My GDFAF fortnight isn’t going as well as one might have expected. I hadn’t set myself any targets – after all, having done the marathon once there’s really no need to do it again. Plus the excursions of 2005 served their purpose. I’m now much more aware of what’s going on in the Birmingham than I was before and, amongst other things, I owe my current position as a Birmingham blogger to that memorable fortnight. But there’s also the nagging feeling that I don’t actually need to write gig reviews anymore. When I come out of a gig the desire to report on it just isn’t there. That’s not to say I’ve lost it, more that my mind is working in different ways.
It’s kinda hard to explain without devaluing the gig reviewing art, and I don’t want to do that. I still think the GDFAF experience is something everyone who likes music should try and I’m everso grateful to Russ for keeping it going. It’s just not quite so important to me now.
I guess my blogging is always more a means to an unknown end rather than an end in itself, which makes sense if you put my archives into lose categories. If I can write about an experience in a way that’s new to me then I’ll figure out the best way to do it. Then once I’ve done that I’ll move on to something else.
Take the Pram / Modified Toy Orchestra / Shady Bard gig on Monday at the newly re-opened Town Hall. There’s plenty I could write about it, from the venue to the acts to how the acts related to the venue, but the desire just isn’t there anymore. Instead I came out with other ideas and notions, some obviously connected to the experience, some completely tangental.
This, I think, is progress. Rather than my thinking running in a linear fashion – I saw gig, this is what gig was like – the experiences are sparking of new thoughts or helping to codify others. My experiences are charging my batteries, if you like, taking me to new places I wasn’t fully aware of before. I believe this is what’s known as “living”.
That said, I really should do some manner of gig review. So here goes.
How the bands reacted to playing in the Town Hall:
Shady Bard: Blimey, we’re playing in the Town Hall. This sounds rather good.
Modified Toy Orchestra: Wha-hey! We’re playing in the Town Hall! Woo!
Pram: We are neither plussed nor non-plussed to be playing in the Town Hall. This is our nature.
What the Town Hall is like:
At first I thought Utilitarian but then I realised I’d gotten my ‘tarians mixed up and meant Egalitarian. It’s very white and simple meaning it can accommodate pretty much any sort of performance or activity you’d imagine. Compare this with the plush Symphony Hall which screams “Orchestra!” at you even in the middle of a Devo gig.
How much I enjoyed myself:
Immensely on so many levels.
That’ll do ya. Now, to get on with all those ideas it sparked.
(Many, many other people reviewed this gig, which kinda takes the heat off. Some of them are on the GDFAF page.)