I went to my first Beatles concert tonight. Sort of, I guess.
The Nashville area is fortunate to have a group called “The WannaBeatles” that does an excellent job covering the famous band’s best-known songs. Tonight they performed at Franklin’s Harlinsdale Park, a 200-acre beauty complete with a lake, walking trails and several rustic buildings. We were among the first to arrive, but by the time the WannaBeatles were 12 or so hits into their two-hour set hundreds were sitting on blankets and in lawn chairs, clapping to the music and singing along.
It was interesting to watch my children and many others dancing near the front of the stage to songs that definitely were not on their iPods. I couldn’t help but think back to all of those mornings in junior high, when I got dressed while listening to Abby Road or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart’s Club Band. I memorized dozens of Beatles songs fairly quickly, and being a writer-type of guy I wondered what thoughts or emotions had gone into the lyrics. I eventually became enamored with the more psychedelic music the group produced in its waning years, little of which was heard at tonight’s show with the exception of “Lucy in the sky With Diamonds.”
Some art is simply timeless. Every generation that stumbles across it becomes enamored. It is work that speaks to the shared human condition. Who doesn’t want to hold someone’s hand? Who doesn’t know somewhere deep inside that money can’t buy you love?
No matter what is happening in this crazy world at any given moment, music that unites generations remains. Tonight was yet another reminder that life is beautiful.
