[kj]Brum downsize: Reasons Why!

[Mike Cooper]

As a proud adopted Brummie (20 years) I would have to agree totally with 
Jayne.  When I first came here for years I could almost go to a gig a week - 
Odeon, Hummingbird (now academy) Powerhouse, Insitute, Barrel Organ, 
Mermaid, Irish Centre, Kaledioscope, Uni's and the poly.  Then eventaully 
they all went and we had precious little - even student venues became hard 
to get into.   It was okay if you liked jazz.  Fortunatley the Academy 
re-opened eventaully so you didn't have to go to Wolverhampton or Nottingham 
to see someone, as the Hummingbird had been closed for a while.  But Jayne 
is right unless it is a student friendly band and I don't mean that nastily 
but you know who I mean Kaiser Chiefs etc. then turnout is often low.  I 
used to run a club in Brum trying to put on the odd band and it was hard 
work and you always lost money and there was a lot of bureacracy and gang 
type attitudes.

South Birmingham College have just built a state of the art 1000 capcity 
venue that will be used for sound/music courses etc.  That is students 
organise do the lights, sound etc. as part of their work.  Patu Banton is 
involved in a big way.  This by law has to be made available to all but has 
yet.  The sound and accoustics I am told is supposed to be second to none - 
we shall see.  Would have been ideal for KJ.

Having said that I have seen some of my all time greatest shows in Brum that 
will stay with me for ever.

For the record we now have more lap dancing clubs than any other city - so 
everything is fine on that front!!  Just in case anyone is interested 
"Cuddles" the massage parlour in the news today for being busted due to its 
eastern european sex slave industry is 200 yards from my house.  Gutted as I 
missed my 9pm appointment due to her being carted off!!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shadforth, Jane SUKOP-OFI/3521" <jane.shadforth at shell.com>
To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)" 
<gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 9:49 AM
Subject: RE: [kj]Brum downsize: Reasons Why!


Birmingham is not really England's second city when it comes to live music. 
It doesn't really have any decent venues since the Powerhouse closed, and 
turnout at the Academy's is typically poor - don't know why?? Most bands 
seem to play Wolves as their "west midlands" port of call on tours, with the 
Civic, Wulfrun, Little Civic providing good venues at the large, mid & small 
sizes.

Manchester on the other hand is always well-attended, (hence KJ's upgrade to 
the larger venue here), and the live scene is buzzing at the moment. The 
university has just started putting on bands in a 4th venue, and has taken 
on more staff to cope with the demands of putting on 2-4 gigs a night. And 
with "In the City" this weekend, "the UK's International Music Convention 
and Live Music Festival", I'd argue that Manchester is at least Britain's 
second city for live music, (if not the 1st??)

Jane


> -----Original Message-----
> From: gathering-bounces at misera.net
> [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net]On Behalf Of peter.west410
> Sent: 29 September 2005 22:11
> To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
> Subject: Re: [kj]Brum downsize: Reasons Why!
>
>
> Not being able to sell 600 tix in England's second city is a
> sorry state of
> affairs, and you must ask yourself, why?
>       Why:killing joke gigs have become all to predictable
> for the floating
> fans, you know exactly what you will get:Four songs from the
> first album,
> Two songs from Revelations, Four songs from WTF!, Two from
> Pandemonium, and
> two from the last album, and the actual songs they play from
> these albums
> are quite predictable(Wardance, Psshyce,Requiem, The
> Wait,Pandemonium, Sun
> goes down etc etc) and you know that Alex Harvey's
> "Faithhealer" will be the
> opening music, Jaz will march out in his white face paint and
> black clothes
> after the others have taken their places, stare wildly and then
> smile........you know what I mean, its all to predictable.
>  You just know that the sound will be a mess, distorted and
> jumbled, so much
> so that you may not even know what song is being played.
>     That is why they are having trouble shifting tickets.
> They need to reinvent themselves, play some different songs,
> sort the sound
> out.
>      I wish that they would only play songs from 1989
> onwards, drop all the
> early stuff , the early stuff has been played to death and
> everyone (band
> and fans) just goes through the motions.
>
>  P.W
>
>
>
>
> -- 
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