The power of music

I have never been a big fan of concerts, never been a music junkie, or someone who will go out of his way or pocket to go see an artist perform live. Call me cheap, but that is the way I have always been. As a teenager, I would shrug at the idea of camping out of Mixup (Mexico’s version of Tower Records) to buy an album or get tickets for a concert, especially if the price was astronomical. I never got it. I remember my friends going to see Madonna, or the Metallica – yes there are some rockers in Mexico too, I now will not accept any association with them, but some of them were my friends – or whomever and I just never cared.
In the last 7 years in DC, I have been to concerts, but I prefer theater to concerts there is something about sitting there listening to music I am not sure I am going to like, that makes me cringe. Maybe it’s the sitting down and doing nothing that drives me nuts, you knows? Yesterday, the cowboy invited me to a Christmas concert, at the DAR Constitution Hall. I have always loved holiday music, it’s the fag in me, I have always been excited by shiny things and nothing brings back memories of Christmas and ornaments and good time as carols and Christmas standards. Of course I said yes and even left work a bit early to make it to dinner before the concert.
We got to the Hall, and being the cynic I am my first thought was how do I get in with the Daughters of the American Revolution? What kind of club are they? Where do I fill in my application? Then I proceeded to check everything and everyone around us out. The Hall is pretty, the lay out is different, at least from the concert halls I know. So we sat down, the Boston Pops all were seated waiting for they very gay director, Keith something or other, who should not wear red blouses, no man should, but his red blouse was just not pretty. All these ideas are going through my mind when all of a sudden the music begins. The lights dim down, and the orchestra starts playing I could not recognize the music, but then the chorus starts, and it was the Gloria, beautifully done. And my attention was focused; it went from all the little details, to the music itself. After a couple of songs, one of the blockbuster songs of the evening was interpreted, none other than Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah, and then in one instant I was reminded why people pay to see music being played live. As the chorus rouse and sang:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
> >Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I got goose bumps all over and my mind started following the music, up and down, up and down. It was powerful; it put me at ease and made me realize how powerful and emotional a good live staging can be. So there, I am now converted, not that I will start going to concerts all the time, but I finally got why people keep going to concerts halls instead of staying at home with the ipod or the cd player.