The Atlantic

I Performed a Career-Highlight Show. Then Delta Hit.

A touring musician reflects on the crumbling, momentary resurgence, and near-instantaneous re-crumbling of live music.
Source: Justin P. Goodhart

It is the view of a lifetime: a sea of 8,488 expectant faces, their collective gaze converging to a single point, which happens to be exactly where I’m standing. Behind me sit about 60 members of the Colorado Symphony; my bandmates are at my side. Our band, Guster, is headlining Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater carved into the side of a rock formation in Morrison, Colorado, and universally regarded as one of the world’s preeminent live-music venues. As we launch into our first song, “Do You Love Me,” I tamp down the last flares of stage fright, and remind myself to be present and take in the

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