If you're on Instagram, you might have seen I went to a concert last week, and that I later did a poll asking if I should write about performing arts.
Well, you voted very clearly — so thank you for making this post come to life!
Opener: Walk the Moon
Besides, I think performing arts are just as important as going to museums.
Everyone is different, and I stand by my belief that "art is for everyone. everyone."
Some might think: But Grace, I don't like paintings, I find museums dull and stuffy.
Degas' Dancers
While I hope I can encourage you to give a museum a chance (you can read more about my love of museums here), when I say art I don't mean a rigid definition of a painting or drawing.
Art to me is architecture, interior design, fashion, paintings, sculptures, music, theater, dance, performance art, artifacts, film, literature, and ultimately, the act of learning.
Sunset from the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
I've been to over a dozen performances — ballet, musicals, plays, symphonies, and live music at restaurants.
2015 visit to London and Phantom of the Opera performance.
And yes, I've been to concerts with popular bands, but never really to one that I wanted to go to.
Last week that finally changed, and I absolutely loved the experience! (I finally get the festival and concert hype)
Not only was it an incredible production, but it was a band I've loved for a long time (apparently if you know me well, you'd be surprised that I'm at all into these guys, but what can I say — I like what I like!).
Muse has crazy sounds, beautiful ballad-esque melodies, and I think their use of piano hooked me early on.
(And, I promise I wasn't thinking about them when I came up with The Muse Life's name, it was a happy coincidence I didn't even realize until this blog was well underway!)
I was blown away by how the whole production came together and the attention to detail that enabled the show to look the way it did.
Producing and choreographing concerts is an art form all on its own!
But it's the energy that comes from music — the pure emotion that can be just as powerful as a painting — and the feeling of being in a crowd where you share a commonality and excitement for the act you're watching.
What's the most powerful performance you've been to?
If I think about it I suspect that ‘the use of piano that hooked you’ is probably related to growing up and being subjected to listening to a lot of older musicians like Billy Joel – though I understand you might be pretty good at it yourself (piano) that is.
Also, in support of your claim to appreciate art in it’s breadth, I know you once sat in the rain just to hear one of the last Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concerts ……