Tuesday; August 7
In the late 1970s songwriters Jackson Browne and Bryan Garofalo wrote a tribute to life on the road as a major pop star. The song, “The Load Out” became a hit (especially when combined with the remake of the Maurice Williams song, “Stay”) and came to define a generation of concert-goers and the behind-the-scenes people who made it all possible. As I listened the song recently I was struck by the words, “People you’ve got the power over what we do – You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through – Come along, sing the song – You know you can’t go wrong.”. As I thought about these words I realize just how much performers depend upon the crowd to generate an energy that allows them to do their best. When the audience is engaged, the show is bound to be better than if the crowd just sits there like a bump on a log. Many of us are familiar...