Leave the rooftop singing to the birds

SMALL PRINT:ON A windy January afternoon in 1969, The Beatles set up their equipment on the roof of their Apple label on 3, Savile Row in London and played their last-ever gig. The event was captured on the documentary Let It Be.

Tomorrow at 6.30pm, Dublin band The Minutes will hump their gear onto the roof of Music Maker on Exchequer Street to perform a full live set in front of a group of fans and invited media. The hotly tipped three-piece will perform tracks from their debut album, Marchata, and the whole shebang will be broadcast on Jenny Huston’s show on 2FM later that night.

The Minutes are not the first to have followed The Beatles example and use the rooftop as a stage. U2’s 1987 rooftop gig in LA was stopped by police, but not before Bono co had put their message across: lock up your dollars, America, we’ve arrived.

So, what makes a band decide, hey, let’s do the show right here on the roof? You might nab a bit of cheap publicity out of the stunt, but few others will share your enthusiasm.The road crew won’t like having to heave Marshall stacks up the narrow stairs to the roof. The pigeons and cats won’t like having to move to the adjacent building. And the punters won’t like having to strain their neck muscles to try and see the band.

It’s simple geometry: unless you’re standing 100 yards up the road, with field glasses, you’re unlikely to see more than the top two inches of Jedward’s quiff.

But the main reason to stay off the roof is that it smacks of condescension. The band remains aloft (and aloof) from the crowd, both literally and figuratively, and passersby are expected to feel privileged that the band has decided to come down (almost) to their level.

When U2 made a video on the roof of the Clarence hotel in 2000, it was invisible to all but the pigeons and a handful of people in nearby penthouse apartments. The overriding reaction from street level was, so what?

If you really want to perform a gig above single-storey level, why not try and get on balconytv.com? You get to plug your album, play a few songs on a balcony and have the video seen by a potential web audience of 20 million. Just try and avoid stagediving in the middle of the gig.

Kevin Courtney

London Vs Dublin in reality TV shows

MADE IN Chelseais E4's latest reality TV hit and possesses that puzzling watch-through-your-fingers experience that scripted reality is masterful at creating.

But how do the posh kids of southwest London compare to RTÉ's scripted reality legacy that is Fade Street?

Let’s pit them against each other to find out:

Names

Made In Chelseahas Caggie, Amber, and Spencer. Fade Streethad Vogue, CiCi and also had an Amber.

It's a close call, but Made In Chelseashades it with secondary characters Binky and Funda.

London 1 – 0 Dublin

Jobs

In Made In Chelsea, Cheska writes a gossipy social diary blog thing. In Fade Street, Louise and Vogue worked in an actual magazine ( Stellar), so Dublin wins that one.

London 1 - 1 Dublin

Killer lines

"The last I heard of Francis, he was diamond-mining in Madagascar," said Caggie in Made In Chelsea, hardly something you'd overhear on the 46A, well, not these days anyway. Fade Street'sfirst episode is remembered for Dani proclaiming, "Life's too short, let's do it – I'm going to Marbella" when she made a snap decision on a sun holiday. Madagascar beats Marbella, so that means:

London 2 – 1 Dublin

Activities

In Made in Chelsea, the girls and boys pass their time going to crap gigs their friends are playing at, polo, and lolling around their apartments. On Fade Street, the girls and boys passed their time going to crap gigs their friends were playing at, drinking cider, and going to Oxegen.

Fade Street shades it by being more rock ’n’ roll.

London 2 – 2 Dublin

Final result

Go watch The Only Way Is Essex.

Una Mullally