Wherever you go - there you are. That’s how I felt crossing a
I’d visited Tap Social previously and it comes across as a bit hipster - brewing beer on site, graffitied walls. However, this is a cunning front for a social enterprise that employs prison leavers and those on day release, hence their strap line “Criminally Good Beer”.
The bar is open on weekends and the bill promising “two of
The band describe themselves as cinematic Arabic jazz fusion and combine the sounds of the oud (melodic arabic guitar), cello, violin and trumpet. The combination of Tarik Beshir’s oud and vocals is unique and captivating.
However tonight something didn’t quite gel for me- technically they were brilliant but there was something that felt a bit like going through the motions. I guess both me and the band were 13 hard years older having suffered all the trials and tribulations those years had brought (and are still bringing). The gig itself had been 3 years in the making having been cancelled by lockdown. I particularly felt the absence of Tom O’Hawk’s rapping and dead-pan humour.
The crowd however had no such qualms and happily danced away - I definitely felt like the party pooper.
This feeling carried on as I watched Papa Nui. Papa Nui are a six piece band with some fantastic skills - trombonist Sam and trumpeter
I love live music because I feel like I’m seeing the artists create art in front of me - that line from inspiration to composition to performance is unbroken and this gives unrivalled potential for emotional communication and connection. Unfortunately Papa Nui felt to me like a wasted opportunity as there seemed little to emotionally connect to.
Again there were zero complaints from the crowded dancefloor so I was left feeling like I was missing out.
Which brings me back to ‘wherever you go, there you are’… on another night I might not have needed dead-pan humour or emotional connection - I would have happily danced my socks off instead. I guess some days/gigs have it and others don’t.