Capital of Culture is here

Happy New Year; and better late then never, Well Capital of Culture is finally here. I have to say that when I moved her from London this was the one night I really wanted to be involved in. But as the days crept by and more and more stories evolved from the Culture Company and City Council I began to wonder whether I could stomach it. In fact on the peoples launch party at St Georges plateau a group of us had already planned tan alternative event, namely a meal in the brilliant Zorba’s restaurant. Not as a protest per se, albeit there was a belligerence entirely founded in some known issues, but rather the night had been so poorly promoted before hand, it clashed with our own event. But we left our meal early, aware that for better or for worse, it was history in the making. O be fair I could not see much as I was somewhat tangential to the main stage close to the Forum (ABC) cinema on Lime Street,. But the roars of the crowd and the shear weight of numbers indicated a fine start had been made. Not perfect, but more than sufficient to get the year rolling. Bad weather, a bad event, or any number of other factors could have reduced it to the levels and dogged fortunes that arose when the Millennium dome opened. But we avoided that and in football parlance “the stall was set out”

The official launch on the arena was even better. I was lucky to get a ticket through a ballot in my office, having failed to get on in the public ballot. Overall it was a rather good night. Way better than I expected, with a clever mix of music, visuals, irony, and reflections. I’d been very lucky to once meet the organised Nigel Jamieson, who at the time had a number of complex issues not dissimilar, or so it seemed to me, to those perhaps experienced by Robyn Archer, albeit Nigel was clearly able to work within the terms of his work permit. Out of respect for him, I won’t go into these, but in meeting and talking to him later at the party, these had clearly been left behind. One could argue that certain elements of our City or of its current non corporate culture where omitted, but this would be unfair. An equally interesting discussion with Beatriz Garcia who is leading the Liverpool University’s Impact 08 team, and will report on the cultural/economic dynamics of the culture year, indicates that to have an opening event of such magnitude for a European Capital of Culture year is totally without precedent. Its simply not been done before on this type of scale, so well done Liverpool for having a go, and well done this who organised it I had a great time, and if the event was good, the post party was magic. Could you have a better setting for a party than the entire one side of the Albert Dock? Maybe St Marks Square in Venice, but is there a better enclosed urban space in Europe? Perhaps, but I can’t think of one. I ended up in the Pan American, watching Ian McNab and the band Amsterdam jam through a non stop, high octane acoustic session. Connie Rush joined them, various wombats joined them, and I could probably have gone up, if I’d had the inclination. It was that sort of night

So what can I say? If you’re of Liverpool, for Liverpool and were involved, you won’t have forgotten it. Then came the London press coverage. They couldn’t really fault the event, but what they did find was a gang shooting. So, it was obvious what the big story was going to be. More of this later.