While a neighbouring country – my Slovenia – celebrates 27th birthday today, here is a band that has survived that awkward age. The poem is for June edition of the A and I Poetry Challenge, and the concert is tomorrow.
First their poem, my favourite:
Up here in my tree
Newspapers matter not to me
No more crowbars to my head
I’m trading stories with the leaves instead
Now two of mine: a 5-line one and a longer one with concrete nouns:
An anticipated event is in danger.
It may be my tenth,
it may be just a little break
in the sobriety of our routine,
but it hurts to think it might not be at all.
The Tuesday when I shall discover
what it means to hold a VIP ticket
to a show of my favourite band
is coming up.
My tenth. That’s Amore.We’ve had the tickets since December.
He stopped the car on our way to Slovenia
to buy them online
as soon as they were up.
A little thing for some, huge for me.The first scare is the news about a Rome stadium.
What’s wrong? Don’t tell me they will move the show!
No, just a bribery scandal about an unbuilt stadium.
Nothing new or special for Italy.
We’re still a go.Then, with just a week to go,
the terrible non-fake news:
“Eddie has completely lost his voice.”
The second London show is cancelled.
The three in Italy, Rome as last, are in question.I have a look at some of the footage
from the night before.
He is struggling.
It’s heart-breaking.
He lets the audience sing, instead.There are some funny tweets:
“Let Stone sing.” (He is the guitarist.)
“Hire me. At least I know all the lyrics.”
Some are upset. You’d be too if you came from the Philippines
only to have your dream cancelled.But suddenly Tuesday is tomorrow,
his voice survived two Italians shows,
the shirt is ready,
uncle will dog-sit bestia,
and no obstacle remains for my little big thing.
The photos are from the last similar occasion four years ago when the concert was in Trieste: the tickets in danger of bestia, one from the day before the show, one from the day of the show, and the setlist that will be hard to top. Here you can find the list of all my previous PJ concerts.
I bought their first album “Ten” (on vinyl) when it came out. 😎
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Yeah! 🙂 I had it on repeat, just that mine was on tape, a local shop did that for you for a small fee. I never owned a record player until now and a CD player only later. A few new years ago amore gifted me remastered Ten on vinyl. 🙂
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It’s a very well recorded album, might just have to pop it on the turntable later and give it a listen. 🙂
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Thanks for the lovely little poem, which speaks so much of what the music means to you, Manja! The explanation enhanced the poem and made me fully understand the whys and wherefores. To last for so long in the fickle music industry is indeed a testament to their talents. Thanks for joining in with the challenge. It is always so lovely to have you contribute. Have a lovely summer holiday!!
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Thank you so much, Amanda. A testament it is! All well to you too.
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Thank you!!
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So what’s that don’t give up shirt? Are those two wedding rings pictured? Their album cover? Or anti-suicide?
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Hihih, so many questions, SMSW! I’m not that kind of fan, the nerdy kind. 😀 I have no idea what it denotes for them. I was just really happy to get this shirt for my 40th birthday from my friends. Don’t give up is a good message universally, I think. Except maybe when you get killed if you don’t give up. I never get that.
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indeed a very good message!!
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like … : )
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Metoometoometoo! 😀
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Such a cute picture of your two – have fun!
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Thank you, Jan. 🙂 That’s the plan!
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That’s some interesting perspective!
There’s not much better than live music.
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Thank you so much, Jay. 🙂 I’m glad you got something out of it. It was a spectacular 3.5 h show.
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nothing beats ALIFE at the show. 😁👍🏼
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Danke, Markus. It was so great! ❤ As we were leaving, I said that I loved every single person there. Pearl Jam fans have at least one thing in common: we are happy to be alive.
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…isn’t it a great feeling to be ALIVE?!!! 😁👍🏼 wonderful, that you had such a great moment!!! 😍
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Hurrah! I saw them three times and all three times were wonderful.
They didn’t used to play Black in concert, for a long, long time. I’d love to hear that live, but I don’t suspect I’ll see them again.
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Oooooh, you did?? Three times! Excellent! Would you mind telling me which shows they were? I love this kind of trivia. Are you sure they didn’t play Black for a lengthy period? 😮 This sounds so strange. I know they didn’t play Alive for a year or so after the Roskilde tragedy.
This time it was ooooh, so so so great, 3.5 hours, 35+ songs, including Black+Alive, Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd and Imagine by John Lennon. And some personal favourites such as Immortality, Rearviewmirror, State of Love and Trust, and Porch. We had VIP tickets in the stands, first row, and I spent some time on my feet slamming away (for example to Animal and Lukin) while amore – who had not known them before the Trieste show 4 years ago – blinked in disbelief and when we came home got ourselves their entire catalogue. ❤ ❤ ❤ Did I tell that you that him and Ed were born on the same year just one day apart? 😉 (Not that I believe in any of that but it's still cute.)
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Yeah, I remember reading about it as well. Because I remember being so disappointed for the second show. I love that song. Definitely in my top 100. I saw them at Deercreek — which is called something sponsored now, in 98 — that was my favorite. I saw them at a Lollapalooza in high school, maybe 91, and I honestly don’t remember where the third one was. Maybe college, but that doesn’t seem right, because I feel like it was outdoor as well.
That’s pretty neat about the birthdays, I DO believe in that stuff.
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