Non-Gig Review: 16th March 2007 - The Arches, Glasgow

It took us just under ten hours to get there, and about the same to get back. We didn't even get to play. Thanks to some mess-ups somewhere in the organisation of the event (and nobody seemed to be accountable), there were far fewer people than expected at this Vice Magazine live show, and by 1am, when we were due to go on, there was nobody there barring organisers, other bands and the bar staff. It was originally our promoter's night (Rob from Soundcrash), but then the night got amalgamated by the venue with two other nights: Vice Magazine live and a local bands night, where it was being funded by Vice sponsors - Topshop and Lee Jeans, meaning tickets were free too. I'm still not exactly sure how it happened, especially on a Friday night at one of Glasgow's premier music venues (one of Mixmag's top ten clubs, of which only two are in the UK) - but this Cube-like construct of a night demonstrates exactly what can happen when the administration chain is so long that those dealing with the financial side of things don't have much to do with actually entertaining the punters. The blame probably falls mostly on somebody at the venue, but I'm still pissed off with the soundguy from last week to feel much anger about this.


Above: The mighty Noisettes in action


Leo from Goodbooks, after their show

Max from Goodbooks, after their show, ranting about the poor organisation

Infinite Livez and the Japanese dinosaur DJ guy - putting on an outrageously brave show as the last guests were filtering out.


Treva Whateva - didn't get to play either.

We did manage to get 10 minutes of a decent soundcheck thanks to Ali and the Goodbooks guys so we were prepared to put the disaster of last week behind us, but unfortunately it didn't matter in the end.


Above: Spotted on the way out of Glasgow - we should have just sent these guys in to do our job that night.

Kimba obviously had the same thoughts as I did about cabin fever in the van.. although he had the foresight to just bypass it altogether, and once we'd reach Scotland, he announced that he'd booked a flight back to Heathrow rather than travel back in the van. Due to some incredible timing, it just so happened that we were passing Heathrow as his flight got in, so we picked him up from the airport - where he eagerly flapped a newspaper at us, which succintly captures the spirit of the weekend.