Oakland Colosseum
I offer a quite different recollection. Or is this story quite different? I attended a rock concert with his teenage daughter. The concert featured the then quite popular band from Ireland called U-2. The concert was held at the Colosseum in Oakland California. Holding more than 60,000 people (with a large number standing on the stadium turf), this was a concert “to end all concerts.” My wife and I accompanied our daughter, purchasing seats up on the second tier of the colosseum for all three. However, their daughter soon escaped and joined her friends and other totally enthralled teenagers “out on the field.” Durkheim (1912/2008) would have aligned the affairs of this stadium with the Collective Effervesce that he observed in many religious traditions.
While there was a wonderful band that preceded U-2, the stadium fully erupted when the four members of U-2 appeared on stage. Their music soared over the crowd with fully amplification. The teenagers (and some adults) in the infield swayed in mass with the heavy beat of the U-2 base player and drummer. Inspired by Woodstock 1969, Lights were also flickering as night fell on the stadium. In most cases, the lights were generated by lit matches or cigarette lighters. [This was before the era of handheld LED lights and portable strobe lights.]
While the U-2 music was fully appreciated by my wife and I, it is not certain that much of their music could be heard by the screaming, constantly moving crowds on the grass. This hearing of the music might not have been that important since those in the crowd knew all the words and melodies. They often sang along with the band. This was a fully staged ceremony of exuberant celebration for a very popular music group. The music was almost secondary (much as in the case of the early Beatle concerts) to the greater goal of manufacturing and maintaining Ligato among everyone in the stadium. Lovely coherence was in full blossom.
I often now wonder if it was truly safe to let his daughter race down to the infield, so that she could sing and dance with her friends and other teenagers. Were similar concerns found in the minds and hearts of the German parents who let their children attend the Nazi rallies. And what about the teenagers who attended the Herbert Philbrick rally in Los Angeles? My wife and I didn’t seem to worry about “bad things” happening to their daughter at the U-S concert. There was no violence at this concert, as there was at the Philbrick rally, and at their request, their daughter did check in with them several times during the concert.
The outcome of the U-2 concert was quite positive. Bonds of trust had been established. Ligato was directly experienced on the field and some of it flowed up to those sitting in the seats. Both parents and daughter left the Oakland Colosseum humming U-2 songs. There was no aggression to serve as an outlet for pent up frustration. If the teenagers at the concert were frustrated with their life, then the U-2 music and their presence in Oakland as supporters of movements emphasizing peace and freedom may have served as the outlet for their frustrations.
Woodstock, Edmonton and Paris
A similar outcome was achieved at the earlier and much bigger concert held at Woodstock in 1969. While there were logistical problems at Woodstock regarding food, sanitation and drugs, there was no reported violence. Often called the pinnacle of “peace, love and harmony”, the concert at Woodstock exemplified the way contagion can yield positive outcomes. People can assemble in ways that increase cooperation and mutual sharing—while the music plays.
They can also peacefully assemble and celebrate the wonders of poetic imagination and the life of children and nurturing parents. I recall traveling to Edmonton Alberta to meet with one of my Canadian students. Depressed and discouraged about the prospects of my graduate school, I spent time helping my student complete her doctoral program. This was not an easy relationship and conflicts erupting in the course of study at this student’s home did not ease the depression or discouragement. Sorrow hung in the air as my student and her husband invited me to join with them and the child of a dear friend at a reading of children’s books by a noted Canadian author. This was the last thing I wanted to do. Listen to silly stories that relate in no way to my sorrow. I decided, however, to accept the invitation so that more conflict could be avoided.
