May 6, 2009
It should be illegal to feel this good.
Last weekend I had the privilege of seeing Sammy Hagar and the Wabos in concert in South Lake Tahoe. I was in the front row as Sammy came over and sat down on the stage right in front of me to play the intro to “Bad Motor Scooter.” I had to back up so he could get his red shoes over the edge of the stage.
When Sammy played his slide guitar, I watched his fingers move over the strings, his thumb encased in a clear glass slide, his hands finding the exact place on the strings and quivering to create the vibration and make the sound come alive.
The sound was bigger than Sammy, bigger than the audience, bigger than all of it put together and it spilled out of the giant speakers and bounced off the crowd in the sold-out South Shore Room at Harrah’s.
As he played, the energy of the moment was so intense, I was afraid to absorb it for fear that it would overload my senses. So to counteract it, I hid behind my camera and told myself if I didn’t get pictures, I would forever regret it. Every now and then I lowered the camera and let the energy flow into me, but I didn’t let it enter me completely; it was too powerful.
And now that it’s “safe” to think about it, I realize that great rock music makes me fall to pieces like that. I love/hate this feeling.
Rock music elicits a loss of self-control that fuses pain and pleasure. It’s a form of therapy that forces us to let go and allow raw feelings to surface, things that perhaps “decent” people would consider taboo and refuse to acknowledge.
That only makes it more delicious.
But because of this, we are restored.
Experiencing a live rock ‘n’ roll performance full force is also like having spontaneous, unprotected sex. It puts you in that moment where it’s do or die, on the edge where there’s no turning back. It’s so extreme that you are willing to let it take you even though you know better. You’ve found yourself in that moment—sweating, heart pounding and consumed with an ache that can’t be extinguished by any other means. And although your logical mind says you shouldn’t be doing this, your emotions are out of control.
It’s like trying to halt a galloping stallion who doesn’t feel the pain of the bit puncturing the roof of his mouth as you pull back on the reins. The drive in him is unbearable. He knows where he needs to go and all you can do is hold on and enjoy the exhilaration of the ride.
How does one harness a feeling like that? Body and spirit open wide to take it all in now, to take it in hard. And it hurts so fine as you explode into the stars.
It’s rock ‘n’ roll, Baby, you don’t control it; it controls you.
Give me more.