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Fleur Blüm

~ writer, performer, musician

Fleur Blüm

Tag Archives: Pink Floyd

Just three songs?!

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by toearlyretirement in Music, My Journey, Writing101

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Art, Artist Date, Bad days, Challenge, Depression, Doc Neeson, Hallelujah, Inspiration, Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Melbourne, Michael Buble, Motivation, Muse, Music, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Nurturing yourself, Opera, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Angels, Tom Waits, Writing, Writing101

Today’s prompt is to write about three songs that are important to you, and I’m really struggling with it. There are so many songs that are important to me, and the songs that speak to me at one point in time are different to the songs that speak to me now.

I remember when I living in Thomastown, I would have been 22 or 23 I suppose, and I used to get terrible bouts of depression. One of the things I found that really helped, sometimes, was to really just indulge in the feeling. I would turn the lights out in my room and lie on my bed in the dark listening to Muse and Nine Inch Nails and crying. It was a release.

Music has always played an important part in my life. I remember the music that my partners and friends exposed me to; Sean and Slayer, Kelly with his numetal and trance music, Damien who introduced me to NIN and Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, Wade, gorgeous Wade, who introduced me to so many fantastic artists and bands, and who had an amazing knowledge of all of them, even now I can recount some of his interesting tidbits when a song comes on the golden oldies station in he car. Wade was the one who opened the door to Leonard Cohen, and made me see the beauty in his version of Hallelujah. He showed me Johnny Cash, and Nick Cave, and The Angels (vale Doc), and so many more. Richard who lent me the entire discography of Pink Floyd. Aaron who showed me the genius of Dolly Parton and Elvis. And Paul for Die Antwoord. And Louise, the best poet I know, who shared Radiohead and PJ Harvey with me. And Jonathan and Gabrielle for Queens of the Stone Age, and Serge Gainsbourg, and The Cramps. And Simon and Kat for The Nymphs and The Bluebottles. I could go through almost my entire collection and tell you who each artist/band came from.

There’s something about the relationship between who shared the music with you and how you feel about that artist/band. Something more powerful than the music itself sometimes. An almost magical force that ties you together, the sense memory of the good times and a feeling of knowing the musicians because of how well you know the people who first experienced it with you.

For me, I could never pick just three songs. I could never say it’s ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, and ‘The Perfect Drug’ and ‘Creep’. Because it’s Johnny Cash singing ‘Hurt’ and it’s Nirvana singing ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ and it’s PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke crying over Nick Cave, and it’s Skrillex dropping the bass, and it’s Michael Bublé making my knees tremble, and Tom Waits’ grumbling, and so many more.

And that’s not even counting the classical music that I played for years when I was in orchestras and bands, through high school and uni. It’s the solo in Scheherazade that I never got right. Or the operas that I see with Mum every year. Or the emotional roller-coaster ride of a great film score. And it’s fucking around with a bass guitar in my bedroom when no one is home.

Someone asked me once what song would I want to have in my head for the rest of my life. It was in highschool, probably 1999 or 2000, and I was obsessed with Marilyn Manson. I said ‘The Man That You Fear’. If you asked me today, I couldn’t tell you.

Music is mood, and music is meditation, and music is motivation, and music gives meaning to life. And that’s why I can’t tell you three songs that are the most important to me.

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The Wall – Roger Waters Live

12 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by toearlyretirement in Music

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Tags

Adventure, Artist Date, Concert, Inspiration, Music, Nurturing yourself, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, The Wall

Before we get started yes this is a gig review from the show last week and yes I am listening to The Wall as I write this. Anyone who is not interested in hearing about my Pink Floyd fandom or who hasn’t seen the show yet and doesn’t want spoilers LOOK AWAY NOW!!

Seriously, spoilers! and fandom!

So I got really into Pink Floyd in about mid 2009, I had heard a bit of their stuff before that but never really ‘got it’. Then I started dating a guy called Richard who was all about the Floyd and he lent me the entire discography (including some of Roger Waters’ solo stuff) and I was hooked.

When I heard that Roger Waters (bassist in the original lineup and co-writer) was touringMelbournein Feb 2012 I was stoked. I feel like I am late to the party with regards to some of the classic artists like Pink Floyd and Leonard Cohen (who I have seen twice and is amazing) and I knew this might be the only time I would see Waters perform inAustralia. I put out a call on Facebook for friends to come with me and I was joined by a fabulously musical friend Marcus, who has been a fan long enough to have seen Pink Floyd (sans Waters) play Dark Side of the Moon in 1988.

We bought the tickets about 6 months before the show and to be honest it felt like it was so far away that it would never happen so it was quite surreal turning up to Rod Laver Arena (in Melbourne) to see the show.

Essentially Waters decided to play the entire double disc album The Wall from start to finish as a live event. There were no other artists on the bill it was only The Wall. From the first moment the gig started I was enthralled; there were amazing pyrotechnics and light shows and the fact that they were playing such an iconic, beautiful, timeless album as The Wall completely blew my mind.

The set consisted of a partly completed wall, onto which they projected animations and films and photos and words and light shows. During the first half of the show the stage crew built up the wall from huge white blocks; as soon as a brick was in place the projections expanded to light up that brick. But the interval the whole stage was one massive wall the last brick was filled in as Waters retreated through it after ‘Goodbye Cruel World’.

After the interval the projections became really spectacular – they were projecting a wall onto the wall, and it was so realistic that when the projections showed the wall falling or crumbling or twisting or melting I was convinced it was real. I had been completely sucked into the world of The Wall. At the end of the show the stage crew knocked down the bricks they had so carefully built up. The effect was really quite magical. The entire crowd was on it’s feet cheering the fall of the wall; and I was so proud I was there to be part of it.

I have to admit I thought I was more familiar with the albums than I was – apparently I only really listened to the songs that were my favourite and I felt like I was discovering the music anew as I watched. The music is truly transportational, I didn’t want it to end, I felt like I had entered the world of Roger Waters and I wanted to stay there forever. I even gave into the merchandising and bought a tour shirt (which I completely love) so I could take some of the night home with me.

The crowd were a really varied range of people; there were older people who were probably fans from the beginning, there were people with their kids (both actual kids and their adult offspring), there were people like me in my mid (well late) 20s who were seeing the show live for the first time. Everyone was really into it. Everyone knew the words and many people were singing along.

The highlight of the night was Comfortably Numb – I really really love that track! I even like the weird poppy version that the Scissor Sisters did. Seeing it played live was a once in a lifetime thing and something I will not forget.

Walking home after the gig was quite surreal. There was a full moon out and there were thousands of other people who were high as kites after suspending their lives for a night. I came out feeling reborn, I had experienced something truly life-changing, something that the old Fleur probably wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction to but new Fleur wanted to go again immediately!

Throughout my journey I am trying to spend less time thinking about the past or the future or the what ifs and spend more time being present in the moment, appreciating music and art and making time for it. I have been trying to nurture myself and I keep telling myself that it’s worth it to have experiences like this. I hope that this will be the first of many more amazing gigs that will touch my soul in deep and amazing ways.

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Melbourne, Australia
fleurblum@hotmail.com

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