Gigging can be tricky. First and foremost, you need to decide who it is you're going to see. Should you fork out a month's wages to spend a couple of hours in a draughty hangar, watching a group of rock dinosaurs plunder their extensive back catalogue to appease an audience of bankers, Premier League footballers and Jeremy Clarkson? Or should you take a punt on that up and coming band, who have been making the hipsters salivate and claim them to be the best thing since the last best thing, all due to a three minute appearance on Later - which was subsequently ruined by Jools Holland's contractual obligation to play boogie-woogie piano as an accompaniment, despite the fact the band are pitching themselves as the next Joy Division.
Then there's the issue of what to wear. Can you still get away with wearing those skinny fit Levis, which once you have stuffed your wallet, house and car keys, smartphone, fags and chewing gum into the pockets, make you look as if you're walking around with a hernia. Or can you still get away with sporting the pair of battered Converse that are languishing at the bottom of your wardrobe, as you don't want some drunk student spilling his pint of Turborg all over your Clarks limited edition Desert Boots.
The most important factor to consider, however, is who you're going to attend the gig with. Going to a gig should be a shared experience. The jovial banter as you make your way to the venue, the communal sense of anticipation as the lights go down, and the after show post-mortem are all things we should share with like-minded people.
We have all experienced a gig where our companions have spoilt the show rather than enhanced it. The look of horror on your friend's faces as they realised the sonic onslaught of Einsturzende Neubauten wasn't going to be their cup of tea, or the slap in the face from your now ex-girlfriend, after you had left her standing alone all evening as you indulged yourself in the Rocket from the Crypt moshpit.
The Velvet Owl Gig Collective brings together a group of like-minded souls, who once a month, get together to attend a gig chosen by one of it's members. The rules are simple:
No stadium gigs
No gigs where the majority of the audience are eleven year old girls
This blog will attempt to keep anyone who is interested, abreast of our movements, and include reviews, recommendations and some other stuff that will be added as and when we see fit.
We hope you enjoy it!
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid" -Frank Zappa
