Sunday 13 March 2011

Vintage Rock Club

Doncaster is a strange place...
It's 6.45pm and I'm in the shower. My iPhone lights up and I stupidly answer dripping wet (the speaker has only just started to work again... ). One thing that our band is never great at is organisation. This gig in Doncaster's Vintage Rock Club is a prime example as we're supposed to be at the venue in an hour and a half and it takes us an hour and a half to get there! Perhaps I should get out of the shower...

Two hours later...
We arrive in Doncaster to be met by a man who looks like a tubby Jesus. I immediately like him. Looking around Doncaster we see many people with golden chains around their necks with polo shirts and Reebok shoes... Not a place I would associate with underground rock bands. We set up and sound check with Jesus who performs miracles on the sound of the tiny basement we're in. So far we're all tired, fed up, and not looking forward to playing. Did you know that Doncaster only has 5 live music venues?


How things change...
We have 40 minutes to fill with our own tunes. Sounds easy but choosing the songs for a set is a difficult art. You have to start big, but not too big. You have to bring the crowd up with crisp sounds to draw them in followed by a catchy tune to make them stay put.  Then you bring them down with a slower tune somewhere in the middle to try and captivate them. End big and leave them wanting more.



That's what we did.
Despite the disorganised beginning, the long journey and the "chronic cba" we felt before the gig, it actually turned out to be one of my favourites. It wasn't a massive show. There wasn't a big crowd. But somehow the band (and Jesus) put on a great performance and importantly we have planted a seed in another town.

After the gig...
We stuck around for a while and listened to the other band (who spent more money on their equipment than time on their song making) and went to the upstairs to have a few beers... well, lemonade for me as I was driving! All of us had experienced an equally fun gig and we enjoyed singing along to 'My Shorona' while looking at the strange mix of young, old, 'chavtastic' and 'piratey' people around us...

Doncaster is a strange place.

1 comment:

  1. "We arrive in Doncaster to be met by a man that looks like a tubby Jesus. I immediately like him." Brilliant! Ha ha!!!

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