Jeffery Winborne
The euphoric wave that washes over you, the tangible energy of the crowd, the pulsing speakers that seem to penetrate to your soul and the lyrics that touch every emotional nerve you possess. Live music is back.
On Saturday, I attended the 3 Doors Down concert at Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, the first show held at the venue since early 2020 after the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
From the moment my wife and I got out of our 2008 Pontiac Vibe and stepped foot onto the parking lot of one of Alabama’s premiere concert venues, we could feel the pent-up energy from the people mulling around the grounds waiting for the gates to open. And yes, it was mostly due to the headlining act, whose 2000 hit Kryptonite topped out at number three on the Billboard Top 100 list. But even beyond the excitement of seeing one of the early 2000s hottest rock bands, it was the simple fact that live music was back and we were all there to experience it together.
There is something uniquely special about a live crowd all gathered together for a singular and exciting purpose. It’s a phenomenon not unique to concerts, but any form of entertainment.I’ve sat in the crowd for many pro wrestling shows, including WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando. I’ve sat in Bryant-Denny Stadium for Alabama football games, literally feeling the building shake with energy from the capacity crowd during the 2019 Alabama vs LSU game. But while it’s not unique to concerts, music does set itself apart in very special and emotional ways.
Music, whichever genre you listen to, is meant to touch your soul on a deep and personal level. Nothing compares to hearing a song or the first time and truly feeling it. It can be life’s great therapeutic.
“Away From The Sun,” the hit title track from 3 Doors Down’s second album, is one that is deeply personal to me for a variety of reasons. When the first chords of the song echoed through the venue, it hit me the same way that it does every time I’ve heard it. And then I looked around, listened and realized it hit everyone else the same. They are all 6,000 complete strangers that I couldn’t pick out of a lineup, but in that moment we all shared a tangible bond and connection singing the lyrics along with frontman Brad Arnold.
The first concert I ever attended was the 2004 Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil in Birmingham. It was headlined by Trapt that night, a rock band whose biggest mainstream hit was “Headstrong.” Since then I’ve seen the likes of The Killers, P!nk, The Goo Goo Dolls, Kid Rock, Default, Train and so many others. At every show I’ve attended, the one constant is that everyone is different. We are all bonded together through that single experience.
In a world so deeply divided, very few things bring us all together. In this state, college football does that. Natural disasters do that. In my lifetime, 9/11 did that. But, it’s been said throughout the years that music is our great uniter. It so deeply, emotionally and spiritually connects us all in ways that can’t be put into words. For that reason, it was meant to be experienced together.
Live music is back. After a year of lockdowns and staying indoors, we are able again to take communion in the one thing that unites people from different races, religions, sexes, genders and every other background imaginable. So as the summer concert season is now here, culminating in our very own Foothills Festival in downtown Jasper later this year, go see a show and get lost in the energy and the emotion.
After the year we’ve had, you deserve it.
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Jeffery Winborne is the new media coordinator at the Daily Mountain Eagle. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @JLWinborne.