{"id":5718,"date":"2016-03-23T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T15:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=5718"},"modified":"2017-07-05T13:01:21","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T11:01:21","slug":"sad-news-and-the-healing-power-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/?p=5718","title":{"rendered":"Sad news and the healing power of music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anneke van Giersbergen\u00a0& \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir\u00a0\u2013 Theater Leeste,\u00a0Waalwijk; March 22st, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The previous night’s show had ended with a nice chat at the theater’s bar so I woke up to happy memories. Sadly the good mood only lasted until after breakfast when I heard the news about the terrorist attacks on Brussels. My thoughts immediately turned to Guillaume – it always hits you harder when you know someone who lives there. Deep in thought I made my way to the train station. There were no direct trains to Amsterdam airport, because it was under threat too. Luckily I didn’t need to go that way. Arrived in Waalwijk a few hours later, had lunch and then met my host for the night. She was wonderful and we spent two hours in conversation about life, the universe and everything. After that it was time to get ready and go to the theater. I was still thoughtful, wondering how the show would go. It’s so easy to feel guilty about enjoying life when you know something terrible has happened (especially when it happened close by). Still, retreating and refusing to enjoy would be the entirely wrong reaction so I decided to make the most of the night, no matter how sad and confused I felt.<\/p>\n

First person I ran into was Robbin, Anneke’s merchandise lady. She told me I could possible go to the balcony to take pictures, but the concert was being filmed from up there. Since I had a great seat in the front row (center!) I passed. It felt more important to be close to the guys than taking pictures that night. The theater was nicely filled and the show started as usual. I watched everyone closely, wondering how they felt, remembering well how it was after the Paris attacks last November. Completely concentrating on the music and forgetting all worries was more difficult than usual. After the first song though, Anneke stepped up to the microphone and gave a little speech about Brussels telling us how sad they all felt, but that it was a good thing how we all got together from different countries to enjoy music that night. She found much better words for it though – it was the perfect speech and instantly made me feel better and connected with everyone else in the room. After that, the concert was wonderful. \ud83d\ude42 A little more subdued than the previous night, but still filled with joy.<\/p>\n

Which song was my favorite that night I can’t even say. All of them seemed special, filled with magical healing powers that gradually made me feel better. The guys all seemed very much concentrated on their playing – spot on and never missing a note. Anneke of course sang beautifully all night. It never ceases to amaze me just how great a singer she is. \ud83d\ude42 Still they kept the chatter going, told stories and jokes because, after all, laughter is the only cure for grief. Karl and Guillaume outdid themselves playing all sorts of stuff. During the Icelandic lesson when Anneke talked about the difficulty of pronouncing “Hj\u00e1lp” (help) and imagined being attacked by a shark they played the theme from ‘Jaws’, but this time around it turned into some French cafe music\u00a0so it was concluded that the shark wanted her. \ud83d\ude00 (side note: I know that piece of music, but for the life of me cannot remember the title.)<\/p>\n

The stage was not exceptionally high at this theater and the front row was quite close so I got a great view of everything. It was too close for taking pictures, but\u00a0just wonderful for watching, especially during the a cappella songs when they all stood right in front of me. Everyone in the audience was watching as attentively as I was, caught up in the music and the moment. I just love to hear each individual voice come together to create music so beautiful it is uplifting, no matter how sad the lyrics may be. \ud83d\ude42 I did not want the night to end, but of course it did eventually and they were down to the last two songs. Especially ‘Pavane’ really got to me and I needed a moment to get my bearings when the lights went back on.<\/p>\n

With a deep sigh I got up and walked out. Now the only thing on my mind was giving out a few big hugs. I did eventually and the evening ended with great conversations, especially with Guillaume. On my way home, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky, I felt everything was going to be OK.<\/p>\n

Setlist<\/u><\/p>\n

Solveig\u2019s Song
\nEverwake
\nRussian Lullaby
\nHet Dorp
\nA Simple Song
\n\u00de\u00e9r \u00e9g unni
\nWhen I am laid in earth
\nShades
\nCircles
\nFour years
\nLondonderry Air (Danny Boy)
\nLost in you
\nLeaves
\nBist Du bei mir<\/p>\n

Heyr, Himna Smi\u00f0ur
\nPavane<\/p>\n

pictures of this concert<\/a><\/p>\n

Verloren, Verleden tour: 8 concerts down, 4 to go. Next stop:\u00a0Delft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anneke van Giersbergen\u00a0& \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir\u00a0\u2013 Theater Leeste,\u00a0Waalwijk; March 22st, 2016 The previous night’s show had ended with a nice chat at the theater’s bar so I woke up to happy memories. Sadly the good mood only lasted until after breakfast when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[256,222,13,19,31,14,611,489],"class_list":["post-5718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert","tag-anneke-van-giersbergen","tag-arstidir","tag-fan","tag-friends","tag-netherlands","tag-travel","tag-verloren-verleden","tag-waalwijk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5718"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7685,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718\/revisions\/7685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passioncolorseverything.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}