Musicians spend so much of their time on the road, in strange rooms, and in strange surroundings in front of new audiences every day on their tour. They go from having never met or interacted with the new audience, to baring all of themselves in a matter of hours. This nakedness is one of the most vulnerable states that any person can be in; yet, musicians are willing to enter into this totally naked contract – negotiating the promises and the pitfalls - with their new audience every night.
My project - The One-night Stand - speaks of the musicians’ addiction to sensation-seeking.
As a spectator watching this interaction between the musician on stage and the audience - I saw an energy and an emotional high created that moved back and forth from one to the other until the climax as the performance ended.
The audience member would then leave the stadium - in a buzz - chatting with others about the high they just received and mementoes they bought to keep the memory of that one-night stand.
The musician - after the performance – is “high” just like the audience but is left alone, naked, exposed and emotionally exhausted in his/her hotel room. They are left to negotiate the outcome of their performance, their expectations from the performance and their regrets.
The one-night stand dynamic offers similar emotional highs and lows and addictive qualities as a musician in constant search for the next gig.
