Nowadays, rock and roll music has become one of the most popular music genres which means that famous rock bands go on stadium concert tours more often. They have become very prominent social events like the Paul McCartney concert that I went to in November two years ago.
Before the day of the concert in my town of Fukuoka, Sir Paul McCartney went to watch Sumo Wrestling. 20 years ago, when he made his first visit to Fukuoka, he also went to the same sumo wrestling venue to see this traditional Japanese sport. At that time, most of the audience knew him but some of them were not fans of Paul's music. However, this time, many people in the audience shouted, “Paul, Paul, Paul!" and clapping their hands like the audience in a rock concert. This instance shows how the rock generation nowadays expands to all walks of life in Japan. As Paul McCartney has reached his 70’s in age, the first rock generation have become senior citizens.
Moreover, the concert gig that Paul held was in a big indoor baseball stadium. I saw a lot of different ages in the audience: from middle school students to men and women in their 70’s. When the Beatles came to Japan, many students and teachers from schools were banned from going to the concert. Even then, some young stars secretly went to the concert as if they were delinquent kids.
However, now, people from all walks of life love rock music and some Beatles songs are sung in music classes in Japanese schools. Therefore, this time, parents might have brought their children along to Paul’s concert to enjoy the music and the memories.
In my opinion, interesting cultural and social movements are born in the margins of the society, and then, once it becomes popular, it becomes part of the mainstream movement. The culture and society of a country develop in such a cycle.
