Educate! Educate!
Jul. 29th, 2004 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaThe Spitz is a rather strange restaurant-venue (or "bar and bistro", according to its own publicity) which backs onto Spitalfields market.
The restaurant part looks like any market cafe - scruffy wooden tables, a blackboard menu. The tables seat up to four people - they had to move furniture about when we requested a table for five. You'd expect the restaurant perhaps to serve pizzas, or jacket potatoes - cheap and cheerful pre-gig food.
Except they seem to have picked up somebody else's menu. I ordered what (at £12) was coincidentally the cheapest thing on the menu: Filo moneybags stuffed with spinach, goat’s cheese and nutmeg with herb salad and warm tomato and olive vinaigrette. The dishes ranged up to a hefty £20, complicated-sounding duck affair. Vegetables and so on have to be ordered separately as side-dishes.
And, to be fair, the food I had was very nice. I really enjoyed my moneybags; the Sauvignon Blanc we ordered was lovely. And I fell to wondering: why did I feel as if I wasn't quite getting value for money ? After all, a meal out should be about the food, not about whether the surroundings are a poncy restaurant. I'm not sure. I don't think it should matter, but somehow I still came out thinking that the meal was slightly too expensive. Had I been in a more conventional location (with less grotty toilets), I'm not sure I'd have minded.
And then we pottered upstairs to the tiny, dark venue. Punish The Atom are a band I've been trying to get to see for ages, but they kept insisting on playing gigs on Tuesdays when I was at a dance practice. PtA came to my attention because their lead guitarist is the brother of a friend of mine: I bought letsdothedontcare when it came out, more out of --------[*] than anything else. And although they lean rather more towards the shouty-with-distorted-guitar than I'd necessarily normally listen to, the album is interesting and I was keen to hear them live.
We caught the final support act, Paper Cuts, about whom I couldn't really form an opinion because... er, well, because they were too loud. No, I'm not too old. I just felt that either they should be turned down a bit, be better mixed so that you heard instruments instead of a wall o' sound, or that I should have been about 100ft further away. They seemed friendly and enthusiastic, and the music was OK, I just can't really comment much more than that.
PtA came on stage, and blasted into their first song. After which they introduced themselves: "Good evening, we are Punish The Technical Difficulties." But sadly, they weren't - the technical difficulties resolutely refused to be punished, and put up a brave fight throughout their entire set.
They seemed to be carrying on the theme of mis-match we'd encountered in the restaurant downstairs. Their music, their clothes and their faces don't correspond. So, while producing a wall of distorted noise, they're wearing the matched shirts and ties of a clean-cut early 60s band, and make up that clearly wants to be in Kiss. Which was odd.
Credit is due to them for a sterling perfomance in the face of the odds - it can't be easy to pull off an entire song (and still sound reasonable) without a lead guitarist. Credit is also due for a bassist who can make the most bizarre vocal noises - I initally mistook him for a synthesiser during one track.
And again, things were difficult to hear clearly, because of various problems, the size of the venue and the volume - although it was less noticeable, because I did at least know some of the songs. And though I'm not sure I like the agression which seems to be part of their on-stage persona[**], their singer is one of the most compulsively watchable frontmen I've seen at a small gig.
And today, my ears are almost better. Note to self: remember earplugs :)
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verlaine or satyrica or someone: make yourself useful and provide me with a word like "nepotism" but when it's friends instead of family ?
[**] Can a whole band have a persona ? Bandona ?
The restaurant part looks like any market cafe - scruffy wooden tables, a blackboard menu. The tables seat up to four people - they had to move furniture about when we requested a table for five. You'd expect the restaurant perhaps to serve pizzas, or jacket potatoes - cheap and cheerful pre-gig food.
Except they seem to have picked up somebody else's menu. I ordered what (at £12) was coincidentally the cheapest thing on the menu: Filo moneybags stuffed with spinach, goat’s cheese and nutmeg with herb salad and warm tomato and olive vinaigrette. The dishes ranged up to a hefty £20, complicated-sounding duck affair. Vegetables and so on have to be ordered separately as side-dishes.
And, to be fair, the food I had was very nice. I really enjoyed my moneybags; the Sauvignon Blanc we ordered was lovely. And I fell to wondering: why did I feel as if I wasn't quite getting value for money ? After all, a meal out should be about the food, not about whether the surroundings are a poncy restaurant. I'm not sure. I don't think it should matter, but somehow I still came out thinking that the meal was slightly too expensive. Had I been in a more conventional location (with less grotty toilets), I'm not sure I'd have minded.
And then we pottered upstairs to the tiny, dark venue. Punish The Atom are a band I've been trying to get to see for ages, but they kept insisting on playing gigs on Tuesdays when I was at a dance practice. PtA came to my attention because their lead guitarist is the brother of a friend of mine: I bought letsdothedontcare when it came out, more out of --------[*] than anything else. And although they lean rather more towards the shouty-with-distorted-guitar than I'd necessarily normally listen to, the album is interesting and I was keen to hear them live.
We caught the final support act, Paper Cuts, about whom I couldn't really form an opinion because... er, well, because they were too loud. No, I'm not too old. I just felt that either they should be turned down a bit, be better mixed so that you heard instruments instead of a wall o' sound, or that I should have been about 100ft further away. They seemed friendly and enthusiastic, and the music was OK, I just can't really comment much more than that.
PtA came on stage, and blasted into their first song. After which they introduced themselves: "Good evening, we are Punish The Technical Difficulties." But sadly, they weren't - the technical difficulties resolutely refused to be punished, and put up a brave fight throughout their entire set.
They seemed to be carrying on the theme of mis-match we'd encountered in the restaurant downstairs. Their music, their clothes and their faces don't correspond. So, while producing a wall of distorted noise, they're wearing the matched shirts and ties of a clean-cut early 60s band, and make up that clearly wants to be in Kiss. Which was odd.
Credit is due to them for a sterling perfomance in the face of the odds - it can't be easy to pull off an entire song (and still sound reasonable) without a lead guitarist. Credit is also due for a bassist who can make the most bizarre vocal noises - I initally mistook him for a synthesiser during one track.
And again, things were difficult to hear clearly, because of various problems, the size of the venue and the volume - although it was less noticeable, because I did at least know some of the songs. And though I'm not sure I like the agression which seems to be part of their on-stage persona[**], their singer is one of the most compulsively watchable frontmen I've seen at a small gig.
And today, my ears are almost better. Note to self: remember earplugs :)
[*]
verlaine or satyrica or someone: make yourself useful and provide me with a word like "nepotism" but when it's friends instead of family ?[**] Can a whole band have a persona ? Bandona ?
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-29 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-29 12:03 pm (UTC)