On Wednesday 11th January I went to the PRS Music Foundation New Year’s Eve party. PRS is the leading funder of music in the UK awarding more than £14 million to over 4000 new music projects. The Cargo venue in Shoreditch hosted the event where new music from the past year was celebrated.
I met up with my beautiful friends outside the train station and we headed to the venue. After queuing for a fair amount of time, we headed inside. We saw there was a crowd of people outside in the courtyard, stood in complete silence, so went to join them. We weren’t sure what was going on and were shh’d a couple of times while we were trying to figure out what was happening. Turns out they were listening to The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, who were ringing from Shoreditch Church.
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| Chad, Alex, Ben, Prince, Sue, Camilla and Miranda |
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| Miranda, Rich, Alex and Liam |
Directly after this performance, we went in to the venue room where we were welcomed with hors-d’ouvres and went to the bar with our free drink token. There were a couple of speeches from the Chair and Director of PRS discussing the up and coming projects for 2012 such as; New Music 20x12 and British Music Abroad then a performance from the National Youth Orchestra. The orchestra was instrument free apart from their hands and mouths. They performed Anne Meredith’s New Music 20x12 composition, ‘Hands Free’.
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| Dry the River |
The highlight of the evening for me though, had to be watching a great band called, ‘Dry The River’. I’m ashamed to say that this was only the second gig I've been to since moving to London in October. This is a massive change to the three or four gigs a week I’m used to, from working in a music venue- at the wonderful Bar 1:22 in Huddersfield!
Anyway, they were brilliant. I always think the test of a good band is if they can make you smile and I was grinning all the way through. Since seeing them I’ve been listening to them non-stop and I can’t implore you enough to check them out. The five piece, who include a violinist as well as two guitars, bass and drums have an amazing stage presence, beautifully written songs and not just one great voice but three! My only disappointment was that they didn’t do an encore. From speaking to the band after the performance, I learnt the reason for this was due to the singer having a cold. If the incredible performance I saw took place when the lead singer was ill then I really can’t wait to see them on 'top form'.
Anyway, they were brilliant. I always think the test of a good band is if they can make you smile and I was grinning all the way through. Since seeing them I’ve been listening to them non-stop and I can’t implore you enough to check them out. The five piece, who include a violinist as well as two guitars, bass and drums have an amazing stage presence, beautifully written songs and not just one great voice but three! My only disappointment was that they didn’t do an encore. From speaking to the band after the performance, I learnt the reason for this was due to the singer having a cold. If the incredible performance I saw took place when the lead singer was ill then I really can’t wait to see them on 'top form'.
Had a wonderful night with friends old and new, listening to great music, supporting a brilliant cause. Highlight of 2012 so far!
Check out ‘No Rest’ by Dry The River here:
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