Oi Polloi et al at the Halt Bar 24/03/08

It begins, like so many good things, with a vegan feast

Eating

There were many punk looking people.  I was dressed in courdroy trousers and a polo shirt.  Basically I looked like a primary school teacher.

First up were Altars.

They started the one-time-tradition of stomping around the audience and shouting.

Mid-gig pint.  I made a tit of myself by talking to the singer about his band, only to discover it wasn't the singer, but merely some other guy with dreadlocks.  As they say, 'my bad'.

After them, The Lobotomies from Ireland.

The sung a lot of harmonies.  Like the Beach Boys. Unlike the Beach Boys they shredded through punk songs really fast.

They were followed by Kaddish.  More stomping and screaming, but this time with better shirts and haircuts.

Sort of

I can't tell whether the bands went in to the audience because of punk's confrontational attitude or because the stage was so small.

Kaddish were slightly more emo than the other bands.  I should also mention that the gig was a benefit for medical aid to the people of Gaza.

Then it was Oi Polloi

And the place went a bit wild.  Honestly, I'd never seen a mosh pit in The Halt before.

More madness.  There was a guy stalking around who was built like a brick shithouse.  When he hit in to you, you knew about it.

The Oi Polloi format was a bit weird as well.  A 2 or 3 minute kind of rambling but hysterical introduction followed by a 90 second song.

Most of the lyrics were, of course, taking on a left-leaning political edge.  Except for one with extolled the virtues of open-source software.  Fancy that.

One 'fun' incident is when some guy was launched out of the pit and crashed in to me next to the stage.  I was trying to take a picture at the time and didn't see it coming, and the lovely guy spilled cider all down me.  Also I landed shoulder-first into an amp and then head my head tied up in wires.  Cheers mystery man!

And then they were done. There was a party afterwards... but I didn't go.