The Great Escape (Bar)

Still playing catch-up from last week - with this week’s open mics coming thick and fast - but bear with me. Last Friday I went to the open mic at Escape Bar Dalston. It’s a fabulous and friendly venue that I’ve been to many times as a lot of my friends have played there, but I’d never done their open mic, so I was looking forward to it! And rightly so, it was a great night with a mix of styles. Not sure if this was the norm, or just how it played out on the night I went (<- see what I did there? ;)), but the start of the night was mostly performers playing live guitar, while later in the evening more artists used backing tracks (typically originals where the artist had pre-recorded the arrangement - rather than ‘glorified karaoke’).

My slot was relatively early at 8:30 (and was one I was able to pre-book online, which was nice). It went pretty well I think - I did make one brief mistake, but it was rather beautifully timed to coincide with the lyric “you’ve fucked it up this time” so I had a little internal chuckle. Hey, maybe some people even thought it was intentional to illustrate the lyrical theme! 🤣. For the rest of this post, there are a few little stories worth telling about the evening. Starting with how I offended an audience member by standing my ground - enough to make them leave the premises! - but have no regrets and would do exactly the same thing if it happened again. Followed by a musing about the role of eye contact in connecting with the audience, after watching one of the acts who was big on eye contact. And ending with a celebration of a fabulous debut performance - which I was pleased to be able to make possible by lending my guitar!

When I’d finished playing, I sat on a stool at the bar next to a guy who started chatting. He was friendly and we were having an interesting conversation during the break after my set. When the next act came on stage though, he kept talking - and talking - and seemed to be oblivious to my subtle(?) signals that I wanted to listen to the music. I enjoy watching the other acts - and not only that, I’m also acutely aware of how it can feel to spot people visibly chatting while you’re on stage. So I’m always keen to give people due respect and pay attention while they’re playing. After a while I explicitly asked my bar stool neighbour if we could save the conversation for the breaks between acts. I said I’d like to watch, and also highlighted that it's not great for the performer to see people chatting the whole time. 

He seemed ok with that… for a couple of minutes. Then he started up again - this time essentially to justify why he was right to talk to me during the set. He came up with lines like “if Neil Young were here, no-one would want to talk” implying that it was on the performer to be brilliant enough to command our attention and we didn’t owe it to him. And “it’s good for performers to have people talking, gives them a thicker skin and makes them realise they have to up their game”. Or something along those lines - I can’t remember the exact words, but that sort of ethos. You can imagine at this point I was thinking “what an arse”. He had a come-back for all my protestations, and I couldn't get him to shut up. So I got up, walked away and watched from somewhere else. He looked somewhat put out, sat sullenly for ten-ish minutes, then walked out the door and didn’t come back! I'd be lying if I said a little part of me didn't do an internal celebratory dance :).

The next performer was intriguing. His music was inspired by the olde worlde medieval ‘scene’ and he asked us to imagine we were watching him as a minstrel playing hundreds of years ago! I loved his sound, but there was something a little disconcerting about the amount and intensity of eye contact. This wasn’t just aimed at me (in case you're thinking he found me particuarly interesting) - it was definitely part of his performance style. You could see his gaze settle on different people and stay there for just a moment longer than you might expect when someone is playing to an audience of strangers. To me, it felt strangely - and somewhat uncomfortably - intimate for him to be gazing directly back at me for several seconds at a time. And it would have seemed odd for me to look away to break the eye contact, given he was the one on stage we were meant to be looking at. At one point, after locking eyes with me he also flashed a smile, which felt even more unnaturally intimate - to me anyway! But maybe I'm not the norm - perhaps I'm an awkward bugger who shies away from too much intensity?? I’d be fascinated to know what the rest of the audience thought - did they find it made the experience more special and engaging? Or did they also find it a bit much? It made me reflect on my own ‘engagement’ with the audience when I perform. I'm not sure if I look at people much - I guess I look in their general direction! - and perhaps I catch a few people’s eyes momentarily from time to time. Would using more eye contact connect better with the audience? And if so, how much is too much? I’d love to hear what people think!!

Towards the end of the evening, we had a wonderful debut from someone who I think was called Simona. (This is the problem with leaving so long to write my posts - I forget names! Her name could be something entirely different 🙈). She hadn’t expected to play and had come to support her friend - but he persuaded her on the night to give it a go! She was part of a rock band so was used to performing, but not as a solo artist - and this was her solo debut! As she didn’t have a guitar with her, her friend (whose name I am embarrassed to say I have completely forgotten) approached me to ask if I’d lend her mine! Of course I was super-happy to. And she was brilliant! (That's her in the top picture)

All in all it was a super-interesting evening, as many of these open mics have turned out to be. I still need to update you on last Sunday’s antics but that'll be the subject of tomorrow’s post. (Hopefully tomorrow - I know the last couple of times I’ve said I ‘will post this tomorrow’ it’s been a few days! Perhaps I should be vaguer in my promises! ;)). Right now though, I need to get this posted and get on my bike to Escape Bar Dalston (again!). This time I'll be watching  my friend Nick’s project Eleanor Collides. He's just released his debut album “People are Taller in Real Life” on Soundcloud, with plans for a 4th March release date for Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon etc. Do have a listen!!