no matter how I try I realise it's all a lie
Okay, so I am struggling ridiculously with my flashfic right now, in that I have wonderful prompts (seriously, I cannot emphasise how excellent they are; there are a million ideas there and waiting which is great) but my due South voice is just. not. there. I've started a bunch and I keep giving up in disgust two lines in. Argh. We still have like 24 hours though (I think? Midnight Monday CST = after 11.59 pm Sunday, right? Or is it after 11.59 on Monday night? Because generally when people say "midnight tonight" they mean the midnight at the end of that day, and-- *breaks brain*) so hopefully last-minute-panic-itis will work its magic and make my brain work. Or, ooh, I have to do water tomorrow (I think) which generally means time sitting by a persnickety balance, which usually means my brain writes out of sheer self-defence against the mind-numbing tedium of watching numbers bounce. ANYHOW. Because I apparently cannot make the writing thing work tonight, and since I appear to be too awake to go to bed yet, I am going to beg your respective indulgences to blather on with the first bit of some music-related posts that have been bouncing around my head for months.
I've been thinking about this post for months, and I'm still not entirely sure how to start it. One of the things my current job gives me, for better or worse, is a lot of time to think, if little time to set most of these thoughts to paper (or at least, to any paper other than the backs of memo papers, sample numbers and filter paper instructions). Another thing it involves is a lot of radio, because while our reception is, as previously mentioned, frequently pretty dire, the work environment is hazardous enough to any kind of delicate equipment that bringing CD players/cassette players is just asking for them to die a rapid death by rock-dust. (I do now use my iPod a lot when it's safe/politic to do so, but I do so with some trepidation - I took apart my mobile phone (which also lives in my pocket at work) the other day, and it was kind of frightening how much dust had made its way inside that.) But, as usual, I digress.
Here's something I should admit: I still haven't watched the Superdome performance of the Saints are Coming. It's one of those weird reluctance things that you can't even entirely explain, that makes no sense, and yet... and yet. Haven't done it yet, can't quite seem to. I have seen the pro video - once - and it was good, and it hurt, but... yeah.
However, ever since it first, finally made it onto the airwaves here - which was at least a week after it came out in the US - I have been really, instantly taken with the song. It was one of those things that, like Vertigo, the very second it started (and without an announcement before it) I knew that it was new U2 and went on high alert. There's something about the drums, the bass, the drive to it that really wraps around my heart and pushes, and it kind of went from being an unfamiliar song I knew I wanted to like to a mood-lifting type of thing rapidly. But at the time, and even leading up to November, I didn't think it was really getting all that much airplay, I didn't expect people to be familiar with it, and I wasn't really holding my breath for it to end up on the set list.
Flash forward to November (which, my hand to god, I am, still, planning very much to talk about properly in time). I'm by myself on the rail, Adam's B stage, dead centre to the stage, soaked to the skin and back home in every possible sense. I could've made my way up to Emma and the rest of the girls on the main front rail but something had drawn me there instead. We're coming up to the second and final encore, and I pretty much have no idea what to expect. The band come back out, Bono steps to the mike and says words to the effect of "some of our good friends have traveled to be here tonight, traveled all the way from the USA; this song is for them". And then they tore into the Saints are Coming - which from that intro, yes, I had expected, and truly, after One Tree Hill that day owed us nothing anyway, but... my God. I absolutely cannot do justice to that song, that night. It made everything in you just stand up and scream, and it felt like it picked up the entire crowd. If Mt Smart had a roof that song almost more than any other would've blown it off. The energy was astounding, and I was stunned by how many people were singing along, how many people were passionately right there with them on it. It was chilling and beautiful and amazing, and I fell in love with the song all the more right then and there. (Even if, okay, I was a trifle worried that the vid screens would give someone an epileptic siezure. Cos, dude.)
Flash forward another twenty-four hours. I'm standing with Chris, thirty degrees around and a couple meters back from the stage, in a section where the crowd is thin and dancing wildly. We get into the second encore, and even in between the concern about the overwhelming sound and noise (though at least off the rail it's not as hot as it was) the song blows me away again. It really feels like we, as a country, have embraced this song and what it stands for, and even from the less optimal viewpoint it's stunning and engaging and spilling through my skin.
Around the nerves, I can't wait, just can't wait to see this song in Hawaii, one last time, and in a crowd to whom it must have even more relevance and meaning, to see it lift off with Larry's drums exploding out into the night. Except... except, flash forward to December, and this is what I don't understand... it doesn't seem to happen.
I don't know - and I'd love to know what other people think, because this isn't a judgment or a criticism at all - why, but to me, in Hawaii, the song just didn't take off like it had. I was waiting for it to pick us up and run, to go up, and it was still a great song, and it was neat to be part of the history that was Billie Jo coming out to sing as well and all, and I know we* were all screaming our hearts out during it, but I couldn't feel that unity and lift in the crowd there with it, and I'm still wondering why. Which I realise is a little unfair, because I am spoilt with riches beyond words to have had it three times, to have had my shows, and I know for a fact most of the people there were at their first fifth-leg show and had no other opportunities, nothing to compare it with, and that show itself was one of the best I've ever seen for a lot of reasons, but I couldn't explain to anyone at the time how much more it had been at home. I don't know if it was maybe because the mood was a little hinky in the front part of the GA line that show, or whether it really hadn't got as much exposure inside the US and people just weren't familiar, or even if it was some unfortunate reaction to the guest singer, but it was good that night, and it could've (should have) been great. I wonder what the band's perception was, not that we're likely to ever know, of course. I hope this is just a fault of my own perception, and please, if yours is different? Don't let mine make you second-guess that. But I'm interested to know what other people think, now that we can talk about these things a little more.
*By "we" here I mean you guys in particular, the people I was with and that I know. It was the rest of the crowd that had me puzzled.
...so, yeah. Part one of Things My Head Fixates On (Music). I hope it made some sense. To follow eventually, LA2 and onwards, Wake Up, Window in the Skies (which, god, I so want there to be a Daniel/Vala vid to and yes I fully realise that is the sound of half of you justifiably shoving me on the slip-n-slide to hell for that thought), Miles from Grace and a bunch more. (Final paragraph here mostly for my reference, because I've got so many scrap paper bits under my paperweight now that I think I might start losing them if I'm not careful.)
I've been thinking about this post for months, and I'm still not entirely sure how to start it. One of the things my current job gives me, for better or worse, is a lot of time to think, if little time to set most of these thoughts to paper (or at least, to any paper other than the backs of memo papers, sample numbers and filter paper instructions). Another thing it involves is a lot of radio, because while our reception is, as previously mentioned, frequently pretty dire, the work environment is hazardous enough to any kind of delicate equipment that bringing CD players/cassette players is just asking for them to die a rapid death by rock-dust. (I do now use my iPod a lot when it's safe/politic to do so, but I do so with some trepidation - I took apart my mobile phone (which also lives in my pocket at work) the other day, and it was kind of frightening how much dust had made its way inside that.) But, as usual, I digress.
Here's something I should admit: I still haven't watched the Superdome performance of the Saints are Coming. It's one of those weird reluctance things that you can't even entirely explain, that makes no sense, and yet... and yet. Haven't done it yet, can't quite seem to. I have seen the pro video - once - and it was good, and it hurt, but... yeah.
However, ever since it first, finally made it onto the airwaves here - which was at least a week after it came out in the US - I have been really, instantly taken with the song. It was one of those things that, like Vertigo, the very second it started (and without an announcement before it) I knew that it was new U2 and went on high alert. There's something about the drums, the bass, the drive to it that really wraps around my heart and pushes, and it kind of went from being an unfamiliar song I knew I wanted to like to a mood-lifting type of thing rapidly. But at the time, and even leading up to November, I didn't think it was really getting all that much airplay, I didn't expect people to be familiar with it, and I wasn't really holding my breath for it to end up on the set list.
Flash forward to November (which, my hand to god, I am, still, planning very much to talk about properly in time). I'm by myself on the rail, Adam's B stage, dead centre to the stage, soaked to the skin and back home in every possible sense. I could've made my way up to Emma and the rest of the girls on the main front rail but something had drawn me there instead. We're coming up to the second and final encore, and I pretty much have no idea what to expect. The band come back out, Bono steps to the mike and says words to the effect of "some of our good friends have traveled to be here tonight, traveled all the way from the USA; this song is for them". And then they tore into the Saints are Coming - which from that intro, yes, I had expected, and truly, after One Tree Hill that day owed us nothing anyway, but... my God. I absolutely cannot do justice to that song, that night. It made everything in you just stand up and scream, and it felt like it picked up the entire crowd. If Mt Smart had a roof that song almost more than any other would've blown it off. The energy was astounding, and I was stunned by how many people were singing along, how many people were passionately right there with them on it. It was chilling and beautiful and amazing, and I fell in love with the song all the more right then and there. (Even if, okay, I was a trifle worried that the vid screens would give someone an epileptic siezure. Cos, dude.)
Flash forward another twenty-four hours. I'm standing with Chris, thirty degrees around and a couple meters back from the stage, in a section where the crowd is thin and dancing wildly. We get into the second encore, and even in between the concern about the overwhelming sound and noise (though at least off the rail it's not as hot as it was) the song blows me away again. It really feels like we, as a country, have embraced this song and what it stands for, and even from the less optimal viewpoint it's stunning and engaging and spilling through my skin.
Around the nerves, I can't wait, just can't wait to see this song in Hawaii, one last time, and in a crowd to whom it must have even more relevance and meaning, to see it lift off with Larry's drums exploding out into the night. Except... except, flash forward to December, and this is what I don't understand... it doesn't seem to happen.
I don't know - and I'd love to know what other people think, because this isn't a judgment or a criticism at all - why, but to me, in Hawaii, the song just didn't take off like it had. I was waiting for it to pick us up and run, to go up, and it was still a great song, and it was neat to be part of the history that was Billie Jo coming out to sing as well and all, and I know we* were all screaming our hearts out during it, but I couldn't feel that unity and lift in the crowd there with it, and I'm still wondering why. Which I realise is a little unfair, because I am spoilt with riches beyond words to have had it three times, to have had my shows, and I know for a fact most of the people there were at their first fifth-leg show and had no other opportunities, nothing to compare it with, and that show itself was one of the best I've ever seen for a lot of reasons, but I couldn't explain to anyone at the time how much more it had been at home. I don't know if it was maybe because the mood was a little hinky in the front part of the GA line that show, or whether it really hadn't got as much exposure inside the US and people just weren't familiar, or even if it was some unfortunate reaction to the guest singer, but it was good that night, and it could've (should have) been great. I wonder what the band's perception was, not that we're likely to ever know, of course. I hope this is just a fault of my own perception, and please, if yours is different? Don't let mine make you second-guess that. But I'm interested to know what other people think, now that we can talk about these things a little more.
*By "we" here I mean you guys in particular, the people I was with and that I know. It was the rest of the crowd that had me puzzled.
...so, yeah. Part one of Things My Head Fixates On (Music). I hope it made some sense. To follow eventually, LA2 and onwards, Wake Up, Window in the Skies (which, god, I so want there to be a Daniel/Vala vid to and yes I fully realise that is the sound of half of you justifiably shoving me on the slip-n-slide to hell for that thought), Miles from Grace and a bunch more. (Final paragraph here mostly for my reference, because I've got so many scrap paper bits under my paperweight now that I think I might start losing them if I'm not careful.)