Last summer Sting came to the city where I live in Germany. When I learned that there would be a concert at the stadium right next to our house, I immediately bought tickets.
On the concert evening, after dinner, I put on my shorts, blouse, and sandals and left the house, feeling like I was going to meet an old friend for coffee. I arrived at the entrance, after crossing the main street and walking a little. After waiting in line with the chattering crowd for a while, I entered and took my place on the fresh and comfortable grass field.
I was very happy to see Sting on the huge platform set up under the cloudless sky.
Even though it was many years ago when I first heard his songs, I never thought that I could listen to him live and right next to my home.
I had prepared many To-do lists since then, but I was surprised to realize that going to a Sting concert was not among them. Either I found it inaccessible because the countries we lived in were far from each other, or I did not wonder where the concerts were because the songs had already leaked to me.
The part of us that still does not understand that we live in a global world where accessibility has increased exponentially needs to be updated. This concert made such an update for me.
I listened to “Fragile” with more feelings. I had a lot of fun singing “English Man in New York” live. The song “Every Breath You Take” increased its mystical effect on me.
I remember the day when I first heard “Shape of My Heart”. I was a student living in the university’s campus dormitory. That day, I was on the way to a concert at the stadium which was close to the dorm. Someone must have been checking the sound system with Sting songs before the concert. I was fascinated by the melodies that the windy warm air carried to my ears from the large speakers on the stage. I found the song and its lyrics after some research. (Finding songs was not as easy back then as it is now.)
In the end, last summer, I was listening to those songs from him in another stadium. This was an integrating experience for me in many ways.
Last summer, again for the first time, I went to the concert of another artist I love, Sertab Erener.
One day during high school summer break, when I walked into my cousin’s room, a song was playing on the tape. It attracted me like a magnet. I listened to all the songs that day. I immediately bought the cassette on my way home. It quickly got worn out from inserting it into the tape recorder again and again. (I can’t listen to a song twenty times recurrently now but that was possible back then.)
Last summer, at her cozy acoustic concert atmosphere, Sertab asked the audience.
“How many years have you been listening to my songs?”
“Thirty years, I think,” someone replied and admitted that it was the first time coming to her concert. This could be also me.
Sertab replied with a smile, “There are many people in your situation. I wonder how it is like this?” she cutely left a question and continued her songs.
Maybe being able to access songs through a variety of other media meets our requirements. For this reason, going to a concert remains in the background among all the life pursuits.
Still, I can say that it was very good to be in the same environment as these artists who accompanied my life with their songs, especially during my youth.
The bonus was meeting other song fans in the same environment and singing with them in unison. To watch others, enjoy the songs as much as I do, to be touched as much as I, with the invisible hands of melodies… Even though we did not know each other, meeting with the same songs and the same feelings… It was priceless.
Are there any artists you love but haven’t yet attended their concerts? Maybe it’s time to put it on your bucket list for this summer.
