Dreams Do Come True
Gilbert W. Arias/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
On April 30, 2008 I had one of my dreams come true.
I saw Duran Duran (my personal Beatles) in a live concert in Seattle.
Why did it take me nearly 26 years to see them? Well, I grew up in Alaska and DD never came up there. And then in my twenties, I was pretty busy popping out four of my six kids. So when I found out they were playing one night only in Seattle on their Red Carpet Massacre tour, there was NO question I would go.
I wasn’t able to get front-row tickets, but the 9th row was pretty spectacular all the same. I was accompanied by my baby brother and his wife. All of us are in our mid to late thirties, but I was the Duran Duran “superfan” of our group. Not to mention I’ve been madly in love with the bass player, John Taylor, for over two decades.
We had seats but stayed on our feet the entire two hours (which flew by!), and somehow, dancing came back to this middle-aged mom. I danced, screamed, clapped, and generally acted like a wild woman. It was exhilarating, not to mention great exercise. My brother seemed impressed I had that much energy still, and he commented that he “saw some of my old moves coming back.” I used to dance quite a bit, taught him to dance, and the highlight of our brother-sister dance team was winning a contest at the local teen club in the ’80s.
The cool thing was seeing so many people around my age, all screaming and jumping around as if we were all 14 again. I can’t say I’ve seen that many happy people all together at once ever.
The boys still got it. JT looked hotter than ever (and yes I cried at just the sight of him). They sounded great, and played a good range of stuff from very old to very new. They played a few songs we weren’t expecting like “Save A Prayer” which is a song I played over and over and over again as a teenybopper.
If I had any kind of money I’d become a groupie and travel ’round and go to every concert in every city they play. But, alas I’m still a mom and had to eventually come home. But, I promised myself I will go and see them every time they tour from here on out. I will still scream even if they are in their 80s and I’m in my 60s. I’ll still dance too.
