When I was fourteen my friends and I went along to Memorial Drive in Adelaide to see the biggest concert ever to hit this little city - five headlining bands, starting at 5.00pm and finishing whenever. 10 000 screaming people crammed into Adelaide's open air tennis courts to see ACDC, The Angels, Daddy Cool, Skyhooks, Sherbet. I can say unreservedly that my father was less than impressed with most of this line up!
To this day, I can clearly remember ACDC belting out the most exciting music I had ever heard - let alone seen in real life! Bon Scott and Angus Young rampaged around the stage making more noise than you would believe possible, while the lights and cold ice machines flashed and sizzled. In those days, security at the front hauled girls over the barricades and onto the stage, people threw bottles (glass, not today's plastic), everyone was smoking (goodness knows what), and someone somewhere was constantly hosing the crowd down. (No wonder Dad was worried!) Rock and roll performances these days are a lot more controlled and the only thing audiences get away with is waving their arms around a bit and yelling.
Yesterday I was invited to the Performing Arts room to listen to our Year 7 Rock Band. They played - you guessed it - It's a long way to the top, if you want to rock and roll - complete with BAGPIPES!! What a treat! I can't believe that one of our kids can play the bagpipes!
They did a great job, ably supported by our own rock and roll star, Mr David Foxover. They managed to get over their nerves and even did an encore performance. And those bagpipes took me all the way back to Memorial Drive.
Well done, kids! ACDC probably started out jamming in primary school - keep doing what you love - you never know where it will take you.
It's not a job, it's actually a calling - a bit sappy maybe, but true. Parts of the job can be mundane, boring even. Things like Strategic Plans, budgets, balancing the books, wet Year 5 and 6 camps, and disgruntled customers isn't what gets me up in the morning.
