In exactly 4 months time, I’ll be turning 50. This was meant to be my big celebratory year. You only turn a half-century once, right? (Thankfully!)
So…I decided that this would be the actual LAST HURRAH! The big final bash of a mass of Simple Minds gigs. I go to places around Europe and then the final “holy grail”. The culmination of it all. The place I have prayed I’d be able to see them play in since becoming mega fan – my home city – Sydney. But why stop at Sydney? Melbourne is only an hour on the plane, and cheap enough to get to these days. And I bloody love Melbourne – so there too. And, although I am not a fan of wine or outdoor festivals much (depends on several factors!) I thought I’d go to Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley too.
The gigs kept mounting up. Copenhagen was meant to be JUST THE FIRST in a year full of SM gigs.
Paris, Bordeaux, Leeds, Dublin, Glasgow – then down to Blenheim Palace for the Nocturne gig – the over to Taormina (roped into that one as I was) a month after that – then a cluster of late summer UK gigs, Aberdeen, Edinburgh (Summer Sessions), Newcastle – then finally the trio of Australian gigs. FOURTEEN in total!
And other gigs besides Simple Minds. More Warm Digits gigs. John Grant. Crowded House. Jimmy Webb. Primal Scream. The Stranglers. Probably others I have forgotten.
All kaput! All…with any luck…happening in 2021. Except…some of these gigs may not be able to take place for me personally in 2021. Yes, I’m sure Jim will be crying into his lemon zinger at the thought of me not being at as many gigs next year. Lol. Given the face I was getting towards the end of the Copenhagen gig, I highly doubt he’ll miss seeing my face.
Hey…”nemesis” took over. (I have been listening to Bettany Hughes’s podcast about “The Ideas That Make Us” – a kind of philosophical history on the ideas and language that makes up modern civilisation – so in the context of “nemesis” in ancient Greece – I am using it in the correct context.)
So, I lick my wounds. I take it on the chin. I have my “woe is me” moment. Count my blessings and get the fuck over it.
Move it forward a year. Crack on.
In the meantime…
