I saw him at the Aragon in Chicago. October 17, 1997. A relatively small club for such a huge presence. It was the “Earthling” tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He walked out on stage, and filled every empty space in the room. Relaxed, casually elegant, and having a blast. That voice surrounded you; enveloped you, alternating between a caress and a chill running up your spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between songs, he talked to you. All of you. As a mass but somehow individually, as if you were sitting across a table, just the two of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the end of the performance,\u00a0\u00a0which I prayed would never come, I was aware of two things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had seen something that would never leave me. I had seen art; magic pulled from the ether, formed into sight and sound in front of my eyes. No matter how many times I had heard the songs, that moment became the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I was aware that the man twenty feet away from me, performing that magic, was a creature unlike any other, and was loving every second of the evening. And remarkably I felt loved. The audience as a group,\u00a0\u00a0but like those conversations between songs, I was loved by this amazing creature of light, sound, poetry, grace, and beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am so fortunate. I was in the same room with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This hit hard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-remembrance","tag-the-arts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t