Hi, one of the weirdest gigs I have played with my renaissance ensembles was at a Vampire Roleplaying Convention in a disco called Pulp in Duisburg, Germany. There is a picture of our performance at http://www.pulp-duisburg.de/gallery/details.php?image_id=884 and some others of the convention at http://www.pulp-duisburg.de/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=42&page=1
We were the dance band for a renaissance dance course and then gave a 45 minute concert in the early evening. The venue was very fitting as the deco is in the style of a medieval castle, but we were playing in a room where lots of people were walking (and talking) from one room to another. It was very difficult to be heard above the background noise. But the audience watched it very attentively and it was a great chance to play for people who would probably never step foot in a classical concert. A few weeks later we play a concert in cologne as part of an early music concert series and there were a few people who were also at the Vampire convention. The promoter of one of germany's biggest Folk/Medieval-rock festivals heard us there and asked us to play on his festival. it takes place outside a castle near Koblenz and we will be playing 25 minute concerts in the castle during the breaks between the bands. I think that many of the attempts of the classic world especially the big classical records companys to get a non-classical audience interested are faulty. I think that the best way to win an audience is not to be apologetic about the music that you play. At a lute society meeting a few years ago, before playing a few peices by Dowland, the performer apologised for playing such dark and depressing music!!!! There is a massive audience of people out there who have no problems with titles like "In darkness let me dwell".... We have a homepage at Pantagruel.de Sorry it is just in German at the moment, but there are some MP3's that may be interesting. best wishes Mark wheeler --
