From Punter to Promoter and Back Again – A Tale of Two Gigs

The Newest Venue in Camberwell

Citymapper has become my constant companion and friend since moving to London and never more so than on a gig night. Input the venue address and decide what time I want to arrive and instantly (sequences have been shortened!) I have a choice of routes. However on Sunday 6^th September there was no need for Citymapper, and no need to travel, as the newest venue in Camberwell opened its doors to a carefully selected audience. Hattie Briggs, BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award Nominee, was headlining on its opening night. It is hard not to feel decadent as you have the luxury of listening to a fantastic up and coming artist from the comfort of your own sofa.

Friday 11^th September and again there are sofas. This time, however, Citymapper comes into its own as I have to travel and find Venue 2 at 229 and the first London show of Rocky Dawuni. Rocky is a musician and humanitarian activist from Ghana, West Africa and was named one of Africa's Top 10 global stars by CNN!

In many ways the contrast between these two gigs couldn’t be greater!

Hattie Briggs…                                             
In the comfort my front room…   

...Rocky Dawuni

               in a trendy London basement 

venue complete with the 

friendliest bouncer who will

ever search your bag and 

take your bottle of water from you!

An audience sat in silent                              

concentration and listening to every          

word sung and note played…                      

the crowd dancing, 

dating and drinking.

A very calm, deliberate and poised
set, punctuated by the need to perfect
the guitar tuning but with no such
problem for her exquisite voice…                

energy, passion and charisma 

used to carry the tune 

at the times the voice failed to!

Support from a home-grown, amateur,

but ultimately fun group…                          

intense reggae disco 

before the artist!

By her own admission many

depressing songs, yet hauntingly

beautiful and sung with effortless

perfection…                                                 

upbeat and motivational, 

delivered through driving rhythms.

Solo artist telling the stories behind

the songs, tales of sibling memories,

long lasting friendship and fear of the

music business…                                          

full band, little interaction 

with the audience between 

songs of epic continental 

proportions seeking to 

unite the whole human race!

The intimate performer, the girl

next door…                                                     

the dreadlocked showman.

The corporate musical ladder to stardom…
Yet there was so much that held them in common. The integrity of the music – can you get more polar opposites than English Folk Music and Afrobeat? Yet, each artist believes in their music as an agent of change that touches the heart of the listener and makes their outlook on life dive from the surface tension of the mundane to the depth of beauty. A shift that recognises that the basis of life is not the selfish, violent, and divided place of soap operas and news broadcasts. Rather it is a place where love not only lives in the space between individuals, but also binds communities together, banishes selfishness and dissolves violence.

For each, it is their music that is important not climbing the corporate musical ladder to stardom. Each song is carefully crafted, not to sell, but to touch the spirit of the listener.

Rocky talked about music bringing a community together and uniting people. Yet it will only unite people if we allow the music to be central. I hear people talking over the music at gigs because they are on a night out with mates - the night out is the event, the music is only the setting. Music becomes secondary in the background and unites no one but an existing group of friends! Background music is an oxymoron, a travesty and a sin. Yet so often we put music in the background, in the car, in the office and in the shop. I fall into the trap. I am currently listening to (sorry I should re-phrase that – in the background I have on) Cate Le Bon, while writing this blog…

…sorry I stopped writing and started listening properly! No wonder so much modern music is dreadful. The fat cat music exec knows we don’t really listen to it anymore. Yet, when we do we are rewarded with an intensity of experience that is not only legal but offers a fantastic high. And when we listen (really listen) en masse we are united in that experience.

Corbyn voting musos…

Hattie, during her living room tour, is bringing communities together. At our living room gig we met friends of friends. We became a community for the night and maybe even longer, as we allowed ourselves to listen carefully. At Rocky’s gig there were diverse elements in the audience, not just middle aged, middle class, white Guardian reading, Corbyn voting, musos who actually Rocked Against Racism in the 70’s. And they became one.

Each audience left both gigs feeling uplifted and alive in the knowledge that above all there is something greater than profit and loss, power and privilege, number 1 and Wembley Arena. Music, laid back and acoustic, or in your face and amplified, when played for the right reasons, and listened to intently, has the capacity to touch the soul in a way that record company execs do not understand and the many who constantly relegate music to the background miss out on.

Gigs: 19 & 20 of 50

Date of Gigs: Sun. 6th & Friday 11th September 2015

Venues
My Living Room, Camberwell
Venue 2, 229

Artists
That'll be an Ecumenical Matter

Hattie Briggs

Rocky Dawuni

Running total of artists seen 45

A View from Outside the Club

You know what they say about musicians with enormous egos....
It’s an interesting experience to go to a gig on your own. When the band is playing it’s not very different from going with friends, but in between acts or that time before the lights dim, there is time in abundance to fill and no-one to fill it with!

I have been solo to quite a few gigs during this 'fifty fifty' challenge and it gets no easier. I find myself attempting to arrive with just enough time to get a drink before the first act; on the occasions when I have mistimed my arrival I have spent a lot of time urging people to text me so I can text back!

At tonight’s gig there seem to be only two other solo ‘giggers’ – I can spot them – but tonight the three of us are highlighted by the fact that everyone else seems to know one another. I get the distinct feeling that we are at a club of which we are not members. My solo gig mates do not seem phased by this and pass the time effortlessly. One has come prepared with a book and sits reading in dim light and his tour t-shirt while the other surfs the web on her phone. Meanwhile I sit self-consciously, willing the first act to start. ‘Be careful what you wish for’ is advice I’ve never really understood but today I understand it fully as William Nein takes to the stage. Suddenly I find myself longing for that self conscious waiting between acts. Anything is better than his cringe worthy performance. You know what they say about musicians with enormous egos? The same as about men with big feet - big… 

As William is setting up, someone walks in - obviously an important member of the club to which I do not belong - and he shouts across the whole venue ‘David, David, look who it is, look….’ David is not impressed. I’m not impressed either. I just want to hear him play, as opposed to trying to impress me and the rest of the audience that he knows the minor celebrity who has just entered. 

However egotistical he is, he is no liar... 
Finally, he is on stage, stood at the mic, and is ready to start. However there is no volume from his guitar. In hindsight I realize this is proof that there is a God and that she loves music. William just keeps strumming and sings over and over again ‘Its not me’. Well, quelle surprise! It turns out it is him, he just hasn’t plugged his guitar in properly. Most guitarists would instinctively check this first. But, hey what do I know? I’m just a paying punter waiting to be entertained. Maybe it is more important to recognize minor celebrities and let us know that you know them, than it is to set up properly!

During his first song the headline act walks in. A simple nod in her direction or a smile would suffice. The gushing ‘Oh Roxy, so glad you made it – it’s only my first song so you’ll hear the whole set’ is just plain embarrassing. Two or three songs in and he is playing the intro to the next song and telling us he wished his guitar strap was a bit shorter. ‘Well shorten it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry’! Even the audience members who have never picked up a guitar in their life know that you can adjust a guitar strap.

I’ve lost track of the number of songs now but before one of them he boasts ‘we haven’t really practiced this’. The song that follows is proof that however egotistical he is, he is no liar. He hasn’t practiced and it sounds dreadful.

He leaves the stage to whoops and cheers and even manages to sell a couple of T-shirts. Maybe if I was his mate I would think his antics quirky, goofy, maybe even funny. But I am not a member of this particular club, I am a paying member of the audience and I find his antics embarrassing, needy and, right now, I want my money back. 

A knife held to your throat... 
Roxy Rawson is next up on stage to play the first of two sets. She starts by thanking her two mates - William ‘the needy’ Nein and David Goo -  for playing tonight and she starts to explain how she knows them. The only problem is I don’t hear how her story ends as ‘the needy’ Nein is shouting from the audience. He has had his 25 mins of being the centre of attention, why can’t he not just shut the f**k up?

When ‘the needy one’ eventually does shut up and allows Roxy to play I remember why I am here. She has really talented, sensitive, musicians around her and musically is a million miles away from Nein with her interesting cleverly crafted songs. The percussion is fantastic - driving, in complex rhythms - the classical guitar beautiful and the bass sensitive. The musicians are carefully arranged on stage so they can see one another and work with and off each other. Roxy plays the violin, more often than not, like a guitar and she sings with a voice that never quite pierces but demands your attention like a knife held to your throat! 

We are only treated to a few songs as she is ill and has decided to split her set into two to save her voice. Even though it’s a short set she still has to deal with ‘the needy one’ heckling – shouting out songs that she refuses to play. She leaves the stage and promises to be back. As she does so she spots one of the other solo ‘giggers’ and greets her like a long lost friend! Only two of us then without membership of this particular musical club! 

What is he waiting for.... 
David Goo is sat on stage waiting for a very long time. He has the look of a man who has been told to sit and wait but has not been told what he is waiting for! As loud and brash as ‘the needy one’ was, David Goo is quiet and unassuming and I wonder what to expect.

He starts and he is witty, clever and talented. He takes us through the album he has just recorded with his latest project the ‘The 150 Friends Club’. His warmth on stage and intelligently written songs - not with casual cliché but honest reflection - make me feel one of the 150. He too is heckled by ‘the needy one’. Please can someone find this guy’s off switch. 

We are treated to more from Roxy. With each song she pushes her voice that bit further, making the songs increasingly intense. The evening should end on a real high - she and David Goo have rescued the gig. But then, and I really don’t understand why, she invites ‘the needy one’ to play with her as the final song of the evening. He is out of place amongst such musicians and rather than end on a high the evening peters out.

I wait to buy Roxy’s CD as she talks in depth to the other solo ‘gigger’. Turns out they too know each other! That leaves me as the sole outsider, and as I interrupt the discussion to pay for the CD there is a look of almost shock on her face which says ‘I don’t know you, yet you are buying a CD!’ 

He describes himself in terms of an ex... 
There was no sign of David Goo or his CD, so on the journey home I Google the artists I’ve seen tonight. I find The 150 Friends Club and order the CD. I also find ‘the needy one’s’ website and I am not surprised by what I find! In his ‘about’ section he describes himself in terms of an ex, and quotes a reference to himself from an interview she gave… 

"I had this boyfriend in college who was from Croyden, England. He has a record store out there. He knew that I liked the Pretenders, so when I shipped him off to England and sent his ass packing because I didn’t want him around anymore, he sent me a Pretenders record in the mail. It was a greatest hits compilation." - Meredith Graves, Perfect Pussy  

I totally understand, Meredith! Please just let me know how I too can send him packing. I don’t want him around at any gig I’m at (either performing or as an audience member!) What I don’t understand is why artists as intelligent as Roxy Rawson and David Goo are happy to have him around – but then I’m not a member of their club.

Gig: 18 of 50

Date of Gig: Sun. 30th August 2015

Venue
Green Note, Camden

Artists
William Nein
David Goo
Roxy Rawson

Running total of artists seen 42

Happiness is a Warm Pun - My Tribute to a Beatles Tribute!

The rest they say is history…

The Beatles are so much part of everyday music history and we credit them with changing the face of popular music that we forget that it’s a simple pun that gave them their name. This blog is a homage to that forgotten pun, as I become a musical pundit, not necessarily as an expert but simply because I can say I punned it! If you expect the puns to get better don’t read on this is a long and winding road. I know I should let it be but with a little help from my friends we can work it out and if we let them into our hearts we can make them better… (I told you it wouldn’t get any better!!)

Well, it was gig 17, you know what I mean and I’m watching The Fab Beatles! My excuse? I’m on holiday in Devon, it’s Sunday afternoon, the sun is struggling to shine and it’s free!

So it’s confession time – lighters in the air anyone else who has seen a tribute band! I will admit I have seen a couple before. The Bootleg Beatles, who were just a night out in the student union back in my under-grad days at Hull (at this point you would be forgiven for thinking I am a massive Beatles fan as two out of three of the tribute bands I’ve seen are Beatles tributes, but I’m not nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah) and The Musical Box.

The Musical Box, a Genesis tribute act, were a much more conscious decision than either of the two Beatles tribute act gigs I’ve been to! My excuse was that I never had the opportunity to see Genesis in the best era of their career, the Gabriel era. So a tribute band was the only way I would ever be able to experience a little of what it must have been like to see Gabriel in his ‘slipperman’ outfit pushing back the boundaries of what would become known as multi-media. However, as interesting as it was for an avid Genesis fan too young to have experienced Gabriel, it was not a wonderful gig, just a simple reenactment with some other guy playing the role of my hero.

Let sleeping acts lie…

So tribute band - yes or no? Despite my confessions, on the whole, I would say no! If it was 20 years ago today that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play and the band has long since split then you should probably let sleeping acts lie!

Unlike classical music, live performance of popular music has become firmly wedded to the composers and that has built in a life span when it comes to performance. If the original band splits, so the chance to see the songs performed live is, generally, lost. It is this marriage and ultimate divorce that has spawned the tribute band – people want to get back to where they once belonged before the bird had flown or simply experience what they had missed! So if I kind of get a tribute act of a band that no longer tour, I certainly can’t understand tribute acts for artists who are still performing!

You’re back again – no no no not a second time…

However, the tribute band is now under treat as yesterday’s bands have realised there is money to be made in their own nostalgia, and so the tribute band is being replaced by the reunion tour! Yesterday, all those bands seemed so far away, now it looks as if they’re here to stay, Oh they believe in yesterday. Tribute band or reunion tour I still can’t help feeling that a band and its live performance are always of its time. If I missed it because I was too young, not hip enough, or too broke to see them I can’t recapture that now!

When going to a gig I will always aim to catch the support act. On the one hand I want to discover new music, and on the other I want to brag about seeing them before they were famous! Whilst albums can be enjoyed and rediscovered 30 years on, the thrill of catching a band live at the height or - even better - just before the height, of their fame and power is very much part of the experience and however good the tribute act or reunion tour may be nothing can recapture, replace or relive the first time round because little darling, its seems like years since they’re been here. I am much more jealous of a colleague who saw Led Zeppelin live in Birmingham with a handful of people before they were famous than my friend who got tickets to the 2007 reunion gig!

I can hear them this time…

Yet, I’m still at this gig. Not because it’s a Beatles tribute act, but simply because it’s a free performance on a Sunday afternoon at a local theatre in an English seaside holiday town. I’m not even a daytripper I’m here all week - thank you very much! What a fabulous initiative by The Exmouth Pavilion the place is full and its proper family entertainment. Yes, there is a grandmother who had seen The Beatles in their heyday and there are children young enough to be Paul or Ringo’s great-grandchildren but everyone is having a great time. People are singing along, dancing (there is something in the way they move) and so the band is not allowed to leave the stage until they have exhausted their Beatles repertoire. This is Devon at its best, this is English summer holiday at it best – you don’t need a settled climate to have holiday fun!

Asked if there is any difference from the original, the lady who was there in the 60’s replies with a grin, ‘yes I can hear them this time!’ The Beatles’ grandchildren’s generation don’t care - baby they don’t care, if the suits, boots and hairstyles are authentic or if the Hofner Bass is a copy or real this is live music and they are loving it.

Those of us caught somewhere in between are happy to be entertained. The band are as tight as the mop top wigs they wear and they are playing songs we know all the words to. They have made a real effort to look the part and it’s all adding up to a lovely Sunday afternoon. No, I wouldn’t want every gig to be like this but it’s a gig that’s guaranteed to raise a smile, so may I introduce to you the act you’ve know for all these years….

Gig: 17 of 50

Date of Gig: Sun. 23rd August 2015

Venue
Exmouth Pavilion

Artists
The Fab Beatles

Running total of artists seen 39

Oh (Punch) Brother, Where Art Thou?

I instinctively know if a gig is good or not. I don’t wrestle with the good points and bad points to decide. I normally just know! However, this gig is throwing up more questions than answers!

So many questions it feels like I'm sitting an exam…

RFH Exam Board

You have two hours to answer all the questions.

Please show all your working out.

Turn over your papers once the headline act takes to the stage.

Please put pens down after the encore.

Q1: Philosophy 101: If this gig was a philosophical question what would that question be?

A1: When does virtuoso become mundane?

A great song is not necessarily a collection of sublime solos. It can be a well-crafted simple set of chords married to a deep and poetic lyric played well within the ability of each musician. Songs should be allowed to speak for themselves. In this gig however, it felt as if each and every song was little more than a fusion of five fabulously talented musicians showing off!

Q2: Mathematics: Express the gig as a mathematical conundrum.

A:2

Q. 26.5 strings are played by 50 fingers for two hours what is the speed?

A. 150 miles an hour

However, the best solos are not necessarily the fastest. It is harder to control a motorbike at walking pace than at 70 miles an hour (I couldn't say for speeds above the speed limit - honest!) there is more to a great lick than speed. In what is not played, in the pure clean note held for an incredible length of time, in the sweet slow serenade of the solo - it is in these things the listener finds excitement and amazement too.

Q3: Media Studies: If this gig was a film, what film would it be, and why?

A3: Oh (Punch) Brother, Where Art Thou?

Not just because of the pun, but because they are ‘The Men of Constant Solos’!

Q4: Politics: If this gig were an electoral voting system would it be First Past the Post or Proportional Representation? Explain your conclusion.

A:4 Proportional Representation!

Every band member does not need to shine in every song! This is democracy gone too far! The result of giving every musician a crack of the whip each time round is that the songs become formulaic. Giving everyone a solo works in some songs - the final song of the night was a brilliant tour de force and an inspired way to finish. However, the brilliance was dulled by the fact that it mirrored every other song!

Q5: Philosophy 201 “A gig is an essentially existential experience.” Discuss

A5: “Hello Band, let me introduce myself - I’m the audience and I paid good money for these rather comfortable seats…”

At times I felt superfluous to the gig, and it takes more than faux flattery between songs to make a crowd feel part of a performance. By definition, a gig is a chance for musicians to play in front of an audience. There were times tonight when I was convinced that we could have all walked out and the band would have played on, and the first they would have been aware we had abandoned them would have been when there was no applause!

Q6: Sociology: “A gathered crowd at a gig becomes one.” Discuss

A6: False

If I have to sit through at least 4 solos in each song, please, fellow audience members, don’t applaud every solo, especially when it means I miss the start of the next one.

Q7: Musicology: How would you classify The Punch Brothers’ music?

A7:  Eclectic

American bluejazz, modern grass, barber pop, rock ’n’ shop, country roll classical chamber music!

Q8: Performance Studies:  “A gig is to music what an exhibition is to art.” Discuss

A8: I am convinced that the faithful audience would lynch me if they knew what I was thinking. The Punch Brothers can do no wrong in their ears but I feel like I’m standing looking at a painting in an exhibition and listening to the people next to me talk about the wonderful expression in the artists portrayal of skies, when all I can see are cartoon clouds which I’d expect to see on a seven year old’s drawing. It is like staring at a work by Ravilious when all you want to see is a John Martyn!  I can see it is art but I can see no reason for the fanatical dedication of the audience.

I put my pen down and I’m not sure if I’ve passed the exam. I envisage lots of red lines through my stumbling, meandering attempts at answers!

Rachel Sermanni supported tonight and shone. Not through her music, which I felt rather stumbled than flowed in her performance, but through her ease at being on stage and being one with the audience. She walked on, guitar in one hand and mandolin in the other, and said hello down the mic. Then she looked around, obviously having lost something, and asked if we had seen her drop a plectrum! Then, with grace and poise and no hint of embarrassment, she retraced her steps into the wings searching for the lost plectrum, all to great applause and appreciation from the audience!!

In-between her set and The Punch Brothers I was treated to a ride in the Singing Lift in the Festival Hall! As we descended so did the notes of the musical accompaniment and as we ascended so did the music. It is a wonderful musical lift and as I went up and down in it I reflected that perhaps that is why I go to live music - to get that metaphorical musical lift. And in the end, I guess that is what I was missing from the headline act; The Punch Brothers are undoubtedly brilliant musicians, writing finely crafted songs, but they failed to connect with me through their formulaic approach to showcasing their talent live. 

Gig: 16 of 50

Date of Gig: Sat. 1st August 2015

Venue
Royal Festival Hall

Artists
Rachel Sermanni
The Punch Brothers

Running total of artists seen 38

When is a gig not a gig?

Oh I do beg your pardon…

I am going to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo and my assumption is this is gig number 15 of 50. OK, it’s at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre but it is still a gig – right? However, finding that the evening is billed as ‘Inala – A Zulu Ballet featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo’ I feel my confidence ebb away! Is this a gig or not? And in any case, what makes a gig a gig and a show a show?

As I exit the theatre my gut says this wasn’t a gig. But why not? As I am pondering this question, I absently mindedly bump into a striped blazer wearing audience member who exclaims ‘Oh I do beg your pardon’. Perhaps it’s the class of the audience that does not allow me to call this a gig, but when I think about the gigs I’ve been to many have had more than a whiff of the moneyed middle classes about them.

So what else? The audience is different. We are not squashed together in the stalls shouting loudly over the music played before the headline act appear. We are not screaming with delight as the first chords of the latest hit are struck, nor do we throw beer or attempt to lift our partners on our shoulders! But then again, I’ve been to gigs with soft seating, interval drinks, programmes for sale, and ushers who show me to my seat (even if I do sit on the edge of it!). My brain and gut can’t at this stage seem to agree.

No, it’s the curtain. That’s what it is! A curtain is raised on a show and it is lowered at the end. At a gig the stage is open for all to see the roadies at their work; there is no secret intercommed announcement from the Stage Manager, just the public flash of the roadie’s torch to say the gig will begin. This is not a gig! But this is subjective surmising on my behalf; in my distant gig-going memory I see a curtain open and a blanket of dry ice fall off the stage and engulf the audience as the band take the stage. Still no answer……

I need a definition, so I turn to the trusty font of all twenty-first century knowledge; Wikipedia!

“Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance. More broadly, the term "gigging" means having paid work, being employed.”

So this is a gig, in one sense! The musicians performed and I assume they have been paid. But the musical performance is not the whole story tonight because there is also drama and dance, chorography and costume! I know there will be some who argue that it is possible to go to any Kylie concert and find plenty of costume changes! And there is nothing more (crassly) choreographed than the boyband, dressed in white suits, seated on stools, standing as one as the music modulates and walking to the front of the stadium stage! But I would struggle to call such events gigs!

Perhaps it is the sense that the whole evening is choreographed that means I cannot call it a gig. I know bands create set lists but they can change night-to-night and even on the night! Bands carefully arrange their songs, but at a gig the way they present each song is live, on the spur of the musical moment. Even the clichéd rock-star poses are not rehearsed to appear at exactly the same moment of each song and show! The best gigs are those that create the vibe and set the scene as the musicians feed off each other and the audience. A show on the other hand, is carefully rehearsed, planned and choreographed to create a whole into which the musicians fit.

So before I tie myself in knots and bore the reader rigid (if that hasn’t happened already) my final definition is……. it’s a Show with musicians gigging at it!

Celebrate the normal…

As I have suggested it is a show that brings together musicians,

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and some truly incredible dancers. There are some wonderful moments, simply beautiful dance and a touch of humour thrown in. During the first half I’m desperately trying to work out what the story is. Am I so uncultured I can’t see the metaphor?

I resolve to let the second half happen and not worry too much. This, it turns out, is the best decision I make as I enjoy what is a fusion of cultures and art forms with – according to the reviewers -no particular story to tell or axe to grind.

“Inala is most vibrant when the dancers and singers come together to share moves and jokes and their personalities come to the fore. It’s like a danced concert, rather than a fully realised concept, but there's a real warmth to this cross-cultural experiment. The title, in Zulu, means “abundance of goodwill” and Inala is a show true to its name.” 
Lindsey Winship London Evening Standard

So I was right about there being no message, but wrong about it being a Show with musicians gigging – it’s a danced concert, rather than a fully realized concept!!

In our increasingly sophisticated society we have lost the ability to celebrate the normal, and it is this that gives the piece its ultimate charm and depth - it is basically a celebration of the everyday – of highs and lows, of love and death.  

Conversation I overheard today…

Adult 1: Did you win anything at your sports day?

Child: No.

Adult 2: But you and your Dad came second in the Dads and Lads race.

Child: Well yes.

Adult 1: Well that’s good too. Coming second is OK.

We celebrate celebrity; we write about winners, we share success, we brag about beating others but no longer do we value the everyday, the masses that don’t win but simply compete.

No clearer is this seen than in the development of the soap opera on TV.

It fascinates me that when I watch the original episodes of the original soap, Coronation Street, all I see are normal people having everyday conversations. But then we must have got bored of that because today every back street of Manchester, every sleepy village in Yorkshire as well as the East End of London has its mass murdering, plane crashing, adulterous script. I remember when I was in conversation with Johnny Vaughan after he had interviewed me on Big Breakfast (I add this in so you can celebrate my celebrity story…..) he said ‘David, all you need for a good soap is a bitch with an itch and a man with a plan’!

Then we got bored of the excesses of Soap Operas and we watched ordinary people in Big Brother. Then we got bored with them and we watched the weirdest ordinary people producers could find on Big Brother and we made them into celebrities. Then we got sick of ordinary people and so we watched celebrities in Big Brother. In other words we have lost the ability to celebrate normality.

However, Inala has redeemed us through exceptional musicians (the gigging kind), wonderful singers (Ladysmith Black Mambazo) and brilliant dancers (hard to pick out just one but Jacob O’Connel was amazing). But in all that, the producers refuse to tell a story of epic proportions and apocalyptic scale, instead we celebrate the natural rhythms of ordinary lives.

The eternal in the fleeting…

And there is something spiritual about the evening because of that. Art is spiritual. It lifts and communicates with the soul in ways that words and shopping can’t.

Music can and does soothe me, stir me, calm me, make me weep, transport me to another dimension, make me glad that I am alive. It communicates directly with my spirit and makes me whole.

Inala enables me to be lifted by the music (how can you fail to be moved by the beauty of Ladysmith Black Mambazo), to be touched by the sheer beauty of the dance, yet it also raises me above the routine of my life to remind me in each conversation and every confrontation, each traffic jam and every open road, each loving word whispered in my ear and every angry shout directed at me there is something deep at work.

True spirituality comes in finding the eternal in the fleeting, the beauty in the mundane, the meaning in the everyday - the divine in the ordinary.

When is a gig not a gig? When it fails to lift your spirit and does not enable you to see the world differently. Despite my gut reaction, my reasoned argument and Wikipedia definition - tonight is a gig!

Gig: 15 of 50

Date of Gig: Sat. 11th July 2015

Venue
Saddler's Well theatre

Artists
Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Running total of artists seen 36