30/11/2007 The Forum - Part 1: Urban Voodoo Machine

Subject	The Forum 30th November - Part 1: Urban Voodoo Machine
PostedDate	11/30/2007
	I wanted to get to the Damned show at The Forum early as I wanted to see the support bands - The Urban Voodoo Machine and Queen Adreena. Things didn't get off to a good start.  Doors were supposedly at 7.00. However, Urban Voodoo Machine said on MySpace earlier that their show would be starting at 6.50!  I struggled to get there by 7.00 and arrived shortly after. The doors still weren't open. There was a massive queue stretching round the corner right to the back of the venue and beyond. It was also pissing down!  I made my way to the end of the queue of bedraggled punks and Goths - their elaborate hair and makeup streaming in the pouring rain. They weren't happy, but they were Goths anyway so... I wasn't happy either, but at least I was more suitably dressed for standing for ages in cold November rain. 7.30 came and went, and still the queue wasn't moving.  Finally, 40 minutes after the doors were supposed to open the queue started moving. Very slowly. We'd all paid £17.50 for a ticket to see this show, and over an hour after the doors were supposed to have opened we were still kept outside in the pouring rain. This is no way to treat paying punters.  By the time I finally got into The Forum around 8.10 Urban Voodoo Machine only had about three songs left in their set. I found out later that they had to start playing about ten minutes before the doors actually opened and had to perform the first part of their set to an empty venue. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? The band were excellent as usual - well they were for the short part of their set I was actually able to see anyway. It made a nice change to see them play a venue where they could all fit comfortably onto the stage for once! This unique band always put on a great show and are very entertaining. As this was a Texas Chainsaw event there was a horror/cabaret theme to the evening and the band were 'murdered' and dragged offstage as their set ended. There was also various entertainment of a dark, sleazy, and sometimes bloody nature between the bands. Not everybody appreciated this, but at least it helped fill in the long gaps during band equipment changeovers. People probably would have been in a better mood for this sort of thing if they weren't already pissed off after being made to stand in the rain for an hour before being allowed into the venue...