Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Briefly, until I saw they want primarily covers and have more don'ts than do's.
The reason for this (well the first part ?) is that the primary aim of the competition is too find prospective acts for Quay 4's early Friday and Sunday acoustic-type slots - hence one of the prizes being exactly that contract. The punters at Quay 4 - being mostly tourists or locals looking to drink lots of beer at the Waterfront - tend to want music they know; ie covers. It's that kind of venue, so its not (as I understand it) a bias against original musos but rather strengthening the pool of musos the venue can draw from for its own entertainment roster - hence them hosting and co-sponsoring the competition. And as a venue that presents nine gigs for every seven day week on an ever-shrinking live gig market I'll give them that. But I agree, Alan, it would have been cool to hear some original acoustic stuff too.
