Toggi, Ingi and Monotown were the same classic-rock singer-songwriter fronted band at three different stages of competence, skill, progress and popularity, all of them infinitely more enjoyable live than on record, which may not be saying much, but I found them to be enjoyable enough in a good natured, ‘chummy’ sort of way.
When Saints Go Machine, Golden Filter and The Field were the same techno-pop dance band at three different stages of competence, skill, progress and popularity, all of them infinitely more enjoyable live than on record, which may not be saying much, but I found them to be enjoyable enough in a shallow-natured, ‘flashy’ sort of way.
Other things of interest that night: there was some weird dude there with a bandido moustache and a busboy waistcoat setting up camera equipment, and he was freaking me out. He kept calibrating his long-lens Nikon at random people and looking like he was about to grope everyone who walked past him. At one point I was taking notes and saw a flash go over my pad. I looked up, and sure enough, there he was, a slightly guilty smirk under his moustache as he pointed his Nikon away from me and at some drunk guy. Foreign press, no doubt… what a creep.
At some point during WTSGM’s set, a female friend of mine came up to me. Eager to get a second opinion on this flatulent rubbish, I asked her what she thought, by way of my notepad (it was too loud for normal conversation):
“ARE YOU OKAY?”
She tilted her head from side to side and made the so-so gesture with her palm. “And you?” she mouthed.
“NOT QUITE SURE HOW I SHOULD FEEL…” I wrote, indicating the band as she read off the pad. In reply, she grabbed my pen and scribbled something in neat cursive.
“They’re very stupid-looking, but the music is okay”
I laughed and went back to watching the band. They were kind of geeky, but basically alright. Creepy Moustache Guy put his little Sony handycam away and elevated his telescoping camera mount. I got drunker and wished I was somewhere else.
Photos by Höskuldur Höskuldsson
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