the wrong end of the telescope

Every time I read an election-related entry I start weeping with relief. Again. All the love to you, this was a BEAUTIFUL thing to behold.

Arcade Fire played in Stockholm tonight. I can't quite articulate what it--all words are insufficient right now.

It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was sheer, unadulterated magic, it was joyful, glorious musicianship, it was a band that just didn't stop doing more, with every song they played. It was so exactly what I needed that I'm still at a loss for what to do with myself. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I just. They played Crown of Love mid-show, and I thought, "Surely that was it, they can't do more than that, but I'm sure the rest will be lovely," and then they followed that up with a transcendent version of The Suburbs and then they played Month of May with such furious energy that I screamed myself hoarse and danced until my feet hurt. There were more songs after that, and they were so good, so good.

And then, then they dedicated Wake Up to the Norway victims and ten thousand people raised their hands to the sky and sang along. And after that, when we thought they couldn't give us anything else, Régine danced us out with The Sprawl and the world was just, it felt filled with light.

First, the part that made me feel sad and pretty naive and stupid: I was late for a lunch meeting and when I came down into the subway, I was accosted by a woman who told me she needed money (about 15 euros) for a train ticket home. She was good, I'll give her that; I believed her. I didn't have any Swedish money on me, but I gave her a 10-euro note I found in my wallet, and then I realized she was lying. And before I could react, she was gone. I felt really dumb, and I also felt sad.

But then, oh. I got on the train and sat down next to a man, and across from us (on the other set of four seats) sat a little boy of about 4. He was pointedly not looking over, and it took me a second to realize that the man next to me was his dad. I looked at him and grinned, saying something about stubborn kids, huh (it was pretty clear he'd decided to sit over there because he WANTED to and his dad could just deal), and the dad nodded, laughing. I looked back over at the kid and made a funny face at him, he promptly lost his grumpyface, grinned and made a funny face right back, and that was our cue to make funny faces at each other for about four stations.

And then they were going to get off, and I smiled at the dad and waved at the kid, and then he marched right up to me and reached up for a hug and then kissed me on the cheek with this awesome smile on his face, and oh, you guys, I was grinning for ten minutes straight after that. First of all, what a great dad--that was one happy kid, albeit with quite the independent streak (which it seemed like his dad was completely okay with, letting him sit in the seat he wanted to sit in). Second--MAN, I can't even. How great are kids sometimes, you guys. How great. ♥