WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO ATTEND A LOUIS' CONCERT
How can we love so deeply?
The lights are off for a split second and then on again, flashing. Music starts. Or should I say sound starts? It’s a low sound, just like radio waves trying to synchronize to a station or a record, spinning away. As it gets louder I can feel it everywhere, from head to toe, it’s vibrating inside of me. I close my eyes because I know…I just know everything from this point on will feel like a dream tomorrow and I want to grab every single second of it while I still can. With my eyes closed I feel like my body is gone and I’m just energy in a room that’s completely filled with excitement and love. Love. The sounds slowly become music, cords that my heart instantly recognizes and all I can do is open my eyes, put both arms up and sing along with 10.000 people. We made it. The room that I was in 20 seconds ago does not exist anymore. The energy shifted the second he sat foot on stage, it’s almost palpable, as if you could grab all that happiness and put it in your pocket. Love. It’s halfway through the song when I realize I’ve been smiling the whole time. I look around and I see my smile reflected in every single person.
How can one person bring so much joy to thousands?
I shake my head, look back at the stage. There’s no time to find those answers in the midst of jumping and screaming back the lyrics to the one who wrote them. The next song comes on and the floor is shaking. I thought we couldn’t scream or sing louder, silly me.
How can so many strangers feel so united by one song?
I blink and three, four, five songs go by, with every note hitting exactly how they should. I take a step back, breathe in, breathe out and close my eyes again. I feel my brain struggling to understand what’s happening. I’m not singing anymore, just listening. I listen to his voice, ever so emotional. I listen to 10.000 people singing in tune. I listen to cries and to screams. And if love was a sound, I’m sure I heard it at that moment too. Songs come and go as I sing along and try to take in as much as I can. One song ends, lights are off and screams flood the place. He reaches down and grabs his cup, holds it up for us as someone who says “I see you and I thank you” and then drinks it. Love.
How can someone give so much of themselves to strangers?
There’s a precious moment there, seconds really, right before the next song comes up, that is all silent. Expecting, waiting. The lights turn red and the sound grows louder, as if someone turned on a switch. The drums start, followed by the guitar and then the voice. One by one, hands go up with torches. In seconds the whole place is lit up. If you look closely, you can see the thousands of lights reflected in his eyes. “It’s all for you. Thank you.” the lights seem to say. “I see you” he seems to answer once again, by crouching down and admiring the room in front of him. Love. The song fades away, leaving behind the echo of its lyrics. It is, indeed, a beautiful war. After a few seconds of letting it sink in, a high guitar note takes over the room and the energy is once again palpable, hot and alive.
How can music bring so many people together?
I start jumping again and my body begins signaling to me that it’s tired but there’s no time for that right now. Lights turn off again. Screams. Silence. Screams. Lights back on. If I thought it was humanly impossible to sing louder, I was completely wrong. The next song goes on and once again I can feel emotions flying around in the air. Expectance.
How can we thank someone for changing our lives?
This time the answer comes in seconds. “You were my because.” We created a way to thank him, in his own words. And his smile is enough to know that he thanks us for changing his life too. The relief of screaming this line is accompanied by a rain of red strings falling right on us, turning that moment into something material, real, graspable. I grab one of the strings and put it in my pocket for safe keep. I look up and the stage is empty again. Ok. Now I can hear you better, body. Drink some water, stretch, breathe. I don’t know how much time passes till I hear all the screaming again, but it seems to be enough time for my brain to start grasping what is happening. As he walks back on stage, evoking a wave of energy with him, I feel alive. We all do. It’s almost over, we know it, but we are still here and we’re giving everything we got. Said and done. One more rain of red strings, fireworks go off on stage, the last guitar notes are played. Love. The venue lights turn on, my ears are buzzing and everyone looks around, at a loss for words. Above the buzzing my ears pick up something…Love. Love. Love. “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done, nothing you can’t sing that can’t be sang….All you need is love.”
Louis is an artist that gives everything he has on stage. All his energy, all his voice, all his emotion, all his love and all his gratitude. He offers it as something sacred and he blindly thrusts his audience to handle it with respect. To be on the receiving end of that gift is an indescribable feeling. Maybe the closest word would be love.
These two hours I just described resonated with me for days on end. How can one person bring so much joy to thousands? How can so many strangers feel so united by one song? How can someone give so much of themselves to strangers? How can music bring so many people together? How can we thank someone for changing our lives? And the most important one: How can we love so deeply? I realized those questions are not meant to be answered by words. For most of them the answer doesn't even matter, really. The important thing is that we do it, we feel it, even without knowing how. It’s just a concert, I know, but if you look close enough, it’s also so much more. Love.