More Than a Feeling

Windows rolled down. Soft brown waves twirling hand in hand with the breeze. Mirrored aviators pushed up on the bridge of my nose. Lips pursed together with the slightest of tugs upward to form a smile. Fingers spin the dial around cranking the volume up as the electric guitar reverberates out through the speakers.

When I think back to any given summer afternoon while I was in high school or college, this is the image that undoubtedly always comes to mind. Just me riding solo in my car on an aimless drive…windows rolled down and 70’s classic rock music blasting. I didn’t have a care in the world about how much gas I was wasting or whether or not I ever ended up somewhere purposeful. All that mattered was the drive….the music….the escape. 

While most kids my age growing up had cd cases and iPod playlists filled with the current hip hop and pop music of the day, my music collection was largely restricted to ACDC, Van Halen, CCR, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Guns and Roses, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, and most importantly…..Boston. I suppose I owe my love and appreciation for the classic rock artists to my dad. Riding around with him in his little red truck when I was little, it was the only music he ever talked about or played. I was raised to believe that that was the only music worth listening to or that would withstand the tests of time. And all these years later, I still agree with him on both counts. 

A few months ago, when I heard the news that Boston was coming to perform one of their 40^th Anniversary concerts in Billings, I was absolutely ecstatic. Boston’s music has the rhythm and lyrics that has always made me close my eyes and drift away from all the chaos of daily life. It’s the kind of music that makes you want to drive and never once think of looking in your rearview mirror. Their upcoming concert was not only one I needed this summer but it was one that my dad and I had to attend together. 

After telling my dad the news, he quickly purchased 3 tickets for myself, him and my mom. Then the countdown to the music event of the summer began.

It was a nearly four hour drive to Billings the day of the concert. But we knew the drive would be worth it. After arriving at the MetraPark and getting in line at the door, I observed that I was clearly one of the youngest people there. Most everyone else looked to be about my parents’ age. It made me sort of sad but I knew everyone else was missing out on an amazing event. The funny thing is, I think a lot of people my age actually love Boston’s music but they aren’t aware of who the band is. A few days before the concert I was telling a friend about how I was going to see Boston and he just laughed and said he hoped I hadn’t paid a lot for the tickets because it was just a bunch of old men. Ironically, not long after taking our seats at the concert, I received a text message from this same friend who said he’d looked up some of Boston’s music and actually loved a lot of their songs. He admitted what an idiot he had been earlier. The text made me smile. 

 

“We were just another band out of Boston, on the road and tryin’ to make ends meet….” Those epic lyrics were the ones that Boston opened the night with. I immediately started singing along and when I glanced over to look at my dad, he was singing too. It was a beautiful moment.

For the next couple of hours, the band rolled from one song right into the next one. Each word, drum beat and chord of the guitar strings was like a trip down memory lane to every summer drive I’ve ever taken. The concert was like listening to my every summer’s soundtrack. Truly incredible. 

There aren’t very many aspects about this life that everyone can agree on….musical genre included. But the one unifying aspect about music is that we all love some version of it. It’s transformative and transports us to places and moments we’ve long forgotten or left behind. It can motivate or comfort us. We can use it express things we have no other way of expressing.While my musical tastes have certainly expanded well beyond the borders of classic rock, there will always be a special place in my heart for that generation of music. Soon all of those artists will exist only within the music they played so I am extremely grateful to have been able to witness the real thing performing the songs I know and love.