Remember group therapy? You know….CONCERTS?
I still have moments when I wonder if we’ll ever get to go again. Now, now, I know some of you are saying “But wait, Duran has some scheduled for next summer! What about Ibiza in Ap…I mean October now…”
Yes. Yes I know about those shows. I have moments, just before I turn on the TV and hear yet again that we can’t expect a return to what might be “approaching normal” until third quarter of 2021, that I fantasize and daydream about what going to concerts used to feel like.
Spoiler alert: if you don’t remember, the main feeling was unabashed JOY.
For me personally, there is no “high” better than the feeling I get during a show, whether I am actually playing in the show, (yes, even as a clarinet player in a regional concert band, the adrenaline flows!) or if I am a spectator. My favorite place is in an audience filled with my people. My friends. My extended family. I love that surge of emotion that courses through my veins as I’m watching John and Dom come together at the front of the stage…or even when I roll my eyes at the first drum beat of everybody’s favorite song, “Hungry Like the Wolf” and catch the amused look on Nick’s face.
There’s nothing better than singing along to “Wild Boys”, or jumping up and down with excitement when I hear the opening notes of just about any song that isn’t typically found on a set list. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster throughout the entire show, right up until I notice it’s time for “Rio”, a song that makes me happy and sad all at once.
Even attending one gig is fantastic, but after it ends? First you have the revelry with friends afterward. The high is still there, pushing you through the night. The adrenaline is addictive, no doubt.
But then, there’s that moment – and it happens after every show, whether your first, or your 50th.
I know this feeling. I’m sure many of you do. I feel it every single time, without fail. I wonder how on earth I’m ever going to “get back to normal”. The pain and struggle is real, and what’s more – I miss feeling all of it.
-R
