Wednesday, 19th September 2007

When a landlord invites the session to come and play, is it because he likes the music?

I've mentioned this before in the context of moving the Irish Session to 'Ye Olde Beverlie' in Canterbury. Last week, the hardy sessioneers turned up to find

• a) the street full of cars so parking was a problem;
• b) the pub full of people watching the football match on large televisual apparati (yes John, OED says apparatuses but apparati has more effect. Forgive me.)
• c) the pub had sold tickets to the event and provided a buffet!

Now how is a session going to compete with that? And what is the answer to the question:

"When a landlord invites the session to come and play, is it because he likes the music?"

Answers on a postcard, in an email or as a comment. Thank you.

We went down this route before, some years ago now, when we tried to take the session back to its spiritual home of the George on Stone Street. When punters started to drop off because of weather etc, and musicians were not as thick on the ground as they had been, the landlord actually got quite annoyed that we weren't bringing enough custom to the pub.

You know, looking back there have been some great hosts for the sessions. Tony in the Prince Albert at Deal and 'Drew in the George on Stone Street. The great days of the Musician's Jar and the bowl of chips. And up to 30 players!

On Friday, to start the Deal Festival we had an Irish Session in the Deal Hoy and the landlord is as keen as anything on the music. Keeps us supplied with drinks and checks on us regularly. The layout and size of the place is a bit of a problem but nevertheless a music friendly pub and always a pleasure to play in. Sunday saw a marathon 4 hour session in the Ship on Middle Street which went very well. We have tried the Sunday session in there before but it didn't feel entirely natural. I think it was competing with Juke Box that put us off.

Anyway, back to the Beverlie tonight to see what happens. We're having trouble with the acoustics ('...we've put some poison down ... ' anybody remember the Wheeltappers and Shunters club?). A lot of people have said they can't really hear themselves or others which is a problem so we need to reposition ourselves.

The session world seems to divide into two. Those who will go to any old commercial oriented pub, suffer high prices, indifferent service and poor acoustics for a small audience, and those who actually really do prefer a place with good acoustics, welcoming service and not outrageous prices, regardless of an audience. A session is not about audiences. That's a concert. For that, you charge money, do 90 minutes with a loo break and have a production order. And sell CDs at half time. A session is musicians coming together for the music and each other and playing whatever sparks their fancy for as long as they want.

Ho hum.