The Power of Live Rock ‘n Roll!

LOVE live rock ‘n roll! Especially when it’s a great local band whose fans know not just every word but every scream ! OMG. The crowd at Salt Lake’s Depot, part of the old Union Pacific train station, was a little different from the crowd from the live shows I’ve seen at New York venues like the Beacon, The Bitter End and the Cutting Room. Lots of Duck Dynasty style beards and a lot of blue and black t-shirts. My fave slogan: Family, Faith, Freedom, Firearms! Also a sprinkling of women with below-the-shoulder blond hair cascading into big curls.

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What I really loved was the way the band, Royal Bliss, which has been around for 24 years and seen the lead singer recover from what should have been crippling injuries from a fall, as well bandmates having a variety of adventures that involved some encounters with the law, was clearly the poet laureate for this crowd. The crowd sang their hearts out about love, heartbreak and pain, with the lead singer often inviting them to by holding the mic out to them.

The diehard fans, who came not just from Utah but surrounding states like Idaho, could tell right away that this was the first time we’d seen their beloved @RoyalBlissband, since we were the only people there who did not know a single word of any of the songs.

So a guy next to us, shaved head, black t-shirt with something about America on the back, adopted us. He turned to me during one ballad, all teary eyed, “we played this when we walked down the aisle at our wedding!” When another song came along about loving each other, he wrapped his arms around me and my friend , again getting a little sentimentally sniffly, saying “Yeah, that’s what we got to do, with all this shit going on.”

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And I thought of a political psychologist’s presentation I heard, that said most people acrosss the political spectrum want fair elections, a clean earth for our kids, good health care and good jobs. Not just for themselves but for everyone. What great tunes can do!