Blog: Trampery at the Gantry

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On Thursday I set off for what would be the CLOSEST gig to my house for over TWO DECADES, for LO! I was booked to play at The Trampery On The Gantry which is on the other side of our bit of the Olympic Park from us. I think it took us a couple of minutes longer to get there than it used to when I'd walk from my flat in Leicester to The Pump & Tap, but it wasn't far off!

The gig had been suggested to me by the marvelous Mr G Gargan - long-time PAL, all round good-guy and joint supremo of Damnably. To be honest our main motivation for going was to have a good old NOSEY ROUND and George very kindly obliged by showing us round his Proper Record Company Office what he has there. COR! It was super-impressive - I have known George for MILLENIA, even unto the aforementioned gigs at The Pump & Tap, so it was utterly wonderful to bear witness to how far he's come. He's one of those rare people who has actually managed to make a living out of ROCK! Well done George!

The gig itself was taking place on a balcony on a corner of the Gantry (which is on the same massive block where the new V&A East Storehouse is) so we had an AMAZING view out across the park, with the Velodrome looming out of the trees like a contentedly crashed UFO. The event was run by the Trampery people so there was free BEER and also SNACKS as well, and the vibe was delightful.

The Gantry is meant to be a place for ARISTS and ARTISTIC-TYPE VENTURES, so lots of different residents had suggested acts they knew, which meant that the whole tbing was like a posher version of those old gigs I used to do at The Bull & Gate, where there was a random selection of completely different things going on. In this case there was someone singing gentle reggae songs with a backing tape, a chap doing his own songs with a guitar, someone else playing a couple of cover versions, a jazz-funk trio, and ME! It was really good fun!

The whole thing was compered by Simon Stanley Ward who did a genuinely GRATE job. When I arrived he said "As is usual, this is all running a bit late" but then he ran the whole thing amazingly, with a literal TWO MINUTE (MAX!) changeover between acts, and some optional EGG SHAKER when he felt those onstage needed it. It was lovely!

Anyway, when it came to be my turn to play I done THIS:

The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B)

Bad Back

The Perfect Love Song

20 Things To Do Before You're 30

It Only Works Because You're here

It was a very old-fashioned NORMAL set, which I'd decided to do a) so I didn't have to worry about doing NEW or unfamiliar things and b) because I had used my Skill And Judgement beforehand to work out what was likely to go down all right. My Skill And Judgement turned out to be CORRECT for once too, as it was a really good fun gig with LARFS and the delighted faces of people who had never seen me before and thus got involved with the stories. I liked it!

All the way through I had noticed someone scribbling what I thought were NOTES, but this turned out to be the Resident Artist of (I think) The Gantry, who presented me with the results of her sketching THUS:



Good eh? I've not been able to find the name of the artist online, so if anyone knows please tell me!

Afterwards there was some lurking around, chatting to various people, saying of Thank You For Having Me, and snaffling FREE BEER before it was time to pack up and stagger across the park and home again ready for the VERY EXCITING England match on the telly. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon/early evening - more gigs near my house please!

posted 17/7/2025 by MJ Hibbett

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