So, I will try to catch up with of some of the haps from the past few days...
Thursday I went to El Rio to see Lil' Anne and The Tune Wranglers - what a stonkin' good band! I have been to El Rio on a few occasions, but had never seen a show in the back garden area, and I gotta say, it really is the perfect summer venue. It is pretty big back there, with enough space for dancing, and there are various raised levels, which breaks up the space nicely (this also means you can watch the band from right in front of the stage, or from slightly above).
There are heat lamps to keep you nice and toasty, and the warmth of them, coupled with the palm trees back there makes it feel like a nice, cozy little oasis.
It was an early show (I missed the opening band at 6pm) and so when the band came on at 7.30pm, it was still light out. One of the things I really like about going to outdoor shows and festivals, is the sun setting during the course of the performance. My favourite outdoors gig in recent years was when blur played Hyde Park last summer. It was the most beautiful, hot, sunny, summers day and the whole crowd were in high spirits. Watching the sunset as the backdrop to their performance was truly spectacular, and hearing them sing out the show under the stars was magical...but I digress...
Lil' Anne is cute as a button, and with the addition of a female double bass player in leopard print killer heels, I loved this band as soon as I set eyes on them. Their jingle-jangle country sounds appealed to my inner cowgirl sensibilities, and despite the small audience, they put on a fun show, and have guaranteed my attendance at their next gig.
After the show, a couple of us headed over to 9:20 Special to check out the dancing. It was free that night, so despite not having heard the most encouraging reviews of the place, this was the night to check it out. Yeah - not my thing. In fairness, I will admit that I am probably slightly biased, due to the fact that upon arrival, I suddenly came over all hungry, which got my grump on - Don't.Mess.With.A.Hungry.Mel.
I don't know what it was, because technically I should have loved this night. It was packed with dancers, and it really is a huge space to dance in, but something was just lacking for me somehow. For one, I felt like the lighting should have been dimmed, as I prefer a more nightclub-esque atmosphere when out dancing at night, but also I was just not inspired by the musical selection. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but there wasn't anything stand-out enough to make me want to get up off my hungry ass and boogie. I like dance situations where the music fills me with such joy that I cannot possibly sit still, and instead makes me say 'oooooooh I love this song!' and forces me to grab the nearest person and drag them onto the dance floor.
I also found the halt to dance proceedings to make way for a few choreographed performances took a little longer than it should have, and by the third amateur performance, my mood had deflated...eeek. This sounds a bit harsh, perhaps, but I felt that this portion of the evening (followed by an announcement about every dance event taking place over the next week) could have been condensed a bit more efficiently, so as not to break the flow of dancing.
That being said, this is a big venue, and it pulls a big crowd, so if you were after a dance 'workout' rather than a more eveningy event...then give it a go!
My desire to abscond 9:20 was followed by an Escape from NY, where a late night pizza party in my mouth commenced. This perked me up no end, as their pizza is delicious.
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