Over the weekend, Rand and I watched some of the Concert for New York, which he owns on DVD. So I thought that today, it would be appropriate to share some of my observations about that concert. I didn’t watch it when it aired, but it’s easy to see why Rand would own it…performances by Bowie and The Who, short films by Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Kevin Smith.

Of course, I also wanted to watch the performances of some of my own favorites…Bon Jovi, the Goo Goo Dolls and Billy Joel. Unfortunately, they were just meh. Jon was doing some weird vocal affectations, and he’d decided that consonants were no longer his friend. (on steee hoase I aiiiiiiie). The Goos insisted on doing their cover of American Girl…I don’t know why Johnny is so in love with that song. (although I do prefer hearing them do it to hearing Tom Petty) Billy Joel did Miami 2017, which ws okay, and New York State of Mind, which sounded kind of bad.

The Who were most definitely the stars of the show. Undoubtedly, the most moving part of the whole concert was their performance of Behind Blue Eyes. The text of the song doesn’t really have anything to say about the events of 9/11, but Roger Daltrey sang it with such power and honest emotion…and during the performance, the camera scanned the crowd, where many people were holding up photos and laminated memorial cards of their friends, loved ones, and fallen comrades. I’m tearing up again right now just thinking about it.

The show closed with a set by Paul McCartney, the finale being his song Freedom. That might just be the worst song I’ve ever heard. Rand commented that if Paul “had any balls,” he’d have closed with a cover of Imagine.

At any rate, it’s hard to believe it’s been five years. And it’s hard for me to believe that the unity we felt in those months after, with each other, and with the rest of the world, was so easily lost. I think that might be the biggest tragedy of all.