Garrogance

I’m working on a theory in my Mindtank. It’s about arrogance – something I’m all to familiar with – and gigs. Not as in spectacles, though some of them can be quite the spectacle – no, I mean music gigs. Concerts. Shows. Whatever you want to call them. This Thinktrain has popped into my head a few times before, but it’s been re-ignited since I went to see The Gaslight Anthem last night.

See, being well cool and all that (ahem…) I’ve liked the band for ages (see here for the best interview I’ve ever done), but they’ve gone and done that thing that very few of the bands I like bother to do – they’ve got a bit popular with the plebs. What this has resulted in is an increase in the size of the Gig Bastions they play their musical notes in. No longer is it 150 smelly people in a reasonably small pub together – it’s now ten times that many cramped into a big smelly auditorium of furious Sound Wrangling. Also they smell worse, as there’s more of them.

What this means is that there are more people from different backgrounds, different walks of life and a broader selection of people that have taken bites from a different Decision Pasty to what we may be used to. Oh, and they dress differently too, like they’re real people or something.

Even though this is undeniably a good thing – Gaslight are a fine band, deserving a ride on any Success Minecart they may be offered – it does make for some interesting kneejerk reactions from the likes of myself and Anna (who accompanied me to the Harmonious Cabaret). Along the lines of: “they don’t look like the kind of people who would normally go to gigs”, or the more contentious “they look like they shouldn’t be at this gig”.

I call it Garrogance, and it’s something I’m going to hold onto til the day my Lifewell springs a leak.