Tampa Florida, on a wet summer night
Stadium energy set to fully engage
The first chords begin gently to rise
As the band appears on the stage
Synthesizer building a haunting note
Guitar swelling, fighting to be heard
Bass arrives moments before the drums
The melody crashes without a single word
Just as the crescendo peaks
I’m thrust 30 years back in time
To the bedroom of some long-forgotten friend
Introducing me to the aural sublime
Though I was familiar with the music
Having consumed it on the FM band
I had never fully experienced it
And suddenly my world would expand
The sonic clarity was unparalleled
The scope as wide as the desert sky
Without protest, I was pulled into the moment
Where music and words could fly
It was like learning a new language
Based on one you thought you had known
The sounds, though vaguely familiar
Left my mind completely blown
Before the album clears the A side
Both band and crowd now perfectly aligned
But part of me was still stuck in 87
Past and present inextricably intertwined
The blue sky has just been bulleted
The music has breached the digital frontier
And suddenly I’m back in the stadium
Transported by the sonic Pioneer
Things slow down on the B side
Acoustic harmonies sophisticated for my age
And I’m reminded of emotion once felt
Long before witnessing it live on the stage
With atmospheric clarity, the final track plays
Simultaneously both now and then
And I, somehow, present in both moments
Have achieved that rare sonic Zen
The final chords of the Joshua Tree fade
And I’m left delirious with delight
Time travelling in a sonic epiphany
Returning home beneath blue skies tonight
