If you’re reading this expecting a detailed in depth review of Kid Congo Powers at Room 2, you should probably exit. This isn’t so much a review as the rambling thoughts of an aging music fan with social anxiety issues.
On the way to the gig I posted a throwaway comment on Facebook, (mis)quoting Bill Shankly, “Some people believe music is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
That statement, no matter how throwaway it seemed when I posted it, translated in a way I couldn’t have imagined as I headed into Room 2. Arriving 5 minutes into the support band’s set, my aging eyes took a while to get used to the darkness resulting in me walking into someone, good start…well not just someone, the person responsible for putting on the show… After adjusting to the low light levels (I think I may have walked past several people I know) in the near pitch blackness, that’s probably more down to my aging eyes, I made it to the other side of the venue.
Ok, let’s get my gripes out first. Room 2 as a venue? It is a good wee venue to an extent, but maybe if you have a semi sold out gig. If it’s as sell out, like the Kid Congo show, the sight lines are, to put it simply, limited due to the presence of, I would say pillars, but they’re more like walls. But if you do manage to find a good space, you’re sorted. I also think the sound levels could have been ramped up a few notches, but I can deal with that. And the bar needs to sort out its stock levels. Everything was “off” pretty quickly. Right, now I’ve got that off my chest.
As I said, this is less a review and more the ramblings of an old music fan, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Kid Congo, I’m the packed venue I’d imagine the majority of the crowd were there for his Gun Club/Cramps connections. And he scratched that itch with New Kind of Kick (read the book!) and Goo Goo Muck (it was Wednesday after all…). There was a meandering instrumental section mid set that started off as pseudo Doors, exploring improv jazz, and including a flute section, was a bit of a WTF moment, that despite my brain trying to tell me otherwise I really enjoyed. It sounds like there are good things to come as one of the bands new songs Ghost Story (?) caught my imagination and of course Sex Beat was a winner as the set came to a conclusion. It was a thoroughly entertaining set.
It would also be remiss of me not to mention support band, Louise McVey and the Cracks in the Concrete. Atmospheric to the max, and I’m glad I’m not the only one (having spoken to a gentleman unknown) to think they could have played a part in the return of Twin Peaks such was the nature of their hypnotic late night, dark smoky venue vibe.
More than a gig though, this night highlighted to me that the throwaway statement I made on Facebook on the way to the gig was closer to the truth than I first thought. The number of people I bumped into (literally on some occasions, bloody darkness and failing eyesight – and there’s that word again) that I know I wouldn’t ever have met if it wasn’t for music, and probably further still, if it wasn’t for me writing some stupid rambling bollocks on this shitty wee blog, because, let’s face it, I’m not going to talk to anyone I don’t know or I’d be forever analysing the stupidity of what I’d say. Every time I walked through the venue there was someone else I hadn’t seen for an age, or maybe was only meeting face to face for the first time having only exchanged pleasantries on social media previously.
For me THAT is the power of live music, and will ensure this gig moves long in the memory. It’s not just the invigorating feeling of witnessing the songs you love played live, it’s the feeling of being part of something bigger, a feeling of belonging. You’re no longer just that one person in their own little bubble, you’re part of something much bigger, giving an exhilarating feeling like mainlining dopamine for that short period of time, and trying to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible.
I know I had a huge smile on my face as I bounced merrily back to Central for my train home. For this, currently happy, music fan at least, gigs aren’t just a matter of life or death, they’re much more important than that.