Midnight at central hall

Midnight at Central 

Just barely gone, it's the witching hour.

I watch from the wings as the band

packs away the stage neatly

in a manner that suggests

this is a well practised routine.

I hide a yawn as the day catches up on me,

my body shivers as the echoes of the music

trickle from the room and

I walk home, my shoulders hunched to the cold,

clutching their latest album so that

I can replay the gig from the comfort of my living room.

During the night the band have unleashed

a cacophony of instruments,

each fitting seamlessly into the songs

and I fight the urge ( and fail) 

to capture them on camera.

Pretending that I believe in aboriginal principles

and choosing to leave some of

their essence in the room.

They craft melodies from a bluesy style of rock,

some slower numbers have undertones of folk

and I struggle internally with my own ineptitude atdescribing musical genres.

My toes still feel like tapping as I make my 

way into the night and I still have that

achey sort of happiness that only comes from

a really good gig.

You might have noticed that any occasion where I am out on the town usually starts with me giving out about how tired I was initially. Well this is no different so you might as well get used to it. It is part of the maddest time to be working in retail and I am so busy in the children's section that they are contemplating changing the expression to busy as a Laura. All of that being said I did manage drag my ass down to Central hall to hear the Midnight Union band. Despite running around all day at work, I was considerably less yawny than I would normally be come evening time but that's all thanks to my trusty friend dark chocolate. As stimulants go there are worse things I could be indulging in so I'm going to let myself off the hook and be glad that I was so hyper that I was practically bouncing around the seat when I finally sat down. 

I knew very little about the band other than the fact that they were said to be very good and my boyfriend had been raving about them since their gig was confirmed. He has infinitely better musical judgement than me so I take him at his word when he recommends a band, plus I had heard the one song that was being shared online which was pretty catchy and really that was enough for me. 

I arrived just in time and within minutes of taking my seat the band started to play. They are a five piece band with an impressive array of instruments and throughout the gig they played all of them which is infinitely more impressive than if they had brought them along to look cool. I would best describe their sound ( bear with me as I am terrible at this part) as a bluesy rock with elements of folk. Musical genre is not my forte and I do have a tendency to group most music as either 'oh God what is that noise' and let's hear more of this, they fell into the latter category.

The lead singer had lovely mellow tones to his voice that sent shivers down my spine and there was a passion from the band while playing that made me wish I could get up and join them ( and ruin their gig as tragically I am not exactly what you would call musically inclined, I am more of a stand in the corner with the triangle type of girl) so instead I contented myself with nodding my head and tapping my foot ( which I did pretty well if I do say so myself) and trying to get a photo that would do my blog post justice.

The more upbeat numbers had me wanting to get up and dance and had I alcohol and more of a crowd to hide in then I am sure I would have. 

In the mellow songs, I lost myself in a reverie. I am certain if my rather tiny handbag had contained a notebook I would have jotted down some rather interesting things as really good music often moves me to share thoughts of my own (not out loud or anything which is good as I am certain this would make me rather unpopular at gigs)

It was only as the band packed up for the night I realised quite how much they had brought with them. Nothing like a decent set of stairs to make you appreciate the full extent of your rig, I am sure. I stood helpfully at the sides informing them of which equipment needed to be packed. I went home tired but happy with a new album to add to my collection and another great night to add to my blog.