Well OK... if *honest* opinions are being called for, let's boogie....
First off though, the major thanks - to Chris for managing to pull it all together yet again, and managing to stay cool throughout the day (even while being stressed out by my wingeing on about the lack of stage management), to all the performers, all the big boys whose names end with 'Z, and of course everybody that turned up. Yet again, *I* had a ball...no sleep, but a lot of fun.
On with the show. All the BIT lives have been completely different events, which is part of the beauty. The thing keeps evolving (and needs to further if it's to carry on...but more of that later), and in my eyes, for the better.
Birmingham was basically a "meet and greet" - everybody turned up - lots of programmers (Tony, Jeff etc.) as well as composers, and just about every name there was in the remix scene - there was a 'VIP' lounge for Christ's sake, which was packed. The music was all DJ'ed, there were podium dancers...it was pretty much a normal night out at a nightclub that just happened to be full of C64 'celebs'.
Gossips was a completely different kettle of fish - 2 big live bands + assorted others in a hot and sweaty packed-to-the-gills little nightclub that was loud, atmospheric and the kind of gig that I like playing - everybody bouncing up and down at the front and singing along - 'standing room only'. I got to play with PPOT for the first time, and had a go at being Master of Ceremonies also, which was patchy, but fun. The 'celebs' were there also, but it was a lot harder to find anywhere quiet enough for a chat
By Brighton, we'd got the formula down nicely - afternoon 'social' with the exhibition - photo op's etc. - and then the evening gig, again featuring 2 bands, assorted solos/duo's etc., with the big difference being that this time, the *composers* were playing. Rob showed us the skill that made me so enjoy jamming with him all those years ago, and I got to be in a band with Mark, Reyn, Andreas and Marcel. SID 80's got 2 full days rehearsal, and we spent each evening (well, all bloody night - 3 or 4am each time, I seem to recall) pinning down the arrangements, jamming and generally 'gelling' as a band. Musically, the gig was great - PPOT get better every year, and my only criticism was maybe the scale was *too* large - it was a big venue (there was a lot of space between the stage and the audience), and personally, I felt it difficult to be 'intimate' with the crowd. It was a 'sit-down' affair, and certainly had not much happening on the hot-sweaty-bodies-bouncing-up-and-down front.
This year though had a lovely intimacy. The size was just right - a near-full house, in raked seating that came close to the stage, and I truly felt for the first time that I could communicate with the audience - I couldn't really have made the 'Eastenders' thing work at either Gossips or Brighton - and there was almost a sentimentality attached to the affair - the 'hard core' sceners coming along to what may well be the last ever BIT Live (though as well, there were a number of 'first-timers' who certainly seemed to enjoy it as much as the 'regulars'). PPOT were on cracking form (I told you all it would take would be losing the 'dots' guys), and who could have failed to have been impressed by Visa Roster? Despite SID 80's various gremlins (emergency bass player [who, I have to say coped incredibly well - Jon's a bloody star] who only had 1 days rehearsal, my crap guitar playing etc.), I think we managed well, and although it was also a sit-down affair, there were legs flying everywhere at the end of Rasputin. Standing ovations all round.
My personal favourite feedback was from one of the guys who ran the studio where we'd been rehearsing. He'd never seen a C64 in his life, and knew none of the music, and had just come along out of curiosity to check out the results of our two days at his place. He made a point of coming up afterwards and saying that the evening was one of the best gigs he'd *ever* been to - he spends all day hearing bands, and I trusted his quality judgements. A great night, and Mark and I found a couple of reasons for wanting to move to Sweden...
There were major problems though. These things are *difficult* to pull off, and (in its current form) extremely expensive. Chris only just managed to sort the finances this year, and will still probably end up making a large loss. (Please *do* buy the DVD - we need your £20...if we sell enough, then maybe I can get my travel expenses back...). All the performers do it on basically an expenses-only basis because we enjoy it, but it's bloody hard work. I had less than 12 hours sleep in total over the three days I was in London, and all I was doing was the 'performance' bit - I'm sure Chris had less.
One criticism seems to have been the lack of 'faces'. This wasn't really a meet'n'greet at all though - this was a gig. It was unfortunate that Rob couldn't make it (for various personal reasons), and all sorts of things conspired to prevent people like Tony (holiday booked) and Dave (all sorts - but I really really tried) coming down, but for many though, it would have been pretty much coming just to watch the gig, and maybe have a few drinks afterwards.
I read a couple of criticisms too of the lack of 'visuals'. Sorry - but if you wanted to watch a projector all night, you could have stayed in your bedroom and played a load of SID's with Winamp visualisations in a darkened room. Last night was about live performance - in all its raw glory, warts and all.
We'd like to have sold more tickets (though, as I said, in the end it was damn-near full), but I think Mark hit the nail on the head when he said "well, everybody that just wanted to come down to shake God^H^H^HRob Hubbard's hand has done it by now." Been there, done that, had the T-shirt signed by Galway.
So - what are we left with? Will there be another BIT live? Well, everybody who was there knows my opinion - I have too much fun getting together with the guys once a year to let it stop now. So how do we make it work? I think this year's format got it right - this is a gig, not a convention. It's about the music...basically, it's a genre, just like Punk, Folk, Jazz, whatever. And we know how good it can be and want to play it as well as we can, and present it to you fine folks in as near-as-possible to the finest form it can be. So I vote for the gig carrying on, even if the surrounding kerfuffle dies...this year, for instance, the performers only managed 10 minutes in the pub saying "Hi" before the show, as the rest of the afternoon we were to concerned with wanting to make the evening show a success.
After a late-night vodka-fueled conflab between Mark, Kenz & myself, we decided to hassle PPOT to host a do next year in Copenhagen, which they think can pay for itself. Certainly, we'd be able to persuade more mainland Europe-based people to come, and the logistics would be easier in terms of getting performers from all over Europe to play. As to whether Chris would be interested in running the show as usual, I couldn't say - I've only just got back myself and haven't sounded him out about it yet (I thought I'd give the poor guy a few days to recover), but even if not, I'm sure something will happen - there's too many people wanting it to happen to let it fizzle out. I'm convinced the event can go from strength to strength - I know, as a professional gigging muso (not generally guitar, I hasten to add for anybody that's still wincing over some of my bad notes), that if SID 80's had more than 10 hours rehearsal once a year, we'd be a shit-hot combo, and as I said earlier, PPOT just get better every year I see them. (Thinking of it, four years ago they were pretty much the only band in the world that played SID stuff - now we've got a handful, and who knows how many in five years time?)
That's enough from me. Thanks again to everybody that showed up and gave me my annual "feel like a star" day
I'd be grateful for feedback - Copenhagen 2005? Yes? Wanna buy a ticket now?
Benn.