Sweet Solos Are Made of This

Ok, I admit it, I went to a Eurythmics show once, and what's more, I liked it. This is 1983 or something, back before most of you and the internets and perhaps even Monica Bellucci was born, and I had a series subscription to the Merriweather Post Pavilion, which was once Frank Gehry's hot concert spot and one of the shows was the Eurythmics, perhaps even with Howard Jones and his mime (I shit you not) as opening act. The '80s were a simpler time--we even thought then there'd never be a president worse than Reagan.

But I digress, as this is about a great concert, and not just the part when one of my fellow DJs from WJHU--all 10 watts of it, then--got to be one of the madly dancing people on stage with Annie Lennox, despite being a long-haired post-hippie freak whose radio show featured nothing more normal than the Residents.

But I digress again. The moment, the perfect grace moment, was a guitar solo by Dave Stewart. Yep, with all the vocal firepower and stage presence Lennox brings to a concert, what I remember most is Stewart winding and holding and no doubt pressing some magic pedals through a closing solo to "Jennifer" that was the epitome of soaring, something that rises up your spine and then takes your spine with it and everything lifts and grows and it's a darn good thing it's an outdoor concert.