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The Mystic in the Arena: The Concert as a Spiritual Journey
Author’s note: I originally wrote this article in the early 2000s for a pagan magazine called Crescent. At the time, I used the term “shaman” throughout the piece, a term which is appropriative. I know better know, and apologize for my ignorance. In this version, I have changed the language to refer to “mystics” instead, with one exception.
This piece also appears in my essay collection, Read the Music: Essays on Sound. You can buy a copy here or ebook here.
Seattle’s Experience Music Project* opened in the year 2000, a majestic building that is part music museum and part teleportation device. At its heart is something creator Paul Allen calls The Sky Church: like the EMP itself, this central arena takes its inspiration from legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who envisioned that one day there would be a place where people from all different backgrounds could gather and talk about, listen to, and celebrate music.
It doesn’t take a creation like the EMP to remind music fans that attending a concert is very much a spiritual experience. Every year, we pay hundreds of dollars to join fellow fans in crowded concert halls and huge arenas to hear and experience music in a close, intimate, and often spiritual way.
