Have you ever committed to doing something that you didn’t particularly want to do but were talked into it?  Most of us have.  I try not to let myself get talked into things these days, but now and then it happens.

Recently, a friend bought a batch of tickets to see a one man musical performance by a guitarist.  She and her husband asked if we wanted two of the tickets. We declined on the first offer… not really into guitar music, concert didn’t start until 8pm (on a school night, lol) etc, etc.  A week or so later, ‘said friends’ were at our place for dinner, as was another couple.  The topic of conversation turned to the concert and again, we hedged.  Our friends gently, but firmly, rejected our response and upon their recommendation we finally agreed to go.

About 10 days before the concert, panic.  The night had been changed due to the artist’s availability or something.  Did not bode well for my already hesitant inclinations.

The night before the concert I did not sleep well, so I was going to be even more tired than usual and going to be up late to boot.

We arrived fashionably early for the concert, collected our tickets and as soon as possible we went to our seats.  As I sat I felt my tiredness.  The theatre was nearly filled to capacity, just under 500 seats.  The staging was simple, just guitars, an amp, a small seat and a bottle of water.  The lights dimmed and a shadowy figure walked briskly to the microphone.

He had me at ‘hello’.

The energy the artist’s voice exuded with that single word, matched perfectly by the energy of his performance, was nothing short of the exemplification of the creative human being in full flight… at the top of his art.  His entire body melded with the guitar and at one point, I joined them, sending chills up my spine and down my arms.  He was what those of us who dabble in art strive for, a place that leaves no doubt you are doing what you were meant to do.  No shortcuts (he told us those are at the butcher shop!), just hard work to ready oneself for the flow of the creative.

I love to be wrong.  And Tommy Emmanuel was just the person to show me, how wonderful wrong can be.