Celebr8 - Saturday - Gig Report (LONG POST)

[Pedro]

Celebr8 Saturday
I really thought I wasn't going to make the Saturday because we were on holiday with Miss Pedro and her boyfriend and all of us were coming to the Sunday but, thanks to their kindness and understanding I was given leave to attend the Saturday too.
So I made the solo trip from Maidstone to Kingston and parked in the NCP £10-all-day car park attached to the venue with an hour to spare. After a quick trip to Sainsburys for a sandwich I joined the gathering group of familiar faces standing around and looking at the hefty security blokes and barriers at the entrance to the venue.
As "doors" time came and went, a cheery Twang appeared to say "We have a delay, anyone who has been to The Peel will be familiar with this".
I'm not sure how long the delay getting in was, possibly  around 40 minutes, but it was clear that with such a full schedule and the immovable "turns-into-a-nightclub" curfew coupled with the probably fixed-length Subterranea show, something was going to get squeezed. Unfortunate, but unavoidable I guess.
The venue was obviously not geared around stage-based productions and the warren of spaces, steps, dance floors, etc. made for some interesting choices of where to stand or sit for the best view. In true night-club stylee, everything was dark, curved, smelt funny and was ominously sticky to touch or underfoot. :?

Quite a long wait until things got started and then, without much fanfare or verbal intro...

Sean Filkins


Always tough to kick-off such an event, shaking down the lights and sound system etc. The lights at the back of the stage were angled up so they shone in our eyes, something that was rectified later. I think Sean and co played really well and covered a good selection from the great War & Peace album. Sean seems to write some of his stuff so he is singing at the upper end of his range a fair bit. This must make it difficult to sing live and he didn't use the semi-tone drop trick that other bands sometimes employ either. Still, live music isn't all about accuracy and everything was played with much gusto. The young guitarist (21?) seemed to have more talent than he was able to display in the time available. All in all, a great start to the event.

I saw no evidence of the Acoustic stage so I decided to "bag" a spot in front of the sound desk for the next band.

The Tangent


Last year's Summer's End appearance by The Tangent really opened my eyes and ears to overcome a rather under-whelmed opinion I got from their previous Summer's End outing. The reduction of on-stage band members from 8(?) to 4 seemed to let the music "get to the front" and this was affirmed by what was, in my opinion, the stand-out performance of the day. Opening with a cover of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" they played a small selection of not-so-small songs that were a joy to listen to and watch. Much has been said about the talented youngsters...but enough about Andy and Tony...Luke Machin continues to drop jaws with his far-too-easy virtuosity on guitar and Dan Mash's command of the bass seems similarly limitless.
It was also good to see Andy return on the Sunday and derive a load of pleasure from watching and supporting the other bands. Top chap.

I got a bit side-tracked by the pursuit of merch and some particular tickets in this break. Returning from the cashpoint (money collecting) and car (merch depositing) in time for...

Pallas


This was my third time seeing Pallas and my third experience of a band who are very comfortable performing live. I don't have much of their stuff; "Dreams of Men" and "XXV" but I like both albums and I enjoyed the live versions of the songs I recognised. Everything was well played and well received. There's not much more to add really.

I managed to get to the Acoustic stage in this break...and, boy, was I glad I did...

Matt Stevens – Acoustic Stage
Too dark for a picture, sadly...

The "Acoustic Stage" was actually a concrete-floored "quiet" bar off the main venue and also provided access to an external corral for smokers. This had a few unfortunate side-effects...people just outside the doors talking loudly and people "passing through", on their way in or out. Add to that the fact that, for some reason, the lights weren't on and Matt was wearing all black gear. My video clips of his set are all too dark and feature people trogging past the camera.
Anyone who hasn't seen Matt do his solo stuff is missing a treat, probably for a long time too since he is now going to focus on his work with the band "The Fierce and the Dead". The sound he builds with just the acoustic guitar, a few effects pedals and the "looper" pedal is hard to believe. He's a big guy too and it's a wonder the guitar doesn't end-up a pile of match wood by the finish. Stunning stuff.
 
IQ


I have the Subterranea album and I listened to it a few times several years ago but, to be honest, it never really gripped me. So I approached this penultimate staging of the piece without any nostalgic reverence at all. I figured the best place to watch would be somewhere central and not too close...and I ended-up watching from right next to (and in the heat exhaust zone of) the large projector that was used pretty much throughout to throw visuals either onto a screen at the back of the stage or onto a semi-transparent "roller-blind" screen at the front of the stage which was raised and lowered at key points. The effect worked well for the most part, particularly from where I was standing. The theatrics also worked well (e.g. the puppeteer standing above and behind Pete, "controlling" him). The sound was good and the whole thing came across well. I must say Pete's voice was hard to make out at some times, either he was too low in the mix or he wasn't firing on all vocal cylinders. Frequency and The Wake rounded off the set before tings had to be cleared away so that the venue could transform into its nightclub formation. Shame, but that's the harsh reality of the economics, I guess.

An hour or so later I was back in Maidstone, fairly tired but very happy...and even more excited at the prospect of Day #2.

What's that? Pictures? Oh, it did happen then....

[Mikey]

What's that? Pictures? Oh, it did happen then....

Wimbledon was rained off & everyone trooped off back to the gig.
Excellent report as usual    

[Trapezium Artist]

Excellent fan fiction, Pedro: just the sort of multi-band mash-up everyone would really love to see, but which for so many obvious reasons, could never actually happen in reality.

You almost had me fooled for a second, but then you mentioned Maidstone. Another famous fan fiction fabrication, nudge nudge, wink wink; rather gave the game away. Next thing you'll be telling me is that Dec Burke, Tinyfish, Magenta, Touchstone, and It Bites all played on the second night of your fantasy progasm ...  8-)

[Pedro]

I've now managed to fabricate some moving pictures that approximate to what such an event might look like, if it were possible...

Saturday Celebr8 Montage -> //http://youtu.be/Q6JWznZVXow

[mattstevens]

Thanks loads man - it was a really special weekend As a musician i must say the audience were lovely to play to And TWANG and Geoff did an amazing job making it all happen