The Most Amazing Gorilla

The most amazing thing happened in our shopping centre the other day, when a gorilla set up a full set of drums with his backing track. Sitting behind his drum set, we watched his facial expressions go through different emotions. First he was all teeth with an aggressive grin, eyebrows low with anticipation, apprehension, looking edgy. Then he raised his eyebrows high, relaying joy, excitement. Finally as the traffic light in his head turned green, with his lips pouting, eyes wide open, he was in the zone, focused. Then like a bolt of lightning striking, the soft mellow backing track was over laid with his thunderous explosing drum solo, smashing the placid harmony with a high energy feast.

The crowd that had gathered were punched with an avalanche of emotion, with the most haunting drum solo from, “In the Air Tonight” by Genesis’s genius Phil Collins that was featured in the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar advert. The winning combination of an atmospheric sound track with an emotional drum playing gorilla was heaven.

We were lost for three minutes in an eighties’ classic rock anthem. We indulged ourselves in one of the best bits of rock music to come out of that decade that is still very much loved today. We were bewitched by the sight of him working his magical drumsticks, like a pair of magician’s wands, whilst the gorilla’s face and body language was living and loving the moment. It felt so personal to each and every one of us, as children and adults alike stood in awe open mouthed.

At the end the of the performance which felt far to short, the gorilla packed up and then disappeared as quickly as he arrived, leaving the crowd silent in an emotional trance. 

Afterwards I spend the rest of the day with the song popping in and out of my head, like an old friend that you are always happy to bump into. Then there’s was the occasional spontaneous humming and singing and in public, that’s a little embarrassing, but I’m sure I was not the only one performing this weirdo behaviour, was I? As for the banging of the two straws on top of an array of McDonald’s food cartons imitating a silverback gorilla rock God, I might off just crossed the line!