Memphis Concrète 2026
Jun. 2nd, 2026 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ateolfWell, Memphis Concrète happened! Let me see how well I'm able to recap everything. My initial thought is that it went well. At least as far as my spotty memory goes, it seemed to be very well attended. I feel like throughout both days, the room was the most consistently full throughout the day at different hours and all that. I don't have any insight into actual numbers yet, but I think I'm feeling okay from that perspective.
Saturday morning, I went and picked up the sandwiches from Da Sammich Spot. Then I loaded up and headed over to Crosstown to set up my few things. Soundchecks went well and smoothly. Only one artist requested one beforehand but then more showed up, but they went along with no incident. Some time passed and then the festival started!
future boop was first. That's Delara and her saxophone friend Adam and they were really good (really, everyone was really good!, so I may stop saying that, just take it as a given!). Next up was Shake Machine Down. Then Porcelain Control. Maggie had some kind of wooden contraption with springs and thin bits of metal that she bowed...cool stuff! Then it was DJ Jane Blank. She had the shortest Memphis Concrète set to-date at only about ten minutes. It was a good ten minutes though! Next it was Leperwitch. Then Cel Shade. Lo had asked about projections and said something about getting a horror movie kind of thing from youtube. So I went to youtube and searched "draculas" and played the first full movie that came up. It was a Hammer movie called The Kiss of the Vampire (I looked it up afterwards when asked about it). I was kind of cracking up watching it play behind Lo 'cuz I just kept thinking of "draculas". Next it was Eve Maret. She came out (well, she was hanging around before the set wearing it) in a nun outfit and did most of her set wearing that with religious-ish stuff and then towards the end she stripped it off and was wearing a pop star kind of outfit. Last up it was Tangela and she really brought the house down. I hear she's out in Las Vegas now. Damn, so glad she was able to come and do this! The mood was pretty good and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Sunday it was again wake up and pick up sandwiches. Ryan and Jacques came over to help lug the scrap metal and other musical gear up to Crosstown. We loaded and got to soundcheck earlier than I'd expected which was nice. But I was so caught up setting up and checking and all the stuff that I forgot I'd left my car on the loading dock and it was there for like three hours before I remembered to move it to the garage and I came down and there was a warning put up on it. Nothing official, just a warning about being illegally parked (and from security, not even a police-issued warning, but still, oops...). Soundchecks went smoothly on Sunday too. Never have soundchecks gone so smoothly! Usually someone's struggling with something right up almost til show time.
Anyway, we start. Box Score is first. Daniel's first show! Next it was Taj Chander. Actually, he'd ended up forming a duo called Tabla Rasa with his fiend Gurkirat, but that was developed later and they'd just been billed as Taj Chander. They had lots of instruments and percussion stuff on the stage floor. At this point things shifted a little behind schedule, but we caught up again after a few more acts. The Memphis Concrète Scrap Metal Orchestra was next. I knew it wouldn't be a nine-piece group because Ben unsurprisingly backed out (after never showing up for a rehearsal), but then we were down one more as Geoff messaged me right before we went on that he had a migraine and wasn't up for it. I did see him from across the room shortly before, so he'd come up there but then left. It was just funny 'cuz it was two people missing from the same group so maybe the sound from "group one" was a little unbalanced with the rest, but it probably doesn't matter. It probably went fine but I was feeling that it sounded a bit off and was a bit nerve-wracked about the set. Maybe felt we should have rehearsed more for this one after all, but it's hard to get rehearsals in order for such a big ensemble. Plus I thought my playing wasn't as good as it had been in rehearsals. Whatever, I guess that happens. People were quiet between "songs" but that may be because they were engrossed watching my abbreviated edit of The Terminator being projected. Next up was Emery Miles and she brought some processed saxophone and glockenspiel and other things and it was a real cool bit of electroacoutic stuff! Next was Artificer. They had some kind of equipment failure at some point and ended up playing a shortened set and I know they were feeling bad about their set, but in spite of the problems, what they played sounded great as always. Then it was Slow Slow Loris and they were intense. It's funny hearing them in the Green Room with its very good hi-fi sound and comparing it with the last time I saw them at The Lamplighter (a very different sound system!) but they sound great in both environments. I think the audience really dug their sound. Last it was Duets for Theremin. Kate commanded the stage with her theremin and Alex was on the side playing Crosstown's grand piano and some of his synths here and there. It was really beautiful and a perfect end to the night.
Oh, I picked up a couple bits of merch. A shirt from Eve Maret that says "Forgive me Father" on the front and "For I have synthed" on the back with a picture of her in her nun outfit with a synth on the front. Also a Slow Slow Loris shirt (I think it has the picture with their hands over their eyes). Both days had a great energy and seemed like everyone was really into it. I'm always amazed that so many people always seem to like it so much. There always feels like some kind of alchemy that I'm not able to plan for. So yeah, afterwards Ryan came back up with his truck and helped load everything back home. Good feeling about this year, we'll see how things end up having turned out!
Yesterday was mostly a bit of a recuperating day. It didn't take so much out of me as in past years, but it is nice to just do not much of anything for once! In the late afternoon Mary Beth and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. Then we spent the later part of night watching a bunch of Murder She Wrote.
Saturday morning, I went and picked up the sandwiches from Da Sammich Spot. Then I loaded up and headed over to Crosstown to set up my few things. Soundchecks went well and smoothly. Only one artist requested one beforehand but then more showed up, but they went along with no incident. Some time passed and then the festival started!
future boop was first. That's Delara and her saxophone friend Adam and they were really good (really, everyone was really good!, so I may stop saying that, just take it as a given!). Next up was Shake Machine Down. Then Porcelain Control. Maggie had some kind of wooden contraption with springs and thin bits of metal that she bowed...cool stuff! Then it was DJ Jane Blank. She had the shortest Memphis Concrète set to-date at only about ten minutes. It was a good ten minutes though! Next it was Leperwitch. Then Cel Shade. Lo had asked about projections and said something about getting a horror movie kind of thing from youtube. So I went to youtube and searched "draculas" and played the first full movie that came up. It was a Hammer movie called The Kiss of the Vampire (I looked it up afterwards when asked about it). I was kind of cracking up watching it play behind Lo 'cuz I just kept thinking of "draculas". Next it was Eve Maret. She came out (well, she was hanging around before the set wearing it) in a nun outfit and did most of her set wearing that with religious-ish stuff and then towards the end she stripped it off and was wearing a pop star kind of outfit. Last up it was Tangela and she really brought the house down. I hear she's out in Las Vegas now. Damn, so glad she was able to come and do this! The mood was pretty good and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Sunday it was again wake up and pick up sandwiches. Ryan and Jacques came over to help lug the scrap metal and other musical gear up to Crosstown. We loaded and got to soundcheck earlier than I'd expected which was nice. But I was so caught up setting up and checking and all the stuff that I forgot I'd left my car on the loading dock and it was there for like three hours before I remembered to move it to the garage and I came down and there was a warning put up on it. Nothing official, just a warning about being illegally parked (and from security, not even a police-issued warning, but still, oops...). Soundchecks went smoothly on Sunday too. Never have soundchecks gone so smoothly! Usually someone's struggling with something right up almost til show time.
Anyway, we start. Box Score is first. Daniel's first show! Next it was Taj Chander. Actually, he'd ended up forming a duo called Tabla Rasa with his fiend Gurkirat, but that was developed later and they'd just been billed as Taj Chander. They had lots of instruments and percussion stuff on the stage floor. At this point things shifted a little behind schedule, but we caught up again after a few more acts. The Memphis Concrète Scrap Metal Orchestra was next. I knew it wouldn't be a nine-piece group because Ben unsurprisingly backed out (after never showing up for a rehearsal), but then we were down one more as Geoff messaged me right before we went on that he had a migraine and wasn't up for it. I did see him from across the room shortly before, so he'd come up there but then left. It was just funny 'cuz it was two people missing from the same group so maybe the sound from "group one" was a little unbalanced with the rest, but it probably doesn't matter. It probably went fine but I was feeling that it sounded a bit off and was a bit nerve-wracked about the set. Maybe felt we should have rehearsed more for this one after all, but it's hard to get rehearsals in order for such a big ensemble. Plus I thought my playing wasn't as good as it had been in rehearsals. Whatever, I guess that happens. People were quiet between "songs" but that may be because they were engrossed watching my abbreviated edit of The Terminator being projected. Next up was Emery Miles and she brought some processed saxophone and glockenspiel and other things and it was a real cool bit of electroacoutic stuff! Next was Artificer. They had some kind of equipment failure at some point and ended up playing a shortened set and I know they were feeling bad about their set, but in spite of the problems, what they played sounded great as always. Then it was Slow Slow Loris and they were intense. It's funny hearing them in the Green Room with its very good hi-fi sound and comparing it with the last time I saw them at The Lamplighter (a very different sound system!) but they sound great in both environments. I think the audience really dug their sound. Last it was Duets for Theremin. Kate commanded the stage with her theremin and Alex was on the side playing Crosstown's grand piano and some of his synths here and there. It was really beautiful and a perfect end to the night.
Oh, I picked up a couple bits of merch. A shirt from Eve Maret that says "Forgive me Father" on the front and "For I have synthed" on the back with a picture of her in her nun outfit with a synth on the front. Also a Slow Slow Loris shirt (I think it has the picture with their hands over their eyes). Both days had a great energy and seemed like everyone was really into it. I'm always amazed that so many people always seem to like it so much. There always feels like some kind of alchemy that I'm not able to plan for. So yeah, afterwards Ryan came back up with his truck and helped load everything back home. Good feeling about this year, we'll see how things end up having turned out!
Yesterday was mostly a bit of a recuperating day. It didn't take so much out of me as in past years, but it is nice to just do not much of anything for once! In the late afternoon Mary Beth and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. Then we spent the later part of night watching a bunch of Murder She Wrote.
