Tears are a part of being human and we are human when we experience tears.
We should all shed tears sometimes. It could be a sad tear, a happy tear, one of sheer joy or perhaps one of pain. It could be an emotive moment in a movie, a shared nostalgic story with loved ones or even a moment of bliss witnessing that very special moment unique to each individual, that makes one’s heart swell.
Recently we had the incredible honour of performing our version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In the Wall’ in front of 37,000 people alongside 68 amazing musicians from The Auckland Symphony Orchestra. There was a tear or two for us through this amazing experience. Not to worry, there wasn’t any crying from sadness, panic or fear and it also wasn’t anything quite as simple as the pure joy of experiencing this moment. The real meaning and volume behind a shed tear in a moment like this for us, is one of deep meaning and perhaps a tough one to put into words… but let’s try!
The moment when a first tear was spilled, was at our soundcheck with the orchestra on the day of the event, just a few hours ahead of the full performance. It is still a huge buzz for us every time we get to take to a stage and with a production as large as this one. Hearing the music pumping out at large festival volumes isn’t just a sound but something you feel on stage. It truly is exhilarating. It is addictive.
Mid song the orchestra starts in on their parts as expected but the tears at this point are somewhat unexpected. Getting to this point has already been a journey…in fact it’s been an epic one. It goes right back to the days when as children, we all first started picking up our instruments and singing and discovering our love for playing music. With that comes the dreams, the visions and the hopes. This moment of playing with an orchestra has been one of those. Now, decades later, after various jobs and career changes to find our way back to music as our first love, thousands of hours of playing, practicing, nerves, performing and traveling for the love of doing music, living music … the moment is now here.
We are on stage at a massive festival event with a world class orchestra behind us. It’s REAL!!! It is something quite incredible and slightly unreal as this dream starts unfolding as a reality in this precise moment. Then, there’s the sound … the sound!! A massive wall of goodness kicking in behind a song that we already get lost in every time we play it. The sensation is almost overwhelming and with a shiver and a momentous feeling of aroha, the first tears fall.
It’s incredible.
It shan’t stop there for this night though. This was the soundcheck. Just the soundcheck!! Next up it’s time
to repeat this live, in front of our audience, all 37,00 of them. No pressure right!? We want this to go well,
we want to be at our absolute best and we are challenged with what lies ahead. We like to flow in our performances, feel the energy of our audience and roll with it so songs morph night by night. When the orchestra joins us for our last song, this can’t happen. We have to be tight and structured, down to the last beat, otherwise we will end up out of sync with them.
We take to the stage, fire into a high energy set, feel the audience jumping on board with us… and it is spectacular. The time for our last song arrives with the orchestra joining us on stage and once again the sound and experience is huge, beautiful and moving. Something is slightly different this time however, everything is the same but it is compiled by the sight of so many people in the audience enjoying the moment. Then the thing that really brings it home and gets the ducts flowing again, is seeing so many familiar faces in this sea of humanity. It’s you, our loyal supporters and we can not only see you all and how many of you there are, but it’s the look on your faces that is the clincher. The excitement, the joy and even the pride! It’s amazing and the realisation hits, that this is not a moment just for us on stage, we are not just sharing it, instead, it is as much your experience as it is ours. You are experiencing this moment and feeling as we do.
It is a momentous feeling and at this moment, amongst this epic performance more tears are spilled. Spilled because of you and spilled with you. Simply beautiful.
This has been one of the most epic experiences of our lives. It felt huge. It felt like home performing on a stage and event like this, in front of such a huge capacity. It felt like a momentous journey and another major destination along the pathway of our music life. Our life of passion and love.
But every destination can only be as great as those with whom you share it and the travel will only be as special as the companions you ride with. We share this life as a band and you are our travel companions.
The realisation came through the journey to reach this next epic destination with you.
So on this night, we shed a tear or two. We don’t mind if you did too.
