by Robert Deckard

Created on: March 09, 2009   Last Updated: March 12, 2009

When debating whether a touring act should keep grabbing the microphone or put the guitar back on the wall for good, validity should be the deciding factor. Don't confuse validity with quality. There is no accounting for taste and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You've heard it before; one man's meat is another man's poison, one man's trash is another man's treasure, and on and on.

While one music maven may look at aging acts such as the Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney and cringe, another will giggle with childish glee and be first in line for tickets to the concert. By definition, music is a series of notes and chords with a certain melody, rhythm, and meter, all characteristics that can be notated and measured; however, the immeasurable aspect of music, and its greatest quality, is the feeling it evokes in the listener.

The Rolling Stones may be an embarrassing dinosaur to some, but they are the first 45 rpm record ever owned by someone else. One person may think that Paul McCartney is a wheezing old geezer, but he is the instrument by which someone else broadened his or her mind. Some may find Pete Townshend to be a stuffy old man cashing in on faded glory, while others remember him windmilling away on their stereo before going out for a night on the town.

These acts represent freedom, rebellion, and young love to a great many fans then, now, and forever (or at least as long as recorded music exists). It doesn't matter if the vocal cords are a little strained, if the drummer gets a little winded, or if the guitarist seems a little bored. In the perfect world known as the imagination, these minor details go unnoticed. It was the fans' imaginations that the Stones, the Beatles, and The Who captured upon first listen, and it is here where they still reign supreme. The notes and rhythms that our wondrous brains interpret as music pleasing to the ear become secondary to the experience.

The feelings these acts elicit are what the fans pay to see. For 90 minutes, they are transported back to the living room in their childhood home, discovering the joys of rock n' roll with their older brothers and sisters as Mick and Keef expose them to new avenues of abandonment. They are sitting under the stars, contemplating the future with their sweetheart as Roger Daltrey's voice flows from the car radio. They are once again curled up in their beanbag chair as Dylan warns them about the changing times.

Older acts still fill arenas to capacity with screaming throngs of adoring fans. Because this is the first wave of rock musicians to ply their trade into maturity in the public eye, it will be interesting to see how the contemporary bands are perceived as they attempt to do the same, if they do at all. Obviously, sold out concerts confirm these bands' relevance to a number of souls, and if something has relevance, it has validity.

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