Marianne Faithful Concert.

As we were leaving after a mighty night, Lee said "She really is a slap in the face for all of us who lived our lives by the book!" and I think with that he nailed it.

It was a terrific night, an amazing night even, although it didn't start out that way.

I think the problem was that I'd come with certain expectations.  I had come, I think, looking for direction.

We have now become "women of a certain age" and, as Lady R. often says "We have no idea how to be Old Ladies.  We are now at an age our grandmothers were when we first knew them, and all we know is that we don't want to be them."

So how do people like us - people who didn't 'live our lives by the book' - who were once Punks and Proto-Goths and Angry Young Women - turn ourselves into Old Ladies? We can't be our grandmothers, and we're definite about that, so who are we to be?

And I suspect that's what was going through my head with this concert.  I suspect I was wondering if Saint Marianne, who lead the way, kicked out the traces, forged our path, in the past, would still have the answers I needed?

She looks fabulous, by the way!  Really, really good!

Risked being tossed out to get this shot!

Got into trouble too!

And looking good is one answer, sure.

But for the rest?

At the start of the concert, I felt I was asking too much because ... the band was needlessly loud and, yes, she could carry her voice over the top of it, although only with a strain, and so that wonderful rasp was cracking - and not in a good way - and, worst of all, was trying to get her message when everything she was saying was unclear and fuzzy.

She began doing songs from her new album "Horses and High-heels" and it was an endless "Huh? Say wot?". They were songs based on memories of a Dublin Childhood that weren't even her own. Apparently she created songs from the childhood stories from her lead guitarist which just seemed bizarre and too Post-Modern.  Like, how can you have a past like Saint Marianne ... yet use another person's past ...

"Huh? Say wot?",  right?

And they were all much like Elton John songs, only without Bernie Taupin ... and without Elton John either.  Kinda nowhere! It was like she was standing at the crossroads and didn't know if she was to take the road to All-Embracing Earth Mother or the other road to Dark Magic-Weaving Shaman, writing songs of dispossession as though she was almost half-committed to being a Voice for the Dispossessed ... only NOT!  It was all nowhere. No guidance, no direction, no anything really.  Just fuzzy and nebulous and "don't know where I am now!" and seeming as lost as the rest of us.

But then she performed "Sister Morphine" and with that song suddenly we knew who she was because SHE knew who she was, and that's when the magic started.  It was all "I was there. I have been there. And it was good. But I triumphed and now I'm not there, and that is also good."  and that's when the cheers from the Aging Feminist Crew started "We love you, Marianne" and the young Chic Young Camp guys "We love you, Marianne" ...

... and then she did Dusty Springfield's "Going Back" with the line about magic carpet rides ...



... and she was taking us on that ride with her, and her voice grew strong and it was amazing. Beyond Amazing! It was so spectacular you could hardly breathe!

And when she sang the line "live my days instead of counting my years!" she was the Shaman, channeling the Great White Goddess in our names, and we knew that she knew exactly where she was! Yes, she was indeed on the crossroad and wondering what path to take, and suddenly those crossroads were a singularly beautiful, shimmering, magical place to be.

And that's the message Saint Marianne suddenly started to bring us.  It's OK to be us, as we are now, ready to give up who we were but not yet knowing who to be in the future, because for we Unconventional Sorts of Women, this is a beautiful and singular time in our lives and we should just "live the days instead of counting the years", relishing our lives and enjoying the magic of having all sorts of adventures, choices and lives still waiting there in our futures.

And, as Lee said as we were leaving, that who she is today is a slap in the face for everyone who lived their lives by the book and that is ... a wonderful answer!