Thurso Gala - The Big Gig

[Thurso Town Improvements]

Just letting you all know the TTIA committee decided not to do The Big Gig this year due to various reasons. Any ideas or if you would like to organise/help run an indoor music event please contact us. I am away until Tuesday so I will reply to any ideas after then.

[the_big_mac]

Just letting you all know the TTIA committee decided not to do The Big Gig this year due to various reasons. Any ideas or if you would like to organise/help run an indoor music event please contact us. I am away until Tuesday so I will reply to any ideas after then.

Thats a shame, although I do beleive an indoor event my well be better suited given that three years in a row the weather has been awful!

It would be good if something could be arranged that would involve those looking into the development of the Viewfirth site. A wee reminder for them that Caithness arts is not all about theatre and brass bands.

[buddyrich]

Indoor makes much more sense. Outdoor is an atavistic dead end-the sound is never great purely because it's outside and the weather ruins everything and wastes peoples time and effort.


Is there something to be said for having a Thurso Live music festival that features a weekend or a few days of many different types of live bands in the local pubs? It would beat cramming a load of mismatched musicians onto a trailer in a field in the pouring rain. That type of communal misery is getting really old up here.

We played Shetland blues festival last year and there was music EVERYWHERE. It was of course mostly blues but you couldnt go into any pub without some kind of live music happening under the umbrella of the festival. Why not a multi-genre event that celebrates the kind of ecelcticism you see for example at the Ynot open mic?

And it'd get punters back into pubs that are supposedly suffering a lack of trade-Cazart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Pepsi Challenge]

various reasons.

What are they?

[Jeid]

Let me think, weathers, costs, security, costs, weather, poor turnout last year, probably weather.

I think it was a non starter last year Pepsi. A trailer in a field was always going to be a bit difficult, especially with the sort of weather we get in the part of the country. However, it was good to try it out.

An indoor event makes sense, but where should it be held and would people actually go?

[moncur]

An indoor event makes sense, but where should it be held and would people actually go?

First place that springs to mind is Thurso Town Hall. Has anyone been in it yet? And if so is there still a hall big enough to do it in? No reason why we couldnt ask and after all the money that was spent doing it up, it would make sense to use it. Another good place already with the equipment in place would be skinandis but sure as anything people would start moaning and grumbling that Brian Cardosi would only let a festival use it so that he gained out of it himself.

Failing any of those suggestions there is also the British Legion and the Thurso Players Mill

[K dragon]

there is no HALL anymore

no room at all for that sort of stuff

[Moonboots]

Your only best bet would be a barn...
Thats the biggest you will get

I done a weding last year at Thurso East and the barn was big for it but it might be out of the way for some people to walk to it though.

Skins and the legion is far too small to do a few bands at a time.

[loganbiffy]

Indoor for sure, It is really difficult to think of suitable venues but the whole idea of doing a SXSW festival type thing is appealing, it would need about 4 venues in town, i.e. Newmarket, Y-Not, Skinandi's, and maybe Popeye's/Comm.

Could do it over a saturday and sunday and have say 3 bands on in each venue.
Just an idea to throw out there.

[buddyrich]

I agree. A sxsw type thing would be great. I dont know how feasible it is but if the outlying areas that are even more remote than us can attract hundreds to their festivals then why not here?

[K dragon]

lack of enthusiaism,
lack of money,
lack of volunteers

etc etc etc

[The Pepsi Challenge]

I agree. A sxsw type thing would be great. I dont know how feasible it is but if the outlying areas that are even more remote than us can attract hundreds to their festivals then why not here?

Edge of the World did that in 1994, I think? We played Sonic Youth to a bus load of OAPs who had stopped off on the evening we were playing the Central. Nuff said.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

lack of enthusiaism,
lack of money,
lack of volunteers

etc etc etc

Is it safe to assume, then, that the biggest population outside of Inverness doesn't give a fig? Maybe it would be better if we had an Argos catalogue festival? That would cajole people out.

[fingalmacool]

I think mabye if they thought a bit more about the line up they may have kept a few more punters interested to the end, but the metalheads still think that there are huners of them still around and sadly the young peeps who look at the line up see what they are building up to, beat a retreat to Skins before the thrashing/headbanging/country starts

[Jeid]

...Argos catalogue festival?

It could be called THE LAMINATED BOOK OF DREAMS FESTIVAL!

I'm in!

[K dragon]

keep dreaming lol!!!!

[buddyrich]

I think the edge of the world did it after the scrabster festival was scrapped so that would make it maybe 97 or 98.

the young peeps who look at the line up see what they are building up to, beat a retreat to Skins before the thrashing/headbanging/country starts

You might be onto something there. Im a fan of heavy music but it will turn joe public off instantly if it's just a racket.

There was something on in the Y Not some saturday a few weeks back, i dont know who it was but i heard some of it when i was next door and to my ears it was just nondescript, indistinguishable noise.

Maybe, to paraphrase the great ian faith, the appeal of heavy music is becoming more uh, selective.

[buddyrich]

Although.......if you had enough participating venues it could be organised by genre/venue. Each venue could have folk/scottish/trad one night, rock/heavy stuff the next night and jazz/blues/puppet show the third night. Rotate it by genre so each place has a different night of music and you get a chance to see eveything you want to see in your paticular pub of choice.

[moncur]

Although.......if you had enough participating venues it could be organised by genre/venue. Each venue could have folk/scottish/trad one night, rock/heavy stuff the next night and jazz/blues/puppet show the third night. Rotate it by genre so each place has a different night of music and you get a chance to see eveything you want to see in your paticular pub of choice.

.................Well said

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Just before Christmas it was brought to my attention that there was enough money available in the Highland 2007 funding pot to, possibly, put a festival on. Along with some experienced festival-running peeps, there was talk of resurrecting the Thurso Folk Festival, and, hopefully, pulling in some of the acts more commonly seen at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. I know a lot of the higher profile acts and they were willing to set aside their usual fee(s) to resurrect what was once (I think) a reasonably good folk festival.
With the Big Gig going down the tubes, and, considering Thurso does have a big population (albeit one I seriously doubt would entertain a folk festival) there's still a slim possibility of picking it up next year. I'd love to try and do it, but, well, you know...