In spite of its purpose – raising funds for Oxfam – Oxjam wasn’t the kind of mainstream event that attracts bland masses with the aim of feeding African villages. As charity and entertainment have always gone well together, why not start appealing to a different audience, the one who’d rather see an unsigned band than a Beyonce concert?
Nonetheless, underground music didn’t make the event less pleasant, especially since each of the six venues hosted different types of bands. My first choice for the evening was The Flapper, where the concerts started at 4:30 in the afternoon and went on until 11pm.
But since seven hours of hanging in a bar was a little too much for me (as getting my ass shaped like a stool wasn’t exactly what I had planned for the weekend) I decided to see only the last two bands in the schedule, William and Dinosaur Pile-Up. They played in front of a surprisingly small crowd at The Flapper – maybe 50 people with their faces painted (for the “blue in the face” campaign), chilling out in front of the stage. This was definitely not the kind of crowd that you expect on a Saturday evening at a festival. The bands seemed more than satisfied though. “We wouldn’t have gotten that in London”, added William’s front man, after thanking the audience for the applause. This made us wonder about what exactly they did get in London.
Dinosaur Pile-Up had a bigger crowd, though, partly because the concerts were ending on the other venues, and people had started an “Oxjam pub crawling”, taking advantage of the £6 fee that would open the doors of six different bars for them that evening. I eventually took the same path: I enjoyed the tracks from the Dinosaurs’ latest EP, ‘The Most Powerful EP In The Universe’, banged my head to the Dave Grohl-like drum beats and the grungy guitar riffs, enjoyed my favourite song (‘Summer Hit Single’) and headed for Basement Bar.
Compared to The Flapper, which is a pretty good location for a live gig (large enough, with a stage and half-decent lighting), The Basement wasn’t probably the wisest choice for Oxjam’s last concerts. The performers (The Rivers Presley Set and Vinny & The Curse) were crammed into a corner and people with weird indie haircuts had started jumping on tables just to get a glimpse of who was playing, which basically forced me to start making small animal shapes out of their haircuts’ shadows on the wall.
As for the sound – well, Flapper’s wasn’t brilliant, either, but at least the bands there didn’t sound like they were playing pots and pans. By the end of the first concert, half of the people had already left. Which wasn’t all that bad, as there was finally room to breathe, to move around and, maybe, even see who was guilty for those eardrum-crashing drum sounds.
It’s true that I didn’t get to see all that much. Each of the venues involved in the festival (The Sunflower Lounge, The Victoria, Island Bar, The Prince of Wales, Basement and The Flapper) would have been worth a visit. It was only a question of musical preferences and this is why I loved it: everybody got a piece of the cake.
I may have had fun, though, but I’m not really sure how much Oxfam got out of it. Oxjam wasn’t exactly Live Aid, and it was only the size of the Basement Bar that made it a squeeze to actually see the band – in fact, there were probably even fewer people there than at The Flapper.
Then again, the more the merrier doesn’t always guarantee more fun. Underground charitable festivals may not be as glamorous and life-changing as big, mainstream ones. But they’re waaaaay cooler. I swear it on my indie scarf.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Thanks for coming along to our event. Each £6 really added up to ensure that we will be sending Oxfam a cheque for over £3,000 (final figure to be announced!) Nationally Oxjam will have raised over £60,000 for Oxfam during the month of October. In addition, the Oxjam/ Oxfam brands can only have benefited from such an amazing day of music in Birmingham city centre. For many, the day, Oxfam and its causes won’t be forgotten quickly. Make Music, Fight Poverty – who can forget that?
To be honest we didn’t expect such a crowd at The Basement! We started the music at The Island at 2:30pm and built up with the other venues (Sunflower Lounge, The Victoria, Prince of Wales) throughout the day. We thought that most people might have had enough by then but that our volunteers might like to enjoy a band or two in an intimate setting at the end of the day. However, most people had had such a great time thoughout the rest of the day, they wanted to continue in the spirit of Oxjam at The Basement.
Lots of people got their faces painted in line with Oxjam’s climate change campaign. Shout about climate change until you are blue in the face. Oxfam are raising money and awareness so the world’s poorest people get a fair deal in regards to climate change. They are already been affected by the changes in the environment and Oxfam seek to provide them with life saving resources whilst putting pressure on the world’s most powerful leaders to lower carbon emissions.
Dinosaur Pile-Up were pretty amazing. An upcoming band you could see up close and personal! But the other venues at 10:30 were also rammed, local lads Tantrums and James Summerfield, headlining The Island and The Sunflower Lounge respectively, playing to packed audiences!
Hopefully, we have also created a small festival that can be built upon next year. Although, we’d argue that grassroots bands in our smallest, friendliest city centre venues creates an atmosphere you just don’t get every Saturday night
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