Monday, March 05, 2012

Karnataka at the Brewery

On Saturday evening we went out to our very first concert in Cumbria since we 'sort of' moved up there a couple of years ago, and a great night out it was too.

The venue was the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, a wonderful amalgamation of cinema, theatre, bars, restaurant, cafe and art exhibitions housed in (as you might guess) a former brewery. The outside is stunning - they've even kept the old chimney - and inside is quirky and full of character. All the rooms are called after old bits of the brewing trade; we were in the Malt Room which still had all its old cast iron pillars holding up the ceiling.

The band we saw are called Karnataka and were billed as 'celtic folk rock'. They turned out to be rather more rock than either celtic or folk, although you could hear a folky influence in some of the tracks, as well as a distinct nod towards progressive rock from the late 70s and early 80s. Since Dave and I love both those elements it was right up our street and we thoroughly enjoyed every track they played. Not so every member of the audience. One older, very well-dressed couple were clearly expecting the sort of folk that turns up on Radio Two on Sunday afternoons, and walked out after less than five minutes. It seems daft these days not to do some research on YouTube to see what you'll be getting before you go, not to mention a huge waste of money. And they missed a very entertaining two-hour set.

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