Jeremy Monteiro: Rain Maker??

It was a bit of a coincidence that the address of my blog ended up being singaporenl. Yes the nl piece stands for night live and I decided to shorten it to keep the length of the url in check, but then I realized that nl is also the official acronym for the Netherlands and I happen to be Dutch.

 

Now as many of you know the Dutch are known for being quite opinionated, or is that an excuse I cooked up for myself to be able to say it’s cultural. No matter what the root cause yes I am opinionated. Luckily I am also smart enough to not make any commentary on quality of music. I would fall flat on my face and embarrass myself. But going to small scale music gigs on a for some unusually regular basis I do think I can have an opinion on the experience, and reasons why the experience can be better or worse.

Some one made a very interesting observation after Jeremy Monteiro’s Asian All Stars Power Quartet's performance this weekend. This person clearly attended the same two out-door gigs of Jeremy that I did, and noted rightfully that on both occasions we got totally soaked because of heavy rain.

This weekend that rain was the cause of an interesting sequence of event that had a nice ending.

When we arrived about one or two tunes away from the end of the first set, we saw that a huge crowd had gathered around the super tree grove at the Gardens by the bay.  As soon as the last tunes of the Asian all star power quartet were rudely interrupted by the music, that was to accompany a light show, with the super trees at center stage, suddenly we were observing the hordes of people lying flat on their backs with mobile phone in camera mode watching, what was to me a bit of tacky entertainment. But who am I, or rather what am I…yes Dutch!!

After this show ended, most of the crowd disseminated into the real trees. However at the stage we were still left with quite a few people that were curious about what Jeremy had to offer in the second set. 

As normal in Singapore everything with neatly organized including the red ribbon barrier that was positioned about three meters away from the stage, to keep away the crowds, that were quite rowdy after the exciting lightshow experience.   

Then the rain came, like back then in the botanic gardens. It started out with a light drizzle, light enough for the people not to worry too much and for many to just stay where they were. Yet the omnipresent security staff thought the rain too much for the red ribbons to stay in their place. So they got quickly removed.

Now the band was left overlooking a gaping canyon without a clear barrier.  As usual in Singapore when it rains it pours, so the drizzle got gradually heavier. That triggered something interesting. Jeremy invited the remaining audience to come over to the shelter that was put up over the stage, and the security, by high exception did not protest.

People crowded themselves as close to the stage and even on top, after invitation of the lovely Junji Delfino and who would say no to that. Security by high exception did again not.

After we all got cozy out of the rain and close to the band something interesting unfolded. There was a different interaction, Junji was able to make real contact with the people around her and the audience responded by providing equal feedback. 

Every one of band members as well as spectators had much more fun. It was clear that the red ribbon does not add any beauty to the experience, people need to be closer to interact and more importantly connect.

Then, I ask myself, why is it that at an event like Sing Jazz, the chairs are put miles away from the stage and the stage is made 2 meters high as if some screaming topless groupies will be jumping on stage to hug this lovely bear named Gregory Porter. Why if you spent so much money on bringing the music to the people, must it still feel like an experiencewhere you feel like you could use a remote control to rewind that last cool section.

 It’s just a question from an opinionated Dutchman, or is that a pleonasm, but I really hope that organizers of music events and just as importantly management of security organization that support these events ask themselves. Who are we really setting the stage for?