Tenacious

I have been to two Tenacious D concerts. While it is Jack Black, it's not the Kung Fu Panda version. People are either completely put off by them or are big fans. Of the big fans, many are very devoted.

The concerts were nearly 20 years apart. The first time, cell phones were only used for calls, texts, and playing Snake. Now they are used for everything but phone calls.

At the second show, our seats were very close to the stage, just off to the side. I was excited when they started touring again. The tickets were a birthday present, and the show was on my actual birthday. We waited in a super long merch line, but I managed to snag their limited edition vinyl.

The lights dimmed. Smoke filled the stage. Two stagehands came out and uncovered two demon hand statues on the stage. A few seconds later, KG and JB stalked to the front of the stage. They started playing Kickapoo, and nearly everyone sang along. It was epic.

A person in front of us filmed most of the concert on her phone. Several times throughout the night, I caught myself watching the show through her screen. I noticed she was doing the same.

Here we were at a live event. A show we really wanted to enjoy live. We demoted it to a tiny screen.

I take pictures and videos. I fully understand the desire to capture special moments. I love revisiting them. But I wonder what it costs to trade the experience for a memory of it.

What current experiences do I trade just to extract some future value? Can I appreciate it more fully being immersed now? Am I missing the moment to avoid forgetting it?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.