A little different to what we expected!!
A few people on here and in person have been asking us to see how the gig we did at the Vanilla Lounge in Wigan went down.
Well...
Some may know this venue was formerly known as Fever, and had a bad reputation attached to it because of its...crazy client ell! But we thought we'd give it a go because we're still very much a learning band, testing out venues, testing out songs etc.
When we arrived there it was in a back street and you would never know it even existed unless you were directing someone! A lot of us have lived in and around Wigan all our lives and virtually most of us didn't know where it was!
When we arrived at around 8, there was just us and a couple of friends we invited there! We hit the stage at 9, which was a nicely laid out stage and the size was just right for us...but....we were only playing to the bar staff at this point! The layout of the venue was actually great, it had a relaxed feel to it with dimly lit surroundings, however, all of us were forever thinking this was a cocktail bar and was too sure why bands or music followers would seek this venue out for live entertainment.
Personally I didn't speak to any of the staff there, but the reception I got from the others in the band was that a couple in particular were a bit, 'too serious'. Normally we would accept this if we were walking into a historical music venue with a reputation to uphold and lead, however, this was empty at this point and it was hard to interpret and understand their feelings on a band playing. One woman in particular insisted on us using their sound system to put background music on whilst we took a break, and to be honest, at this time, our PA isn't the greatest because we're still in the process of funding a new and better one, but theirs was worse than ours! The speakers crackled a lot and made it hard to listen to the music comfortably.
To cut the rambling short, when we went back on for our second set of the night, the people started to pick up a bit and people started to come in around 10, half 10, which started to show hope in our performance. However again, apart from a group of girls who were briefly in there, a lot of the punters were distant and didn't necessarily look like they expected a band to be playing in this venue.
At the end of the set there was an awkward moment of us having to go up to the staff to ask for payment (which is never cool in our books, it should be accountable for the staff to approach the act at all venues - this is just my opinion!)
Personally, if I was to go here I wouldn't expect a band there, I'd go to this venue maybe for a quiet relaxed night with a date, and then move on swiftly to a more upbeat venue. It seems like its a relaxed venue, and one which seemed a little, out of place in the centre of Wigan.
I know some people may disagree with this review, but this is simply how we felt on the night and after the gig, I think there was a general agreement in the band that we wouldn't play here again because of the 'out of setting' feeling the entire place gave off for live music.
Hope this was helpful to all those concerned!
Peace
Ollie