Keira-WitherKay
hello all, i was invited to perform a solo set at Steak and Ale last night and must admit was a hint nervous taking my instrumental world music (i only performed originals from my upcoming cd... no jazz mixed in as i do at other venues) to a predominantly afrikaans crowd....
finding the venue was fairly easy but i would never have popped in if i was not booked for a gig it's a bit off the beaten track, but when i got in i found an awesome live music venue, it's spacious with a fair size stage and the great news is it has in house sound , which is as good as most you'll find in established live music venues worldwide along with an inhouse sound engineer,
a brief world on the sound engineer ... he impressed me cos i set up and set up my amp on stage to monitor myself.... he walked up from the back of the room to listen to my guitar tone in my amp ... so he could try get a similar tone up front ... NICE TOUCH .... 10 /10 and the sound was great ... i use a few condensor mic's on stage to mic up guitar and cymbals and they are notorious for feeding back but he got the level just right ... i was loud and thumping on percusion but not any feedback or stage rumble.... so huge plus to have a good engineer
as for the crowd ... it was fairly busy not full house ... but as i predicted in the pre show chatter i never overheard one english conversation .... which made me even more nervous.... but you can see they a music loving audience they all gathered and seated themselves squarely in front of the stage .... and when i played they actually paid attention and i got a really great responce.... and they were eager to get involved..... and clapped along to the latin and flamenco grooves ...so an awesome set and i truly felt appreciated.... and this experience empowered me to explore the afrikaans audiences... seems what i'm offering is appreciated ... wow last time i'll be judging a book by it's cover ....
so what a great discovery, Steak and Ale, is definitely a venue if you never been there ... go check it out.... and judging by the posters around some rather big names in the music scene perform there .... and i can see why....
it was a great night for me and i have been invited back on sat 30th may to do another solo set ( so i guess they liked me too heheheh) and i have been invited to perform at their annual jazz festival in september, which is awesome....
so thanks to the owner Charlene, and Albert Meintjes (who invited me to share this gig with him or i never would have discovered the venue ) , Albert's set with Laetitia was awesome .... he was playing his smoothtalker guitar.... which has a very bright punchy midrange sound .... which complimented the vocals both Albert and laetitia sing.... Albert as i'm sure the locals in jhb will know is a great guitarist and his support vocalist Laetitia is an awesome singer who has an eastern /arabic feel to her phrasing, which i believe after discussing it with her is just natural.... she never deliberatatly tries to do it... but i loved the fact that all her vocals when she does supportive vocals are improvised ... which is awesome.... cos she does not stick to traditional westerm harmony ...what a treat ...she is a talent to watch ...
oh and i also got to meet another forum member there Werner, so slowly getting to meet everyone...
so yeah let me end by saying if you have a band or just love live music either try perform or just support Steak and Ale.... it is definitely a gem to find a dedicated music venue
peace and light
Keira
Keira-WitherKay
yeah definitely a great place .... and i was suprised to find such a dedicated music venue i was not aware of.......in an area i least expected it too....
and yes i was using my crate 30 W taxi amp.... most natural sounding acoustic amp ...for a nylon i have found to date.... pity they stopped importing them into this country ....
peace and light
Keira
