I've loved music for as long as I can remember but the first time I ever saw music actually being played was mesmerising.
I was maybe seven or eight years old when a string quartet visited my school and I remember marvelling at these real people actually making music together.
I've never recovered.
I would rather be entertained by the local garage band on their first ever gig than someone armed with backing tapes or a D.J.
Maybe it's to do with engaging all your senses at once that make the live experience so much more fulfilling.
I take my daughter to events, theatre, concerts, etc, just to watch her face shine and in all the 30 years (on and off) that I've been playing I would love to think that someone, (just one would do,) was affected in the same way as I was all those years ago.
We seem to be distancing ourselves from reality more and more with each generation in every area of our lives. Our food comes in pretty packages with the option of a home order/delivery service, we take our entertainment at home via cable and satellite and make friends with people we will never meet, sitting at our computers. Sometimes it requires a little effort to get out of the armchair and go outside to mix with real people and I worry that the next generation coming through will completely lose the art of conversation and the sense of community.
This place is populated by some marvellous characters, many of whom I would dearly love to meet face to face, and our shared love of music does create a kind of community feeling but until we've shared a drink or a song together you can only be "someone I'd like to know."

C-flat.