Lindsey Stirling: South by Southwest and Beyond Series - Part 6 - Farwells and Futures

Greetings fellow denziens of the internet. Today's blog wraps up the series on my time at South by Southwest. In this section I gloss over the rest of the weekend after that first special concert. For the price of one concert I got three Lindsey concerts and shows by a wealth of other bands. A very good deal. The original artical I am pushing to magazines is in black italics. Please take the time to comment, because you could help me modify it and make it shine for publication.

The show is over, but the crowd wants more. Enough Lindsey fans are present that a chant of “One more song!” commences. She has already unplugged her violin. Her keyboardist and I exchange shrugs at each other. He seems game for another song but the venue is on a schedule and it is probably almost closing time. The band is flattered but closes down shop. The venue breaks down into controlled chaos. Lindsey comes over to exchange a few brief words of small talk with me before she is bombarded with requests for photos. One man literally leaps up and down over me to get her attention. She is escorted out by members of her stage crew and progress is slow, because she honors as many requests for photos as she can. Meanwhile, I visit with Drew and Gavi for a while.

As much as I would have liked to talk further with her, I wanted her to get the heck out of dodge. The crowd was unpredictable and at different levels of intoxication, and some were even hostile towards her, throwing things up on stage during her performance. I didn't feel she was all that safe and hopefully they can truly get the venue reserved if they do something like this again.

I do not overstay my welcome and make my way back out onto the organized chaos of sixth street with a feeling of having just witnessed something truly special. There may be a time not far off when Lindsey is too big for the random appearance at a small venue, because it is obvious the girl is going places and continues to wow audiences. I have just seen the start of the next chapter in her career.
She performs twice more at South by Southwest and manages a few interviews. I happen upon a performance by chance the next day for Pandora while traversing Sixth on my way to the Willcall office. An RSVP list for the venue is strictly adhered to this time, and I am content to listen for a while from the street. Last, I attend the concert I originally bought a ticket for—a charity event for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation in which several amazing bands like “A Great Big World” and Ingrid Michelson participated. Although nice, neither of these compare to being at the edge of the stage and capturing the essence of the performance.

The Perez Hilton event was unique in a different way, and I gloss over it here. If I return to Lindsey Stirling in my Independent Music blogs, I may go into more detail. I felt a bit like a spy, but from my balcony I could see things the general audience could not. I found it intruiging how she was led around from camera to camera, person to person, doing the walk of a star before they finally let her prep for her set.

I watched Lindsey Stirling perform three times in less than twenty four hours. I can add this feat to my list of above and beyond fan accomplishments. It may seem like overkill, but each performance was a completely different experience. This is one of the benefits of being a fan of such a unique brand of music. There is always something new to see and hear, and the music is so layered it can take on a number of meanings. It must be exhausting to perform three times, rehearse, give several interviews, and who knows what else in such a short amount of time—but this is the extent of Lindsey’s dedication to her art and to her fans.

I am dedicated to the power of imagination to change the world. We cannot always be prepared for when inspiration will hit us in our lives, for I believe inspiration comes from God and arrives on his time. Our challenge as mortals is to harness the power of this motivational force for creativity when it strikes and pass it on to as many people as we can through our own talents. Lindsey conducts herself as a shining example of this ideal, and the encouraging motifs of her music urge people to fight through adversity, keep love in their heart, and realize their dreams. In this way, she has been granted the power to change the world. I share her belief that we all have this power within us and can cause the same sort of positive influence on the world in our own way. In short, when we come across someone who has the power to change the world we want to help them do it.

Thanks for reading everyone! Please go support this amazing talent. I plan on covering Pentatonix in my next blog on Independent Music, so stay tuned.

Lindsey’s music and style of performance is easy to access on youtube at www.youtube.com/lindseystomp
Tour information can be found at her website at www.lindseystirling.com
You can also preorder her next album and get exclusive content here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/lindseystirling

Lindsey Stirling: South by Southwest and Beyond Series - Part 5 - Shatter Me and the Longing to be Free

Hey Everyone. Sorry for the delay. My work with the Veterans Community Foundation often drains me of all energy. This is the best part of the article, the introduction of experiencing a new song for the first time. I was honored to be among the first to hear it, and I heard it first live, rather than on an album. Before I get to that moment, something else touching happened. Read on. Original article in black italics.  

She pauses again after Shadows for a touching act of respect and remembrance. Early on the morning of March 14^th, a drunk driver plowed through the barrier on Sixth Street, killing two and maiming at least fifteen others. Lindsey asks for a moment of silence to honor the people affected and their families. It takes a moment for the crowd to quiet down, but most comply. She prays silently to herself and many of us join her. This act in itself would have been enough, but Lindsey plays the next song in honor of the victims. Based on her next two concerts, it would appear she had planned on playing Transcendence, a song about overcoming adversity. Instead, she plays her cover of “My Immortal” by Evanescence. Lindsey’s rendition of the haunting, sorrow-filled song takes the original in new directions, for she can go places with the violin that the human voice cannot. It was the perfect song to play to help heal a city after such tragedy, and I do not feel it was a coincidence it was already in her repertoire. God was using her to heal.

It is important to note I did not expect her to play a new song. She even second guessed herself somewhat, having played it so few times with her band members. She need not have worried. 

After the last notes fade and the cheers die down, she approaches the microphone again. She begins by talking about how she has a new album coming out in May. My ears perk up. She talks about how excited she is about this new album. I cross my fingers. She announces she will now play a new song from her new album, “Shatter Me.”

I’m bouncing with such excitement I almost miss the name of the new song – “Beyond the Veil.” The new song captivates me immediately. It is simplistic in nature, with a mournful introduction that builds into something of a battle. The nature of this battle is triumphant, but a sense of longing never leaves the song. The violin “cat calls” in this song twice, and at the bridge there is a harsh sawing of the strings much like the devil’s song in “The Devil went down to Georgia.” I look to the title for clues for meaning. A veil hides something from the world. Often it hides the innocence of a bride, but it can also hide the identity of a knight. In the case of this song, whatever lies beyond the veil has a deep longing to get out, to be free. The battle for freedom rages and victory does not seem to come without cost. The motif of the struggling journey is ever present in this piece and louder than ever, and it holds a heroic theme throughout. It’s a song that upholds some primal truth, and it promises to be one of Lindsey’s most popular works. Yet “Shatter Me” as an album promises even more musical greatness.  Adina Friedman of Atom Factory and Lindsey’s manager describes the album to me in a few words.

“Epic,” she says. “Its on another level.”

The above quote was not pulled from an interview, but rather a brief message exchange and used with permission. I am honored to be involved enough to learn a little about what goes into producing an album, planning a tour, and in general making a star. I do not doubt as I struggle to complete my journey as a literary artist that it will take a team of hard working, amazing people who believe in me just like Lindsey has. So thank you to all of you already along for the ride.

With the crowd reeling from this first live play of the new song, Lindsey returns once more to the mic.

“Alright,” she pants. “This next song is a dance song so I want to see everyone dancing. I’ll be dancing with you.”

She begins Zi-Zi’s Journey. I try to dance, but I’ve never been able to pull it off well sandwiched between people like a sardine. Zi-Zi is a great song to jump to, but in actuality it holds a deeper meaning for Lindsey. It is about her personal journey as she faced down and conquered the growing pains of life. A perky, five note theme repeats itself to create a ten note fanfare. It seems to represent the child Zi-Zi and then later in the song represents Lindsey’s inner childlike wonder. The song marches forward into a classic Lindsey “journey” motif until the beat drops hard after a whimsical bridge. Lindsey speaks to the crowd in this quiet moment—a calm before the storm.

“When the beat drops, I need everybody to jump with me!”

The degree and amount of people who follow this crowd command depends on local culture and inhibition. Last year, Houston went wild while nearby Dallas barely moved. In this instance, it is mostly the gathered Lindsey fans with inside information about the concert who begin jumping. Here in Austin, when Lindsey jumps, more of the crowd joins in the commotion, and the concert reaches a crescendo of energy. Lindsey concerts are fun, and in all likelihood hundreds of new fans were discovering this fact for the first time. It was thrilling for me to watch the reactions of people discovering her for the first time.

Zi-Zi’s Journey was one song I did not like originally. It is the only song on Lindsey’s first album earning the distinction of needing to grow on me. I didn’t like the sharp electronic string beat or its electronic flavor, but I developed a new respect for the song when I heard it live. Since then, it has become the driving force of inspiration for my next book, “String Theory.”

She pauses one last time to thank the crowd for coming out, and then concludes with her most popular song, “Crystallize”. Crystallize was the first time any artist mixed dubstep with the violin with such resounding success, and the video for the song went viral within a day. Inspired somewhat by the work of Japanese scientists on the effects emotions can have on water molecules, the song emphasizes the realization of dreams through positive attitude and faith. Crystallize follows a different pattern than most of her other work. The journey motif is subdued in favor of a calm and swirling theme that is both uplifting and heroic. The majority of Lindsey’s music follows a traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus structure, but Crystalize deviates.

The verse is more powerful than the chorus, in particular when complimented by a dubstep power beat. As a result the chorus springboards from the verse but does not thrive independently. The chorus is a flurry of positive energy, alive with imagery of rapid construction or creation. This wanton assembly could be crystal at the molecular level, or the dreams and aspirations of humanity. There is no one specific bridge, but several sweeping transitions that complement the song, which ends with its powerful verse rather than its chorus.

Although Shadows barely edges out Crystallize as my favorite, it is currently her most popular song for a reason. Everyone has dreams they wish they could realize, and the song delivers in its message that they all can come true with just a little bit of faith and perseverance. Come back next time for the final installment in the series!