A friend of mine fell in love with Arambol, the hippie paradise in Goa. Every so often she heads off for a peaceful escape, to de-stress and rejuvenate in the tranquility. On her return, she explains how her emotions have been taken apart and reconfigured, and she felt like a new person.
I grew the same electrifying sensation after standing in a huge open space among a vast crowd of people, singing to Bryan Adams in unison, watching the legend perform live on his ‘Get Up!’ tour. That feeling doesn’t emerge immediately; but in the days following the concert, I felt fragile but alive. I feel like I’ve been through some particularly intense and epic therapy session, as though parts of my psyche I was not conscious of have been prodded into life.
There’s nothing like the feeling you have leading up to a concert. You’ve been saving your money just to buy a ticket with your friends to see your favorite band or artist, and the whole time you’ve got what feels like butterflies. You’re about to be in front of your idol, they are going to be in the same space as you. Someone you watch on TV and listen to in your car is now in the same vicinity as you. It’s hard to grasp.
Whether you just heard of the band or have been listening to them your whole life, you get this natural high off the energy that surrounds you at a concert. The people around you share the same excitement as you, it’s almost like you can connect with anyone there. The moment before they come on stage, as you look at your best friends, your stomach is in knots.
It was during my early teens I began to shift in musical taste. I began listening to less upcoming artists and reverting back to the music I had listened to when I was younger from older generations that were not my own. My appreciation for classic rock grew with age. The older I got, the less tolerable I became tightening my music selection. It especially became apparent as 70’s music bombarded the majority of my phone, while my radio had no intent to move from the classic rock station.
And yet Bryan Adams is one of the exquisite classic rock musicians I am most compelled by, the one who seems to reach into the heart of me. Every year, over thousands of teens, pick up their first guitar aspiring to be a singer like him. His enchanting music and addictive lyrics only add to the frenzy every passing year. Bryan Adams with his best-known albums propelled him into the stratosphere of pop music’s ruling elite. The songs that inspire my devotion to come from ‘Summer of 69’, to “Here I am”. I think it’s to do with being grimly aware that existence is a series of compromises, and that if life has a purpose then it is in finding the moments of hope and joy amid the disappointments and troubles. It’s about balancing freedom and obligation. It’s about separating the moments of truth from the lies that life tells us.
Concerts are intriguing at first, then slightly terrifying as you realize quite how long it’s going to last. But once the rhythms of the night seep into your soul – as you understand how you are going to be swept up, then brought down, then lifted again; as you come to understand your part in the liturgy – it becomes hard to resist. Bryan Adams demands you connect with the world and look to yourself and makes you feel like the best version of yourself.
Now you’re dancing, singing, sweating and loving every minute of it. It’s like a dream come true. It’s not just about the music anymore but also the entertainment that comes from the performance. It’s as if he is speaking directly to you when he says,” How ya doin’, Dubai?” It’s an indescribable feeling when everyone puts off this vibe, and you’re waving your arms in the air with strangers that you feel like you know. There are specific songs that speak to you and you get lost in the moment making memories.
The greatest revelation was revisiting the classic records with everyone in the stadium traveling back in time. With the songs played in order, the album begins to stretch out and soon, the slower songs begin to edge out the quick and fast. With songs off his new album like “You Belong With Me”, “Go Down Rocking”, “Don’t Even Try” – grow into enthusiastic set pieces. The brilliant band energized, skillfully filtering all their strengths for big gestures into smaller pockets with lush and haunting voices that harmonize with Adams’ for most of the vocals.
When he performed “Heaven”, it was nothing less than the modern day fairytale romance. No matter how hard life got with the aging time, hearts and flowers were prone to bruise and wilt, but time froze with the music of love. It was the moment I witnessed people fall in love all over again and lonely eyes met hearts to begin unwritten stories. As he crooned “Baby you’re all that I want when you’re lying here in my arms, I’m finding it hard to believe we’re in heaven”, love was inevitably in the air. A husband looked into his wife’s soul, and kissed her cheek, knowing that they were infinite, overlooking life’s harsh reality for a few hours.
But there’s always some point where my eyes don’t just pick, where I find myself connecting to the lyrics more than ever. And partly it’s because I can never know which song will capture the particular shade of emotion I am feeling at a given moment. When the last note of the last song is played, the feeling of sadness that is the end of the concert kicked in.
After the lights went out and the magic extinguished, strobe lights flashed in time as the ending drumbeats pounded in my chest as though they were bidding farewell to my heart. It’s a feeling that takes over your whole body. You leave the concert smiling and jumping around with your friends talking about your favorite part, but really the whole night was your favorite part. Music makes you happy and the feeling you get from going to a concert is something everyone should experience. It’s a place where we can forget about our problems for a little while, and experience pure, unbiased, unadulterated, and united love for music