WILL HOUSE CONCERTS SAVE LIVE MUSIC?
This reader thinks they’re a great thing.
In 2016 Andy Tillison asked The Tangent Facebook group if anyone out there would be interested in hosting a house concert. My wife and I live in a bungalow in Stretham, a village near Ely (it’s where Pink Floyd shot the cover for The Division Bell), we were keen and we calculated that, with some furniture rearrangement, our L-shaped front room could hold about 20 people. We sent a message to Andy, and that September he and Theo Travis duly turned up at our home and played. By October 2022 we’d hosted 30 ‘Stretham House Concerts’ (we’re on Facebook – do look us up).
Even though it will never re-create the full gig experience, the house concert model has much to commend it. Perhaps most importantly it provides performers with some guaranteed revenue, helping them to continue making music. For the members of the audience it’s an opportunity to enjoy beautiful music in an intimate setting, to meet and chat with the performers (very different to perfunctory VIP meet-and-greet packages), without the hassles that can detract from normal gigs: parking, overpriced refreshments, loud conversations.
With us, those attending contribute an agreed sum towards the performers’ costs. We give the talent a home-cooked meal, and they’re welcome to bring merchandise (we hosts take no cut, of course). They play to a truly appreciative audience, who listen intently, gleefully join in when invited, and delight in learning about a song’s creation and meaning, or the ups and downs of the performer’s career. It’s a nice little earner for the musician. In fact, for some bands our house concert has been their most lucrative show to date. For one, the takings matched their earnings from Spotify from their entire career.
Marc Atkinson livestreamed his show here (apparently Steve Rothery was among those watching live on Facebook). Some artists perform with no amplification, others use a PA. Some play everything live, others use backing tracks. Radically different arrangements can be presented. The Fierce And The Dead’s drummer Stuart Marshall used dowel sticks, brushes and dampeners on his kit here so as not to drown out the rest of his (mainly acoustic) band. TFATD are known for their riffs and ‘wall of noise’, but in an acoustic setting you can fully appreciate how well-crafted and musically interesting their tunes are.
We know others who also host proggy house concerts. We collaborated with one couple in organising a weekend ‘tour’ for Robin Armstrong of Cosmograf, who played at ours one day and theirs the next. Another host erects a marquee in his grounds, with a two-course meal, a drink and the services of a lighting engineer included in the price. There are sure to be other regular concert givers, too.
Only in the most pessimistic scenarios are house concerts the ‘future of live music’, but they have an important place in the ecosystem. They offer a special experience for musicians and music lovers alike – everyone’s a winner.
GEOFF PARKS
Got an opinion on the matter that you’d like to share? Please email us at: prog@futurenet.com. Opinions expressed in this column aren’t necessarily those of the magazine.