“Everything is different, but the same… things are more moderner than before… bigger, and yet smaller… it’s computers.”

Those with an encyclopedic knowledge of late 80s slacker comedy will recognise that quote from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but it also pretty much sums up Twitgigs at Vibe Bar on Thursday night. The Twitgigs Experiment attempts to bring music-crazed gig goers and tech-savvy social media types together for a night of live music. The gig was set up as a battle of the bands competition with three acts; Essay Like Nephew, Mike Dignam and The Seal Cub Clubbing Club going to head-to-head for the top prize. The whole thing was streamed live to people watching at home and the many votes were only counted on Twitter.

Far from getting off to a good start though, the evening seemed the target of sabotage; Twitter had crashed for a full three hours, torrential rain meant punters were staying away and one band kicked off the evening by posting tweets on the shared feed about a member’s genitalia.

First to the stage was the young singer songwriter Mike Dignam who had brought along a formidable gaggle of supporters. Mike described his trio’s sound as a bit Kooks-ish, but the general consensus among my group was of an 18 year old Jack Johnson. Whatever genre he was aiming for, the crowd loved it and support flooded in on the Twitter feed.

Next up was guitar pop four piece Essay Like Nephew. The music had a fresh and varied sound that compliments the DiY spirit of their releases and all four boys seem to possess an awkward kind of charm that’s completely alien from traditional poncy indie bands.  Their performance could of done with a bit more polish and confidence, but overall it was a brilliant set.

The final act onto the Twitgigs stage was Wirral based band, The Seal Cub Clubbing Club. The SCCC have been around for quite a while now and are gearing up to release their second album so it was a surprise to see them at a battle of the bands. Playing with confidence and poise, the band caught the attention of everyone in the room and definitely secured some new fans. Although SCCC aren’t doing anything particularly revolutionary the professional and captivating performance shows they’re in a different league to the first two acts.

As soon as SCCC left the stage, a torrent of votes appeared on screen and for 20 tense minutes the bands waited to hear their fate. Despite SCCC’s fantastic performance it quickly became clear that this would be a two horse race as they only managed to pull in 3% of the total vote. Mike Dignam and Essay Like Nephew’s self-promotion of the event clearly paid off and they seemed neck and neck the whole way.

The result? A close but well-deserved win for Essay Like Nephew who took to the stage a little sheepishly with one band member muttering “SCCC were robbed”

So, good news for Essay Like Nephew, but what does all this mean for live music? Well, I’m sure plenty of gigs will carry on as they are but I for one think that this would be a real shame. The mix of music and Twitter has been slow to get off the ground but it’s clearly got a lot of potential. The possibility of watching a gig from the comfort of your living room wouldn’t be a great thing for venues but it would easily triple a struggling band’s exposure. As sharing music on Twitter becomes easier, it seems inevitable that this current trend will emerge as a platform for new music. After all, being able to talk to your favourite band in real type certainly beats getting an automated welcome message on MySpace.

If you missed Twitgigs this time don’t worry because we have heard rumour of another one very soon, but if you can’t wait till then check out photos and videos from the night on Twitgigs.

UPDATE:

You can now see a video complilation of all three bands and more information on what Twitgigs is all about

Twitgigs @ Vibe Bar