Anti-algorithmic protesting in Dublin, welcoming back the cringe, and a 10-year side by side
see you on the streets...
Greetings all,
In some form of anti-algorithmic protest, we have started once again to play music on the streets of Dublin. Of course this is nothing new, in fact it’s actually a big part of the Lemoncello origin story.
Back then it was busking to fund our 10 euro a night hostels (in which I would share the bed with the cello), a few cans, the bus home, and maybe even covering some of our 80 euro a week rent in Maynooth. It was a fairly linear process, play music, people listen, meet a few weirdos, get some cash, go home happy. It was also a big part of how we developed together as a band. We finished songs, wrote new sections of songs, tested out many new arrangements and versions of songs on the street, because it is existed only for that moment. There was no real fear of making mistakes, sounding a bit dodge for a while, messing with and experimenting with songs until we got it feeling good. In retrospect, this fearlessness was probably because no one was filming us (bar the few American tourists diligently documenting their entire trip to Ireland) the age of streaming hadn’t hit yet, it wasn’t the norm.
Of late, it feels like there’s been some hesitation in having those imperfections on display in a public space (real life or digital). It’s like there is a huge pressure to have it all figured out already, exactly who you are, your brand, image etc. before coming into that public space. I am definitely no exception in feeling this way. But when I see it around me, for the most part it feels same-y and boring. It feels stifling for your growth as a person. Not having the space to be whoever you are at this time in your life, to be cringe, is suffocating. The pressure of how things should be done in a very specific format for an algorithmic reality is merging us all together into a dull wash of data-centre coloured grey.
By bringing our music back to the street, it does feel like a protest of that emphasis on perfectly curated content for the digital screen. It’s going back to the human connection of it, the looking someone straight in the eye as you witness each other in real time, allowing ourselves to be wide open to judgement, and being cringe by simply existing without filter. It’s the real life algorithm; people walking straight by you; people stopping with a confused look, giving you ten seconds to prove yourself to them; people sitting on the ground listening to the songs, turning it into an impromptu gig.
We’ll hopefully see you around town over the next month, where we’ll be sporadically playing to the good folk of Dublin city centre, playing songs from our new album Perfect Place, old songs, and maybe a few favourite covers. We’re playing our biggest headline Dublin show to date on September 25th in The Button Factory with a full band. We’ll keep shouting about it on the streets, the old fashioned algorithm. They’re selling fast those tickets, so we are told. Get your Dublin tickets by clicking here.
We’re also on touring rest of Ireland in the Autumn, for the majority playing new rooms such as Cyprus Avenue in Cork on September 23rd, The Róisín Dubh in Galway on September 30th, and The Limelight in Belfast on October 22nd, by far our biggest shows yet in these cities. The Irish dates also see us doing two special hometown shows in The RCC in Letterkenny on Friday November 13th (spooky Friday 13th vibes provided), and 29th of October in Carlow town, which will be announced very soon. We’ll also be returning to the gorgeous rooms of The Spirit Store in Dundalk, Cleere's in Kilkenny, and Phil Grimes in Waterford. All tickets links can be found by clicking the names of the venues in that paragraph I just wrote, such is the immensity of my editing skills.
We have a string of UK dates in October, starting off in The Glad Cafe in Glasgow, which has just eleven tickets left, you legendary sound heads. Onward we go then to gorgeous Gullivers in Manchester, about half the tickets gone for that one. We’ll then climb up the ladder to The Attic in Leeds, a town we’ve grown to love dearly, almost half the tickets gone for that too. Southward bound then we’ll be checking in to the Hallamshire Hotel in Sheffield and then onward to Peggy's Skylight in Nottingham, our first headline shows in these places with remarkably whimsical town names. We’re going to the Kitchen Garden Café in Birmingham which just sounds like a great time all in. Over half the tickets gone and going quick for the next two shows in The Architect in Bristol and St Pancras Old Church in London. We’re returning then to two special spots, The Folklore Rooms in Brighton and The Wight Bear in Southbourne. Again I don’t mean to brag but I’ve actually formatted that paragraph in such a way that you can find the tickets within the venues and cities I’ve just typed. I know I know, slow down egghead!
Excitement is in the extremity for these UK shows, having just had a brilliant time at Deershed Festival and WOMAD Festival in England at the weekend. An exceeding amount of legends at both festivals!
That’ll be it for myself for the moment. We’ll see you soon. Make sure you tell your friends now about the gigs above, give them a call, write them a letter, whatever way suits you best to protest the algorithm with us and spread the word about these shows we know you are gonna love.
BIG PEACE AND BIG LOVE!
Claire
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