A ah ahh (Saturday May 5th, 2007 - 19:46)

category: mmhuh?

I’m still trying to sort out what I’m feeling from my America trip because there were so many brilliant aspects to it from laughing deliriously with old friends, sharing great meals, running about til my feet would run no more, shopping shopping and more shopping, doing the touristy things and finally getting a taste for LA, and of course seeing my favourite wee little band doing their comeback after splitting up 9 years ago.

Photos and holiday gibberish to follow soon enough but in the mean time..

It took a lot of effort in the days prior to the Jesus and Mary Chain‘s show to ignore what was around the corner. Any time I accidentally gave it some thought made my knees wobble slightly. As we drove to Pomona I focussed on navigating us in the right direction, looking for the freeway exit and locating the venue but as we got out of the car, saw the people milling about, JAMC tshirts on every third person, I couldn’t ignore it any more.

I couldn’t sit still, I couldn’t think, I could barely talk. How ridiculous! We met some old and some new friends but my head was niggling. I went on walks around the block. I fidgeted. Pondered. Wondered.

After a few looks inside the venue we finally took our places as the support band finished. The front rows weren’t budging but we were only a few rows in. My knees wobbled some more and I left my friends to go and sit in the photo pit and give my nerves a talking to. Why so nervous? I don’t really know but it’s probably because the reunion was so unexpected and when I’d last travelled to LA to see them they had broken up 15 minutes in to the set.

A few more photographers wandered in to the pit and then the band came on stage and launched in to Never Understand off their album Psychocandy released all the way back in 1985 when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I didn’t know whether to shoot or watch or fall on the ground. Jim Reid was looking like he meant business, brother William stood in the shadows on stage right with concentration over his guitar, Phil King on bass and Mark Crozer on guitar filled out the sound and provided backing vocals, and Loz Colbert’s drumming knew exactly when to let loose and when to reel it back in. Over the next 59 minutes I was mesmerised, star-struck, and in absolute awe. My butterflies and knees recovered and a huge smile had taken over my face.

The whole set was so much more than I had allowed myself to expect. Some Candy Talking tugged intensely at my heart. We were treated to a new song All Things Must Pass which got stuck in my head immediately. Hearing Jim’s voice so powerful and his little a ah ahh’s again will stay with me. Seeing William back on stage with a band was a thrill.

I didn’t want it to end but I knew there’d be more the next day at Coachella. As they left the stage sans-encore (because apparently they had no more songs 🙂 ) I found one of my best buds with a big grin on his face and received a very happy hug. Seeing your favourite band is one thing, seeing them re-form is another thing again, and being able to share it with friends from all over this strangely large world is more than words could convey.

The following day we headed to Coachella for more of the same. Instead of a small 900-people crowd they played to tens of thousands of people as the sunset behind the palm trees in a California desert. We were about ten people in from the front, off to the left-hand side. I watched the band on stage, looked up at the video screens for close-ups, and kept an eye on my friends smiling and bouncing around, hearts full of happiness.

I had no wobbly knees this time and the band delivered even more powerfully than at the Glass House the night before. The crowd was singing and pumping arms in the air. Another 59 minute set, another mind-blowing performance, followed by hugs and more happy smiles.