17 March 2008

Living Room Gig with LDL

Ever heard of a Living Room Gig?  It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like.  Jasheen and I were invited to attend a living room gig at some friends' flat on Saturday night, and I have to say, it was brilliant.
Having shortened their name to LDL, Lies Damned Lies is a Glasgow-based-three piece consisting of two of our friends.  They've released five albums on their own Sticky Music label and have chosen to tour the UK playing the intimate settings of living rooms.
Their dreamy, jazzy, bluesy melancholy offers far more than one might expect.  I found myself quite moved by their thoughtful meanderings about the essence of life, the relationship between man and man, and God and man. It's hard to imagine that one can walk away from one of their gigs without taking on the knowledge that your life somehow has more depth.
During the 20-minute intermission, I chatted with a former Episcopalian minister and mentioned how spiritual I found their lyrics to be. "Well Steve (the lead vocalist) is an Anglican priest," he said.  Steve is the one member of the band that we didn't know, and having discovered this, it all made more sense.
Throughout the evening, in both song and speech, words like, "lamentations, mercy, peace, beloved, walk-on-water, and God," popped up.  Despite the spiritual nature of their songs, their music is less a proclamation, and more an invitation of exploration.
As I surveyed the room, I saw deep contemplation as well as tears... from some I knew not to be Christian.  It was refreshing to witness a different approach to reaching people at a soul-level.  I have seen "gigs" that filled the likes of Dodger Stadium, and gigs that failed to fill the Hollywood Palladium, but rarely have I been so moved as I was in this quaint living room in Glasgow's west end.
If you get the chance to attend a living room gig in your area I highly recommend it.  It may not be U2; it may not be Green Day; it may not even be [insert hometown band makes it big], but the intimacy experienced is unmatched.
For bands resisting the artistic compromise that often accompanies the popular music machine, self-produced living room gigs are the way to go!