Mandala, Mandala, Mandaaaalaaaaa! Woah. We are still buzzing from what was probably (definitely) one of the best gigs we have ever had the privilege to play.
Picture this: it’s a hazy, summer afternoon, the first day of September. The local cafe is hosting wall to wall music all day. Local bands, local bakes. Someone sits in the corner - a huge grin breaks across their face as their toes tap to the rhythm. That someone is you, because you know where it’s at. And where it’s at, is Mandala, Sheffield.
Sometimes, rarely, the stars align, you have manifested your visions, Leo is in retrograde and yes, yes, there’s a northerly wind from Uranus - and unexpectedly one of the best gigs of all time manifests itself in a little cafe in Meersbrook.
Of course, we can’t give Uranus all the credit, but while we are here - might we say how lovely Uranus is? A phenomenal team effort from loads of local bands willing to give up their free time, and local patrons willing to come in, listen, sing a long, dance, and even sing ‘hey!’ in the right places. The reality is, it takes something, or someone, special to pull all this together and that something is Mandala and that someone is Adam (and Stuart, and a cheeky shout out here to Tommy, too).
Vibes. If we were to meld it all down, in the glorious mixing pot that was the evening, the people, the venue - the word would be vibes. What a glorious mix of human beings, musicians, listeners, dancers, coffee makers. Bless-ed are the coffee makers. Old/ Young/ Tall/ Small/ He/She/They/Them and all the colours and riots in between made for the best place to feel comfortable in our own skins and play our chuffin’ boots off.
For everyone that shouted ‘hey’ both in the right and wrong places. For everyone that hollered and whooped when Joe transformed, and for everyone that sang that a cappella chorus and breathed life into Josephine. Thank you.
Huge thanks to Adam for having us on, and to Tommy for providing amazing sound, on the fly (and flies are very small so you can imagine the mixing desk can’t fit many inputs). Tommy also made us feel like we had a road man - passing us instruments and providing us stools for our many and varying accoutrement (that’s French for stuff ’n’ things, having a roadie has gentrified us).
These blogs are usually funny. At least to the blog writer if no one else (almost certainly no one else), but writing is therapy and reflection. A serious note (not Bm, a serious note, yes, but we hate Bm; beautiful note, truly, but a b*stard to play in standard tuning) - last night felt like more than community. It felt a place that was for everyone, a real ray of light in the darkness that is the British summer. A coming together of the best that humankind has to offer. Not really a gig at all, just as gathering of mates that had never met before.
You’ll notice in the slide show that there is a picture of the lesser spotted Dean… To prove that he is indeed part of the band.
As a side note - we do struggle to get pictures of us all together, if you were there and you took any photos or any little bits of video we would love to see ‘em! Search us on facebook or send us a cheeky email. But not that cheeky, Dean’s a veggie, and is not interested in your sausage.
Love, harmonies, cwtch,
Kootch x