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Thursday 15 December 2011

Rocknroll

Well, hello again. Apologies for the lack of blog (bloglessness) recently. Here we go and again its not necessarily concerned directly with the manufacture of the finest Antique Black Ironmongery but its just something that needs to be said....

The Kirkpatrick Blogger went to a gig recently. Now that in itself is nothing new but it has to be said that 2011 has not been a good year for gig-going. It did occur to me, however, that it was probably 40 years to the month, (give or take a week or so), since I went to my first gig at exactly the same venue. Who and where, you may be asking?. Well, seeing as you asked so nicely it was King Crimson at Wolverhampton Civic. So to be standing in the same venue 40 years later was an occasion worth marking, I thought. What made it extra special was that my son had asked me to go with him and had given me the ticket and he refused to accept payment for it. How cool is that? Which sort of got me thinking that it would have been unheard of 40 years ago to go to a gig with your Dad. Not that my Dad would have appreciated King Crimson but its amazing how things have changed. I actually remember that my Dad picked me and my sister up from the Civic in 1971 and even that was frowned upon by my more worldly, super cool friends who would just button up their ex RAF great coats and disappear into the night on foot, their loon pants mopping the pavement as they went.

Anyway, I digress. The gig was great, largely down to two pretty damn good supports, (Ghost and In Flames). The headliners were Trivium. Good but not great but really not a band I would have chosen to go and see. Just as an aside, its amazing how bands, particularly American bands have fallen quite easily into being entertainers. The gig is now referred to as a "show". I suppose it is, but back in 1971 a show was what you saw at the seaside at the end of a pier. I doubt that a King Crimson gig in 1971 was referred to as a "show" and they certainly wouldn't have thought of themselves as entertainers. They were serious musicians, man. They had sufferred for their music.....and now it was our turn.

So back to 2011. What amazes me, (and it is something I have noted for a few years now), is the number of people who go to a gig and insist on trying to have a conversation most of the way through. Now, in case you don't know, Trivium are towards what I would call the more extreme end of metal. Thrashy, growling vocals, double kick drum beats, I'm sure you all know what I mean......Anyway, they are reasonably loud, so trying to have a conversation is nigh on impossible so why try? The other thing, of course, is a ticket these days is quite expensive, (did I tell you my son bought mine?), so if you are spending £30-40 on a ticket why waste that money by ignoring the band and trying to chat? King Crimson in 1971 was 50p, by the way.

The other thing is why do people also try to make and receive phone calls throughout a gig? Crazy! You must have heard them....

"Hi mate, can you hear me? Hi mate....hello...can you hear me? I'm at a gig....at a gig.... Sorry, what was that? Can't hear you mate.....I'm at a gig....you what?....sorry mate, can't hear you....see ya......"

Again, sending texts, e-mails, playing games....anything but taking in the gig. I have to admit here that I did get my Gooseberry out once to see what time it was but I couldn't read it without my glasses....Oh, the joys of getting older!

So, there we go. That's another rant over and another thing sorted. Rock and indeed, Roll, man.

"they said it wouldn't last, but baby please lets face it....
they just don't know what's going to replace it...."

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