It was so popular last year that we decided to do it again! Join us this holiday season as we introduce you to twelve of our favourite podcasts in the 12 Days of Podmas!
In the landscape of creativity, there’s always a drive for some people to want to show their work; to perform what they’ve made or worked on. This world of live performance is so rich with variety and different aspects that it’s no wonder that host Lior Phillips is obsessed with the concept.
This Must Be The Gig (named after the Talking Heads track ‘This Must Be The Place’) sees Phillips (with the aid of her “constant companion” and often co-host Adam) talk to musicians about performing live, their history with performance, and their earliest gigs. It sounds simple, but the conversations are intricate and go into fascinating depth. Phillips delves into the mindset and the background of creative decisions on why performers decide to perform in such a way and how it ties to their music. The guests’ experiences as gig-goers also influences how they perform and you begin to get a good sense of how performances work.
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The word “performance” is also given a very broad definition on this podcast. It would be too easy to just interview different musicians, but TMBTG expands this to cover every aspect of performance. This means that the guests don’t just cover musicians – they cover other people in other roles. Very early on in the podcast Lior chats to the founder of Vibes – a company that makes ear plugs that are specific for musicians to wear on stage and for gig-goers and they emphasise how important that aspect is.
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There are conversations with festival organisers which delve into the admin side of all these multiple-stage events that get set-up; actors and actresses get spoken to about film, tv and theatre; sound and light engineers delve into their work – anyone involved will probably get a look in at some point. It’s all fascinating.
The anchor that keeps everything together like some sort of human sized glue is Phillips herself. A journalist, columnist and photographer who is a live performance fanatic herself, her enthusiasm and interest in the subject matter means that she knows what to ask and how to relate to her interviewees. She has a strong sense of humour and a manner that makes her immediately likeable, and it’s not hard to tell why the guests feel relaxed and why the interviews feel like natural conversations rather than stilted PR quotes being recited.
This Must Be The Gig is a must-listen for anyone who sees live music on a regular basis.