It will be a sign of the times that when I saw the photo above I immediately thought of such a funny video on Instagram. Two cats walk away from the smartphone camera, side by side, their tails curled around the other’s back as a sign of their deeply felt friendship. Love conquers all, you think in that video. And: was the entire internet – well, Twitter and Instagram – only made up of cat videos.
Is this a transparent attempt to appear more youthful than I am, to please the generations as a service columnist that I myself have outgrown? Well, now that that’s cleared up, I (over 60) can unabashedly surrender to the sentiment that washed over me when I saw the photo of the inconsolable-looking Birmingham senior couple. The two have just learned that the reason why they went to the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam has been forgotten: the concert of The Rolling Stones, scheduled for last Monday, has been canceled at the last minute. Singer Mick Jagger has tested positive for corona, and also has symptoms. The Arena Boulevard turns into a in a fraction of a moment Boulevard of Broken Dreams†
Photographer Paul Bergen (64) had set out early for the ANP news agency to photograph the (mainly older) fans in the cheerful madness that the presence of the Stones always generates before the Stones concert. He had been in the car for less than five minutes when he learned that the show — the 22nd he would attend as a pop photographer — had been cancelled. After consultation with his client, he decided to go to Amsterdam anyway, to read the disappointment on the faces. When he arrived, an hour after the doom, the fans had already dealt with the first blow and the strongest emotions had already passed.
The visible passing of time
The two Birmingham-born seventies caught my eye, he says when asked, because ‘the love they feel for each other coincides with their love for the Stones. That makes them endearing.’ He spoke to them – ‘From the front they look something like what you would expect from the back’ – and heard that they had already been to more than thirty concerts of their favorite band. They had already resigned themselves to the inevitable and looked ahead: “Maybe they went to the June 21 concert in Milan, and at least they have tickets for the Hyde Park show in London on June 25.” Want their money back for the missed concert in the Arena? ‘No way. “It’s only a half hour flight for us,” they said. They will report back as soon as there is a new date for the Netherlands.’
While the two walked away, Bergen took his photo, which can rightly be called a time image. Representatives of the generation of Stones fans from the first, until presumably the last hour. Because of that indestructible Stones logo on their lower backs, the protruding tongue between the full lips, which in times of revival corona suddenly reminds of Jagger’s open mouth at the time of his positive test. Because of the visible passing of time – the fluffy jackets that have lost their resilience due to frequent washing. Or, which is also possible, as Bergen says: ‘As you get older, you shrink a bit and such a jacket naturally falls a bit large.’ Indeed, the man’s jeans are also lubbering around his legs.
We see not only defeat in the attitude of the two, but also the support they offer each other in the face of setbacks. “They’re so sober. When they hear the news about Jagger they say shit, corona. Well, it’s part of life.’ An arm around the shoulder offers sufficient comfort.