Let me set the scene. After what seems like months of being housebound and almost at the point of becoming stir crazy, tonight I have been lucky enough to go to a place that not only serve alcoholic beverages but they also have an almost unique sales proposition.
They are mad enough to put on very good live music acts. Maybe its only once a month but its keeping something alive which is on the brink of becoming extinct.
To add to my spring like insanity we decided to invite our grandkids along to see what they thought of it. I was surprised on several levels because one, they agreed to come and two they actually looked like they enjoyed it. Apart from one complaint that they couldn’t hear what each other were talking about.
So here is my question to all of you thirty / forty somethings out in suburbia when did your kids last go to a live band playing live music. Now I am not counting Karaoke, I mean real people playing real instruments and singing without the aid of auto tuning. I suspect not many.
Now I am not trying to sound righteous or superior and I admit at your age I was that busy paying the mortgage that I didn’t have the time or money to partake in such activities. But to watching young people’s faces whilst listening to a band who are playing songs they have only heard on the radio is magical. Its an expression which is a mixture of recognition and the fact that it doesn’t quite sound the same but in the words of my 10 year old granddaughter, “its very loud but brilliant”.
Whilst in-between sets I now realise I am now beginning to sound like my Dad, I was remonstrating with another grumpy northern bloke that when we were young you could go out any night of the week and listen to a live band and it was nothing special.
How little did we know that in the space of thirty years it would no longer be the norm but a treat to be savoured whenever the opportunity arose.
So here is my request to everyone. Just think what activities you enjoyed when you were young. Try to give your children or grandchildren the chance to have the experiences you enjoyed as a kid. Mine include running down a beach trying to fly a kite, the magic of listening to a band who for that moment in time gave you a feeling like nothing you have ever felt before, the magic feeling that sends shivers down your spine.
Putting it simply give them a chance to live in the moment, experience what we have taken for granted and unfortunately let disappear from our lives, because one thing I have learned is that once it has gone, it has gone forever.
John D Eccles 