Thursday, October 15th, 2026

I didn’t end up getting a chance to write in my journal yesterday. It was mostly a day of driving home from Denver. Overall it was a great little getaway. We got to see our kids for dinner Tuesday night before we went over to the Paramount to see Gary Clark Jr. perform. Gary Clark put on a great show as always. A little toned down from some of his past performances that we have seen. He played a few new songs, and many of his old songs the band played at a slightly slower tempo. There was a vibe he was going for, a more chill night. The stage was decorated with all these old lamps to give the stage more of an antique living room feel. I always wonder how much the time and place impacts an artist’s performance. A Tuesday night at a relatively smaller venue like the Paramount, is much different than we have seen Gary Clark Jr. at Red Rocks on a Friday night. I would imagine the band gets extra amped up to play a place like Red Rocks.

There was an opening act, a three piece band supporting a new artist Xavier Lynn. I hadn’t heard of Lynn before. But he and his band put on a great show. They were a bit of a blues funk band, with a great energy. For some reason, they kept reminding me of Morris Day and The Time. There was something about the rhythm section of many of their songs that had that feel in a really good refreshed way. I always love seeing new artists that clearly have the energy and drive to put on a great show. Knowing that it is likely that no one in the room had heard their music before. Putting themselves out there, telling their stories through the music.

The other thing that I really enjoyed about this show was that it was a phone free event. Everyone’s phone went into a secure pouch that was locked until the end of the show. My understanding is that this is done for a few reasons directed by the artists themselves. Having unreleased music end up on the internet before the band releases it must be frustrating. But, the part I think is more important is keeping the audience focused on the performance. Not checking their phone for something happening on social media, or worse trying to share out the experience they should be having in realtime. It was so enjoyable to know that I couldn’t reach for my phone to check something. I thought about it a few times. I wanted to look up who the opening act was, where they were from, but that all had to wait. And after the first two or three attempts to think about checking my phone, I just forgot about it being there. And allowed myself to fully pay attention to the bands.

We should have more places and events that are deemed phone free. Of course it is something we could do on our own. It is embarrassing as a culture we would pay money to go see an artist that we enjoy, traveled to go see, they traveled to the venue, to then partially ignore the event and be doing something on our devices. It is like we are in kindergarten where the teachers need to take our toys away so we can focus. There are very few things in the US where the social norm enforces the agreed upon behavior. I was recently listening to an episode of the podcast Search Engine, called “Why’s everybody going to Japan?”. In the episode they talk about many of the social norms that are enforced by the people in Japan. Something that provides a level of order, but also creates a level of constant pressure for the citizens. For the most part this isn’t possible in the US. We are too independent to be willing to comply, unless forced. I can’t imagine trying to tell another fan at the show to turn off their phone. That interaction likely would not go well. I think even if Gary Clark Jr. asked people to put away their devices, some would out of respect, but many wouldn’t. So instead we were all forced to lock away our distraction devices.