Well, as promised although with a slight delay, here is my report on our round one concert.

Travel to the venue was made difficult by severe winter weather which, for a time, left us wondering if any spectators would make it to the event.
Access to the venue was also extremely difficult as it is in the city centre. I bundled all my gear together and struggled in on public transport + taxi.
My bandmates came by car, but spent quite a while looking for a parking space.

Somewhat uncooperatively I felt, the event organisers did not provide a keyboard stand, although the mics, mic stands, p.a. and backline were all provided.

The venue itself is very rock and roll. Quite compact and dark with no seats in the main area where the stage is.

We had been warned that offstage space was limited, but were still not prepared for the total shambles that awaited us. There was a tiny area just next to the stage – in full view of the public and not even cordoned off -where all 8 bands were invited to stock their gear, wait for showtime and, if they so desired, get changed!

The soundcheck was, as expected, rather hurried, perfunctory and unsatisfactory.
When show time came, we had literally 2 minutes to get our gear on and set up, albeit with the aid of 2 overworked techs. I was at a part of the stage where there was no lighting of any sort – I’m actually invisible in the videos – and I could hear little from the stage monitors. I usually use a ‘local’ monitoring system (involving a mic splitter and an Alesis Transactive 50) which I have full control over, so the contrast was very marked.

However, despite all this, I have no complaint with the organisers, Emergenza. No, they are not angels. Yes, they make money from the operation. But overall they did what they said they would which was to provide us with an opportunity to play at a venue we would not otherwise get to play at.

We were 4th on out of 8 acts and played a set judiciously composed of 3 originals and 4 covers (thanks to Ian who suggested this). I felt we played with far more energy, but less accuracy than usual. The response from the house was quite enthusiastic – even from members of the audience that had been brought along by the other bands.

For the record, we did make it through by finishing in the top 4 and are awaiting the date of round #2.

My advice to anyone with a band who is thinking of taking in part in such an event would be to do so. But with your eyes wide open!

Marc's SoundCloud
Marc's YouTube