There was over 30,000 of us.
It was body to body.
Hot.
Violent.
I saw at least 8 different people pass out or be carried away.
Security guards pulled people over the sides of gates to keep from getting crushed.
I put my hand up in the air and stared at Jordan’s black arm band on my wrist
and the open sky to keep from passing out.
I was 10 rows back from the front and Jack White was the next band up.
I needed to not pass out.
I needed to hold my own in a pit of elbows and shoving and pushing.
And I knew…
I knew
I’d be rewarded.
I was right.
I squeezed my way to the front.
I lone wolf’ed this show – so I only had me to worry about.
The moment my hands touched the front rail….
front and center…
it was ON.
He came out and it was a frenzy.
Photo by Rachel Barrish
It was an hour and 1/2 set of wildness that took me out of my body….
it was a moment where
NOTHING ELSE MATTERED.
And I thought….
What is it that makes us worship our heroes?
And watching Jack White…
watching him sing and play his guitars…
watching him get in that space
get that look on his face
like he is getting to another place
and taking us with him.
Yes,
Please.
I want to dissect it.
I want to know how I “get there”.
I want to know how I felt like I was on the best drugs the street can offer
for 2 hours after the show was done -completely sober.
I want to know why my legs were still shaking an hour later in my car on the drive home.
I want it again and again.
I fiend it.
So what is it?
This is what I’ve got:
♥ No Fucking Apologies.
My heroes, and in this case, Jack White, just hurl themselves into a show, full force.
There’s no holding back.
There’s no censorship.
There’s no worrying about judgement.
It’s just wild and raw.
♥ Keep Pushing the Envelope.
There’s something about seeing someone who has practiced, practiced, created their world and keeps growing.
Sure the White Stripes broke up in 2011. Maybe most people would just end it there, but he’s continued on with The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs and a bunch of cool side project collaborations with Loretta Lynn, Beck, and others. Now he’s doing his own thing, exploring and growing different styles.
Take it to different levels.
Keep pushing.
Keep growing.
♥ Let It All Go.
I remember seeing Trent Reznor on Nine Inch Nails crying in front of me while he sang Hurt. He stopped singing, unable to continue with the words and fell to his knees and curled up on the ground in a ball slamming the microphone into the floor. There was something about it that I will never forget because it was REAL.
This life is crazy sometimes – with its wild hurts and frenzied triumphs.
And I can’t get down with “Perfect”.
It’s not the truth.
I can never be there.
I am flawed in more ways than I can tell you in a single blog post.
And when I’m cool with all the things about me that are NOT perfect
that’s when I’m in my power MOST.
This is a screenshot of one of my daily guitar practice videos in which I let myself be flawed…
and when I let myself go with it….
I can sometimes get there…
in that place…
where nothing else matters
but
this.
Now go fuck it up.
Hurl yourself into it.
Tell the truth.
Flaunt your flaws.
Live your Danger.
See you out there.