AMERICAN IDIOT!!

The last time i remember watching a recording of a rock concert, because thats the closest i have got for quite some time now, is when i saw "Cunning stunts" by Metallica. This was a DVD recorded by my friend from college. Of course just before that was the Pink Floyd "Pulse" recording i saw during my college farewell party.

Just today i bought a CD + DVD of a concert on the Green Day World Tour 2005. The music was exhilarating, the lyrics- thought provoking, the pyrotechnics- mind blowing and the crowd- absolutely manic. Just watching a recorded DVD got me thinking what an awesome experience it must be to actually be there. Then i got thinking of "kick" one might possibly get from "playing" in front of a crowd this huge. What an adrenaline- pumping experience it must be for the members of the band to actually play on stage. The sheer thought sent shivers down my spine.

I have always been enamoured by rockstars, their stage antics, their fan following and most of all the life they live inside their "bubble".What it would be like to be riffing some tunes on stage on the guitar while u r being urged on by thousands for some more. On closer inspection one finds, or so i believe, that their is more to a rock concert than a couple of guys, or girls fo rthat matter, running around stage, producing noise what was best described by a friend of mine as- "labour pains with slight acoustic modifications" (at least with the better rock bands). Their is first the band themselves who have to be "in" to attract a crowd that large. Their songs have to make sense and conect with the crowd. The music accompanying these songs have to be of an appropriate journour. And last, but not the least is the effect/ lighting/ pyrotechnics that has to be "in sync" with the show (something mastered by the showmakers for Pink Floyd). This particular show by Green Day was no exception. It was absolutely fantastic. What i wouldnt have given to be there in the crowd.

I'm sure most people following or listening to rock music tend to fantasize themselves playing the guitar piece on a song. This is the ultimate high and the best way to enjoy a rock song. Without a care in this world, without a thought for what someone standing beside u at the time might think (provided he is not doing the same while listening to a rock song at the moment), without an iota of increduility that of the thousands listening to that song across the globe you r the only one who understands tne true meaning of the song and that the song was written just for you. I had one such song, (as does everyody listening to this kind of music)- "Time" by Pink Floyd. I like to think i understand every meaning, hidden or otherwise, of every word of the song, that I am the only one in this world to do so and that the group, as a whole, are reincarnations of some music god. Strange, wierd, wild , wacky..not at all. Thats what life in college was made of.

Then, albeit in my own innocent way, i used to listen to music solely to listen to music and would not let anything else disturb this sacred relationship. We could sit around and talk for hours about this song or that band. We would try and get into as many roc shows inand around Pune as possible. Can't say i was very successful, but at least i thought of it and hoped and prayed fervently that it happened.

Now, music is something that plays quietly in the background as i am getting ready to go to work, or studying in the foreground etc . Its a pity music, which i thought played an important part in my life, is now reduced to a small compartment of my subconscious self which i dig into reflexly rather than willingly. Which i acknowledge everyday, but enjoy not even for a single moment.

I always felt a step apart from others. While most dreamt of playing the guitar on stage, i had my eyes and heart set on the drums. I would always try and pick out a drummer in the band and follow his every move. I always wanted to play the drums on stage and dreamt of mesmerising the crowd with cool and catchy beats interspersed with some triple rolls some cymbals etc. I guess its because a drummer is an essential and reliable member of the band. Rarely hogs the limelight his beats form the basis of the songs tempo. While a lead singer or lead guitarist can take the crowd to seventh heaven with their rendition it is drummer who with his gutsy beats takes them off the ground in the first place. A drummer is like the binding glue. Overlooked, yet essential!

What happened to all this? Why have i changed so? It was the Green Day DVD that got me thinking about all this after a long time. I felt something, after watching the show, that i hadnt felt in years. I promised to myself, then and there, that come what may i shall never take music for granted as i have in these years gone by. I shall strive to enjoy evry bit of music in evry possible way and to the fullest. And if this promise were to sound like something out of a primary school morning assembly pledge, so be it!!

My first to act to work towards this goal will be to flip open and play a Pink Floyd's PULSE CD and let David Gilmour's haunting voice and fingers work their charm in "Sorrow".