by Christopher Stoddard; photos by Ari Fraser
I’m not religious at all, but I’m considering Christianity after seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros perform live last Sunday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
The short subway ride from our homes in the East Village to the Bedford Avenue stop in Brooklyn was filled with anticipation similar to children waiting for Christmas. Positive energy floated in the air like golden dust, perhaps stemming from the outdoor concert given for free that afternoon by the experimental band Grizzly Bear on the Williamsburg Waterfront.
At the station in Brooklyn, the line of young ones waiting to return to the city stretched aboveground and a quarter-way down the block. The expressions of patience and tranquility on the concertgoers’ faces told me that they’d just seen and heard something beautiful.
Packed with people, the Williamsburg streets reminded me of Mardi Gras, only much hipper and—in a non-intoxicated way—much happier. Everyone was high from the extraordinarily clear day, cool temperatures and complimentary music played by one of the best indie bands around.
Another long line greeted us when we arrived at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on North 6th. Thankfully we’d purchased our tickets online, so we breezed past the hopeful crowd who became quickly disappointed once learning that the show was sold out.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros charged us only five bucks to see them live, and their album, Up From Below, is just 7.99. To me, this says, “We only need enough to eat and to pay for our travel expenses while touring the country, spreading the Good Word.”
Edward Sharpe looks like Jesus. He and his disciples, the Magnetic Zeros, send us positive messages through song and offer a brief escape from the drudgery of a dull, monotonous world, one that’s filled with wars, recessions and the greed of global capitalism. While all this is going on, the band is singing about how “one love carries on” and reminds us about those we hold dear to our hearts with such sing-along verses as “home is wherever I’m with you.”
The crowd was wild with emotion. We danced and jumped and waved our arms like hippies from the sixties. There wasn’t one person without a smile on his or her face or some other look of enlightenment and thankfulness for being reminded that we can live in a beautiful world by changing something as small as our attitude toward life.
I don’t know if Sharpe really is the Messiah returned to Earth to bring His people together. I’m not even so sure the son of some god ever visited us in the first place. But after seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros live, I feel more optimistic than I have in months. Spread the love! Visit the band’s site by clicking on their name under Them & Theirs.
