The vibe was just incredible, honestly. Between the musicianship and their whole stage presence, everything felt completely raw and genuine, even if Billy was the only one actually talking to the crowd. It was a hell of a time. I doubt I’d have had half this much fun watching Tom Waits live; he usually brings a much heavier dose of melancholy to his sets.
As for the crowd... those ovations after the first few songs were loud enough to be heard all the way in Florida (we actually showed up late). I can only imagine how far that call for an encore carried 🙂
It isn't really just about the movie, though. The film was more of a catalyst for something I find myself observing on a daily basis. We all pretend to be acting out of pure altruism, but behind every grand gesture, there are ALWAYS selfish motives at play. Take, for instance, how the USA claims to be fighting terrorism when they’re actually just securing strategic footholds in Asia; the entire city is wrapped in Christmas spirit, decorated from top to bottom, with Christmas poets playing in the background, yet the underlying motive of the whole spectacle is nothing but profit. Nothing is ever what it appears to be. As Bar would say, "The church isn't God's, and the government isn't the people's." Maybe it sounds a bit foolish to dwell on something that most people probably already realize, but it’s starting to get under my skin immensely 😠
Yesterday, my girlfriend, some friends, and I were walking out of the theater after catching Eastwood's "Mystic River," and I was still feeling pretty shaken up by it all. I couldn't help but start drawing parallels to Lars von Trier's "Dogville." It’s that specific kind of darkness residing within people—not just petty grievances or small-mindedness, but something fundamentally depraved buried inside ordinary, everyday folks. Anyway, I'm sitting there laying all this out, and the whole group just goes dead silent. As I kept talking, my mind wandered toward "Bowling for Columbine," and that’s when it really hit me. I honestly can't decide which is more unsettling: the stories we see on screen or the reality we live in. Does anyone else feel this heavy tension hanging in the air lately, or am I just losing my mind?