He was there to make music. The audience were there to hear it. There was no singing along. We sank into the music the was a reader sinks into a book when the writers craft and confidence allows them to do so. I got to listen to a titanic talent do what he oved and it was wonderful. There was nothing between the audience and the music, it flowed into and around us, transporting us as only music can.
I have a lot of books on bookshelves that I will not read again. I do not have the time when there are still so many new ones to read. I look on them as old friends. I remember the pleasure I had reading them, sometimes I will pick one up and flick through it. The pleasure is renewed. I think of these concerts in the same way. They are experiences that cannot be replicated. They can be enjoyed and conjured up by other events. I am very glad about this.
The Inhabited Systems Discovery Project.
There is a superabundance of newsletters, articles, books, and comics available. Discovering something that is engaging and entertaining to read is a problem. Below are items that I have read and enjoyed. I am happy to give them a shout out to improve their chances of being discovered by readers.
Newsletter: Substack
Very funny cartoons about everything. Lovely friendly art and sharp writing.
Comic: Dragon Grit 1
I buy my comics via Kickstarter. They are all small press comics that are invisible to a non-Kickstarter audience. I like to read, think about and write about them. I post my reviews on my website. Below is a link to a review of a comic that I think deserves to be discovered by a bigger audience.
Engaging and enjoyable Western mash up, dragons instead of horses.
https://conorhcarton.com/2024/07/dragon-grit-1-loreli-jonason-caleb-palmquist-writers-kay-wollhiser-art-dave-lentz-letters/
Thank you for yote time and attention. Both are appreciated.