Pearls of Fortune
There was a concert featuring ageing rockers, which I felt compelled to attend.
The calling was tempered by the cost of tickets, flights, and accommodation yet the desire to attend despite these impediments, that might have stifled a rational brain, were set aside and a decision was made in favour of attendance.
Post-COVID, we have been fortunate to attend a variety of live acts, drawn to them like warmth after hibernation.
Most of the acts we have attended satisfied the curiosity of teens, but this show was a rite of passage for the adults, who, at nearly 50 years of age, were reliving their youth.
The ticket farming process for the ageing rockers was far less onerous and stressful than another well-publicised concert where, post-event, the experience left several parents with nervousness bordering on anxiety when forced to join an online waiting room only to watch an icon spinning endlessly in a line of tens and hundreds of thousands.
The average age of the demographic in attendance at the ageing rockers concert was easily identifiable.
To enter the stadium, spectacles, or readers as they have become sarcastically known, were employed to ensure that tickets were identifiable in the wallet app of their iPhones.
A gent, probably a few years younger than me, had purchased the same tour t-shirt like many others, a thin, questionable quality garment, oversized of course to cater for an expanding girth because I dared look at carbohydrates.
We instantly became brethren, and he offered me a fist bump, which I obliged with an accompanying guffaw.
It was a clear sign that our age group were the ones who could afford the overpriced merchandise of questionable quality, lining up for an hour in conditions where sunburn and thirst were equally instant.
Fortunately, Red Frogs was out in force providing water, lollies, and sunscreen to a demographic which is not their usual cohort.
"Red Frogs is a support program for young people from the ages of 13 - 30," their website reads.
"We recognise that the culture of young people is dominated by alcohol and that excessive consumption of alcohol and other substances can lead to dangerous and life-altering behaviours.
"Therefore we've made it our mission to provide a positive peer presence in alcohol-fuelled environments where young people gather; educate young people on safe partying behaviours; and promote alcohol-free and/or diversionary activities that engage young people in these environments."
Red Frogs is an amazing organisation who provide support, resources, and education to young people in vulnerable environments. And although we didn't hit their age target, we gave thanks for their arrival like a godsend.
The Melbourne hayfever storm had also taken hold; it became a three-antihistamine day. The heat and dust and pollen fuelled by the wind delivered miserable with every gust.
The magnificent laneways, often dirty and full of litter and leaves that are Melbourne's culture, attract visitors like a swarm to a hive. They also create hayfever clusters, mini tornadoes with the wind swirling and whipping up danger for asthma sufferers.
As we trudged home from the DFO with a few purchases in hand, I constantly sniffled into my Hawthorn packaged tissues, which were on special at the chemist, and continued to moan to the only one who would listen that there was no way I could live in Melbourne - the asthma and hay fever capital of the universe.
Soon enough, it was time to make our way to the stadium for what I termed a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's the stadium where everyone moves in the same direction like a school of Atlantic salmon in a fish farm net.
The concert didn't disappoint nor did the whisky and cola at stadium prices, which I knew would leave me with indigestion but, like most things, I failed to adhere to abstinence because the evening demanded a liquid refreshment.
The ageing lead guitarist made it look easy, shredding and grooving and holding the band together.
Like most of us in the stadium, even this heroic musician wore glasses although it was not to read music as he matched solos from albums more than 30 years old interspersed with improvisation, moving up and down the fretboard with incredible skill and dexterity.
For an ageing rock band, their performance was tight. The world-renowned and revered lead singer was even better than we expected with his ability to entertain the crowd coupled with delivering powerful messages, a terrific combination for the demographic, allowing him to gather us in the palm of his hand.
The stage was rock - simple but effective.
It wasn't the stage from the stadium tours that I had recently experienced. And while there was obvious expertise in the sound and lights and visuals, it was far from overdone, more stripped back to allow the music and the performers to rock on.
The ageing rockers that compelled me to attend left an enduring memory that I will struggle to forget. They delivered joy in my youth and gratitude in middle age.