Have you ever been in a situation when knew you were in the presence of something great, yet you had a feeling that you were missing it somehow? It was as if you couldn’t make a real connection, as if there was a chasm between you and what you were witnessing?
There’s a missing piece. Something stops that moment from being truly memorable. Something gets in the way of making that experience stay with your for a very long time, maybe even forever.It could be a concert, a visit to a gallery, a speech from a politician, or even the purchase of a product. It happens all the time.
And that missing piece is emotional attachment.
If you aren’t inspired to feel a deep emotional connection with what you make contact, then it is just a transaction. It’s not a conversation. It’s not an experience.
As humans, we need those kind of experiences. We learn from the negative ones and we love from the positive.
Case in point…
I was recently invited to a concert. Australian indie rock-folk band, Boy and Bear, was playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto. It’s an intimate-ish venue, seating about 1,200 people, and I had the privilege of watching the show from the secret booth at the back, right behind the sound engineers.
By all accounts, it was a great show. The band was tight, the songs were strong, my fingers were tapping away. No doubt, I was enjoying the show. But there was something that stopped it from being an “experience.” I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
I turned to my girlfriend, Catherine, and asked what she was thinking. Same thing. Something was stopping it from being great. We scanned the crowd and it was as if we were looking at a picture. Everyone was just watching the band play. Every head in the crowd was still. The person on my other side was looking at her phone. Nobody was really experiencing the show.
Except…
There was a small group, maybe three or four people, dancing at the back of the hall.
And then…
As we’re getting towards the end of the show, the band pulled out their hit single, Southern Sun.
And someone from that small group at the back decided it was time to not dance at the back. It was time to dance at the front. And she was joined by two of her friends. And they danced.
To be a witness to what followed was truly amazing. All of a sudden it was safe. Safe to experience what the band had to offer. Within 30 seconds, people were on their feet, the aisles were full, and everyone (and I mean everyone) in the theatre was dancing. I have never seen anything like it before. I was too enthralled to even snap a picture. That concert went from being a transaction between a very talented band and a sedate Toronto crowd to an experience that I will never forget. The rest of the show rocked. It was authentic and joyful.
Dave Hoskin, lead singer for the band, told the crowd…
We’ve been doing a lot of seated venues on this tour. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
That makes it more amazing. Not only did the crowd experience the show, so did Boy and Bear.