I have enjoyed a week of incredible musical treats this week. My ears are truly buzzing with a myriad of diverse sounds that I can't switch off.
First off I went to my Jazz club on Wednesday where I saw Tim Kliphuis, a Dutch violinist with a unique style. He plays a wide range of music from American standards to classical but with a twist. Sometimes in Calypso style and then a bit of Brazilian rhythm and it all works a treat. I absolutely loved it and was first up to buy one of his CD's which I have been enjoying on my car journeys this week.
The following day I was invited to see a Blue Grass band playing at a pub in Norwich. Hayley Moyses and The Blue Grass Forum went down a storm and she obviously had her regular followers in attendance. Hayley has a great voice and amuses her audience by changing the words to some popular songs. She is a talented guitarist and violinist. In the band were a lady double base player, a banjoist and another guy on both dobro guitar and banjo. The highlight for me was the "Dueling Banjos" - I have never seen fingers move so fast!
Now for the big one..... Wembley Stadium, London for the final concert of the "Take That" tour. To be honest I was a bit lacklustre by Sunday after my couple of nights out and was on the verge of opting out of this one. I had bought my ticket in November and here we were in July, blisteringly hot, feeling tired and not looking forward to the journey there and back. But I gave myself a little talking to and impressed upon myself the fact that I would wish I had gone if I didn't. So off I set for the concert. A group of four of us went so it was great to have company and I revived as we made our way to Wembley.
As soon as we came out of the tube station there was a buzz. All these people converging on one place for one reason - to see "Take That". When we got inside the stadium, I was taken aback by the crowd. I had never seen 80,000 people all at once before. Our seats felt like they were half way up a mountain side and the people down below looked like a trail of ants!
The supporting acts were not my cup of tea in the least - Gary Go and Lady Gaga. Well the less said the better, but good luck to those who are fans - each to their own I say. For me however, the noise of it was ruffling my equilibrium and I really wondered what I was doing there.
Then it all changed, the stage had been altered and we were ready for "Take That". All of a sudden, there they were! The crowd roared and shivers went down my spine, the atmosphere was electric. Each little ant-like person there was now joined as one great force. Everyone up on their feet, dancing, singing, waving their arms in time and I was immersed in it, smiling from ear to ear.
It was not just the music but the whole spectacle of the show that was awesome. When the band got up and rode on the back of a giant silver elephant that had risen from below the central stage, a tear welled up, it was so moving. Why was it moving? Because everyone involved had gone to all that trouble to make it so unexpected and special; because of the giant scale of the whole thing; because of everyone's reaction that I was a part of; and because elephants always move me, real or not.
Apart from the band there were dozens of other performers involved, to fit in with the circus theme. A man on a wire was incredible, acrobats, trampolinists, and a hilarious bit where the boys rode unicycles from the main stage to the centre circle. It may not sound funny but you had to see it! Oh, I did love it!
In the midst of it all I suddenly went from being engrossed in the performance to a detached observer. I looked up at the evening sky above the stadium. There were small, thin clouds, edged with pink as the sun was going down. It was amazingly beautiful. A bird few across, high above us. What did he make of it? Here was I, amongst this huge number of people, hearing the biggest and most entertaining boy band ever, noticing the beautiful sky, which carried on as normal. Noticing this phenomenon of enormous energy unfolding before me. And I was a part of it, and I was also the onlooker.
At the end of the performance, after the incredible on stage fireworks, we made our way to the tube station. It took an hour just to get from the stadium to the tube! But is was all worth it, so worth it. An experience I will never forget.
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