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Metcalfe and band took the stage in dark suits and never acknowledged the audience - their concentration focused on the set to come. The instruments were two violins, bass, drums and electronics with I think lighting effects from Adam Seaman. This was a real revelation - the music although dark, brooding and at times menacing was never less than totally enthralling. There were sweeping chords, angular spikes and terrific changes of pace in the writing and the almost coldness of the players just added to the mystery inherent in the music. Sounding a tiny little bit like Tangerine Dream/Robert Miles and looking a little like Ron & Russ Mael, well you get the picture.
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A friend of mine, Madli, who had come over for the festival was so excited to see this show as she is heavily into Avant Garde free form improvisation and this on paper ticked all her boxes.
Jules Buckley was leading the Heritage Orchestra working from notation put on screens in front of him and the musicians in real time - so no rehearsal or practice with this set -the bays at the back of the stage playing various electronics along with drum and bass.
It started quite well and the first piece had interesting movement and direction but sadly (for me anyway) it all went down hill from here as the music became so samey and directionless.
Things got worse when after the introduction of a deafening electro drum beat, 'whoops and hollers' from the crowd galvanised Jules into gesturing to the audience to make more noise.
To be fair the audience were into this beat, the guys in seats next to here I was sitting on the floor, made copious visits to the bar to bring back beer and supplies, were texting their wives /girlfriends, discussing England's pathetic attempts at rugby and no doubt telling them all what a great show they were in. Towards the end the more adventurous in the audience got up for some dancing, mostly next to the speaker stack, so they could hear the music more clearly no doubt.
I left at the end feeling shattered, deaf and with a numb bum tingling with the vibrations that you only get with wooden floors and electronic bass lines. As I patiently waited for Madli to come out and explain all this new technological music to me I couldn't help but think how often my own computer equipment crashes or hangs and how really bad it would be for musicians who now rely on these items for more and more of their music - and in this case a crash would probably have been terminal.
With all that going around in my head and the still numbness in my rear I got a bleep on my phone which was a message from Madli timed about 10 minutes after the show started 'I'll be outside now'.
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