No one was more surprised than me to get a response from His Kerrness when he posted to the SM Facebook page on Monday. In his post he spoke about Peter Gabriel and his unswerving loyalty to the man. I guess it’s that teen thing? The people who shape you during your formative years, and well, we know as Minds fans what – if not a direct musical influence, then a definite artistic influence – Genesis (and Gabriel in particular) was on a young Mr Kerr.
I did love the “I hear you!” response that my comment on his post got. But…did he? Did he really take in what I was implying? It all got kind of lost in his continued reply to me.
Firstly, if you know me – and quite a few of you who are regulars to this blog will – you’ll know how over the moon I have been to get such a response – in the past. It’s taken a looooong time for me to remove or (at the very least) tone down the investment I once had in all things Simple Minds and Jim. It was a rather visceral and irrational thing for a long time. Fully charged on emotional depth and not a lot of rationale going on there. Just…pure blind “love”. Not so much in an artistically sycophantic way (aka: Simple Minds could do no wrong, were perfect in every way, and ALL their musical content was the best thing ever produced – I felt I at least had more self-worth than that to think that way during the height of my fan ‘mania’) – but in a way that would have me hang on every word Jim said, even if inwardly I’d sometimes be thinking “you’re talking out your arse, pal!” Lol
But I digress, and I don’t want to fall too far down a rabbit hole and my purpose for this blog post to get lost.
I’m not sure Jim really DID get the point I was making. Because…you know, it was never to disparage Gabriel and I believe and I hope he saw that and realised that. Even though I did jokingly respond to his reply by saying “but…can he fix my toilet?” Lol. As much as I meant it in a light-hearted way – it also is a pretty valid point!
The point I was trying to make was… as far as – great as Peter Gabriel is…is he REALLY worth £200 for a ticket? Considering how much Taylor Swift tickets seem to be going for at the moment, it could be argued that Gabriel charging a premium of £200 for front row tickets is, in relative terms, “chicken feed” – but it isn’t!
I questioned my reply, wondering if he had interpreted it as me merely implying that I am choosing “quantity over quality”. It’s not as simplistic as that. There are TONS of bands I could go and see on the cheap – ie: more affordably – but it’s not a mindless, random choice I am making. I’m not just going to any old gig for the hell of it! I’m trying to perhaps invest in the future, you know? Isn’t that where my pounds are really needed? Isn’t that where my support will be best invested? To that degree, Peter Gabriel doesn’t need my money. He doesn’t need my financial support! He doesn’t need the financial benefit that would come from me buying a ticket to see his shows.
I understand full well how much money it takes to put on gigs of that kind of size. So…shouldn’t it be the music that’s the most important factor then? Fuck the spectacle! Fuck the circus! Forget the pyrotechnics. Don’t do the Brian Pern thing and come out on the stage riding a Segway (I don’t think Gabriel arrived on stage on a Segway – but if you’ve seen Brian Pern, you’ll get my point). Are we not meant to be there for the music? For the performER rather than the performANCE?
To try to make a point of Gabriel’s worth as an artist and countering it with the worthiness (or otherwise, as Jim seemed to imply) of a tradesman fixing a fault with your home utilities, to me, kind of revealed just how far removed from reality one can become.
It reminds me of a point Jim was making during that mini documentary piece they did when they were playing in Brussels in 1983. In it he said: “I had an argument the other day. It wasn’t serious, with our light man [Stephen Pollard]. He’s getting a lot of praise just now. He’s great but he’s [got] a terrible ego. He was telling me how he’s ‘not a roadie, he’s an artiste’. I said to him there are no ‘artistes’ on this tour, we’re ALL workers, including me.” Except…I don’t think Jim really carried much other than his own (rather healthy, it has to be said) ego by that point. Lol (Sorry, Jim.). If I think back to what Jaine Henderson told me and how much she had to lug things about…yeah. I think some worked harder than others definitely. At least in the very physical sense. I do appreciate that performing on the stage is a very exhaustive thing as well, which Jim does go on to talk about later in that clip from 1983.
Monday’s counter argument of Gabriel’s ‘worth’ compared to something that for the vast majority of people is quite a necessity was, yeah, kind of throwaway and stripped away the importance of the point I was trying to make. Trivialising the worth of one over the other. For many people there is no dilemma to face between a £200 concert ticket and getting your leaking toilet fixed. And right now it is definitely not a dilemma that Jim would face, due to the simple fact that he could easily do both. More so, the bare fact of the matter is he probably actually got to see Gabriel for nowt, and had the best seats in the house on top of that. Yeah, then haggle to the guy with a mortgage, a family and mouths to feed and make him feel as though HE’S ripping you off for something that might well take him less than 10 minutes to fix – but if it was that easy, you’d fix yourself and save yourself the £200, right?
In this argument, I find it hard to agree that Peter Gabriel “is worthy of every penny he takes home”. Do I begrudge him his success? Absolutely not! But he is now (and has been for quite some time) a very wealthy man. At the end of the day, as much as I know I would have enjoyed that spectacle of the Gabriel gig – I’m wanting to help financially support those wanting to ‘hone their craft’ – the ones to come. The Gabriels of the future. Yes, I can hear Jim again reiterating his ‘there’s only one Brian Pern’ statement. Of course there is!
I get to help others and help myself by being more discerning about what I can afford to spend and where it goes. Perhaps if I had ‘money to burn’ I’d just go to all the ‘big gigs’. There are some gigs I feel really sad that, on principle, I’ll miss because, in the current unstable climate I cannot justify buying a ticket and seeing the artist or band. An example is DEVO. They’re playing in Edinburgh in August. A small venue. The O2 Academy. A standing venue. It will most likely be the last time to ever see DEVO – and for that reason I’d like to go. I looked at the ticket price and nearly had a pink fit! I get It, I do! But at £70, I cannot justify that price. I just can’t.
I know how wonderful art and artistry is – and how enriching it is. It propels us to transcend our existence as mere living creatures with flesh and bones into something much more profound. That’s the beauty of art – and I want it to keep thriving. Let’s hope those £200 seats at Gabriel’s gigs get reinvested into the future of music and musical artists. I really hope he does that. I know he did that in the past. And I’m sure it’s part of the reason for Jim’s unwavering support – with Gabriel financing the cost of Simple Minds supporting him in Europe during his tour in 1980.
Lastly…I want to thank Jim just for…continuing to be a spark for inspiration and responding to me. Even if I did want to end up saying “you’re out of touch, dear Mr Kerr, and talking oot yer oan erse” – you got me writing and you’re keeping my creative juices flowing.
Let’s hope SM tickets won’t be too expensive next year!
Apologies, this passed me by (major life stuff to sort). Have now read around it, and will chuck in my penny?s worth..
Peter Gabriel, while undoubtedly a great musician, is someone I will never be able to afford to see. Same goes for Depeche Mode! And the last UK run of Simple Minds arena shows were also beyond my budget ?
By contrast, I was at a great show by Menace last night, in a small venue, with a door price of a mere ?5! This band has been going since 1976, and they keep their ticket prices low because they stick to their socialist principles and they do it for the love of the music and their fans.
I can name other bands who keep their prices down too – they refuse to support capitalism ?
I would argue that any musician / band charging over ?50 for a basic ticket to a show has lost their way ? Music should not solely be the privilege of the financial elite ?
Lets get the whole gang behind you and go on the main website and take one statement and twist it around. Really take the debate back to where it started, honestly. I am certainly not going back to the SMOG and try to explain my comments for a statement taken out of context. I get that Jim is a generous person and has gone out of his way on a number of occasions, and he deserves all that he has worked for (rightly so!) and doesn’t have to reply to fans and people can spend what they want ,when the want and don’t have to answer to anyone. But going off on a tangent having a dig at a tradesperson at what they charge, isn’t that the main point of the argument? Especially if you have had that in your background yourself. One would think that they of all people have a better understanding than others. Going lay low in future, feel like I burning at the stake.
Grace, I?m so sorry you are getting the crap from SMOG. Our conversation and all what this post was about was completely taken out of context. We both absolutely were NOT begrudging Jim?s success but that does not make some of his comments that he made in reply to me okay – he was flippant and putting across the ridiculous notion that a musical artist is somehow so much more worthy of payment than a tradesman. It smacked of disrespect. Jim?s never shy for calling people out for things he doesn?t agree with. What?s good for the geese, etc.
You knew exactly what I was talking about, Grace.
If no one understands the point we were making, more fool them.
I?m so sorry that you?re getting crap from this. That?s not on. 🙁
Excellent piece written, and so many valid points you raised. The older we become the more selective choices we have to make to get more bang for your buck. The fact that you choose to see young bands and look it as an investment for the future is showing foresight that is commendable. How many times do we quote I wish I had a time machine to go back and see that one performance that iconic moment. Older bands that have been round the block don’t necessarily need the overblown showcase. Recently saw the Stranglers at a reasonable price and it was fantastic, all about the music, mid sized venue but it was filled to the brim. It would save a shitload of overhead costs just keeping it simple. Fix the loo yourself and save 200 pounds, brilliant. He does come across as out of touch. Coming from a tradie background and a son who is an apprentice on minimum wages doing labour intensive work not all tradies end up with all that in their pocket considering all their costs.(tools, insurances, licenses, materials). Agree entirely, that your initial response was not heard properly.
Hi Grace,
Thanks so much for the comment and for visiting the blog.
The Stranglers are a great example of that, yes. And what a band! I?ve seen them several times myself and they never disappoint. I haven?t seen them since Toby has been on board but I hope to see them again some time in the near future.
I was worried that I ended up Kerr-bashing with my post. Lol. I?m sure Jim will think I misconstrued his words but you can?t help but think sometimes that, despite trying to remain as grounded as possible – when you?re putting on Prada shoes and Ento clothing and taking a flight from Catania to get to Glasgow for a gig, you could be a little out of touch. Bless him. I absolutely do not begrudge his success in the slightest and I know he is a charitable man and very philanthropic – and tends to keep that side of things quiet, which is his own choice, of course.
The main gripe I had with the response was making out that a wealthy musician was somehow more ?worthy? of charging ?200 than a tradesman, which is just a ridiculous and idiotic thing to say.
Anyway, I think we put him bang to rights! ???