Hiroshige and Ancient India at the British Museum

I feel it is a terrible waste to go to a museum on a sunny day. And don't want to go in torrential rain where I drip around a gallery. So today was the first time in ages there was a "perfect" museum day - not actually raining but extremely overcast. Time to make use of my British Museum membership by catching the two exhibitions on currently, starting Hiroshige.

Hiroshige was a 19th century Japanese artist who produced a vast number of designs for woodcuts. The exhibition was delightful. Not too large, displaying not only his works but also with videos showing how his paintings were turned into woodblocks and then printed for a large audience in Japan and abroad. One inspired a Van Gogh painting)

Here is a thing I never knew. There was a craze in Japan in the 19th century for tea and bird display parties

This was an interesting insight into mass print making. Same print, but different colours, so one is birds in snow in the morning, the other birds in snow in the evening

A bowl of sushi. Inspired me to seek out my local sushi restaurant for lunch. Only to find it had shut down.😢

The Great Court

The Reading Room of the old British Library

On to the second exhibition - Ancient India Living Traditions. This examined ancient artefacts from Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, starting with a statue from each religion below

A Yaksha - a sort of natural spirit figure

Cobra god. Divine snakes were supposed to ward off evil spirits

Pot bellied God with head of an elephant. I was going to say you couldn't make this up, but of course that is exactly what someone did

The exhibition ended with showing the "living traditions" bit. This golden statue of Ganesh was commissioned for a modern wedding. I am sure this exhibition was supposed to leave me with a better understanding of other cultures, but one can't really ignore the "elephant in the room" (and I am not talking about Ganesh here). Jesus people have believed (and still believe) in such a total load of bollocks...😀

 

On The Meadow (Part 2 - Evening session - Saint Clair, Emergency Break, The Kairos and Larkins)

So, onto what I would arbitrarily describe as the evening session at On The Meadow Festival. After about half a dozen acts I wasn't sure what time it was, and being indoors didn't really notice if it was night or day. But in any event it felt like we were getting to the climax.

Saint Clair

I am afraid I didn't warm to Saint Clair. Strikingly tall, handsome lead singer with a good voice. But all a bit too intense and self-indulgent for my tastes. Their whole demeanour was rather that they were there for their own benefit not for the audience's. Far from catchy songs. Able, but just not very enjoyable. But maybe others like the intense and brooding style. And I suppose their lack of self-promotion is refreshing, if unwise!

Emergency Break

If Saint Clair appeared indifferent to their audience you couldn't say the same of Emergency Break. Lead singer Leo loves a gallery to play to. You can see it in his every action. And the broad grin on his face. You can't fake quite that degree of enthusiasm.

Now as I said in my previous post, Leo was not only playing with his own band, but was also the organiser of the whole festival. One could see him milling about between acts, chatting to members of the audience when he had the chance (including me), getting bands on stage at the right time. When a drink was spilt on stage he was diving in to mop it up. Properly hands on. 

He is clearly not shy. But he doesn't only steal the limelight himself. On stage you can see how much he loves his fellow band members. Lots of hugs.

With Emergency Break you are there for the performance, not the music. Don't get me wrong, they have  a good roster of their own distinctive material. And I am sure Leo would be the first to admit his voice is not the best quality. But it is all done with such verve and dynamism that anything else is secondary (rather like Stereo Cupid earlier in the day). I am looking forward to their headline show in September at the Omeara.

The above were taken before Leo was ready to go on stage. He was bouncing around like a madman.  He had told me earlier that he was going to wear something loud and surprising tonight. Well he quickly dived off stage and returned in a Michael Schumacher formula one jump suit. Different!

Leo went for a bit of crowd-surfing at the end

And was returned to the stage bare chested. Not sure the jump suit was the most practical uniform for a hot gig. Maybe just stick to a standard shirt like the guitarist who was in front of me (but he need a haircut to see his guitar! Think Old English Sheepdog). Anyway, genuinely electrifying performance.

The Kairos

 

This was a four-piece band from Liverpool. Obviously not the only band to come out of that city. I didn't know what to expect, but what we got was a very proficient guitar band. Good vocals, good everything. Very heavy guitar band. They only played six tracks because the songs are long and intense. Tough to follow Leo's antics in Emergency Break, but they were very good. Definitely a band to watch out for.

Larkins

Finally the headline act. I had heard of this band, but not listened to anything by them. But one was immediately struck by the fact that they were the most accomplished band of the night, as well perhaps as the longest established. The two features may not be unconnected. I know nothing about them but the lead singer said they hadn't played live in a long while. They might not have done, but they didn't sound rusty. Rather they played with an impressive assurance. Although I hadn't heard any of the songs before, they clearly had good hooks. The audience had now swelled and I think quite a few people came just to hear them.

So, all good things must come to an end. That was a great festival, which got better and better as the day wore on, as it should. There was also an acoustic stage which played while the main stage was empty. The whole experience was certainly much better than most of the big commercial festivals I have been to. No queuing, searching. Very friendly helpful staff. Great beer (although they could have done with putting on a food option). Relaxed atmosphere throughout, although not sure young Leo was relaxed. 

What I would have to say though is that the organiser is a very impressive young man. To organise a whole festival like that, as well as playing at it, is no mean feat for anyone let alone such a young chap. (He doesn't look out of his teens but probably is).  Seemed a tremendously nice bloke too. 

Even if the rock career doesn't take off (although I hope it does) I am sure he will go places. Everyone needs someone who gets things done. And he definitely pulled that one off. Looking forward to next year already!