With this post, I’d like to thank kd lang for unlocking something in me. I caught her live at the Esplanade in Singapore the day she turned 50. I liked the way she declared it in front of 1,800 “fellow freaks” as she called us.
The day I declared turning 50, I did in in front of only 20 close friends – but thanks to viral word of mouth plus the fact that it happened during a WIT Conference, I guess it’s now known by 20×2(days)x450(delegates)x6,000(Facebook fans)x1,000 (Twitter followers).
I am trying to be writer who can geek.
It was good to see kd lang at 50. She looked great and she glowed. And her music flowed. Like well aged wine.
If anything, I think she’s found her groove as an artist. Her latest album, Sing It Loud, with her new band, Siss Boom Bang, talks about claiming “who you are”. Gone ‘s the angst of her earlier songs and in place, a new-found sound that has a soulful blend of joy and irony. Think Talking Heads-meet-Joni Mitchell.
Her version of the Heads’ “Heaven” drips with irony, her unplugged rendition of “Hallelujah” makes you melt and her fresh interpretation of her breakout hit “Constant Craving” is fun and upbeat.
By the time she got to the closing, her shoes were off (that’s after she blew out the candles on her birthday cake) and, in her final number, she said, ““We want our music to be home for you, that’s why we make them.”
Yes, by the time you get to 50, you realize life’s bitter+sweet, dark+light, sad+funny. Everything but black+white.
Reminds me of a conversation my niece had the other day as she was eating an avocado from Sabah. “Why does it taste sweet in the beginning and then bitter at the end?” she asked.
“That’s life, isn’t it,” retorted another 50-year-old soul.
I told Travelstart’s Stephan Ekbergh about watching kd lang and her turning 50 and the man who wowed us at WIT with his “customer love” said, “So what, rich 50 is the new 30.”
I like his qualification. Money can buy you youth?
A few days later, I was back at the Esplanade watching The National, an indie rock band from Ohio. This couldn’t be a more different band than kd lang’s.
The National is a relatively young band – formed in 1999 – but from their music, you’d think these were old, tortured souls. Think Leonard Cohen-meets-Arcade Fire.
Their songs are a blend of dark+light, soft+heavy, sweet+bitter or as someone said, “beautifully tortured”. They sound like elegies to lost love, innocence, youth …. whatever you can lose in the journey of life.
Yet they are strangely uplifting.
A great concert/experience/event is also when the unexpected happens.
You would expect a rock concert to end with a siss boom bang but for its final encore, The National went unplugged and lead singer Matt Berninger led the audience in a sweet and tender rendition of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”.
Yes, even geeks can cry.
