The Gene for Music

Anna Boyer

Cooper

CRWR212

February 20, 2014

The Gene for Music

            The Tennessee sun beats down on the hot, sticky festival crowd. The air is hazy and dust makes swirls in the wake of footsteps. It is a humid June morning and many go without shirts. However, the music is keeping them there. The summer is made for music lovers. Tonight, a former Beatle takes the stage. Sir Paul McCartney, a true living legend. It is ten and a half hours until the show starts but the energy and anticipation felt by thousands who have lived and breathed the music is palpable. We scale the metal fence to join the line for the front pit, the stretch of land right in front of the stage. That is ultimate real estate. Other bands take the stage as the line to get into the front pit steadily grows throughout the day. People lounge in the field beyond the stage, sleeping and working on their sunburns. For now, the crowd is tame.

            As the afternoon progresses, the crowd becomes restless. They are excitable and full of adrenaline. The hot sun is setting in the sky and the air becomes cooler and refreshing. The last band clears the stage and everyone knows what time it is, even those without watches. Those who have waited all afternoon to get into the enviable front pit stand and stretch their limbs, preparing themselves for the marathon that is to come. As the gates are opened, the crowd surges forward. People run and push and shove, vying for the best possible position. From the fifth row back, the view is perfect: it is not so close as to hurt the neck but close enough to allow for the absorption of details and of memories.

The hour draws near and all of humanity seems to be vibrating. The crowd starts chanting and screaming at the tops of their lungs. As if summoned by the noise, their idol McCartney appears and the voices soar to a deafening roar. All of the eyes are starry and wide as if in disbelief that this man is not an imposter. The crowd never becomes tired; the final song and singing along to the immortal words has put them into a frenzy as stars fill the rural sky. The moment is over far too quickly. Still, though, the gene for music runs through their veins, tying strangers together and making them one, if only for a moment.