The Monochrome Set

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Fitter Stoke F
Fitter Stoke Nov 20, 2022 16:25:39
Replying to Kid Calamity

Interesting.

I wonder if your underwhelment (I know that’s not a word, but I can’t think of another one) is down to the band itself, or just that you’ve seen as much as any live performance could deliver too many times? That’s certainly how I feel these days. Aside from a Paul Weller gig in April (which I admittedly enjoyed), I haven’t felt any compulsion to attend any gigs for several years. My indifference to gigs is fuelled by several factors: price, venues, audience numpties, bands keeping crowds waiting for so long that I have to leave before the end to catch my last bus home, etc etc. Overriding all of those factors though is the feeling that I’ve been to so many gigs, good and bad, in my younger days that I now have very low expectations from seeing artists perform. I can count on less than the fingers of one hand how many gigs I truly enjoyed from the last twenty years or so of concert going. I’m far happier listening to music as and when I want, which in my case is sat on a comfy chair in front of my hi-fi.

But that’s just me, boring old get that I am!

K Kid Calamity
Kid Calamity Nov 21, 2022 12:42:40
Replying to Fitter Stoke

I still go to plenty of gigs of all sorts of bands - in all sorts of venues - and generally make adjustments to expectations. You gotta remember I still play the little festival scene, so sometimes I'm in some little marquee or maybe a basement with three other people watching someone struggling with an old Wasp synthesiser. And, of course, sometimes I'm in some lavish theatre watching something totally different.

The Monochrome Set were on at a lovely venue called The Claptrap, in Stourbridge, where just a few month prior I'd seen a blistering set by Crazyhead, who occasionally reunite for little bursts of frenzied activity. They engaged with the audience straight away and so the audience engaged with them. It was a lovely evening, as a result. Nobody on the stage that evening was checking their flippin' watch.