Category: Miscellaneous

Festival Types

I am not altogether sure the reasons why, but I was late to the plate in discovering festivals and only attended my first one as a day ticket to Reading Festival in 1995 at the tender age of 27. I also missed the years when you could feasibly obtain tickets for Glastonbury before tickets became unattainable and as a result, I have never graced Worthy Farm with a visit.  

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Glastonbury Festival. Image Credit Metro

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit shamefully I have never camped at festivals and have always stayed off site which is maybe not fully embracing the whole experience but is hugely beneficial if inclement weather strikes, which at certain sites it has regularly obliged in that regard.

Though singular ‘normal’ gigs are fun there is something enticing about outdoor festivals where you have a tsunami of bands available to you, the main stage being in the open air. They also can be hugely advantageous to discover exciting new bands and due to the short sets, the bands do not overplay their welcome. If you lose interest, you can easily wander off to either have a drink or a doughnut or seek solace in another tent or on rare occasions a cheeky bit of sunbathing!

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Festival Donut Stand. Image Credit design lovefest.

At the many festivals I have attended there have always been a variety of options, including circuses, reggae, dance, northern soul, funfairs, cinemas, a plethora of food outlets and sometimes thankfully real ale. A pair of comfy shoes is a requisite requirement.

In the last 10-15 years there has been an increase in what I would quantify as an ‘urban festival’.  These are primarily located in city centres and involve a suite of venues generally within feasible walking distance of each other. You obtain a wristband from the source venue and off you go.

Some of the events in this sphere I have attended are Live at Leeds, Hockley Hustle in Nottingham, Sounds from the Other City in Salford and Dot to Dot, Carefully Planned Festival and Off the Record in Manchester. They mingle the established venues with more innovative ones such as clothes shops and cafes.

My gig OCD can rear its head when attending these shindigs as I am always endeavouring to attend every venue on the roster and as a result, the friends who accompany me are hugely tolerant of my foibles.  

I always scour the listings as soon as they are published to identify new venues and ensure they are visited on the evening. These events can present conundrums in set time slippage and where to imbibe the odd beer or two en route. Are you fortunate to arrive at the start of the set where the band are worth staying for or do you land halfway through the last track? My overriding imperative is to catch as much music as I can on the day.

Some events can have widely dispersed venues which may involve a 20-30 minute walk from outermost venue to outermost event so even comfier shoes are required but if you are willing to put the mileage in you can cover up to 20 venues in a day!

Pandemic Paean of Praise to a Plethora of Music Palaces

Recently there was the initially sad news revealed that the Deaf Institute and Gorilla venues in Manchester will not reopen post-pandemic. I have attended both venues many times and will cover their reviews in future blogs. This news coincided with further reports of the closure of the Welly and Polar Bear venues in Hull.

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Hull Welly. Image Credit Pinterest

Even though the decision of the Manchester sites was subsequently miraculously reversed four days later via the partial intervention of a Pandemic hero Tim Burgess it only serves to illustrate the real and present threat to the future of all venues.

The are some rays of light in that there has been tireless work undertaken by the save our venues campaign resulting in significant crowdfunding to save 140 venues from ‘imminent danger’. Also, the Government has stumped up some funding for the Arts including music venues which will only help if the money is distributed speedily and equitably.

These events give me cause to muse on the fact that many of the conurbations in Britain will contain at least one small essential music venue. To name but a few, the Mad Ferret in Preston, the Leadmill in Sheffield and the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge.

The venues are the absolute creative lifeblood of the industry and of the local community, impacting on nearby retail outlets and the continued employment of associated roles, including bar and security staff, roadies, agents and publicists to name a few more. It even provides an opportunity for those pesky touts!

They also provide a priceless opportunity for the hungry local talent to initially learn and hone their craft. Everyone must start somewhere, like a nurse takes blood for the first time, so must a band enter and exit stage left.     

All bands who have gone on to bigger things will have tales to tell. Using Oasis as an example, their roster of very early gigs contains stellar venues such as Club 57 and the Hippodrome in Oldham and the legendary Krazyhouse in Liverpool, which I have visited once in its nightclub capacity.

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Liverpool Krazyhouse. Image Credit The Tab

As the pandemic has progressed, I do appreciate that alternative approaches have been understandably sought out by musicians to replace the missing gigs as that remains their primary source of income. Personally though, I have struggled to hook into the numerous twitter and streaming events because to me there is nothing to replace a live gig at a venue where you can see the whites of the eyes of the band. I would contend there is only very limited enjoyment to watching a festival from your own living room.  

This incorporates all facets of the experience. The expectation before a much-anticipated band, the gibberish discussions in the pub before and after (maybe that’s just me!), the shared acquaintance with like-minded souls all there for a communal experience, the sweaty mosh pits, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when you see a great band, even better when it is unexpected. All in all, some of the best nights of my life have been at live gigs.  

Unfortunately, due to their very nature music venues will probably be last to be reintroduced so that makes it even more imperative they are supported right now.  

Another negative by product of the current situation is that I am not adding any new gigs or venues to my roster thus I am continuing to delve through my archives, and I am hoping I do not run out of material in the interim. It is doubly frustrating as I was hoping to pass my 1000th gig this year.  Who could have predicted when I launched my blog last November that a pandemic would strike 4 months later!

Please stay safe kids and we will eventually arrive at the other end of this dark tunnel and will soon be back in those mosh pits.