So this is it. The day that months of rehearsal, reflection, reminiscence and review culminate in a big risk. It’s been a strange few days, hearing Nick, Neil and Corinne on the radio talking about the reunion, making final arrangements and having to explain to someone with no idea of my past life why I need to borrow a megaphone for a few days. It’s for a “thing”, I say, not quite sure how to describe what it is we are about to do.
As I work in education I use an academic year diary and my new one, complete with a picture of a rather fetching unicorn on the cover, begins on Monday 29th June. We are pretty much playing my New Year’s Eve party. I’m sure we’ll awake hung-over, wondering what the future will bring. Of course, we have one more gig to look forward to; a fabulous, celebratory blast on the back of a truck in a field…and then? Peace, quiet, carpet slippers, the gentle tones of Radio 4 and the satisfaction of eating potatoes we’ve grown ourselves? Elasticated waistbands and liver spots?
I can’t see it myself. I still want to dance into the early hours sometimes, even if it’s only at home, in bare feet, on the yeti rug that occupies most of the floor like oversized roadkill. We grew up without fear and I doubt we’ll give in to it now.
Tonight I want to forget all about the outside world and just be a part of the noise. I wonder whether the challenges we face everyday make us more determined to push ourselves that bit harder? Work can be unrelenting, being a single parent means being on call 24 hours a day, financial security is a foreign country occupied by strangers. But none of this matters because I’m part of the coolest gang in town tonight and we’re going to each throw our hearts into a flaming caldron in an act of sonic witchcraft.
Since childhood I’ve been fascinated by superheroes – it all began with Captain Scarlet – and tonight will be the closest we come to transitioning into other-worldly beings. With the right volume and discordance I can fly. I don’t need wings, just my friends. What a magical world we will inhabit for this brief moment in time.
justwordsandmusic 