Anathema

It has been suggested to me that a review a Prog Rock gig is not, perhaps, the way to win an increased readership of these blogs and may in fact lead to folk unsubscribing. I’m more than prepared to believe that but bear with me, I’m not going to leap into a long and involved critique of the band and what their music means to me other than to say I like it. Music, and prog in particular, lends itself to endless analysis and debate but that would bore the pants off me, never mind non-believers like just about everyone else. So thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

No, just kidding, you are not getting away with it that easy. What follows is a review of a concert that didn’t quite work. The band is called Anathema. A (very) quick bio: Formed in the early nineties they started playing a genre called Doom Metal. If that sounds grim to you, it is. They grew out of that though and are now an established Prog band  consisting of brothers Danny and Vincent Cavanagh and a few others, notably vocalist Lee Douglas. Situated towards the rock end of the Prog spectrum, the concert I saw was, however, to be an acoustic set. The location they chose to display their undoubted acoustic talents was the Mackintosh Church in the Maryhill area of Glasgow. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was an architect and artist who in the late 19th and early 20th century single handedly built Glasgow. Well, perhaps not quite all of it but his presence is felt across the city and he is pretty much revered by the local population. One of his first jobs was to design a church for the Free Church. Queen’s Cross Church is what he came up with and that is where I found myself on Thursday evening. I have to say that from the outside I thought it a rather ugly building with a peculiar squat spire. It improved a bit inside with a notable barrel-vaulted roof but in keeping with most Scottish churches it is functional rather than impressive. The Free Church in particular are known for being a bit of a humourless bunch so I suspect Mackintosh was pandering to the client rather than letting his imagination run riot. The Free Church divested itself of the building in the 70s and it is now the home of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society who, as the architect’s premier fanboys, probably would dispute my opinion of their headquarters. You can go and visit it. There’s a tearoom apparently.

Whilst no longer a place of worship and penance, the Mackintosh Church as it is now known is preserved as if it is. Thus, the altar was the stage and the seating consisted of pews. As well as the church, the building houses the church hall which had been press ganged into use as a bar for the evening. I’m sure the vibration I could feel was the former elders of this particular Free Church turning in their graves at the thought of the demon drink being sold there. Mackintosh never really considered the needs of a smallish rock audience when he designed the building and the one lavatory therein proved inadequate. The gig promoter was ahead of the game though, two portaloos were pressed in to service outside the back entrance, a load of fun in the dark. I claimed my section of a particular pew next to the aisle and therefore nice and central. Pews are not the most comfy of seats at the best of times. God abhors comfort and anyway, you are supposed to be on your knees praying half the time. No longer consecrated though, the Mackintosh Society had placed a slightly more bottom friendly almost full width cushion on each one. I say almost as the cushion for the pew I was on failed to reach the end  and consequently I had one arse cheek on it and the other on hard wood a couple of inches lower. Stop giggling at the back. Being up against the pew’s end board my ‘good’ seat was turning into a bit of a pain. Not to worry, once the band were on such discomforts would all be forgotten. I’d not seen Anathema before and was looking forward to it hugely.

It was a bit of a surprise and not a good one when I discovered that I’d have to wait the best part of two hours as the band weren’t due to take to the stage until 21:30. There was no less than three support acts. The first two both consisted of a bloke with a keyboard and a Mac laptop showcasing their own compositions. No doubt it was thought that this sort of thing would appeal to a Prog audience but neither seemed to be getting much attention. The we had the official support. This consisted of a girl with a keyboard and a Mac laptop. She, however, was accompanied by another girl with a violin and this made all the difference. An instrumental duo that called themselves Ava, what they lacked in lyrical content was made up for by some rather enthusiastic playing. I thought they were rather good and later spent £6 on their EP. Despite this unexpectedly interesting aside, my prize seat was taking its toll and in the end I lifted the cushion end and sat on the wood, much to the surprise of the person sat to my left. This hardly increased the comfort level but at least both buttocks were now the same distance above the ground.

Eventually the band pitched up and got stuck into some classic Anathema songs. The audience was appreciative of course but a trifle reserved. At one stage Danny Cavanagh, who had the job of introducing the songs, suggested that we may like to stand up as the next song was had a bit more umph to it. The audience duly obliged and on the song’s conclusion they all sat down again. Maybe it was the church setting, stand up when the vicar instructs for a hymn, sit down afterwards. Also it could have been that the umph of the song in question was tempered by this being an acoustic set. Being stood amongst the pews left little room to dance or bounce around which is perhaps what Danny was expecting. On the plus side the next time we stood up for a song with promised umph I pulled the cushion along until it reached the edge and for a few blissful minutes I had something soft to sit on. It was a bit of a shame for the person at the far end of the pew but that’s rock and roll for you. After an hour and a half of pleasant but de-umphed music we were invited to stand once more for one of my favourite songs, Untouchable. It starts quiet and builds up to a noisy crescendo but no matter how hard they battered those acoustic guitars it was never going to capture the power of a well bashed Fender. Or Gibson, I’ve no idea what make they use. At the conclusion of that song the band said thanks and buggered off never to return. It seems that 23:00 was the cut off time and they’d reached it so no encore. I felt a bit short changed, as did half the audience who hung around awaiting the band to return to the stage. In the end we followed the other half out of the building and into orange glow of the sodium street lights.

At £22 per ticket it would be churlish to complain too much. I did enjoy the music even though I felt it lacked something, specifically electric guitars. Ava may prove to be a good discovery and the violinist got to play on a couple of the Anathema songs which was nice. The location, however, did not prove to be a good gig venue and just an hour and a half of the band I had paid to see seemed to me to be a bit short. Most of the bands I go and see would only have finished three songs in that length of time.

So there you go, I reviewed a Prog gig. I hope stories of my slight disappointment and especially my discomfort got you through the pain. I’ve got a couple of other Prog gigs to go to next week. Don’t worry, I’m unlikely to subject you to any more reviews. Unless I have to sit on a spike or something.