Where: Leicester
Venue: The Y Theatre
This was extremely exciting to me. I purchased the tickets online months in advance as I believed a band the size of British Sea Power would sell out, what i gathered was a small venue. I was right, the venue was very small, even so, it was not a sell out. I parked very near to the venue and visited some old friends in Sainsbury's before i entered the venue. Once i arrived i was shocked to see people walking into the auditorium with glass. We were trusted to take care of ourselves and others, which is a risky move as I personally believe health and safety regulations should be in place for music events. Plastic cups tend to be used in every, venue I've visited.
The audience were interested in the band, they were clear British Sea Power fans because 80% of the audience were wearing British Sea Power t-shirts. 80% of which, broke rule 1 of concert clothing, never wear a t-shirt of the band you are seeing. Amateurs.. Anyway, the beer was great, being at a fair price along side the bars and clubs which neighbour the venue. The attendance was only a few hundred which gave it an intimate atmosphere. Ages ranging from myself being the clear youngest at 19, to people wearing glasses who have grey hair. The average age was approximately 38, i would guess.. The very few females were about 30ish, all of them being 4/10's.. by all i mean 3, seriously.. 3.
Musically, British Sea Power were on form, playing songs from the current release Valhalla Dancehall and Do You Like Rock Music?.. With the rest of the set being filled with rarities and The Decline of British Sea Power. it was a 17 song set, excluding the 3 song encore. I've seen the band before, earlier this year in July, where the set was 30 minutes long, nothing of which, I can remember as I was intoxicated at the time.
I found myself to the left of the stage along side some other lonely drinkers wearing argyle. I didn't communicate with anybody other than the bar staff, but that's just my shy, awkward way. I go to these events for the musical experience and memory, not to interact with others. The chances are 1 million to 1 that i can find somebody as knowledgeable in music as me, so i don't bother interacting.
During the back end of BSP's set, a mosh pit broke out. About seven 40 year old men starting smashing into each other. Which took up half the fucking venue, i wasn't mad.. I let them get on with it, I'm not going to spoil the fun, i enjoy watching a mosh pit. But when one of the 3 girls drops a handbag on the floor and all her money spreads out everywhere.. You start to think, now it's time to stop. At this point, somebody shouted 'EVERYONE GET DOWN HERE, IT'S LIKE A FUCKING WISHING WELL'. The band were just as amused as the audience... Beautiful.
Wavin' Flags sounded great, they really know how to perform live. They all have great stage presence and brilliant visuals. An obvious hardcore fan base showed up to this gig, I didn't fit in. I was an outsider here. I am a fan of BSP to an extent, but in general I think they have awful lyrics and a predictable sound in places. This was a good experience, the sound was great for such a small venue.
No Lucifer, Who's In Control and All In It were among my favorite's. I didn't dislike any songs in general, i know they can smash them out live and they certainly did here. The size of the audience didn't phase the band at all, it just encouraged them to have more of a relationship with the audience, throwing the microphone down the front at one point. It was exciting, i enjoyed my time and walked back to my car passing a Leicestershire prostitute with the typical 'No thanks' look.
