#Brum

Saturday night, we were all warned the voltage at O2 Academy 2 would be dangerously high – but that was exactly what we’d come for. In spite of the cold, beer kept flying around the venue all night. And so did the stubborn crowd surfers who kept leaping from the middle of the crowd only to end up in the loving arms of the bouncers waiting for them in front of the stage.
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Capsule got their 10 year anniversary string-of-gigs off to a storming start last night.

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This month Capsule celebrate 10 years of bringing the most awe inspiring, ear drum pounding and heart string plucking music to Birmingham and the West Midlands.

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After a less than encouraging Twitter experiment I almost abandoned my plans to virtually engage with the crowd whilst this gig was in progress. Although I did guide @velvet_grooves to the venue before it kicked off. As it turned out Twitter abandoned me – my dodgy old phone meant that there was too much of delay in tweets to actually find @velvet_grooves at the gig.

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I didn’t receive the most encouraging response when I announced that I was going to attempt Twitter based audience participation when reviewing the Efterklang gig.

Chris Unitt was the first to tweet with
‘Interesting that. Not planning to review this one though – thinking too much (incl afterwards) often detracts from enjoyment.’

This was swiftly followed by Pete Ashton
‘Reviewing gigs via Twitter is so 18 months ago, darling! http://j.mp/1FSUjV (I’ll be photographing but you go for it).’

I fired back with
‘@ChrisUnitt Fair point, especially as [Efterklang are] immersive. Guess I’m more interested in experience than analysis. And @peteashton pix=1,000,000 tweets’.

Twitter isn’t particularly original or interesting way to review a gig. In fact if you present it in similar way to Giles Coren’s recent food review, it’s funny but ends up being more about the technology than the subject. Chris Unitt (who also kindly passed me that link) had a point, how much of a gig would you enjoy tapping away at a phone?

Find out here!

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Let’s face it. We all loved the ’80s. Big hair, wide shoulders, tights & jean jackets. It was all about having fun. But nowadays, when you decide to go to a an ’80s band gig, you don’t really expect much. Even pop stars grow old, and a 50 year old dude with a weird haircut, jumping up and down the stage while singing tunes like Take On Me doesn’t really seem like a great picture.

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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.

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Tonight I’m going to head off to see Efterklang at a new Birmingham venue called The Asylum .

Poster by rainbow_donkeys

I’m still thinking of appropriate ways to write a music review for #Brum. I know that people have done Tweeting events before but trying to stop it being a novelty and integrate it more effectively. If you are going tonight and you will be tapping away occasionally on a keypad, do let me know. If you would rather enjoy the experience but want to get in touch with me via a more traditional route afters then also let me know – although snail mail is probably not the one. All suggestions and comments welcome, even if it’s ‘Why don’t you just enjoy the moment rather than try and flatten it with technology?’

If you have just stumbled across this randomly and you live in Birmingham, you should definitely come along it’s going to be ace! If you’ve found it because you saw them at the Barbican last night, it would be great if you could let me know what to expect.

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“Cycling to MAPS with new bike lights”

Was the first Tweet I sent out as I cycled up to Hare And Hounds, Kings Heath last night. My father-in-law had come round in the daytime and fixed my bike whilst I locked myself away in the study trying to get my head around Pixel Pipe. The up-hill pedal to the venue was an absolute pleasure. Nothing rattled for a change and I had brand new lights – one attached to my bike and another pinned to the strap of my camera bag – to guide my way.

I may have lost some of my cool by accidently leaving the camera bag flashing light on as I wandered up to the bar. But my mobile LED disco may have added further ambiance to Arc Vel’s superb set. The new solo project from the former (much missed) Grandscope member was aided by his own visuals, which according to another former Grandscope member Hydey, had taken a week and a half to pull together.

“Gutted only caught last song by Tour Eifel, quality electronica with home made visuals”

Arc Vel should have been second not first as the next act didn’t really compliment the shoegazing frug of Maps instead being a falsetto voiced navel-gazing guitar player called It Hugs Back… hmmm.

“Maps kick off with It Will Find You followed by Papercuts”

A strong start indeed, James Chapman has now employed ‘a Dane’ to add extra texture on tour. It sounds superb and the new material swims happily alongside the old. About five songs in Chapman speaks and it’s then that I realise that he’s pretty ratted.

“Maps (chap)man is smashed but septembers provide more than ample support” I Tweet.

And the fact I didn’t spot that predictive text made that message partially incoherent indicates my state too. It’s a funny situation actually that someone like Ozzy Osbourne can spend the best part of his music career off his face but live electronic acts should always be sober and serious whilst they prod away at a laptop. I blame Kraftwerk.

“At some point in the near future you’re going to choose between another pint or an album from Merch. How depressing is that?”

I Tweet before I head to the Merch store and find out that the new album is a tenner. It is signed though, and quality is worth paying for. Besides my freewheeling downhill cycle saves forking out on a taxi and is about 30 times more enjoyable.

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