A couple of years ago I was attending reception during a client’s sales convention and a few of their customers dropped by to socialise. One of them was a bit late, he explained, because he’d just come from escorting his pre-teen daughter to an Ariana Grande concert.
Yeah, you probably already know where this is going. But stick with me.
First off, I had no idea who Ariana Grande was; our tardy guest explained. She was a former kids’ TV show performer who was now making a name for herself as a pop star. Her favoured demo was young teen and preteen girls, and this guy’s daughter was nuts about her. When she heard AG was coming to town, she begged to go. At this juncture, the parents had something of a disagreement.
The mother’s instinct was to protect the child: you’re too young to go to a concert, there’s all kinds of bad influences, it’s a school night, etc etc.
The father’s inclination was to prepare her: yeah, at some point you’re going to go to concerts so let’s get you started with a nice safe experience that you can enjoy without too many edges or obstacles. He prevailed, and off they went.
By his account, the evening was a smash. The show was great, Ariana shone, his daughter was ecstatic. Having delivered her safely home to a relieved mom, he joined us to recount the tale. A great evening, a memorable experience for his daughter, and a wonderful bonding moment for the two of them. He could not have been happier with the way things turned out. And rightfully so.
A few days ago, Ariana Grande came back onto my – and everyone else’s – radar.
As the awful news from Manchester permeated every newsfeed, I could not help but remember that proud, happy dad, and his empowered, delighted daughter, and ponder how differently the parents and children at the Manchester show must feel about their experience.
As parents, we accept there is an element of risk in everything we encourage our children to do. To avoid it entirely is to avoid living, life. But attending a pop concert should not be a risky experience. It should not involve weighing the options of ‘you might have a great time’ with ‘you might die’.
How, in this age, do we make it less so? How, I wonder, do we teach our children to trust, to take risks, to be adventurous, when such perils await in the most unexpected places? Like the parents of our young fan, I waver between protect and prepare. I have no easy answer.
But I do applaud Ms Grande’s response: after cancelling a couple of shows in the days following the Manchester gig, largely out of compassion for the victims, she staged a defiant response to the terror and mounted a massive, star-studded benefit concert – in Manchester – mere days later. To her, and all the other music mega-stars who joined her on that stage, I doff my hat. Your message was clear: the music will go on. Life will go on. And almost always, almost almost almost always, you’ll come away from an Ariana Grande show with a mile wide smile on your face.
That’s a risk worth taking.