A Lifetime of Music by Amber, aged 47 & 3/4

Amber Bourne writes how music, festivals and bands have changed over the years.

I love music. I really, really love music and wonder how I would live without it. I realise that sounds a bit dramatic but it came to me this morning as I was driving to work post-Isle of Wight Festival with ‘Cousins’ by Vampire Weekend followed closely by Kasabian’s ‘Fire‘ blaring out of the speakers that life would be very colourless without it.

It is a release, a comfort and there are certain songs that ‘send me’. Music brings back memories, history, lost loves, sticky situations, never to be repeated experiences and near misses.

As a girl brought up in Ireland, I was subject to some of the best and worst of music, most of which I didn’t appreciate until I was much older. I saw Thin Lizzy at 15, U2 had to wait until my 40th birthday (thankfully they were still around) and I have seen any number of traditional Irish bands in my later years. The worst song ever, ‘Drop Kick Me Jesus (Through The Goalposts of Life)‘ was number one in Ireland for God knows how long and was a favourite of a local band of which the bread van driver was the lead singer wearing a very bad, black and obvious toupee that he kept for his singing engagements only… happy days! We saw so much live music as teenagers, most of it local, and a live band was de rigueur on a Saturday night at the local club (imaginatively called Clouseau’s for reasons which escape me).

My teenage radio years were filled with New Romantics and I must confess that I donned a frilly shirt on more than one occasion as I and the rest of my schoolmates swooned over Simon Le Bon et al and it seemed that my musical taste was doomed. And then came the revolution. From two different sources came the influences that would shape my musical taste for the rest of my life. On one hand I had my younger brother who was heavily into heavy metal and we air guitared to Iron Maiden and AC/DC and on the other was a friend’s brother who introduced me to Frank Zappa and Neil Young. Throw into the mix a summer in Canada at 16 seeing Queen in concert and the discovery of The Doors, a summer with a pen friend in France with The Alan Parsons Project and The Eagles and a boyfriend at 18 who was a huge traditional Irish music fan with a touch of Ricky Lee Jones thrown in for good measure and you have some idea of the eclectic breadth of my musical taste. And nothing has changed now that I live on the sunny Isle of Wight.

The Isle of Wight Festival is fantastic and right on my doorstep. I have seen Bowie, REM, Paolo, The Stones, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, The Killers and any number of other fantastic bands and singers. It gives me a yearly chance to revisit my inner teenager and to destroy my liver and I absolutely love it. My greatest thrill a couple of years back was to finally see Neil Young after a lifetime of being a fan. I know that he isn’t to everyone’s taste but he writes some of the most beautiful lyrics and I could listen to him forever (well actually it seems like I have been). Over the years I have done stadiums (Springsteen, Dire Straits, Eagles, AC/DC (my brother took me for my 24th birthday), Coldplay, Robbie Williams and U2) and smaller venues like the Albert Hall (Clapton, Van Morrison and a very controversial Christy Moore), festivals and pubs and they have all been fab.

My great love of music, my need for it all day, every day and its importance in my life was brought sharply into focus a few years ago when I embarked on a relationship with someone who just didn’t get it. The music thing that is. He has no television, no radio and his favourite singer is Enya (I know that taste is purely subjective and who am I to comment but…). The festival was a bit of a mystery to him and he just couldn’t understand why I got so worked up about songs and lyrics. When I played my favourite tune of the moment, Elbow’s ‘One Day Like This‘ (one of those songs that send me) he said ‘What IS this noise’? Noise? Noise??? That was the final nail in a rapidly filling coffin. I realise as I get older that I can’t be with someone who doesn’t ‘get’ music, I just can’t. It takes all the joy out of life. So it’s lucky that the husband and I can be in harmony when it comes to the Festival. We drink, dance and make merry with just ourselves for company or as we did this year, in the company of friends. We only went on Saturday mostly to see The Specials who were great and the Chili Peppers who were distinctly ho hum.

It’ll be interesting to see who graces the Island next year. Ticket sales have been waning and the headliners have been repeated and it seems not to be quite the eclectic mix that Glastonbury is which is a shame I think. But we’ll just have to wait and see.