Friday, June 11, 2010

I gotta peaceful, easy feeling

"Do you think we can get a babysitter for tonight?" I ask my wife on the phone. It is a weeknight and will be hard to secure someone at this last minute. My wife pauses on the phone then suggests "What about taking him with us?", and with that I purchase the tickets to The Eagles concert at the New Meadowlands Stadium. I have been a fan of The Eagles since I first saw them in 1980 (dating myself for sure) and really wanted to experience them live once more, and I will, courtesy of my Father's Day gift. As we drive towards the stadium, it dawned on me that this will be my son's first real concert. My son and I certainly have different tastes, he likes pop and hip hop and I like classic rock and hard rock, but we tolerate the diversity of the genres. Will he like the Mello-California-Country style, we will soon find out. 

We park and make our way to the massive gate entrance of the brand new stadium. My son is in awe of the size of the building. Two escalators up we are on the club level, our level for tonight's festivities. Following the section numbers we are stopped by the guard at the doors to the club entrance, we flash our tickets and she waves us through like VIPs. The new club area is set up like a lounge, quartets of chairs and cocktail tables surround islands of sushi, gourmet pizzas and carving stations. We gravitate toward the oversize window, looking down on the old stadium. The old stadium has been reduced to a massive pile of rubble, and immediately brought back memories of old concerts, past festivals and my son's first football game. After looking around some more, we make our way outside and find our seats. As we sit down, a security man approaches us and asks if we would like to upgrade to a better view, and before we know it, we are sitting with a great view of the stage and now ready for the lights to dim and the music to start. 

A little after 9:00 pm the band takes the stage and the crowd screams as the first song starts. My son is getting into the concert, asking the name of each song as they start, commenting about the instruments and the lighting. I know every word, and am belting out the lyrics, not realizing I am surrounded by people and not alone in the car. I self consciously look around and become aware that everyone is singing loudly as well so I keep on going. My wife and I dance a few times and hold hands around my son, letting real life slip away and fall into a "peaceful easy feeling", a remarkable concert on a memorable evening. We decide to break out at 11:00pm, just as the first encore starts, avoiding the mass exodus through the parking lot. We miraculously find our car and drive out, making sure we do not miss the sign for the Turnpike. With my son sleeping and my wife humming while looking out the window, I think about the concert and how much fun I had, most importantly, sharing it with my family. Happy Fathers Day.
I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching
For a place to hide
Lost and lonely
Now you've given me the will to survive
When we're hungry...love will keep us alive
When we're hungry...love will keep us alive
When we're hungry...love will keep us alive

-From "Love will keep us alive"  

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you enjoyed the concert and the stadium. Too bad about the old one..it had a lot of memories, mostly of freezing my ass off at Giants game. Steve W

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