In a dark, dark room
In a dark, dark town, there was a dark, dark street.
In that dark, dark street, there was a dark, dark building.
In that dark, dark building, there was a dark, dark room.
In that dark, dark room, there was a dark, dark corner.
In that dark, dark, corner, well…
The gig was a double headliner, featuring Jump, and the band I’d gone to see, Panic Room. I’d seen Panic Room’s debut gig a week earlier, and they’d been exceptionally good, especially when you consider it had been their first ever gig. On the final date of the tour I wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen them reach greater heights.
The vibe was really good before the gig started; I saw a few familiar faces when I first arrived at the venue, and met most of the band in the bar beforehand; Gavin Griffiths in particular is a great bloke.
To be honest I’d rather have seen Panic Room play a full-length headline set rather than the truncated one-hour 20 they were allocated following Jump. I wasn’t that familiar with Jump’s music; I thought the first couple of songs were a bit average, although the third (or was it the fourth) number was a bit more impressive. Just as they were getting into their stride, the power failed, not only silencing the band, but plunging the room into darkness.
Hats off to Jump’s singer for keeping the audience entertained for the best of half and hour; we heard some funny stories of their exploits supporting Marillion, we had a singalong of “Script for a Jester’s Tear” (And I could remember the words after all those years!).
As the darkness grew longer the venue stuff discovered it wasn’t a blown fuse in the building. Not just the street, but the entire neighbourhood was without power. Eventually Mick the promoter gave the accouncement we’d been expecting for some time; the power was likely to be out for the rest of the evening, and it was “match abandoned”. It will be rescheduled, but probably not until the beginning of next year.
So I never got to see Panic Room play.
What saved the evening from being a total loss for me was meeting Heather Findlay, which was completely unexpected.
