My alcohol-free hell: confessions of a gig-goer who failed to make it to the bar

As I write this I'm just back from a gig and ... I'm entirely sober. As in - haven't had a drop of alcohol, not the merest drop. And not only that, this happened a couple of gigs ago as well (the one in between varied the pattern: a small bottle of beer was involved, but let's leave that aside for the moment). So yes, grab yourself an ice-cold beverage or a ridiculously outsized cocktail which has somehow managed to end up costing you £14, make yourself comfortable, and let me slur my way through a few painfully incoherent thoughts on gigs and alcohol. First of all, is it necessary to neck a few drinks to properly enjoy live music? The answer, pretty obviously, is no. But the majority of people at gigs do it anyway, including me. Fine. You're out enjoying yourself ("partying"). Gigs are usually in pubs/licensed venues anyway, but even if not the chances are the place will have some kind of drinking arrangement, including, of course, one of the best - the classic BYOB. So ... get 'em in and drink your sozzled head off. But what about the opposite? Is it still enjoyable to go to gigs without hitting the bar? The answer, I think, is kind of, but I reckon it's not so straightforward. Grab another drink and read on ...

The first gig I went to where I didn't buy a drink was a My Drug Hell bash at the Hope & Anchor in Islington in (about) 1998. How can I remember? Precisely for this reason. I remember thinking how peculiar it was to walk in, go to where the band were playing, and ... just stand there. With no comforting drink to sip from. With nothing to do (pre-smart phone, no mucking about on a phone). And, as it happened, this was one of those (then still rare for me) gigs where I also went entirely alone: so no-one to talk to either. What a torment! My alcohol-free hell, you might say. Well no, but it did feel strange. As I recall, it happened only because of an accident of timing: the band were about to start at exactly the time I got into the basement venue and I didn't want to miss any of their stuff as a result of struggling back to the crowded bar upstairs. But this was the exception, and still is. Drinking and gigging go hand in beer-stained hand. Maybe too much so. When I acquired a car in the mid-2000s my own gigging - mostly in London - shifted down a gear alcohol-wise. The car meant getting to and from places more easily, while preventing the night being an "open-ended" one in drinking terms. Which for me, kind of works. Cutting the umbilical cord between alcohol and a night out is an interesting experience for life-long - mostly moderate, but habitual - drinkers like myself. When this occurs as part of going to gigs (generally beery environments), then things get quite interesting.

I'll have one of each, please

Naturally, the music world at large isn't exactly going to be interested in my meandering thoughts on alcohol. Booze and music are set to go their own merry way. Drinks companies are going to continue with their tacky sponsorship of music events; the bigger venues are going to continue making a lot of money from selling over-priced Carling in plastic beakers and ropey red wine from 1.5-litre bottles; and a lot of people are going to go to gigs and wake up with pounding hangovers the next day. Bottoms up! Having done a few years of amateur (and entirely alcohol-free) DJing at one of Brixton's music venues-cum-watering-holes, I can confirm that quite a few punters at gigs are indeed extremely ... refreshed. So much so that it's virtually impossible to understand what they're bellowing at you when they come over to where you're DJing - they liked the last one you just played? They hated it? They want to know who it was by? They want you to play it again? Oh, they want a pint of Stella ... "Sorry, mate, I'm just the DJ. You'll have to go over there ...". To be clear - I'm not about to stop drinking when I go to gigs either. I might drink, I might not. I'm just saying I'm open to the idea of not drinking beer or wine as I frown my way through a set by a band who, despite their inebriated swagger, are an inferior version of the Butterflies Of Love or Comanechi. So finally, dear reader/revellers, I'd like to propose a toast: here's to ... My Drug Hell! A good band in their day with an excellent name. And a band who shall forever be honoured for allowing me to see the error of my alcohol-fuelled gigging ways ...

PS: in a too-good-to-be-true coincidence, Wikipedia tells me that My Drug Hell's Girl At The Bus Stop was used in a commercial by the American beer company Miller. Thankfully, the ad doesn't seem to be around on the internet, but here's the song. Cheers!