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Battle of the Musos final
16 September 2004
Sunday Sept 5th 2004
The Battle Of The Musos final... were you there? It seemed like everyone in the world was. It was unbelievable! The Porter Cellar Bar was absolutely packed from the word go and the crowd stayed throughout in completely crazy mode, screaming and wildly gesturing numbers at compére Polly Gabriel, arguing with her, cheering and booing the three judges. Polly’s prop this year, apart from her widely admired and much coveted Beatles tie, was a torch with which she would spotlight the judges and the audience as they voted. It’s hard to imagine solo and duo performers generating such rabid excitement and a room so rammed that late comers were never able to see the stage.
The way the competition unfolded was quite something too, because everything got turned over on its head with the last three acts. It was exciting in the way that Formula 1 racing wishes it could be. Talk about overtaking!
The first two of the 11 acts (the 12th went missing in action) racked up 145 and 148 points respectively, pretty healthy scores. A word must be interjected here about the unique method of judging, one of the secrets to the success of this contest. Three judges are placed down near the front and hold up cards with scores, just like in diving competitions. The categories, created by compere Polly after a visit to the Oracle at Delphi, are such as “Would You Play This For Your Mother?”, “Can They Play?”, or “Do they Look Good?” – all sensible questions, sensibly phrased. After the judges publicly cast their learned votes, the audience is then asked the same questions and Polly ascribes scores according to their response. Plenty of room for manipulation here, which is cheerfully accepted by the entirely partial audience. This is a system devised in complete ignorance of 250 years of infatuation with Science, and, boy, does it work just fine.
Back to the race. Doubtful Guest, a mellifluous country duo with fine songs, came on next and and hit the jackpot with a massive 181 points, a staggering, seemingly unbeatable score. They continued to seem unbeatable through the next several acts, staying in the lead to just before the end, when Aurora, described by one of the judges as “Simon & Garfunkle for the 21st century” overtook Doubtful Guest with 184 points. So far, solo singer Neil Gay had been holding onto second place with 179 points; now he was pushed into third. On comes the very last act, Czars Now, and guess what? They sail into third place with 180 points and edging out poor Neil by just one. Pandemonium reigns but despite the presence of a country band, there are no fights.
A lovely acoustic-electric guitar, courtesy of legendary Bath music store Duck, Son and Pinker, went to Aurora; Doubtful Guest won recording time at Glasstone Studio; Czars Now won a paid gig at the Porter Cellar Bar. All three will be reviewed individually on this website as their gigs come up.
Charley Dunlap, with lots of help from Polly and Kath |