Monday Nights at Leamington Food Festival
Review
Having published my review of their single "Japan" which comes out tomorrow, it was serendipitous that Monday Nights were playing this afternoon at Leamington Food Festival & I popped down to (hopefully) hear them perform it live.
Well the band (which was a five piece Monday Nights with the four who play on the single: Jacob, Ali, Matt & John joined by Andy Mort on keyboards) certainly had it on their setlist along with favourites like "Turrah" and "Petrichor", a brand new one (which isn't even scheduled for the forthcoming ‘Meet You After The Earthquake' EP) and even a cover of "Teenage Dirtbag".
If only I'd been able to enjoy their beauty in the form the band intended. They tried their best but were obliged to battle the abysmal sound. Unfortunately, the organisers had not made any attempt to address the serious issues I had to report last year & once again used the same person with neither sound engineering skills nor experience.
The band eventually stepped in & tried to fix their sound itself but even that entailed members having to stop playing their own instruments which hardly helped put their songs across. The sight of Ali deserting his drum kit and the bandstand in order to try and rectify the problems while the others played on, summed it all up.
I hate being at all negative but if I have to choose sides, then I'm on that of the musicians and audience. Both were let down badly in 2023 and that the same thing happened in 2024 is inexcusable. It's insulting to artists of the calibre of Monday Nights that they were booked to play an event when the organiser knew from prior experience that their performance would not be transmitted adequately. It also robs professional sound engineers who need to put bread on their own tables of employment when opportunities are given instead to someone incapable of doing the job on the grounds of a personal relationship apparently. (Is it also a bit corrupt?).
As an audience member who has now seethed through two years of hearing musicians I wanted to hear properly & whom I respect treated like this, I'm outraged. Perhaps fortunately I didn't have time to wait for the Folly Brothers' set which I'd hoped to catch: to have their music dealt with in this way would have been pretty hard to bear.
Please buy "Japan": as my review says, it's a fantastic song. Please go and see Monday Nights live as they are a very skilful and subtle band when you can hear what they are doing. If you are a musician reading this & are invited to play Leamington Food Festival next year, I urge you to consider whether being treated as a commodity like the food & drink on sale & having your music mangled is worth it: unless of course they put their house in order before then. One can only hope so.
