Music Monday: Music Connects Us

You know when you buy Tic Tacs or gum, and you’re excited to finally have a pack of your own to use? Then all of a sudden, this moment seems to dwindle away because once someone sees you put a piece into your mouth, they ask you for a piece. Then, the next person asks you for a piece, and then the next. Eventually you have somehow passed out half of your container.

Still, you’re willing to pass them out because you don’t mind sharing with a friend. Thankfully, on Friday, March 6, at the Ben Rector Old Friends concert in the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colo., I had a friend to share a Tic Tac with me.

I went with four of my friends, old friends, you could say. It was truly a magical night. 

We arrived 35 minutes before the concert started. I was used to concerts in Nashville where you have to arrive an hour early just to get inside. However, this time there was no line to get in. In fact, we had time to take some classic girly photos in front of the vintage sign. 

The location was that of an old theater with lots of paintings on the walls and red velvet curtains. I felt like I was in an old movie. It had two levels, with a balcony and floor seating. On the small stage there were only 4 guitars, three mics and a piano. No screens. No flashing lights.

As we sat in our seats, an adult family sat in the row ahead of us. Immediately, they turned around and were laughing with us about them being a rowdy group. We told them that we were also a rowdy group. It was two young grandparents with their two children and their partners. 

They asked us where we were from, and then asked us if everyone was okay due to the tornado that hit Nashville. They asked us what we thought of Denver. We asked them about their lives, too. One of the couples will graduate in May from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I have a friend that goes to Moody, and they actually had met each other before. It’s a small world I guess. 

They were really excited about Rector, but one of the women was incredibly happy to watch Cody Fry, the opener, perform. 

The lights were dimmed and Fry entered the stage to fans cheering. He walked out with his guitar and some skinny pants. He was honestly almost indiscernible from Rector. 

“You probably are like ‘who is this guy’,” Fry said, as he was tuning his guitar. 

I came to the show to listen to Rector play. I didn’t even know who Fry was. But, I left wanting to find out when Fry was going to go on his own tour. 

Not only can Fry sing really well, with a clear voice and deep range, but he is also a very talented pianist and guitarist. 

His energy on stage was unreal, a bounce in his leg when he played piano and constant movement when he played guitar. He would switch back and forth from guitar to piano throughout the night. He was so personable on stage, telling many stories, and kept the crowd laughing at his witty jokes. And even when his song had a more serious message, the crowd remained engaged.

As I sat there watching him throughout the night, I felt like I knew him. I was near the back of the theater, but I felt like I was sitting right next to him. Maybe it was the velvet curtains and old lighting fixtures. 

I felt like I knew everyone in that room. We all came to watch two great musicians, and they really knew how to make the crowd feel involved and important.

As he started his first song, Delaney Sain, junior public relations major, gave a TicTac to the few of us sitting there. 

The woman in front of us, who overheard Sain ask if we wanted a TicTac, leaned over and asked if she could have one because of her garlic breath. And of course, we gave her one. She was our new friend. 

I know that if I could have walked up to the front of the stage, Fry would have also wanted a TicTac. He made the whole room feel as if we were connected somehow. And we really were. We were connected by a love of music. 

Even though we didn’t have enough Tic Tacs to share with the entire audience, I know we could have passed them out to every single person in the room. 

Honestly, there’s nothing like new friends.