Sunday 28 March 2010

Patrick.

Last night I joined about a hundred other people in the Rescue Rooms of Nottingham (my first time) to see Emery live. They were phenomenal. Amazing! I've liked them for about 5 years, and haven't seen them before. So good, so worth the wait. I was stood with a friend at the very front, so I could see everything (which is a new experience for my short self at a gig). No quality lost from studio to stage. Still beautiful layering of incredible, most incredible voices. I loved the passion, because there was just so much of it. Emery lyrics are some that have spoken to me often over the past 5 years...they're one of the bands that I retreat to when something big happens. Some of the songs last night brought so much up and I was just really grateful to be allowed to share the music with those who had written it. Beautiful. And absolutely joyful was Josh Head's dancing, twirling the microphone...he really had some surprisingly funky moves, there's no other way to describe it- he moonwalked. Joy! And they were all lovely guys. They connected with the crowd, cracked some jokes, and stuck around to chat to people afterwards. I asked for Toby and Josh's autographs, although I don't really like the concept of autographs- I just felt I should say something more than all I wanted to, which was merely 'thankyou' in mass quantities. So that was nice. Favourite songs, Ponytail Parades (yes!-the song that caught me 5 years ago and still makes me cry sometimes), Fractions "I wanted to mean everything to you, but this isn't right. You keep coming back disassembled and I keep losing this fight", The Smile, the Face...Listening to Freddie Mercury "We are all the same people. With sinning hearts which make us equal"...I honestly loved them all- great gig. So beautiful.

The support were two-fold. First was Deaf Havana, a post-hardcore band from Norfolk of all places. They weren't bad, definitely...I liked their voices together. But the second support, Moneen, were lovely. Absolutely bouncing, so full of energy and obviously just happy and excited to be playing music. I loved it. Especially after the lead singer (and guitarist) and another guitarist entered the crowd, singer drumming with sticks on everything in sight, walking along the bar, the guitarist bringing a drum and placing it at random points in the crowd and playing there for a while. It was just beautifully friendly and inclusive, joyful and quirky. I expected nothing less when they said they were from Canada. Happy days.

So that was all very beautiful. I love music.

This morning I visited T-street and saw my good friend. There were twins being dedicated and the boy was hilariously beautiful because he just looked terrified at the world and everything around him. He made me smile. What else made me smile was a woman who was asked to share a testimony. She got up there, in front of 300 odd people, and began to sing, "all glory to God, not to me, all glory to God"...slowly, passionately, brokenly. Musically, she was completely out of tune. But if you ask me she was unbelievably in tune and perfect harmony. It was incredible, and I wish I and a generation around me could sing like that every day. She then shared that she had had a scan at the hospital (the same scan I am to have in a few weeks) and had been given bad news. She had gone home. She and her family had prayed and fasted. A word was given to the congregation last week that something troubling somebody had been lifted clean away. She went back for a follow up scan, prayed that it would not only be harmless but gone completely in the name of Jesus. The doctors were amazed. No sign anything had ever been wrong. This is our God. My favorite phrase, "I accept your diagnosis...but I refuse to accept your prognosis". Yes.

Yes.

All in all, it's a really sunny day. I got off the bus early and walked through the park singing, because I like it. I ran to the lake because it was windy and the waves made me happy. I sat on a tree to watch the ducks and got my foot stuck in a root, panicked, dropped my phone inside the tree trunk and was scared that a rabid weasel might eat my hand when I tried to fish it out. It didn't.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I have [nearly] reached 19 years. Who would've thunk it.

Smiles all round.

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