It’s Russ’ first birthday in Paris. It’s Friday night and we’re on our way to see Chemical Brothers, our first concert at the Seine Musicale. This is Paris’ newest entertainment venue that was just completed in 2017 and sits just outside the main city on the South end of the suburb, Boulogne-Billancourt. You can take line 9 to the end at Pont de Sèvres and take a short walk following signs or other concert goers to this huge complex which doesn’t just feature concerts, but also restaurants and of course, shopping. We showed up shortly before the start to enjoy a quick drink in the rain and cold. After going through the line and getting the all too normal bag search and pat down, you get a quick “merci” for your cooperation. We didn’t realize just where this place was until that night. We had passed it before in the summer when while ride our bikes along the Seine. It’s hard to ignore the modern, vessel architecture along the river and now we get to actually see a concert here.

So how did the concert go? Freaking fantastic. Neither one of us had seen Chemical Brothers in concert before so this was a real treat. We were told that their live shows were pretty good and complete satisfaction was truly reached by the entire audience when the giant robots showed up, walked up, shooting lasers out of their eyes. The rest was big screen projections of dancers in costumes, black light make up and art, disco balls, giant balloons, and confetti. There were illuminated silhouettes of bugs, people, faces glowing at the end of light tunnels, bouncing blocks and patterns surrounding human forms voging and strutting on a catwalk, floating translucent fabric led by flailing limbs by two people in slow motion dance. There was anime fighting complete with Power Ranger-like costumes. Nonstop action and changing scenes from one song to the next. Everyone seemed to be in heaven. The sound was loud and bassy, but not too destructive on the ears. I had forgotten our earplugs so this was very fortunate. It had been so long since we heard good electronic music, loud, and with an excellent live show that we were really able to escape for those couple of hours. I didn’t want to take an overload of pictures and video, but I wanted to get a good sense of some of the shenanigans we saw. The rest was just pure enjoyment and dancing, stripping off layers of clothes as bodies heated up the concert hall.

It’s hard to not take pictures and videos of events in our lives these days. Why capture the moment on a device when you could simply be present and record the experience in your actual memory? It’s part of everyone’s story telling. It’s visual aid in case we don’t have the words to describe something accurately or you need to settle an argument. It’s how we are able to not completely lose our own memories as our brains age. I mostly agree that we aren’t as present as we should be. Phones are really distracting, especially when taking pictures because you end up taking pictures of other hands holding up glowing screens to take pictures and video of the same damn thing! However, Russ has argued that it’s hard to remember everything these days and it would be so crucial and appreciated to show your future self should you fall into the realm of Alzheimer/dementia sufferers wondering who you were. To see and hear proof that you were there is one way to help reconnect to yourself. The simple life is long dead and people have a lot to keep track of. These visual aids can be helpful with reminding us that we were there too, we were a part of something and had a blast, and these memories don’t have to completely fade away in the distance. I’m just remembering that it was Russ’ last birthday when we announced our move to Paris! Can’t believe the time has gone by so fast, and faster still as we pin more time down behind us. Happy birthday, Russ. This birthday was extraordinary and even though it would be hard to forget, you’ll still be able to see a few clear details on this particular night in your life.