I just came back to the alternative music scene after a long break away since Covid, and it was a disappointment from the word go. The disappointment hasn’t been the people; in fact, the people seem to have leaned harder into who they are, and I love to see it. The disappointment has come from those running the shows and making decisions on band run-times.

They, for some reason, need to have the highest-energy band of the whole bill on third, leaving at least six hours of flat energy, not because the subsequent bands are bad (they were all fantastic) but because the energy has already been maxed out and the room is now depleted. It’s like overloading electrical equipment, then expecting it to be working at peak performance afterward. It makes no sense. The board is fried, but they expect everything to work as before and then wonder why the energy isn’t moving.

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When I go to a gig, I expect to leave with bruises, or at least some aches and pains from people crowd-surfing on me while I’m trying to take pictures – that sounds strangely specific, but don’t worry; I shall get to that a bit later. My first gig back seemed like it was having a good turnout, but I could soon see customers trickling out the door after that third band, which was a shame since the headliners got to play to very few people with very little energy. The poor curation killed the rest of the art for the rest of the day, and I also feel my own art suffered as a result. I am a photographer; I can only capture energy that is already in the room. I can’t capture the energy that isn’t present or doesn’t exist.

All the bands had their own vibe, which I liked, but I felt that some of the genres clashed, which may have contributed to the dying energy. It felt like the promoter of this show was trying to get bands who had mates they could drag through the door, rather than taking on the responsibility of curating a collection of awesome sounds that would have people buzzing out the door on their way home.

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I understand things can get derailed by an infinite number of things that can go wrong during a gig, so I know it isn’t always possible to make this work. However, I feel like the art of putting on a gig is a dying one, especially when promoters seem to want bands with the most available friends, instead of putting in more work. If they don’t like the work, maybe they shouldn’t be in that line of work. Because it is work.

As a gig promoter, your duties include securing a venue for the event to take place, negotiating how and when the bands will be paid, managing the event budget, driving ticket sales to your event, promotion and marketing, and managing the schedule and running times of the bands. Now, the last part matters for everyone – the bands, the gig-goers, the photographers or other creatives there documenting the event – yet it seems most people don’t care too much beyond filling slots and getting people in the door. Promoters are killing their own events and scene while pretending to keep it going, putting zero actual effort into gig curation. They may not be consciously doing this, but that’s what happens when they refuse to curate the bands well enough to keep the momentum through the whole gig… especially a 9-hour-long gig.

People don’t want to have the energy spike at band 3, then have to stand there for 6 or 7 hours, totally drained, because you peaked the energy at the beginning of the gig. Like I said earlier, if you can’t commit to the curation of an awesome arc of music and vibes, then what are you even doing in the space in the first place? Sit down and let someone who wants to put that energy into the scene do so, and watch the scene flourish and grow again. If you don’t want to, then you are actively contributing to the death of your own scene.

Image Credit: @K.KhaosMedia 

I attended an all-day gig just a few days ago as I write this, for Fife Greyhound Rescue. The room was small, the people were many, and the pit was in full swing. The energy was intense and massive all day, regardless of the lineup and running times derailing, the promoter still managed to curate a fantastic arc lineup. A man was crowd-surfing on me when I was trying to take a photo…twice. My camera has battle scars, and I still pulled off some epic shots. That is how it should be done. So while some promoters don’t consciously realise they are failing their scene, there are still plenty who work overtime to make their events memorable.

Image Credit: @K.KhaosMedia 

The Scottish thrash-metal band, Permacrisis, fired the board early with their intense, aggressive energy, and I feel it was doing them a disservice to have them in that early slot. Their frontman knows how to work the room, and it was unfair to them and all of the other bands to have them on that early.

Image Credit: @K.KhaosMedia 

On the other hand, the other show had the people, the bands, the venue and promoters all working as one unit to make the vibe unique; Like little electrons creating and maintaining the current that was required to carry the day to its fantastic finale with Glasgow Death Metal band Abysmal Decay. Both absolutely fantastic bands; one should have been the headliner, and one was. Both definitely stand as a lesson in how bands should be slotted into a show.

Featured Image Credit: Natalie Parham / Unsplash