Marching On - The Spirit of 2016

30 years ago today,  I went to my very first rock concert.  I had just turned 16, and had only had my driver's license about a month.  Of course, my parents wouldn't allow me to drive to the concert, which was held at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas.  That really didn't matter too much to me; I was simply keen on going to the show. There would be plenty of other times for driving.

Earlier that school year (in the autumn of '85), my first year in high school, I had met a guy who introduced me to the music of the Alarm.   From the first listen, I was totally hooked, and over the months had spent countless hours listening to all of the albums, including the latest release, Strength, which was quite their tour de force.  

My buddy had already seen the Alarm during their fall tour, and he told me that he was sure that they'd be back in the spring.  Sure enough, concert dates were announced and we organized our tickets.  I had already heard from my friend how great a live show the band tended to put on, and I had big expectations. 

Well, that concert was a bit of a watershed for me.  To this day, it still remains my favorite concert, but more importantly, it really hammered the musical influence into me.   I have been to loads of concerts over the past three decades, and while many (if not most) were all special in their own right, it is simply the experience of seeing the Alarm that makes for one of those great moments in my life.  The band enjoyed playing the gig, and played their hearts out.  Not only that, they go out of their way to share the experience, the music with the fans.  It makes for a really moving experience. 

Over the years, I have quoted more than once from Alarm lyrics in various posts, and I will do it here again at the end of this piece.   The words always seem to fit, and I can certainly take joy in the motivation that the music still brings me.

About a month before the Alarm played my show in Dallas, they put on a free concert on a college campus that MTV broadcast live.  Though I was aware of this live concert, I think I didn't actually see the video until years after.  At any rate, last month I watched it one Saturday morning, and it helped bring back a few wonderful memories.  (If you have 70 minutes or so, I would encourage you to check out the concert.)  Not surprisingly, the set list was pretty much the same as what I saw  at the Bronco Bowl a few weeks later,


For me, that particular Saturday morning was pretty tough, so as the energy and inspiration that came from the video was more than welcome.
I almost got my guitar out and held it over my head (once you see the opening song, you know what I am referring to), but in the end just sang the words:

Take this song of freedom
Put it on and arm yourself for the fight
Our hearts must have the courage
to keep on marching on and on

I have sung those lines together with thousands of fans, or simply alone, like the other day. 
Either way, no matter how often I sing those words, I still get the same great feeling.

Strength.


see you out there
bryan

Ack! Too Many Public Holidays This Month!

May is a month of public holidays in Germany, and this year, all of them have landed on weekdays, which basically means that we have at least three fewer working days.  I am certainly not complaining, but I am using it to explain my lack of posts the past couple of weeks.   Who am I to stand in the way of public holidays?  The number of days off came as a surprise to me years ago when I first moved here.  We had just started our repair operation, and two months after launch (when things were far from stable) we suddenly had a holiday each week.  That is thing:   When the calendar works right and the holidays fall on weekdays, it kind of throws you for a loop, albeit a good loop.

When the weather has cooperated, I have tried to take advantage of the extra days off by spending time outside.  Of course, everyone else is doing this too, so the cafes and pubs are pretty active.  Frankfurt have had sort of a bad footballing year, and within a matter of days, one of the teams has been relegated to the 3rd division (from the 2nd), and the team in the Bundesliga has to play a relegation playoff, and their form for most of the season has been poor and indifferent.  Thus, I am not expecting them to stay up.

Meanwhile, the English league finished with a bit of last minute drama.  I will refrain from making too many comments, because the pundits have really irritated me in recent months.  While I respect that Arsenal did not have a particularly good season, they still managed to come in a distant second place in the league.  Thanks again to the Geordies who did a number on Spurs on the final day of the season.  That made my month. 

In fact, as the match results were coming through, and despite my lower back pain (yep, i threw my back out about a week and half ago), I rushed over to the pub to celebrate with....erm, no one, really.  It was just another Sunday afternoon before a public holiday (Monday) where everyone was out and about enjoying the weather, eating ice cream, having a drink, and in my case, looking forward to a break from football, albeit we have only a  few short weeks until the Euros. 

This morning, my back is feeling quite a bit better, the weekend is almost here, and next week?  You guessed it.  We have another public holiday.

See you out there
bryan