Every Breath You Take

Concerts bring a mass of people together that may have absolutely nothing in common, and for one night, they share a special relatedness. Whether liberal or conservative, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, whether rich or poor, every person remains steadfast in their love of the artist and can be united as one. At some point the crowd will become incoherent as they take the role as lead vocalist and drown out the front man and sing his famous lyrics in a massive off key frenzy. It's the moment he let's the fans take the lead and we shout it out that becomes the choral moment of zen where we all experience the real concert.

Of course there's always that douche who sings too loudly and ruins the entire concert. But we won't discussing that interruption here.

Last night I attended The Police show in San Diego. After battling traffic in the worst placed amphitheatre in the history of mankind, and almost missing the show (I missed the opening act of Elvis Costello despite my early departure), I sat in the orchestra section and rocked out to sexy Sting and his three-man band. And we sang all night long - I partially blame Rock Band as they have 5 releases available and now we're all more familiar with even lesser known hits from this epic band.



As the band played and the audience sang along, I thought of a recent Chris Martin quote that I came across in reading a review for the next Coldplay album. “I’m a big fan of the singalong, so the principle is, ‘How many men can chant this at once?’ So we’ve put a few chants in there.” For some reason this sits well with me. As the new album was recorded in churches in Spain and Latin America, inspired by Frida Kahlo's painting Viva La Vida, the album bears the same name and has religious references. Which is why I'm reminded of church choirs in a sense - not so much in form and style, but in unity. The grace and harmony of a church choir brings a large group together and unites them as one solid wall of sound. In the same token, fans of a particular band can feel that way when singing at a concert.

Music unites on so many different levels. No matter who you meet, you can always find that you like at least one song with that person. And perhaps that unique and relating moment is the one where you sing in unison "This is How We Do It" or "Ice Ice Baby" and laugh that you still remember every damn word.

These are the times where interests vary across a sea of hobbies and entertainment. It's rare that two people will watch the same shows, listen to the exact same music, share the same religion, and have so much in common they are nearly identical. There's too much variety. But once in awhile we can come together in the joys of song.