…well, a night a the theatre to be precise! We went to see ‘We will rock you‘ at the Bristol Hippodrome last night, a musical based purely on Queen tunes about a world where all musical instruments have been banned – I’m sure you’ve heard about it!
Now I’m not a big Queen fan… to be honest I’m not a little Queen fan either… they were always a little too ‘Dad rock’ for me! They we’re in my head based category system with the likes of Genesis and Dire Straits – the kinda stuff middle management 40 somethings listened to because it made them feel a little bit ‘rock and roll’ in their suits and social nooses (ties), the stuff that made you embarrassed when your parents got up and danced to it at weddings.
Let’s face it… unless you’re a Queen fan, it’s not cool.
Now I’m not knocking the music. I have a healthy respect for the talent of Queen, the genius of the songwriting and I loved Brian May as a kid, but I never found that ’something’ that moved my soul on an emotional level… at the time it was probably too advanced musically with the heavy operatic influences and complicated studio trickery which, to me, got in the way of a catchy tune! Now I’m not saying I’m right… and when you consider that at the time I was listening to the likes of Status Quo, Slade and *ahem* Shakin’ Stevens… 
I possibly wasn’t the best judge of these things! But never-the-less, these initial rejections have stayed with me.
Also, I might add that I’m not a big dance fan! (It’s not looking good for me is it?!) Again being brought up on simple music where the bands played their instruments and rocked around a stage (with the exception of ’shaky’ obviously), but they didn’t dance they ‘rocked’! So once again the concept of dance is somewhat lost on me! I don’t understand it so it’s pretty meaningless to me. I think Stephen Fry sums up what could be a deeper issue here But needless to say, it’s not my cup of tea.
Anyway, as you can appreciate I did not go willingly…
But the moment the lights went down, as I sat there in row J, seat 2 of the Grand Circle, the atmosphere changed… it became charged… as the lights got hot and the opening scene setter started, it started to make sense.
No longer was I in seat 2 row J, I was somewhere else, watching these incredible looking characters explain to me how sad the world without music is and how something ached inside of them to express how they felt, but they just didn’t have the means…
I made me feel privileged that I get to do all day what these people are missing out on… I get to share other peoples musical interests and help shape their experience of music – People who lack the knowledge and understanding but who are driven to express themselves in the best way they can… through making a big noise on a guitar! Man, I love my job!
Anyway, I shan’t ruin it if you haven’t seen it yet, but it worked out in the end!
Am I now a devoted Queen fan?
erm, no, sorry, still not…
…but the next time a student asks me how to play the solo to Bohemian Rhapsody, I shall wield my axe with honour knowing that, maybe, just maybe, sometime in the distant future those notes will be passed from student to student, from father to son, from brother to sister, from cool uncle Ralf to little nephew Harry… and then we can rest easy knowing that there will always be somebody who knows someone who can tell them about a time when the electric guitar ruled the world!
