Like A Perfect Storm

“When we feel a great amount of joy or great amount of pain we turn to music, that's why we are all at Hyde Park tonight. 

“The thing that we all have in common, regardless of where we came from to get to the show tonight, or you know what language we grew up speaking, or our backgrounds, our hobbies, all these things could be different. But the one thing that connects us, the one thing we have in common for sure, is that When we experience great pain, or great joy, the people in this room turn to music, and that's why we’re all here tonight and that's what we have in common, And um, one thing that hits me really hard about knowing you and about talking to you and about hearing your stories and looking into your eyes and having you being a big part of my life is um, it occurs to me how very difficult it is to be happy in 2015, How we all want it so badly, how we all want to be happy all the time, but it’s just unrealistic to think that we could be when every day we can go online and see the highlight reel of somebody else’s life but we only see the behind the scenes of our life. And we compare ourselves, and that's natural, that's human nature to compare ourselves to other people or other scenarios or ‘maybe my life should be like this instead of like that’ and its really easy to get confused about what matters, and it’s even more easy to get confused about who we actually are, um, so I guess right now what I would like to do is to take a moment to remind you of what you are and what you are not. Okay Glasgow? You are not somebody else’s opinion of you. You are not damaged goods if you’ve made a few mistakes in your life. You are not going nowhere just because you haven't gotten where you want to go yet. Alright, now I want to talk about what you are, you are your own definition of beautiful and worthwhile and no one else’s definition. You are smarter, wiser, and stronger because you took the risks you took to make mistakes in your life. And last but not least, you are a person who is probably going through a lot at this very moment, but instead of wallowing in it, you got up, got dressed, and went to a concert and we’re all having the best time ever on a Tuesday night. That’s what you are. And I think sometimes we get confused because we think things are supposed to be perfect all the time or we’re supposed to feel perfect, or act perfect all the time, and that’s not the case, I don’t think that's the case. I think sometimes its- I think sometimes you get credit for just showing up and getting on with things, getting out of bed in the morning, going to school, going to work, it doesn't have to be perfect, but you do have to keep going. And um- I think sometimes we can get confused and think that because we have ghosts or because we have scars or because we’ve walked through a bunch on rainstorms, that makes us damaged, or less than other people. But I think those things that I just mentioned, don't make you damaged, I think walking through a bunch of rainstorms actually makes you clean.”

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“So I know that a lot of people who are here tonight live in the Netherlands” “And that’s amazing. I also know that we have a lot people who travelled really really far” “And what I think is so cool about that, is that we have so many people here from different parts of the world, different backgrounds. And the one thing that we have in common although so many things in our lives may be different, is that the reason why we’re all in this room tonight is because when, when we experience great pain or when we experience great joy , we turn to music” “And, I’m looking out to this crowd and thinking about the fact that it is one of the best crowds I’ve ever played to in my life” “Like, when I was a little kid, and I would dream about being, being a singer, like I didn’t even dream about crowds that were this good. You’re that good.” “And and, and I sit there and I think about the fact that, every single one of you who are screaming and dancing and being amazing tonight, every one of you, every one of you might be going through something difficult right this moment. Every one of you might be having one of those insecure days when you just feel like nothing you put on fits, nothing you do to your hair looks good, uhm, and you can’t figure out where you wanna go with your life. We all have these days and, and maybe you had one of those days waking up this morning. But the point is that you got out of bed and you put on an outfit and you walked out the door and you went to a concert and now we’re having the best time ever., are we?” “And sometimes it’s not about things being perfect all the time, sometimes it’s not about being happy all the time, sometimes it’s about getting on with things and putting one foot in front of the other. And I just hope that when you do that, when you make mistakes, when you go through terrible things, I hope you don’t see yourself as damaged, because that’s not what happens when you experience life. You’re not damaged because you have scars or because you have ghosts. That’s not what happens.” “What happens is, you become wiser because you have scars and you become wiser because you have ghosts, and you, you become someone who doesn’t make the same kind of mistake twice. And if you make no mistakes, that’s fine, but I don’t think making mistakes makes you damaged. I think that making mistakes makes you, clean.`

“There are about like I said 15.00 people in this room tonight and that´s all the room fits, that´s it. You guys completely sold it out, you sold out tomorrow night too. I´m so incredibly grateful for this. Thank you so, so much! And you know tonight is the very first night of the European leg of the 1989 world tour. And we´ve got people here from completely different backgrounds who speak different languages. Everyone here could be going through different things, different issues, but the one thing that we all have in common is that the reason we are here is because when life gets complicated or difficult or terrible or painful, we turn to music and that´s why we´re all in this room tonight. You could be going through a breakup or a hard time or a time where you feel insecure about one thing or another and we all go through that. And we all continue to go through that throughout the course of our lives. And you know, if you look to the person next to you, you have no idea what they´re going through. And the fact that matters to me the most is that no matter what you´re going through, you decided tonight to forget about it and get up and go have the best time at a life concert. That is what matters to me. And when you´re going through terrible times in the future, like we all will,  I want you to look in the mirror and remind yourself of what you ARE and what you are NOT, okay? You are NOT someone else’s opinion of you. You are NOT damaged goods, just because you´ve made mistakes in your life. And you are NOT going nowhere just because you haven´t got where you want to go yet. Let me remind you what you ARE. You ARE your own definition of beautiful and worthwhile, that´s what you ARE. You ARE someone who is going through whatever you´re going through in your life, has been through difficult times, and you ARE still here, having a blast at a concert with me on a Friday night, that´s who you are!  A last thing: You ARE the people who have gotten me through the hardest times of my life THAT IS WHO YOU ARE!  And I will never forget it, thank you for being here tonight. A while ago, just a little over a year ago, around the last time that I was playing a show in Germany, I went to England and I wrote a song with a women named Imogen Heap - right before I moved to New York City and cut my hair.  And the song is about all the hard times you helped me get through and the song is called CLEAN. Don´t just sing along, scream the words with me.”

“Alright: I am looking out at this glorious crowd (laughs) and um, you’re all lit up so the thing is I can see every single one of you even if you’re at the top and you think that I can’t, I can. I see every time you move I see every time you jump I see every time you’re dancing around and I’m looking at you and I’m thinking about the fact that we have lot of people who traveled to be at this concert from other places, thank you for doing that. We also have a lot of people who are from the great state of Pennsylvania who are here tonight. I was thinking about that, I was thinking about how lucky I am to be in this room full of people who are all, we’re all from different backgrounds we’re all different ages we have different hobbies; we have one thing that connects us and one thing in common all 50,000 of us, and that thing is when life gets difficult for us the first thing we turn to is music. That is why Shawn Mendes is here tonight it’s why Vance Joy is here tonight it’s why Rachel Platten is here tonight, and it’s why you’re here tonight because we all process pain the same exact way and we process joy the same way, we need a song that describes those emotions and when we find that song it’s like falling in love. Um, And you know I um, I talk to you on the internet and I talk to you when I meet you and when we talk it becomes very clear to me that every single person here could be going through something really tough. And really difficult, and you’re putting on a smile, and you go to a concert and you’re being strong and you’re powering through it, and you’re having  fun in spite of whatever’s complicated in your life, and I want to thank you for that, thank you for having fun with me tonight. Cause here’s the thing: in 2015 even if someone else isn’t trying to tell you you’re not good enough or you’re not the right definition of beauty or you’re not the right standard of perfection; even if someone else isn’t telling you that, sometimes we look in the mirror and tell ourselves that. And there’s nothing that you can really do to stop having those bad days. And there’s nothing you can do to avoid those going through really tough times where it feels like, it feels like things are kinda pointless sometimes. And um it feels like you’re walking through all these rainy days and it’s never getting brighter. And I want you to know that every single one of us in this room has gone through that too and we will continue to have to fight those battles our entire lives. But, but, when this happens to you please if there’s one thing you to remember from tonight I want you to look in the mirror, instead of telling yourself that you should be like someone else or you should be something you’re not or you should know the answers to questions you don’t know yet, I want you to look in the mirror and remind yourself of what you are, and what you are not. Alright? You are not someone else’s opinion of you. You are not damaged goods if you’ve made mistakes. You’re not going nowhere just because you haven’t arrived at your final destination yet. Those are the things you’re not. Let me tell you what you are, alright: you are your own definition of beautiful, and worthwhile. That’s what you are. You are someone who is wiser because they made mistakes, and you are someone I consider to be brave if you’ve taken the risks it takes to make mistakes in your life. That’s what you are. And lastly you are a person who has gone through tough times, who has had insecurities who has felt out of place who could going through any of those things right now but instead you decided to put one foot in front of the other move on with things and go have the best time ever at a concert on a Saturday night. That’s what you are! And I am a person who has had things said about me that wasn’t true and I have read things on headlines that felt wrong, and I always had you to count on. And so I had the courage to move to a new city, and cut my hair, and go to London and write a song with an artist I had always admired her name is Imogen Heap and this song that we wrote together is called Clean.”

“Because it’s not just sounds to us music is a coping mechanism, music is a best friend, music is the only thing we have that understands us at our lowest points and I know that "Because it’s not just sounds to us music is a coping mechanism, music is a best friend, music is the only thing we have that understands us at our lowest points and I know that I spent a lot of lonely nights in my bedroom writing songs as a kid and I think that talking to you as much as I do and hearing what you’re going through as much as I hear you I know that we’re all here and we’re having a good time and were dancing and were singing but every single person next to you is going through something and has something on their mind and maybe they don’t show it but that’s why it makes me so happy to look out into a crowd and see people who didn’t know each other before dancing together and singing the same words because we’re all in this together on a Friday night. And everybody has different ghosts and everybody has different things that are triggers or scars and maybe you fell in love with a person or a habit that was bad for you and you couldn’t quit. Or maybe every time you looked in the mirror you thought that you were ugly or maybe every time you walked into the lunch room you had nowhere to sit or maybe you lost someone you never thought you would lose, maybe you lost yourself that’s the worst one. But when we go through things like that and when we have these horrible phases that feel like endless rainy days that are never gonna get better let me just tell you that first of all they will, and second of all I want you when you look into the mirror to be very clear in realizing what you are and what you are not, you are not someone else’s opinion of you who doesn’t know you, you are not the product of your mistakes, you are not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet. Let’s talk about what you are, you are your own definition of beautiful and no one else’s, you are someone who is wiser because you made mistakes in your life you are someone who was brave enough to take the risks that it takes to make mistakes.” spent a lot of lonely nights in my bedroom writing songs as a kid and I think that talking to you as much as I do and hearing what you’re going through as much as I hear you I know that we’re all here and we’re having a good time and were dancing and were singing but every single person next to you is going through something and has something on their mind and maybe they don’t show it but that’s why it makes me so happy to look out into a crowd and see people who didn’t know each other before dancing together and singing the same words because we’re all in this together on a Friday night. And everybody has different ghosts and everybody has different things that are triggers or scars and maybe you fell in love with a person or a habit that was bad for you and you couldn’t quit. Or maybe every time you looked in the mirror you thought that you were ugly or maybe every time you walked into the lunch room you had nowhere to sit or maybe you lost someone you never thought you would lose, maybe you lost yourself that’s the worst one. But when we go through things like that and when we have these horrible phases that feel like endless rainy days that are never gonna get better let me just tell you that first of all they will, and second of all I want you when you look into the mirror to be very clear in realizing what you are and what you are not, you are not someone else’s opinion of you who doesn’t know you, you are not the product of your mistakes, you are not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet. Let’s talk about what you are, you are your own definition of beautiful and no one else’s, you are someone who is wiser because you made mistakes in your life you are someone who was brave enough to take the risks that it takes to make mistakes. Let me tell you something about taking risks, yes they can end up with you making mistakes and feeling stupid or feeling embarrassed or feeling humiliated or they can also end up with you standing on a stage talking to 50,000 of your friends on a Friday night Philadelphia. A couple of years ago every single magazine and newspaper thought it was cool to say things about me that weren’t true and things about me that were mean and things I couldn’t correct them on, but YOU did. And I just want you to know that I’m never going to forget what you did. That you showed up for me when my hands were tied behind my back and I couldn’t say anything to fight back, you fought back and you kept showing up and kept filling stadiums and here we are. And in those years while you were sticking up for me I was writing a new album called 1989. And I moved to New York City and I spent a lot of time by myself and I spent a lot of time with my friends and I cut my hair short. And one day I took a trip to London and I went to the house and artist I really love, her name is Imogen Heap. And I told her what my life had been like for the last couple of years and I played her this idea for a song, and once we wrote the song the album was done, and the name of that song was ‘Clean’.

This is all I could find

“We feel like we might have scars from that or we feel insecure about that… we feel like we might be damaged goods or something… but one thing I’ve learned in 25 years, um and I’m still learning everyday but I did learn this: pain and going through pain is awful at the time but it does actually make you stronger and having insecurities is terrible but it does drive you to do more and accomplish more and you being here tonight is something I will never ever forget in my entire life and I’m so happy to see you, Raleigh.”