Music: So much better live
Posted: Thursday, September 04, 2008 7:00 AM by Paige Newman
Filed Under:
Music
As I stood in the Seattle Center stadium on the last night of the Bumbershoot festival, listening to the crowd sing along as Death Cab For Cutie played “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” the smell of the nearby bay filled the air and the seagulls that flew overhead gleamed white against the darkening sky. People in the stands sported twinkling, blue, glow-in-the-dark pins that looked like thousands of open cell phones and I found myself thinking about how completely invigorating it is to see a band play live.
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Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie belts one out.
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It’s the only art form that happens in front of you without the degree of separation that occurs when you watch a movie or read a book or even view a painting in a museum. Earlier that weekend, watching Neko Case, my friend Lisa showed me the goosebumps that rose on her arms when Neko sang.
I’ve loved live music ever since my first show (the Alarm at the Hollywood Palladium -- don’t judge). I love the way a driving baseline can actually quicken your heartbeat or how listening to a singer hold a note, the way Neko did on Saturday, feels sort of like a miracle.
Watching the band
Battles at Bumbershoot, I was amazed to discover that this funky electronica band (though, really, they defy conventional description) didn’t use the sound loops that I had assumed; they produced quickening beats themselves, live. It was exhausting just watching drummer John Stanier (drenched with sweat after the first song). I didn’t even think I was a fan of that kind of music, and I was dumbfounded.
But that’s what a good live show does to you. It leaves you without judgment, totally open to drink in the experience. This, in my opinion, is why musicians always get the girls (or the boys). I mean, if they can make you feel that way from the stage ... just think about what they could do up close and personal.
And watching that band, or that person, you are guileless. And it’s the pure pleasure of feeling taken back to that perfect space of innocent pleasure that makes a great live show so satisfying.
Yes, summer may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean the music has to stop. I still have TV on the Radio, The National, Sea Navy and Okkervil River on my September calendar.
Did you see a concert that left you speechless this summer? Tell us about it in the comments section.
