Lovin' Every Minute of It

I had a “feeling old moment” a few weeks ago. I was telling a friend about how excited I was to see Loverboy playing at the Venetian Festival in Charlevoix.

“Oh really?” she said “I was just a little kid when they were popular.”

“I was in high school/early college,” I responded, suddenly feeling old.

My friends and I were all really looking forward to the concert that was bringing one of the popular bands of our generation (late ‘70s/early ‘80s) to town for the recent headlining concert. When we got to the show, Tom and I stood in a spot where we could see both the band and the crowd. I was a little more than slightly shocked at the age and appearance of the band, primarily the lead singer.

“They’re old!” I told Tom, “If I close my eyes and just listen, they’re the same old Loverboy I remember, but when I open my eyes, they are just these really old guys playing really old songs.”

Tom said, “Did you check out the crowd? Everyone here is old … including us!”

We got a laugh out of that. I was one of those embarrassing moms, who danced and sang along (yelled-along was more accurate), when the lead singer held out the microphone to the crowd (and I’d like to apologize to the people who were standing in front of me).

A few times the lead singer referenced the age of the band and music they were playing. One of the songs came out in 1980. He mentioned they had been at the Castle in 1983 and then he talked about how another song was 34 years old.

When the songs played I had a hard time placing where I was at that time in my life. When I think back to my high-school years, I was listening to bands like Van Halen, Poison, Bon Jovi and Prince. Although I knew the words to just about every song Loverboy played, I wasn’t transported back to high school. When the intro to “When it’s Over” started on the keyboard, suddenly I was back at a sixth-grade dance in middle school! I realized at that at moment that I, too, was a kid when Loverboy was popular. Not a “little kid,” but a kid nonetheless. I got to be a little smug for a moment because Tom was in high school when they were popular. But I guess none of that matters. We are fortunate to be from a generation that produced excellent music and I’m proud to have been a part of it. I’ll take that “feeling old” moment and any that come, and I’ll be “Lovin’ Every Minute of It.”