Concert Cruising

Robert Francis was the opening act for the band Fanfarlo. The people that filled 'Juste Pour Rire', were sitting in the audience at café tables chatting with friends.  Robert Francis had attached a bouquet of sunflowers to his microphone; as he sang, butter yellow shadows danced across his face. Francis borrowed the crowd's energy, made it his own and played it back to them, dealing it out in songs. The more engaged the people were, the more Francis opened up, allowing him to slip into his song where he then reminisced about events and stories embodied within the lyrics, attempting to recapture those emotions for an audience. He closed his eyes; I felt like he was completely immersed and comfortable in the company of his music. The band narrated a story and my mind painted a picture to accompany the words.

I stood in the throng of people smiling and clapping. How often are you surrounded by a group of people who are free of worries and who have found a common world in which they can find relief from the banality of the everyday? I wondered what they were thinking of and if they felt free in the hands of music.

When the music finally came to a halt it was as if I awoke from a trance. I felt birds pecking at the insides of my stomach. Should I go and speak to the band or not? I didn't want to come off as a groupie or 'every other girl'. What could I say to him that would distinguish me from the rest? That is when it came to me, an epiphany: I was a writer for my school newspaper covering the concert. I could see the birds escaping from my mouth; set free, I watched them fly above the crowd.

The band stood towards the back of the room listening to the performers that followed their show.  My buddy Lee had finally persuaded me to approach the band.  I walked over with Lee in tow, my heart pounding harder than the speakers. I felt so self-conscious I began worrying about how I was walking which made me so nervous I, of course, stumbled. The bassist smiled and waved us over and proceeded to introduce himself as well as his band mates and shake our hands. When I told the band that I wrote for Traf Trash, Robert Francis was very enthusiastic. (What a good line, I suggest you remember that one for future reference!)

The drummer asked if I was a writer for a high school newspaper.  Robert Francis seemed down to earth and almost shy. I could see them becoming more of a mainstream band in the near future, I suggest you check them out: http://www.myspace.com/robertfrancis

I think going to this concert changed the way in which I had previously perceived music and it's role in our life. It is poetry, and a great musician has the ability to capture human emotions for a few minutes and seal it in a song, the way you would seal a firefly in a glass jar.  It was in that moment that I understood one of my favorite quotes:

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. (Dead Poet's Society)

I begun to comprehend how someone could immensely appreciate and commend an artist, because they can offer you a feeling that humans yearn for: the ability, 'to feel alive' through their poetry, art, music, love, writing.