2022-11-23 Parov Stelar at Torwar

We went to a concert with J.

First, I’ll pour out my grievances. We almost missed the train, the line at Burger King was long, the Uber smelled of cigarettes, they felt me up before the entrance and told me to put my backpack in storage for 20 zł, the drinking water was expensive and came without caps, and the guy playing as the support act was boring and very loud, which made it physically unpleasant (sorry el siciliano).

Now the tasty stuff.

Parov Stelar and his band are true masters of the show. The start of the concert was very impressive, loud, and energizing; they kicked things off right away. Then, from track to track, they showed more and more interesting things. I don’t know how long they’ve been making music together, but I was full of admiration for how tight they were. There wasn’t a single person (maybe except the drummer) who was just standing still.

I have no idea what Parov himself was doing. I don’t know what a DJ does at a concert with a band. He had two laptops, swayed to the music, waved to his mates, said something to them, but apart from that it’s hard for me to say whether he wasn’t just browsing Onet the whole time.

Apart from Parov, there were:

- A babe in a white cardigan

- Bruno Mars

- My coworker Igor, if he were a guitarist

- The drummer, but I didn’t see him because he was around the corner

- J. says there was also someone on keys, but I don’t believe her

And the divine trio:

- The male, adult version of Lisa Simpson (the saxophonist)

- The trumpet player

- Also a trumpet player, only with that long sliding trumpet that goes back and forth

Mother of God, I knew saxophonists normally sometimes sway around a bit on stage, but the way this particular brass section led the party, with dancing, jumping, swaying, interacting with the other band members, and all kinds of solos, was something absolutely incredible.

My coworker Igor was doing great too. I wondered how this man’s life had turned out so that he didn’t end his guitar-playing phase somewhere after university, but is now performing with a band like this in different countries.

Finally, the babe in the white cardigan and Bruno Mars, because they were both amazing, but they didn’t surprise me as much as the divine brass-and-wind trio. From the very beginning they warmed up the audience, fully engaged with everything happening on stage. Before the concert, I was afraid the vocal recordings would be samples, so the presence of vocalists was a huge relief and joy, although the high volume didn’t let me catch all the little flavors in their voices.

I don’t listen to this kind of music, so after the support act’s performance I was sure I’d be bored, but that didn’t happen, and by the end of the concert I already felt a strong bond with the whole band; I had really made friends with them. In a way, I began to understand what people mean when they say music is a universal language. I’m very happy about that evening. Despite various inconveniences that really spoiled my mood, great music wrapped in a delicious show filled me with incredible experiences that will stay with me for a long time.