…and so, UP friends and loyal supporters over the last 13 years, we have arrived at this bittersweet moment. UP number 10 – our final hurrah – is done and dusted, and literally every piece of feedback given and every word spoken to us by anyone who attended or performed was glowingly positive. That, and the accumulated memories and joy of the last 13 years are the ‘sweet’ bit. The ‘bitter’ (although I’m not actually bitter, je ne regrette rien) is that we’ve come out of it this year with a horrific financial loss, even worse than expected, and I expected it to be pretty shocking. It won’t bankrupt me, but what it does do is underline exactly why we sadly cannot continue to put on events of this sort – because sooner or later, if we did continue, it *would* bankrupt me.
All pretty crazy for such a relatively tiny event. I was gonna throw some numbers at you so it might make more sense – because in reality, I get the feeling that many people have no real conception of the expense (or time & sweat) involved in doing even the tiniest event – but it seems somehow crass to do that, and all you have to know in the end is MUSIC PROMOTION IS A MUG’S GAME. Stay well away unless you have *very* deep pockets, or (like me) an incurable and burning compulsion to try and get people to listen to music that they might not normally get to hear, but that they bloody well should do.
From our very first ‘Equinox Paradox’ in the beautiful Cumbrian Fellfoot Woods back in 2011 (our home for several years), via Shropshire, Powys, Anglesey and finally Herefordshire, we’ve been on a proper Unorthodox tour of the UK and what a wild ride it’s been. Myself and Libby have had the pleasure of hosting more amazing bands and artists than I can even begin to think of or thank, met beautiful people and made wonderful new lifelong friends, had some astonishing ‘off-piste’ experiences, and generally had the biggest doss we could possibly have wished for…and along the way I think we’ve pretty much achieved our aim to prick the ears (and, frequently, hearts) of those that have been brave enough to attend, and who have unfailingly put trust in my musical ‘curation’ (basically, things that I adore), and in the combined wonky artistic vision of myself & Libby (with invaluable assistance over the years from The Monkey Poet, and for the last couple of years the wonderful Weirdshire).
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to every artist that has ever performed and everyone that has helped in any way in the last 13 years, and that’s an awful lot of people.
Despite this being the end of Unorthodox Paradox ‘as we know it’, I feel like I have to end on a positive note, and so can confirm that there *will* be more UP ‘happenings’ of some description, keep your eyes (all three of them) to the skies…
Onwards, and sidewards…
Neil & Libby xxx
