One thing I’ve noticed during my gig-going of late is the growing number of people at concerts who infuriate me, and I’ve managed to carelessly group such people into two categories: those who go to gigs but aren’t there for the music and those who love the music but simply don’t know how to behave at gigs. I sound like a dick but let’s be honest, when you go to see a band there are a set of common-fucking-sense guidelines you’re obligated to follow that ensure you and your music loving peers all have a cool time. Such as: it’s cool to be drunk and a little nuts, it’s not cool to be the one-man-mosh pit. Another is it’s cool you’re at the gig but it is not cool to form a circle with your buds in the middle of the audience to chatter and take pictures of yourselves; when everybody there has paid $60 to see this band we expect you to please shut the fuck up and watch them. There are rules. And the only way to learn these rules is to go to gigs, go to them constantly and learn how annoying you are. Everybody has to.
Which brings me to the point: I believe for this reason we need a space in Wellington where high school aged kids can get together, see awesome up-and-coming bands, learn local band knowledge, expand their musical palette, and learn the ropes of live music early to become cool rule-abiding gig-goers that don’t fuck us all off when they reach university. Wellington – we need an awesome underage venue.
Of course there’s Zeal, the underage (sorry, all ages) club at Glover Park between Garett and Ghuznee Streets. Zeal is heavily funded by the City Council and the Ministry of Youth Development, among others. While the emos seem to love it, the place has heavy overtones of general patronising uncoolness that turn much of its target audience away. We need somewhere that is bigger, better and cooler, that doesn’t remind its clientele at every step that they are lame 15 year olds who can’t get in to real bars.
I have no other expectation than for this plea to fall on a city of deaf ears. Most of us couldn’t give less of a shit whether high school kids have their own place to party or not. But we provide young sport enthusiasts with teams and a place to practice; we provide young skateboarders with parks where they can skate in a safe atmosphere off the streets; why not get that shaky, self-doubting kid off MSN on Friday nights and provide him with a place where he can make some friends and gain confidence in himself? God forbid, he might even form a band!
Unfortunately, underage venues always struggle because there’s simply no money in them. The Zeal website even admits that “All-ages are nearly impossible to run at a profit”. Young people rarely have much money of their own to spend and, more importantly they can’t legally purchase alcohol. And as we know, the money made off booze is the key component to whether a venue succeeds or not. Wellington’s only other underage venue, Old Studio 9 on Edward Street, recently closed because the owners couldn’t make the rent with door charges and soft drink sales alone.
So if we can’t have a cool underage venue, and we want kids to gain an education on gig-going and music, what options remain? Sure, the ones who really, truly want to see live music will find a way to do it; fake IDs, sneaking in, etc., but these are hardly positive options for the majority of young people.
The only other alternative is for promoters and tour organizers to make deals with venues that result in more under 18 gigs at places like San Fran, Bodega, and Happy, which either close the bar (there’s that problem again) or give those over the age of 18 bar access with a different entry stamp. I’m aware that this still happens, but it is becoming rarer and rarer.
So I open the floor to feedback. Does Wellington need a venue that can provide an education for our younger brothers and sisters? Is it worth pressuring the right groups into providing Under 18 gigs or are there other, more productive alternatives? Or is the whole thing just silly, plain ole silly?
No comments:
Post a Comment