Then

Now

I have a dilemma. Paul Weller is coming to do a show at the Enmore Theatre in August. When I got the Ticketek email I went "WOW!". Have to see him, love him, blah blah blah.

Then I stopped for a moment and thought about actually loving the idea of Paul Weller from 20+ years ago. A Style Council/The Jam incarnation of Paul Weller that I knew and loved from my mid-teens. I haven't bought any of his solo albums during the past 20 years. Certainly we have both moved on with our lives. What would I be expecting from his concert?

Since his relationship with The Jam is strained at best there certainly wouldn't be a rousing sing-a-long of That's Entertainment or A Town Called Malice. And since The Style Council's very particular 80s stylings surely wouldn't be where he is musically today I couldn't rely on hearing Big Boss Groove or Speak Like A Child or (my all time favourite) It Just Came To Pieces In My Hands. So I'd be left staring at his (still undoubtedly beautiful) face and not knowing any of the music.

Where does all that leave me? Feeling sad and nostalgic and yearning for a tiny moment in my life when life was easy and the future was filled with glorious possibilities. A time when I stood on a milk crate at the front of the stage at the Hordern Pavillion and touched Paul Weller's sweaty t-shirt as he belted out some of The Style Council's wonderful songs. A time that can never be replaced or returned to.

Goodbye Paul. Goodbye youth. Hello whatever is around the next corner.

... Maybe I could just buy one of his new albums and see if I like it. Now there's an idea...