Willy Mason is on my wavelength. I can’t begin to describe what I experienced tonight, without a lump forming in my nicotine-clogged throat. Without remembering how I stared so hard at every minute detail of the cigarette lighter vending machine to stop the tears dripping down my face. A friendly faced, cocksure 20 year old man holding the developed world to ransom with a pair of acoustic guitars and a cracked caramel voice. At first, I was unsure if the songs would be as effective live, sans bass, drums, cello, etc. But within seconds of the opening chord of Gotta Keep Movin’ being struck, I was convinced. Willy Mason is a casual prodigy with the aura of a college student, bantering with the glowing crowd, swilling JD from the bottle and smoking for cool. So raw and immediate is his talent, that such potentially cringe-inducing behaviour becomes endearing and permissible. I’ve never felt a crowd so electric, so tuned in and turned on to a performance. It truly was something amazing. The human connection. The thing we forget when we get our phones out and take pictures and record what’s happening and text our mates. Willy Mason reminds us that the real world is happening here and now, and we need only open our eyes and our hearts to experience it. We can stop being content with being distracted, stop half-listening and waiting for the dull grain of technicolour surround sound after the event. We can stop the world now, and start to truly understand what we have left. |
