I hadn't planned to go to this gig, hence, the absence of an official ticket on the gig listing page. (the other gig with no ticket - I accidentally threw it away!) My sister was visiting me for this week and I wanted to show her around Nottingham. The best way to show her Nottingham's musical culture was of course to go to a gig. So off we went. Walking down Pelham Street, the Bodega was the most obvious choice (has now become my favorite venue).
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We entered a rather filled venue. What struck us both was that if you calculated the average age of the crowd it would probably be our age but, yet, we were definite outliers! The audience was 14 and 15 year-olds and their chaperons - their parents.
As the support band Clean Cut Kid stepped on the stage to begin the gig, we ordered our soft drinks and stood by the left side of the stage. The audience didn't seem to give much attention to the support artists. I wasn't much impressed by them either. They looked like nice lads but nothing too exciting to hook you. |
The lead singer's voice was interesting; it did not match his appearance at all. As you can see in the picture he is a bearded fellow with an electric guitar, stereo-typically you would think (see I'm dumping the blame on you!), rephrasing, I thought he would sing with a deeper voice. To my surprise, he has quite a high pitched voice (the same surprise you have of George Ezra's appearance-voice mismatch!) My first reaction was: this guy sounds like Passenger.
After they sang all their set list, it was time for Fickle Friends to take the stage. Half the audience went wild - I think you can guess which half? The younger half. The band seemed very approachable. My sister commented that the lead singer was too casually dressed for a gig. She was wearing a jumper and black pants. Although I understand her point, I appreciated the lead singer's apparel because of my Kitty, Daisy and Lewis's gig experience.
Fickle Friends went on to sing their songs. All teenagers knew all lyrics and sang along. Most danced to the songs too. They seemed to have a good time. My sister and I noticed a girl, right across us, that had came along with her mother. She was a sweet looking girl, she knew all the lyrics and danced a bit while taking pictures with her phone and probably chatting with friends on her mobile. We also noticed a group of kids, girls and boys, behind us that were dancing like crazy. Some of the girls had glitter on their faces and were dressed quite retro-stylish - seemed like 'the cool kids'. My sister and I thought that it wasn't worth us standing in the front row and we told them to come in front to enjoy watching the band closer. They got excited and thanked us. Now they were right in the front watching the band and merrily dancing the night away.
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Our initial happiness of letting the kids enjoy the band up close was shadowed by the look of the girl across from us. Once she saw the 'cool kids' dancing and having a good time she got sad. She stopped dancing and you could see it in her face that she felt bad she was alone while those kids had gone as a group. Maybe they were in the same school? I don't know. But I felt so bad. High school is such a bad experience if you are not a 'cool kid'. I wanted to go up to her and say things get better. 'Cool kids' momentum is during high school - yours is later in life. Just hang in there.
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She did try to ignore their presence and started singing along to the next song but her eyes still wandered to the group. Unfortunately, her mother didn't seem to realize any of this. At this point, my sister and I decided this was too much of a teenage gig for us and thought it was time for us to depart. This is the first gig I genuinely felt sad. Had nothing to with the band. The band seems to be doing really good with its targeted audience but it didn't hook the older crowd including us.
I still wonder about that girl. I wish the future is bright for her and she has her momentum in a glorious way.
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