Swindon Pride 2013 — Family and Despot Friendly Version

Nudity and gratuitously public displays of deviant sexual behaviour were glaringly absent; and, the consensus seemed to be that all the political victories were already won (despite the situation coming to a head in Russia with open threats against openly gay athletes in the impending Winter Olympics).  In 30 years of going to these Gay Day thingies in Atlanta, Amsterdam, Tucson, and Swindon (2011 and 2012), I have never seen a more complacent bunch of people.

Mind you, the acts were better than in years past and the Whispering I was already playing ahead of their scheduled slot on the published programme (which is always more a guideline than an actual timetable).

The Focus on the Family Theme meant there were shitloads of small children (which really give me the willies).  On more than one occasion, the recent same-sex marriage legislation was touted as though there were nothing left to achieve.  The more addled of the few flamboyant characters were treated to mild derision — same as any other year, but this year they seemed to be singled out.

 

On the plus side, the Corsairs ruled:

Rank be damned, if this guy isn’t a “Rear Admiral” then I’ve never seen one:

We were handed a flyer for a band and decided to wander up to the stage they were scheduled to play at only to find them standing around prima-donna-ing about the sound and the shift in the programme that had them going on 10 minutes early.  A guy that had been smoking pot behind us down in the bowl stepped up, plugged in his guitar, and did a mini-set including some Kate Bush, Oasis, and some of his own music.  Didn’t catch his name (truly an impromptu performance) but he was easily the most talented solo act we saw.

Josephine and the Artisans finally started setting up during the stoner dude’s set — with the lead singer looking shocked an d worried about following such a good act.  They all seemed very talented: the string section members were awesome, the rock contingent were a decent band all in their own right, and the rappers were decent even if you aren’t much of a hip hop fan.  NONE of it worked together and we headed home halfway through the 2nd song.