Underneath the Arches

Sunday evenings usually have the stiffling claustrophobia of a tedious family Christmas - nothing to do, the thought of the daily grind kicking in for Monday morning and the usual drudgery which has stayed with me since I was a kid, to whit "getting my bag ready for Monday" - although nowdays I rarely have problems finding my hockey pads and history homework.

But not this Sunday, oh no because despite it being yucky weather and decidly hibernating weather at that, I decided to haul carcass to the Red Gate Gallery Camberwell to see a line up including Jason Anderson, Tiger Saw and yay Kimya Dawson (a twice-featured artist on SrokaSounds).

Just a quick divert on to the traffic front - I can highly recommend the Liverpool Street + No.35 bus combination as the ideal way to get to Red Gate Gallery since the advertised Thameslink service stops mid afternoon. Train & bus combo fantastic.

The venue is a converted railway arch workshop, with a bar area and installation space for exhibitions - be warned it is tucked right away but look for the iron-wroughters sign and the er um red gate and you'll find it. It's a great venue and I reckon there was about 100ish people there in total and it was just right. The staff were fantastic, very polite and ready to chat on and, unlike the bigger rip-off venues I've attended recently (Carling Academy), there was well chilled cans of Stella @ £2, spirits and mixers and even mulled wine and ported-brandy if you wanted it.

Oh, and no tall bastards standing in the way.

A scattering of deck chairs was the seating or there was the floor. No stage as such, merely a clearing, which meant that the performers trolled around with the rest of us and chilled. The night was in aid of studentsinmind and was an undaunting sort of thing to do on your own.

Emmy the Great was a surprise guest to kick off with and I'm still grinning at the line about "having a typhoon in my aorta" and it's always great to hear accompaniment by the xylophone - she's appearing at Islington Academy on Thursday so maybe I'll be grinning even more by Friday.

Next was Doubtful Guest from Bath - and it was at this point the sound went slightly loopy meaning that they sounded ringers for Murder by Death (which is good) but possibly not the desired effect. When they were sounding like them, they were pretty cool in a folk-jazz-rock (sure there is a proper word for it) type of way and I'll be looking out for the promised further London gigs as they were seriously fun and enjoyed playing to the crowd. Truly ace. The sound man was starting to look a bit more relaxed....

...which was a mistake. The exceptionally musically moody Duke Garwood was next and to be frank, the vocal sound was crocked - guitar fantastic, vocals a bit like a hamster with a kazoo. He manfully completed his set and the sound guy was trying to blend into the wall at this point. It didn't help that some arseholes in the crowd was bordering on heckling because of it. Haven't they heard of being polite? Would like to have heard the set but the guitar was good enough for me.

And then a man with presence came on. Tiger Saw, in the solo form of Dylan Metrano, was pure delight. He had worked out that the sound was a bit fragile so used the inner power of a good voice instead. He talked to the crowd, got them involved and executed a perfect set. "The Tiger & Tailor", "Postcards & Letters" and "For Molly" all were pretty slick and was enough to make me surrender the potential late night snack money for a contribution towards a cd of the entire Tiger Saw band (as there are usually more than just him). A cheer to you sir.

Jason Anderson is just the person you'd want anywhere. From ensuring the crowd were "close" to him, to a bit of bouncing around sing-along and some good old ballads with a modern twist - it was all there. oh and plus energy. The man oozes energy and fun and he was right, tonight there was no "us and them, just us and the music". Energy levels raised, humour high and lots of happy people meant a successful set. It was like having your own personal upper in the form of bloke with guitar and grin. Fantastic - it was even enough to make me shrug of the nagging thought that public transport finishes earlier on a Sunday.....

And then Kimya Dawson finished drawing up the personal t-shirts (damn, more money would have been good) and took to the stage amidst sheer adoration from the crowd. She went through a chronologically written set, included both tracks I'd used for podcasts (Viva la persistence and The Beer) and was thoroughly entertaining - even getting a fit of the giggles mid song. No lip synching here then. She is an excellent songwriter, fantastic performer and someone with a very distinct voice. And above all passion. Just what a Sunday night should be like.

Fearing the hell that would be night-bus rather than turning into a pumpkin, I was able to peg it back to Liverpool Street in time to get one of the last trains and so not have to shell out a fortune on a cab. So in all for the price of a travel card and £7 quid (plus beer money of course) I had a great time.

Big gigs - you can stick 'em. Give me a railway arch and a bunch of people who care about what they are doing and I'm blissfully happy.