Head Space Daily Words...

When I wrote these words I was sitting on the P4 bus, on my way to see the movie High Rise at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton. Gilles Peterson’s show from the previous Saturday was in my ears, dedicated to Prince, following his recent passing. 2016 is already denoted by high profile celebrity deaths. Musically speaking, it doesn’t get much bigger than Bowie and Prince – imagine if they had worked together. Purple space funk form Mars!! Applying this unfortunate phenomena to our own lives, it makes you realise that you have to live for the now, because there may not be a later. We also have to appreciate, remember and immerse ourselves in these artists’ music, which we may have taken for granted, as it is often embedded in our collective psyches, rather than gracing our record collections. Posthumous purchasing aplenty shall be taking place.

The Stevie Wonder concert that I have a ticket for at Hyde Park in July takes on a deeper significance for me. Like Prince, Stevie is a life defining, global superstar and one of my idols. I own more Stevie Wonder records on album and 7” than any other artist. His voice, his music, his positivity, his aura and his vision, transcend everyday existence. Time though, does not stand still and Stevie is getting older. Who knows how many more opportunities there will be to see him play live and the way this year is panning out...lets not go there!!

I have been fortunate enough to see both Stevie and Prince perform in very different circumstances. In 2006 I saw Prince play at the Brits. As we know, the Brits is a plastic, corporate jolly up of an event, which must be packaged for TV. Prince played for just over ten minutes – a medley of tracks, given the time limit – but for that brief moment, the plastic was transcended by silk and I knew that I was in the presence of greatness. I could not believe his guitar playing, the falsetto voice from another planet and after a rendition of Purple Rain, followed by Lets Go Crazy, he was gone, like a tornado of taste. There is a link below to his Brits performance.

My Stevie moment came when I was working at ITV and I sneaked onto the gantry of the main studio with a colleague to see him rehearsing for an appearance on the Parkinson chat show. He played Superstition twice and no one knew we were there. We slipped back out into the corridor and went for lunch. It had been our own private performance.

The next time I see Stevie, I will be sharing the experience with 65,000 other people. I have never been to a music event with such a massive audience and I’m not sure what to expect. Will I be able to see anything? What will the sound be like? Can you have a great atmosphere with such a vast crowd? I am hoping it will be a fantastic event and as Stevie is playing the entire Songs In The Key of Life album, musically you cannot go wrong. I guess I’ve just got to give myself to it and let the music lead me. After all, there won’t be many chances left to see one of our remaining musical geniuses.

Prince Live at The Brits, 2006