Just days ago, arguably, the greatest lineup ever assembled for a single rock concert came together to benefit victims of the titanic hurricane Sandy. At the legendary Madison Square Garden—where some four decades earlier the late Beatle, George Harrison, virtually invented the “benefit concert” concept with his legendary Concert for Bangladesh—dozens of rock legends and hall of famers performed new, old and in-between hits non-stop for almost six hours.
Consider this lineup Eric Clapton (who also performed at Bangladesh), Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Alicia Keyes, Kanye West, Harrison’s old chum Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi and on and on and on. It was a lineup so jammed packed with heavyweight acts that Woodstock organizers would have been envious. It’s hard for this writer to recall any time that a single stage saw so much rock royalty in one evening.
True to their status most acts projected awesome appeal. Clapton performed like his self-imposed moniker of God; the Boss was tremendous in opening the show; Alicia Keyes was stunning in voice and presence; the Stones defied the laws of physics and nature for at least one more night; Waters reminded us that Pink Floyd was once the most celebrated act in rock and Daltrey and Townshend looked their age, performed better than those half it and for my money, stole the show—sort of.
The cumulative effect was a stunning fundraising success that continues to be tabulated and a sonic and visual feast that would seem to set a historic standard. But for all the emotional appeal and artistic prowess these acts showed, one element of the concert topped even them. Interspersed throughout the long evening were dozens of little vignettes—some as brief as 15 seconds—about the affected victims, first responders, tales of survival and other human tragedy dimensions. Told in narrative story tones these clips packed more of an emotional wallop than a Townshend windmill or Clapton riff.
The brain stimulus and emotive impact offered by the humble story trumped the emotional connection of music and its sweeping majesty in rock form. A Jagger staccato lyric was no match for even a brief linear narrative; Joel’s key-tickling died young against the clarifying wallop of a story ending about a displaced family.
Like the story (as communications form), music (as art form) is directly hard-wired to our brains and senses. Capitalizing on mathematics and the sound spectrum music offers it is almost a primal connection to the human spirit as the story—almost.
Advantage to the story was abundantly offered on this night where the skill, magnificence and allure of many historic rock figures worked to overpower it. The artistic performances served a favorable and poignant reminder of just how much impact is carried by the story form and the tote board served notice that story and sonic appeal combined can create an outpouring of empathy and financial humanity that was awesome. Long live rock. Long live the benefit concert. Long live the Story.
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John Durante is a senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.
