I’ve been lucky enough to have been to a few gigs recently and, indeed, promoted a couple myself. I’m always intrigued by the music playing in a venue before the acts come on. Is this the band’s choice, the sound man’s, the venue’s or just a random playlist that’s been floating around the venue’s PA system for a while? I would suggest that certainly in bigger venues with ‘bigger’ bands the playlist is carefully curated either by their sound technician in consultation with the band or by the band themselves. A case in point was the recent Jason Isbell gig I attended in Hammersmith. Between the support act SG Goodman and the headliners there was a very clear choice of tracks including MJ Lenderman and Thin Lizzy amongst others. First song into the set Jason and his right-hand man Sadler Vaden engage in a very Thin Lizzy-like twin guitar solo section. It all made sense and there was feeling that although you knew it already, you were definitely in good hands.
For the two gigs I’ve been involved with promoting it seemed to me very important that I had a good playlist to play between sets or at the start of the evening. Neither artist had said they wanted to control this aspect of the evening but I felt it was my duty as promoter to create a fitting mood and also to demonstrate to both audience and artist that they too were in good hands. The sound technician at one of the events was a little surprised when I presented him with an Ipod but he soon got over it and I believe it had the desired effect. Not only did I get a couple of audience members asking about who was playing (it’s great when people don’t use Shazam) but also the artist complimented me on an excellent set of songs (cue puffed up chest and goofy grin, still a fanboy at heart!). If you don’t usually notice the music playing at a venue may I suggest that at your next gig you take a moment. Someone has thought about what you should be hearing and often it’s a very rewarding insight into either the artist or the promoter.
It’s coming up to end-of-year list time and this week’s listening has been taken up with preparing the radio shows that showcase my top twelve albums ( why twelve – well if you play two tracks from each album you can get twenty-four tracks in a two-hour show with a bit of my rambling) and two shows that highlight the top forty-five tracks of the year ( Why? See previous and add a bit more rambling…). So a video with both Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman ticks boxes as does Brown Horse. The radio show this week features new Patterson Hood (a very powerful lyric and subject), The Delines and Dan Raza as well as “Mermaid Avenue” being the classic album plus plenty of nonsense and sublime sounds. As ever….
