T In The Ark
>> The Ark, Glasgow
>> 22nd Septemmber 2005
Drinking in a ‘It’s a Scream’ pub is about as enjoyable as going for a pint in Macdonald’s, with the extra bright lights and it frankly shit yellow colour scheme. The word atmosphere was simply not in the business plan.
That aside, the idea of a mini festival in the aforementioned booze peddlers’ Ark branch beer garden during fresher’s week was one that exciteded me. And I wasn’t the only one, the crowds came and prepared for a ridiculous 10 band, 6 hr marathon and it looked like we were in for a fun night.
Things were due to kick off at 5pm but the bands had been given a free beer tab since 2pm so its 6pm before Aiden Mackenzie comes on. The rain starts almost as soon as the first chord is struck and it should be a warning of what’s to come as those who can’t find shelter on the patio retreat inside to the now welcoming flurescent yellow glow of the bar. Too bad for MacKenzie and Red Lines who do their best to get the party started. The rain eases off a bit as Yuffie come onstage but it becomes apparent that there are some technical problems backstage as guitars fail to respond and vocals are intermittent. The band look a little helpless as the sound man frantically runs around checking wires and switching switches.
Next up, Cumbernauld’s rock behemoths Pylot fire themselves up as the mini festival seems to be finding its feet. Spoke too soon- three songs in though the game is up as the gremlins in the sytem call for the end of play with another power cut.
Unlike Yuffie, Pylot deal with the power cut like real pros. Gareth on drums takes the opportunity to flex his Bonham muscles and attacks the tubs as singer JP starts climbing the 20ft wall next to the stage getting the biggest cheer of the evening so far. Rather than everyone filtering away, more people come out to see the maniac scaling the wall. A great bit of crowd working that saves the promoters skin as the (now fairly stressed) sound man sorts the problem.
By the time Clearfall got on stage, the running order is at least 90 minutes over. They play to an impressive crowd and despite constant complaints by the band about the onstage sound quality they manage to batter out some nice indie numbers with some interesting finger tapping by the bass player.
Allan Cassidy is next, offering a fairly nondescript performance that is easily forgotten. He finishes on a song that sounds remarkably like ‘The Fields of Athenry’, which in Glasgow is a very dangerous thing to do. No scrapping ensues, though, and despite occasional flashes of genius nothing is offered to set the performance alive.
‘Cow Punk’ is a genre that I am not familiar with but one that El Jugador embrace with songs like ‘Muff Diver’ and ‘Buckfast Song’. Very droll. At one point the frontman blows a horn and makes some incohesive announcement about a place called Moldovia and only shuts up when a member of the crowd tells him the name of the place is actually Moldova. The songs are noisy and annoying and it becomes apparent that ‘Cow Punk’ is actually another term for shite.
Thankfully, the set is cut short due to over everyone else’s overruns and they make way for headliners, Myopia, who take the stage just as the bar shuts 20 minutes early. Thankfully I had already nicked a couple of beers from the band’s riders but as I get wired in, I catch sight of two policemen out the corner of my eye, talking sternly with the bar manager. I sidle out of view with my misappropriated Tennents. Not more problems, surely?
Myopia kick off with recent single ‘She Says’, which receives rapturous applause from all. Well, all except the two afformetioned coppers who are now at the side of the stage. Rob steps up to the mic- "The police are here everyone… they want us to stop playing now. But we’re going to play another song anyway because we don’t give a shit", Rock and, indeed, roll. They launch into ‘Dancefloor’ which is predicably cut short as Ark staff storm the stage and start pulling out plugs and leads. The boos from the crowd quickly turn into cheers as Rob blesses us with his guitar. Just as this happens, I have beer poured all over my face as some over zealous bar staff member snatches my drink FROM MY MOUTH who informs me that he had to otherwise I would be arrested. Yeah, cheers for that. The perfect end to a less than perfect gig.
Rob from Myopia tells me later his take on it- "The thing that pissed me off the most wasn’t even that all of our merchandise was stolen while we were onstage despite being told that there would be a member of staff watching the merchandise table at all times. It wasn’t even that our name had been used for 2 months to advertise the gig, the thing that pissed me off so badly wasn’t even that the event was an hour behind schedule due to the fact the sound engineer waltzed in an hour late. What pissed me off more than any of the nights disastrous events was the fact that the venue DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A LIVE ENERTAINMENT LICENCE!!!!!! FOR F*CK'S SAKE!!!"
Sure, T in the Ark had all the ingredients of a good festival- power cuts, police raids, over runs, wall climbing and flowing beer. Just not in the right quantities.
Entertaining for all the wrong reasons, T in the Ark was well worth it, if not for the music then for the comedic organisation. Hopefully some lessons will have been learnt, as the idea is a good one, a little more organisation and tech knowledge could have made for a great wee day of music. Make sure you’re at the next one, providing that The Ark have the foresight to apply for a licence.
>> Paul Bamford
>> 22nd Septemmber 2005
Drinking in a ‘It’s a Scream’ pub is about as enjoyable as going for a pint in Macdonald’s, with the extra bright lights and it frankly shit yellow colour scheme. The word atmosphere was simply not in the business plan.
That aside, the idea of a mini festival in the aforementioned booze peddlers’ Ark branch beer garden during fresher’s week was one that exciteded me. And I wasn’t the only one, the crowds came and prepared for a ridiculous 10 band, 6 hr marathon and it looked like we were in for a fun night.
Things were due to kick off at 5pm but the bands had been given a free beer tab since 2pm so its 6pm before Aiden Mackenzie comes on. The rain starts almost as soon as the first chord is struck and it should be a warning of what’s to come as those who can’t find shelter on the patio retreat inside to the now welcoming flurescent yellow glow of the bar. Too bad for MacKenzie and Red Lines who do their best to get the party started. The rain eases off a bit as Yuffie come onstage but it becomes apparent that there are some technical problems backstage as guitars fail to respond and vocals are intermittent. The band look a little helpless as the sound man frantically runs around checking wires and switching switches.
Next up, Cumbernauld’s rock behemoths Pylot fire themselves up as the mini festival seems to be finding its feet. Spoke too soon- three songs in though the game is up as the gremlins in the sytem call for the end of play with another power cut.
Unlike Yuffie, Pylot deal with the power cut like real pros. Gareth on drums takes the opportunity to flex his Bonham muscles and attacks the tubs as singer JP starts climbing the 20ft wall next to the stage getting the biggest cheer of the evening so far. Rather than everyone filtering away, more people come out to see the maniac scaling the wall. A great bit of crowd working that saves the promoters skin as the (now fairly stressed) sound man sorts the problem.
By the time Clearfall got on stage, the running order is at least 90 minutes over. They play to an impressive crowd and despite constant complaints by the band about the onstage sound quality they manage to batter out some nice indie numbers with some interesting finger tapping by the bass player.
Allan Cassidy is next, offering a fairly nondescript performance that is easily forgotten. He finishes on a song that sounds remarkably like ‘The Fields of Athenry’, which in Glasgow is a very dangerous thing to do. No scrapping ensues, though, and despite occasional flashes of genius nothing is offered to set the performance alive.
‘Cow Punk’ is a genre that I am not familiar with but one that El Jugador embrace with songs like ‘Muff Diver’ and ‘Buckfast Song’. Very droll. At one point the frontman blows a horn and makes some incohesive announcement about a place called Moldovia and only shuts up when a member of the crowd tells him the name of the place is actually Moldova. The songs are noisy and annoying and it becomes apparent that ‘Cow Punk’ is actually another term for shite.
Thankfully, the set is cut short due to over everyone else’s overruns and they make way for headliners, Myopia, who take the stage just as the bar shuts 20 minutes early. Thankfully I had already nicked a couple of beers from the band’s riders but as I get wired in, I catch sight of two policemen out the corner of my eye, talking sternly with the bar manager. I sidle out of view with my misappropriated Tennents. Not more problems, surely?
Myopia kick off with recent single ‘She Says’, which receives rapturous applause from all. Well, all except the two afformetioned coppers who are now at the side of the stage. Rob steps up to the mic- "The police are here everyone… they want us to stop playing now. But we’re going to play another song anyway because we don’t give a shit", Rock and, indeed, roll. They launch into ‘Dancefloor’ which is predicably cut short as Ark staff storm the stage and start pulling out plugs and leads. The boos from the crowd quickly turn into cheers as Rob blesses us with his guitar. Just as this happens, I have beer poured all over my face as some over zealous bar staff member snatches my drink FROM MY MOUTH who informs me that he had to otherwise I would be arrested. Yeah, cheers for that. The perfect end to a less than perfect gig.
Rob from Myopia tells me later his take on it- "The thing that pissed me off the most wasn’t even that all of our merchandise was stolen while we were onstage despite being told that there would be a member of staff watching the merchandise table at all times. It wasn’t even that our name had been used for 2 months to advertise the gig, the thing that pissed me off so badly wasn’t even that the event was an hour behind schedule due to the fact the sound engineer waltzed in an hour late. What pissed me off more than any of the nights disastrous events was the fact that the venue DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A LIVE ENERTAINMENT LICENCE!!!!!! FOR F*CK'S SAKE!!!"
Sure, T in the Ark had all the ingredients of a good festival- power cuts, police raids, over runs, wall climbing and flowing beer. Just not in the right quantities.
Entertaining for all the wrong reasons, T in the Ark was well worth it, if not for the music then for the comedic organisation. Hopefully some lessons will have been learnt, as the idea is a good one, a little more organisation and tech knowledge could have made for a great wee day of music. Make sure you’re at the next one, providing that The Ark have the foresight to apply for a licence.
>> Paul Bamford
