Tanglewood

And I'm posting a day late again because we got in after midnight and I could barely keep awake. My friend A took me to Tanglewood, a concert venue in the Berkshires, MA, for an annual 4th of July special event - a performance by James Taylor.

JT is big over here, perhaps not quite so much in the UK. He's a singer-songwriter, big in the 70s, now nearly 70 himself. I can't claim to have been the youngest person there, but (pushing 50) I did feel quite the spring chicken, and was doing my bit to lower the average age of the audience.

It was fun. A had told me it would be "like Woodstock" - but (it turned out) with lawn chairs and well-packed coolers instead of drugs. And lots of red, white and blue to mark the day. Not really very like Woodstock at all, I suspect.

The venue features The Shed (a covered area with seating) and extensive lawns. People picnicked in.style on the lawns. and we arrived early and joined them, before taking our seats in the Shed. The audience was devoted and enthusiastic though far from wild, and that suited me fine.

Added bonus for the evening, I found out by chance just before we set off that a very dear friend who now lives in Philadelphia was also going to be there (I'd learnt she was heading for the Berkshires and guessed her destination - she's an unrepentant hippie, of course she was going to see James Taylor). So we had a brief but very happy reunion.