Open Mic @ Spice Of Life, 14 April 2008

I was brought up to believe that if you didn't have anything good to say about something then you should keep your mouth shut. In that spirit, I'm not going to rip last night's open mic to pieces. There were a couple of decent performances, but when I left early, at around 21:30, the venue was half empty and I couldn't help but wonder: what happened?

In the past I've been extremely complimentary about the standard of playing and singing at the Spice Of Life, but last night it felt like there was something missing. The rarefied creative atmosphere had gone.

So, what did happen?

After a little investigation on the wonderful world-wide web of misinformation I believe I have found the answer. When I noticed last night that the regular MC had changed and there was a second guy manning the soundboard it struck me as odd, but I didn't think too much about it. This morning I discovered that the "Up All Night" music team no longer run Monday nights at the Spice Of Life. They've moved their regular open mic session to another venue, "The Grand Union" in Kentish Town. Presumably their regular performers have also decamped.

I'm not saying the Spice Of Life open mic can't make a comeback, but it would appear that it's struggling to find its feet right now. Next time I have a Monday night free I'll be heading north to check out The Grand Union instead.

To be fair to the Spice Of Life pub, I should point out that it's just the Monday night programme that's changed. It's business as usual for all other nights, including the blues jam on Tuesdays.

Finally, I just found out about another open mic night, this time on Tuesday evenings at the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill, which is where we saw the Oli Brown Band play last Saturday. Ironically, as I sat watching the boys play I caught myself thinking about The Project and whether one day I might be up on that stage, performing... looks like that might not be such an unrealistic fantasy after all!