Sledge Blog

Bandstand

Not being English, it took me some time to figure out what Corsa (as in the car) meant when they invited me to “an eccentric, eclectic festival” in London’s Old Billingsgate.

On May 3rd, Corsa presented ‘Bandstand’, an evening described as the Mad Hatter meets a traditional English tea party, put on by the people behind Bestival, headlined by Rob da Bank and Mark Ronson . The event’s website is great and set high expectations – illustrating a magical park-like world with fauna, animals and surreal characters. This identity ran through all communications, including actors playing characters from Alice in Wonderland and uniquely branded Corsa cars parked outside. The Old Billingsgate interior was dressed with park benches, super sized teacups, quirky signage and eccentric look-alikes. Bringing Bestival to the city while targeting the core market for Corsa – urban dwellers in their (early) twenties.

Except from a few cars outside the venue and their name on the Bandstand logo, I’m not sure how much there was in it for Vauxhall. With close to 8000 sq meters they could have been a lot more innovative in how they integrated the cars and the brand and still have accommodated the audience, who unfortunately seemed to disappear under the beautiful arches of this listed structure.

It was a great club night out in London and I love the idea of turning a music event into a journey of discovery, exploring secret gardens and hidden corners. Unfortunately though, the event was too spread out to achieve the intention of creating an “intimate” indoor festival. Was it truly individual and totally different as the website claims? Alice in Wonderland seems to be a repeated theme across events recently, and I hoped to experience a more unique and surreal world - more Monty Python and less Mad Hatter!

Theatre in The Round

Standing in the dark at the newly renovated Roundhouse  in Camden waiting for the show Fuerzabruta to start an atmosphere of expectancy hangs in the air.  ‘This is going to be some experience,’ someone in the audience whispers.  And then it started… What you experience in the short 1hour performance is more like a rave than a piece of theatre; a quick-fix burst of pure adrenaline and creative energy.  A truly trippy experience - this performance leaves you ecstatic, elated, pumped up and hyper.

Trying to describe Fuerzabruta is not easy - whatever you say about it most certainly doesn’t do it justice.  On their website they describe their project as trying ‘to continue creating, reinventing and transforming oneself in an experience that is unique and unrepeatable.’  Simply said, you really have to be there to believe it.  There’s no linear story line, no sets or theatrical conventions – in the land of Fuerzabruta nothing is at it seems and boundaries are most assuredly blurred and crossed as the audience stands there very much a main part of the action in this performance where the artists move all around the space and jostle around us.  It’s a sensory feast incorporating loud music, strobe lighting, nudity, water and oscillating scenes of violence and beauty.

The main focus of the action upon entering the performance arena is on a man who first enters walking on a conveyor belt. His pace quickens, suddenly he's sprinting and you are with him every step of the way. A spectacular ride – the performance artists take you on a sensory journey far away from reality.  And they really make the most of the extensive performance arena of the Roundhouse with the space modifying itself during the performance.  In once scene, two petite and ethereal looking urchin type creatures, suspended on harnesses ropes, playfully skip and somersault around the curved sides of the theatre space on material that conjures up the image of the sea, or an oil painting. In another scene the stage is pushed towards the audience forcing them to quickly move out of the way and so really mixing up the space.  Another scene had the audience covered by a large sheet of material that impulsively made everyone want to reach out and collectively help to pull it off stage and into the wings.  This made way for my favourite part of the performance - the water feature…

A large Perspex swimming pool suspended in the air over the centre of the performance space and directly above the audience allowing us to see the beautiful ways the performance artists played with and manipulated the water.  They looked like they were having a ball swishing and swirling around up there and I desperately wanted to join in!  It was just beautiful to watch, particularly when the pool lowered to just within reach of the audience who became a collective sea of hands all desperately reaching out to touch this other wordliness.

Having seen the Roundhouse in action I’m really looking forward to Sledge putting on experiences there.

 

From Fruitstock to the Ice Bar branded experiences are all around us, to help us keep up to speed with what is going on, a small amount of company money has been put aside to help fund people's trips to interesting events, happenings, installations etc. All you have to do is communicate internally your thoughts on the experience; was it any good, how could it have been better, what was innovative about it, how were brands involved if at all - this could via a piece on the Sledge website or an internal presentation or both.

There doesn't have to be a brand involved but it does have to be something that goes beyond the ordinary, something that is innovative and interesting, Tom's recent trip to Sinatra at the London Palladium is a good example.

The fund isn't designed to pay for your whole trip but it will make a decent contribution, allocation of funds is via the ops board, if you have an idea submit it to an ops board member.

To kick things off the first contribution is to Mr T, who as we all know is along with his mate, taking part in the Mongol Rally. In return Matt will be providing us with regular updates on his trip which will posted on the Sledge blog and also giving us a 'slide show' on his return and doing a piece for the website. We are also in heated negotiations with him over branding rights on the car.