Brandi Carlile- Minnesota State Fair 2010
In 2010 I was lucky enough to get to see Brandi Carlile in concert at the State Fair and this was my picture from that evening with the blog post that it sparked:
You know like you do when you take a great picture, see great art, or hear a beautiful song. Every fiber of your being resonates with recognition and anticipation. You feel it all the way to your core leaving no room for doubt. When you come to the silent still places there is no objection, there is nothing but a resounding YES! from every fiber of your being.Great art is like this, great writing, great friendships…
and great love should be too.
And last night I was blessed yet again to be able to see her live, this time at the Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater. When I had gotten home I was still savoring the electric energy from the concert and looked up a few videos to prolong the experience. It was so much fun seeing everyone at the concert singing along with gusto, watching people dance and jump up and down when their favorite song comes on. The intimacy that is created when people share their hearts is simply beautiful, when they share their gifts and the crowd is willing to receive the music- it electrifies everything and everyone.
One of the most amazing moments of the evening was Brandi sharing her experience of being a young and budding artist and the influence that Lillith Fair had on her and how important it is to nurture young talent, to give back. She had asked for someone in the audience who was a huge fan, under the age of 20, and someone who played guitar. I was assuming that she was going to offer the experience of being able to play with her and instead when the nervous young girl stood there on stage next to her she smiled and said, “It’s yours.” And this young 19 year old woman stood in stunned silence as Brandi placed her guitar around her neck. The entire amphitheater stopped breathing for a moment to witness this act of generosity, of belief, and then exploded into clapping and whistling as it hit everyone that she was absolutely serious.
It reminded me we have a responsibility, an opportunity to offer what we have to one another, it may not be from a big stage, or something of that magnitude, but we still can share that sense of belief, that joy, passing along the opportunity to develop. This young woman’s life is now changed… perhaps she will be an artist, perhaps not, but without a doubt this will be a milestone in her life and she has an even better story to tell. And isn’t that what we do, collect stories, collect moments and share them long beyond the experience.
These are the words that I shared with a friend last night after watching this video of her song Hard Way Home.
That has to be the best feeling, when you get done doing a song and you look around and that moment where everyone’s eyes meet and you know that that was the track that you are going to put on the album, that was the song played the way it was supposed to be played, that was the moment when there was this incredible alchemy and the energy of the room wove itself around and through the music, the instruments, the vocals and the hearts…That is why people play music… and that is why people go to see it… for that moment…Sigh…That is why I love live music. Seeing that moment in person… feeling the energy rise, seeing them lose themselves in time and space, watching the smiles leap from deep within… pretty amazing.
Erica Staab 
Hi Erica! This is Amy from The Messy Middle — I updated my blog this weekend but haven’t been able to move subscribers from wordpress. Sigh. So, if you want to keep following me, you’ll need to resubscribe through wordpress (messymiddle.com). I’m slowly learning more about technology, that’s for sure … thanks for following!
Amy
Oh I am right there with you! Learning, learning, learning 🙂 I will hop on over to your new site and thanks for keeping me in the loop!
I LOVE Brandi! Haven’t gotten to see her live yet, but she’s on my work playlist every day!