Hi Fi pulls the punters
Get a load of this; young people queuing up around the corner, over the road and down the street. Saturday morning in Boundary Street was a harbinger of things to come.
It was the farewell gig for the band Get Away Plan and as Eliska from the queue said she, and no doubt a fair proportion of the crowd, would “follow them anywhere”. She’s heard about the gig through Myspace and she’s come up from Byron for it. It’s not much of a stretch though. There are a lot of connections between the two communities and, as Eliska says, there is the same sort of colour and diversity here in Kurilpa.
Steph and Pat have mostly come for “the other band” Amity Affliction and haven’t travelled so far but they too found out about the show through Myspace. Pat lives at Dutton Park and he knows West End. Since they are locals I ask them what they think, with all the changes happening around here, would make Kurilpa even better than it already is. “Places like this” they say “are the best step yet”.
Kurilpa’s latest live music venue Hi Fi opened its doors to the public at the beginning of May this year. To the casual observer walking along Boundary Street it doesn’t look like it’s even open yet. What used to be The Pavilion (and a factory before that) still displays signs promising the arrival of “Vinyl” and still claims the look of an unfinished building site.
Don’t be deceived. The low key entrance to Hi Fi is just around the corner in Wilson Street and you can tell it’s operating by the groups of strangely well dressed Goths and other creatures of the night that can sometimes be seen outside. Sometimes, if you’re lucky and you’re quiet, you can even see those creatures of the night in the harsh light of day.
If the size of the crowd outside in the harsh light of day on Saturday is anything to go by Hi Fi is going to be a fixture in West End for a long time to come. There was something strange about that line up though. Everybody was pretty young but that was easily explained. It was an “all ages” event. That means no booze so effectively it’s more like a “small ages” affair. The boozy adults’ version was being held that night.
What really seemed strange was how orderly and well behaved the lot of them were; all quietly doing what they were told and leaving half of the footpath for pedestrians (not for interviewers doing interviews however) at the behest of a small army of security guards. What happened to the rebellious chaotic spirit of youth I thought?
Wandering down the queue looking for a likely target to interview I had, in the back of my mind, a fear that the allure of big, well resourced venues and the standards we demand for what we call health and safety may have claimed their spirit as well as their attention. Nobody is standing out as good target. I’m thinking that half of the community is going to be pleased when I report how well behaved these young visitors are but the other half, the half that includes me, is going to be worried that we’re just becoming yet another place to buy and passively consume one more entertainment experience.
I’m concerned that I will have to generate all the energy if I’m going to come up with anything interesting.
I’m thinking this as I wander down the queue and then, all of a sudden, Eliska jumps out of the queue and says, with her arms open wide to a complete stranger, “hi, could I have a hug?” Knowing how dangerous strangers can be I should have scolded her for being so reckless. I didn’t though. How could I? She’d just restored my faith in the future.
