I love live music. It’s one of the things I’ve missed during the Pandemic. Last week I went to a gig for the first time in nearly two years.
Since I bought the tickets to see Elbow, the concert had been rescheduled twice, but it finally arrived. We were going to the O2 Academy in Newcastle, a small (2000 capacity) venue that makes me feel quite nostalgic for the gigs I went to in my student days, before there were huge arenas in every city.
We’d decided to make a night of it and had a meal at a nearby pub beforehand. Sitting there, that wonderful sense of anticipation began to build when I overheard the people at the next table discussing the band and other gigs they’d been to – they were heading for Elbow too. We finished our meal and went round the corner to join the queue.
I had booked accessible seating and arrived on my scooter The security staff were excellent, and guided us efficiently, via a ramp and lifts, to our seats, on a platform just behind the mixing desk.
K was highly delighted about this. We met at college where we were both members of the Entertainments Committee that put on gigs for the student body. He got really involved in the technical side and to this day, whenever we go to a concert together, we see two different gigs. I see the staging and the performance; he identifies all the equipment, listens to and assesses the sound mix and notes any issues: a hum on one of the speakers, a channel dropping out: things I rarely notice!
This is the most crowded place I’d been to since Lockdown. We’d been asked to take evidence of vaccination or a negative COVID test but this was not checked. I was reassured that there were ventilation ducts above where I was seating and I could actually feel the cold air. I had taken my mask off after I took my seat, but began to feel a little uneasy when the room filled up and there were people standing quite close behind me. I put the mask back on and relaxed.
Two reasonable support acts later , the main band were due on stage. If you haven’t come across Elbow before, you might know their biggest hit, “One Day Like This”, which was everywhere when it came out and became something of an anthem that summer. The band are from the Manchester area and have been going for years. We’ve seen them several times. Apart from the great music, Elbow’s frontman, Guy Garvey, always has a great rapport with the audience that makes even a large arena feel like an intimate little gig. As the band came on stage, Garvey said, “Sorry we’re late.” In that moment, the last 18 months melted away.
As Elbow performed a 90 minute set of old favourites and new album tracks, with stories and banter with the crowd in between, I remembered all the things I love about live music: that throb in your chest from the sub-bass; the joy of recognising a favourite song from the first few notes of the intro; being mesmerised by a good light show; singing yourself hoarse and noticing that those around you are all singing their hearts out too.
There was an acknowledgment that we’d all had been through difficult times over the last 18 months and that this was the first time back at a gig for many of us. It made the shared experience of being there all the more poignant.
All too soon the encore was upon us and it was time for one final song, which had to be One Day Like This, with Garvey conducting layers of voices in a final chorus. Marvellous.
Then it was over and I was just one of 2000 smiling people leaving the auditorium.
Have you been to any concerts since COVID restrictions were lifted? What did you see? How did it make you feel?
Stitches by the Sea 