July 4 2006: Belle and Sebastian, Martha Wainwright – Battery Park, New York NY
Today was, between work and school, my only day off all summer. So I thought I’d see me some music, and thought maybe I could talk someone into joining me. It seemed a given that I’d get at least a few takers. I mean, I offered to drive, it’s free show, and there are good times to be had in New York. Who WOULDN’T want such things in their life? Well, everyone I know in the Northeast, it seems. Jared (in Boston): “I have to shop for a car.” Adam (in Northampton): “I’m not really feeling up to traveling.” Sairi (in Northampton): “I’ve got schoolwork.” Josh (in New York): “I’m in Oregon.” Erin (some town in NE New Jersey): “I’ve got other plans.” Dominick (in Princeton): “I have to break up with my girlfriend.”
But fuck them. Who needs friends when you’ve got a full tank of gas, a couple bucks, no outstanding warrants for your arrest, a few sandwiches, Hemmingway’s collected short stories, and a free Belle and Sebastian show at the end of the road? Not I, I always say. Goddamn. The pirate’s life for me.
And while laying on my back on the grass in Battery Park at around 2pm (this was a day show), waiting for things to get started, I could not help but just grin stupidly at my fantastic luck to be at this particular place at this particular time. Sometimes the world cannot get any more perfect.
And Belle and Sebastian had strings. Despite not having strings when I saw them in March. There were twelve musicians on stage. The world got more perfect.
They played songs I hadn’t heard in two years and which were so very pleasant to hear again. Songs like “Sleep the Clock Around” and “I Fought in a War.”
And they played songs I hadn’t heard in five years and had just taken for granted that I’d never hear again. Songs like “Don’t Leave the Light On Baby” and “La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie” and “If You’re Feeling Sinister” and “Dirty Dream #2.” How much better? How much better? Could my life get?
And so here I salute the good people of Samaria, Mahatma Gandhi, the invention of the lightbulb , Albert Einstein, and the Beatles. For we see further only by standing on the shoulders of giants. And this concert was perhaps the high water mark, the culmination, the absolute fucking zenith of everything come before.
But fuck them. Who needs friends when you’ve got a full tank of gas, a couple bucks, no outstanding warrants for your arrest, a few sandwiches, Hemmingway’s collected short stories, and a free Belle and Sebastian show at the end of the road? Not I, I always say. Goddamn. The pirate’s life for me.
And while laying on my back on the grass in Battery Park at around 2pm (this was a day show), waiting for things to get started, I could not help but just grin stupidly at my fantastic luck to be at this particular place at this particular time. Sometimes the world cannot get any more perfect.
And Belle and Sebastian had strings. Despite not having strings when I saw them in March. There were twelve musicians on stage. The world got more perfect.
They played songs I hadn’t heard in two years and which were so very pleasant to hear again. Songs like “Sleep the Clock Around” and “I Fought in a War.”
And they played songs I hadn’t heard in five years and had just taken for granted that I’d never hear again. Songs like “Don’t Leave the Light On Baby” and “La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie” and “If You’re Feeling Sinister” and “Dirty Dream #2.” How much better? How much better? Could my life get?
And so here I salute the good people of Samaria, Mahatma Gandhi, the invention of the lightbulb , Albert Einstein, and the Beatles. For we see further only by standing on the shoulders of giants. And this concert was perhaps the high water mark, the culmination, the absolute fucking zenith of everything come before.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 1:14 AM
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