When is a showcase gig not a showcase gig?
When it's located in my home town seems to be the answer.
There are three bands playing and I haven't a clue who they are supposed to be showcasing their talents to.
This is a pub gig with delusions of grandeur.
No more and no less.
We have head cases, staircases and court cases here, but to claim that we have ever had a showcase - or are ever likely to - is a reality that only exists in someone's fevered imagination.
The first band to take to the stage...ooops.
I mean the first band to take to the sticky carpet between the entrance to the bar and the ladies was supposed to be Eddy and the T-Bolts, but the running order seems to be a fluid concept and instead we got “Long Way Home”.
They played indie styled rock music competently, but suffered from pub sound syndrome.
Nothing really soared like it should have and the pub environment doesn't do them any favours.
It wasn't the fault of the sound guy as he is working with what he had at hand.
It's just that what he had at hand isn't much and the venue itself is never going to lend itself to sonic excellence.
Fortunately for the band about half the people in attendance were there to see them, and regardless of the sound quality they clapped and barked like sea lions at the close of every song.
It's the usual suspects of family, friends and girlfriends though.
So its hard to gauge a crowd reaction to a band when most of the people there have a connection.
I could say that they went down a storm, but I suppose that was always going to be on the cards.
Anyway unsurprisingly most of them left as soon as Long Way Home did leaving the venue creeping ever closer to it being bands playing to the cliched a one man and his dog scenario.
Due to the change in the running order Eddy and the T-Bolts had been waiting for more that five hours to do their thing by this stage of the night.
They'd been told to be there for five pm.
When they arrived a bit earlier than that they were told that the gig wasn't until later, and the sound guy wasn't due for another couple of hours yet.
I would hazard a guess that this must have been torturous experience.
If you went to a travel agents and were offered a week in a circle of Dantes Hell, a less than pleasant short break in the Twilight Zone, or five hours in a Kilmarnock pub you could pick the latter to save some cash as it's sort of like the first two rolled into one.
As usual they pull out the stops when they do get to play and rattle their way through a set of melodic fun filled punk tunes with aplomb.
The best part for me was the look on the face of a woman standing at the bar with her back to the band.
There was a hint of bewilderment there, but in the main to just looked as if someone had taken a shit in her mouth.
If I was in the band I would have taken that as a compliment.
She was never going to buy a CD anyway as she probably hasn't upgraded from the wax cylinder she has that plays duelling banjos.
Reaction wise it was a bit of a disaster for the band, but personally I think that they suffered from a “your not from round these here parts boy” attitude that I'm ashamed to say it pretty prevalent in my home town.
I hope that the next time they play that they are better received as they are far more deserving of a positive reaction than any of the other bands on show.
The next band were called Cajun and did covers. They did them very well, but that takes me right back to my first point. When have you ever heard of a covers band playing a showcase show?
