.

yes
we did.
it’s hard to tap the words out, because there is so much to say
and i don’t have music, light, colour, warmth to show you with…

so last night, we went to the sarah mclachlan concert in canberra.

me and chris and charlie’s head.

we stand in the lobby waiting. chris scans the room, and decides that the ratio of men to women is 1 man to 10 women. Those scarce men are either with their girlfriends who’ve persuaded them that it will be a romantic night out, or are gay. Hayley Jensen from Australian Idol is standing next to us in the foyer.

we enter the theatre.
fourth row seats. i was one of the first to book tickets.
i didn’t realise how CLOSE we would be.

We were eight metres from the stage. From the mic where Sarah would stand.

Support act was Butterfly Boucher who was funny and wonderful and wore yellow cowgirl boots and a cheeky smile. She was folksy and rocking and all things good. The most wonderful way to open a sarah mac concert!

An intermission. Hayley Jensen from Australian Idol is standing in front of me at the drinks line. I smile at her. She smiles at me. Kinda cool to have such a brush with fame, considering two years ago the most famous person I knew was a sixty year old man who sang on a commercial back in my (very small) hometown. Anyhewsles, I think Hayley is stalking me. She kept popping up during the night to stand near me. I knew I was famous, but didn’t realise I would have Idols stalking me. Oh well, such is life. I’ll deal. 😉 *gigglesnort*

Back into the huge concert hall. There are people two hundred metres from the stage. Eight metres seems miniscule.

The lights dim.
I start shrieking. As does everyone else in the crowd.
Figures walk out into the darkness of the stage.
We hold our breaths. We know who we are waiting for.
An elfin figure appears at the edge of the stage.
It is HER.
She walks to the middle, opens her mouth, and begins singing.
Those are the moments that held the most magic.
The sweet soaring promise. The incredibility. The wonder.

A woman, a strong one,
singing her heart out.

Sarah sounds exactly as you would think she sounds.
But more. Much much more.
Every breath, every soaring note, every whispered string of sound…
It’s all her.
It floats from a place within her.
She sounds exactly like the best recording of her voice.
The way she could sing soft and low then reach into depths of highness in a moment was incredible.

It wasn’t just about the sounds though.

It was about the passion. The talent.
Sarah was joined on stage with seven other musicians.
Each so earnestly talented, so passionate, so moved by the music.

You just knew that they were doing what they were meant to be doing.
They were living, reaching, grasping, flying with their creative dreams.
They were fulfilling a promise.

i guess that’s what touched me the most.

sarah ~ with her new short hair (I loved it) and her black crushed dress and shimmering peacock shirt.
her band ~
guitarists with huge beautiful jazz guitars
her intense and talented husband on drums
the beautiful bass player with his calm presence and striped shirt.
the keyboardist with a smile which lit the room, who was just as taken with the concert as we were ~ he would beat his hands on his chest and look skyward. i was transfixed by his simple joyfulness.
the backup singer with frizzy blonde hair and an amazing voice.
the pianist and the way he touched his head to the music.

each of them.
each of them.
it was a blessing to see every single one of them perform.

they had a passion, and they followed it.
and in the course of it, they made *beautiful* music.

i couldn’t take photos ~ so i found this picture and played with it in photoshop.
check out the keyboardist behind her ~ he’s the joyful monkey i couldn’t stop watching.

if i close my eyes, i can see sarah so close, smiling and singing and sharing as only she does.
i can feel the beat of music against my chest.

my favourite piece? the encore of Icecream.
Of course.

Your love is better than ice cream…
better than anything else that i’ve tried.

When the lights went down,
and sarah crept out again to play one more song, just for us,
on her piano.
just her.

All these moments, these memories that i will treasure.
i have placed softly in the god box of my heart.

experiences are the essence of our lives.

big love,
leonie

~

i sat eight metres from sarah.
for my next celebrity sighting feat, i would like to sit eight metres from susan.
Just putting that out there 😉
Or James Taylor. He’d do as well 🙂
*gigglesnort*