“No, Roboteyes.” I said to my charming market hall show-watching companions.
“And the Lonely Parade.”
“No. ROBOTEYES.” I clarified. Not to hate on a great band, I’ve just seen them several times.
While the Lonely Parade is normally a fun, high-energy show, I had never seen Amy Jan Von Purr, Dixie Q, or Roboteyes. I was pretty excited to expand my horizons or something.
I was really sorely disappointed. The show at Market Hall… was confusing.
Dixie got one song, and probably had to run off to Shots to perform there. Amy got one song. The Lonely Parade, a favorite among the young and the queer, also played a fairly short set. Each poet did one piece. It seemed as though they were trying to fit too much, and ended up short-ending the performers.
And then there was Moonfox. Or Fox on the Moon. In the moon? Fox and the Moon. Whatever. An out of town band playing for what felt like longer than it was, and was clocked at about an hour. (My friend informed me as we hid in an alcove to chat.)
To be fair, the crowd seemed to like them. To be fair, the crowd seemed pretty drunk.
They could play their instruments, of course. They’re pretty good at playing them. But when I go to a showcase of queer talent, I don’t go for a group of kids playing the same sort of repetitive, pop-folk thing I’ve heard so many times before. It seemed odd to me that the longest set was for an out of town band that did not read as queer. Where was the playful subversion? Where was the fun?
And, on a more serious note, the lack of gender neutral bathrooms made my lovely companions feel weird and alienated. And no, a single stall accessible toilet does not count. It just doesn’t. If you need to know why, it should be reserved for people who need the hand-holds and the extra room, and more to the point it further singles out those who could have have bad experiences with gendered peeing.
Gender neutral bathrooms are part of my wayward youth in gay bars in Toronto, and to me, a queer event isn’t a queer event if I must pee under a dress.
I didn’t stay for Roboteyes. I found the host unprofessional, off-putting, and her sense of humour went to pot after her first haiku. Which was actually quite funny. The show was simply too long, and the focus was off point. I want to see more of Dixie Q, Amy, and… most of the other bands in future. But mostly, I want to see Roboteyes.
It felt as though the later acts got cheated, playing to a near-empty cavern while everyone ran off to Shots (which I’ve heard from many people was a good party), and having a certain band play a shorter set would have created less overlap.
I was determined to see Roboteyes, and even I couldn’t sit through the whole thing.
Afterwards, I headed out to Glasspool’s Great Gay Gala at the Garnet, had a cosmo and caught up with some people. It was nice, and it seemed as though everyone had an opinion on the show, even though it hadn’t ended yet.