GIGS
Wednesday 8th June 2011
Deja Vu, Reading, RG1 2LG
Bohemian Night open-mic hosted by Rob Sowden
WOW! What a night. I've travelled far and wide and spent small fortunes to see my favourite bands but I think I've rarely been as satisfied with live music as I was on Wednesday night. Three hours of solid quality and it's for free!
I think the only negative for me was some diva-ish behaviour where an individual every week does their performance but doesn't really give any attention to the other performers. In fact, on some occassions they've made quite a lot of noise in the bar-area and competed with those on stage. Maybe it's because I'm new to this and I'm naive but I think it's poor form and doesn't really enter the spirit of what Bohemian Night is all about. To me it shows a a lack of respect to Rob Sowden who organises the event and the other performers who do watch eachothers' performances. In fact I think it abuses their genorosity: if everyone behaved that way, it wouldn't be the great night that it is.
Anyway, I'm glad I got that off my chest! (:-)
The worst example of this (Oh God, he's off again....) I remember was a couple of years ago, when I was checking out what open-mics were all about. Right at the end of the evening, Mark Allan Barnes who is a fantastic performer (though I appreciate is not everyones cup of tea), got on stage, at which point I was amazed to see the organisers and the person mixing the sound start chatting to people in the audience! They paid no attention to Mark at all and started making so much noise that it was was both distracting for and from Mark: he did well to carry on actually. I was fairly incensed and regret not saying something at the time. To me , it said a lot about those particular open-mic night organisers, whom I felt should have been setting an example (no matter what they felt about the acts) but only seemed to be interested in themselves and their little clique. Anyway, that open-mic no longer exists, so perhaps those voodoo dolls worked after all.
Well, isn't that just like me? I have a great night but mostly write about the negatives. As regards my performance, it was okay but it didn't feel as good as it has done at previous Bohemian Nights or indeed at The Crown last week. It might be that I'm tired of doing the same three songs, the reason for which is that I want to be on top of them for South Hill Park next week. I know South Hill Park is just another open-mic but it feels more important somehow, possibly because I had to apply a couple of months ago. Once next Thursday is out of the way, I guess I feel a "phase" will have been completed.
Finally, just to finish a very enjoyable musical week, I saw Pete Lincoln at The Hatch Gate last night. Brilliant.
Oh, news just in: my set at Big Art Picnic on 29th June has been extended to 45 mins and starts at 2.15.
My set on Wednesday night:
