Keep your ears Peeled at The Magnet, Liverpool on
Tuesday 19th February 2008
Lineup: KillaFlaw,
Tom Young,
Esa Shields,
The Mong Club,
The Shabangs
The Bards of New Brighton
KillaFlaw Myspace Page
Tom Young Myspace Page
Esa Shields Myspace Page
The Mong Club Myspace Page
The Shabangs Myspace Page
Having settled into Wirral, Merseyside, I was keen to do a night over in Liverpool.
I found The Magnet bar when I joined a local poetry group and one of the guys did a Shakespeare night there. The turnout was quite low but his promotion had mainly been through flyers on the bar so I thought it had potential.
I spoke to the guy who runs promotions there and the hire fee was reasonable. Definitely a possibility for launching the night in Liverpool.
| "RoadKill was a bit funkier and supposedly quite a busy venue with passing trade" |
I decided to book it, but couldn't get hold of the guy who booked for the place (I think he was on holiday), in the meantime I found another venue in hope street between the 2 cathedrals called RoadKill which was a bit funkier and supposedly quite a busy venue with passing trade - which didn't surprise me as there is a halls of residence not too far away.
I booked Roadkill, and then the guy from the Magnet came back to me - as it happened I was struggling to cut down the bands on my shortlist, so having two nights was ideal, and as it was around the time of my 40th I could always put the expense down to that.
Unfortunately, whilst the initial booking was for a Thursday and I'd checked there was no major clashes, the bar had a change of policy and decided not to do private hires on a Thursday and so it was moved to the Tuesday. A Tuesday night is bad enough anyway, but what I didn't realise until nearer the time was that Liverpool were playing in a big European match.
| "there are plenty of people who love music and hate football" |
In London it wouldn't really matter, there are plenty of people who love music and hate football, but in Liverpool that's not the case.
Getting publicity in Liverpool is much easier than in London, I got mentions on the New Bands show on BBC Radio Merseyside, a plug on the Liverpool Echo music blog, local papers in Wirral, and in a student magazine.
Alas, an hour after opening there was still only a handful of people there, even one of the bands, The Mong Club didn't turn up - which was a shame as I was looking forward to them, and the other bands didn't really bring many people with them.
| "it got a bit out of hand" |
The poetry club I went to were quite entertaining and I thought it would be fun to get poets to pop-up between bands and do some comedy or politics, but it got a bit out of hand and kept over-running, and the few people that turned up started to leave.
There were about 30 people at the end of the night, which would have been ok in a 100 capacity venue, but in a 300 capacity, it just looked empty. I felt like RayVon when I was DJing.
All in all a complete disaster as a launch of a night, and economically, but the acts who turned up were good and perhaps if it had been on the Thursday as originally intended I might have got a good crowd.
| "Liverpool is one of the hardest cities in the UK to find an audience for gigs" |
Then again I've spoken to quite a few bands who have played in that venue to literally zero audience, and from what other promoters have said, despite it's reputation as a musical city, Liverpool is one of the hardest cities in the UK to find an audience for gigs, with many bigger bands skipping Liverpool all together knowing that the fans in Liverpool who want to see them will travel to Manchester.
The sound man at The Magnet really impressed me. At the start of the night he seemed a bit grumpy, but in fact not only was he could on the PA system, but he was also very good at taking charge and getting the bands on stage on time.
A young lad said he liked the concept of the night, but that "perhaps John Peel is a bit old hat now".
| "Esa Shields was perhaps too avant-garde for the audience" |
Killaflaw and Tom Young were fabulous and it was just a shame there wasn't a bigger audience there to see them, Esa Shields was perhaps too avant-garde for the audience by I thought his stuff was great, The Shabangs also showed a great deal of potential.
Musically it was a good night, but a disaster in terms of turnout.
In the taxi home I was bitterly disappointed and just hoped the following night would go a lot smoother.