Ryoji Ikeda

Studio 7 at the BBC is always a weird venue to work in, most noticeable because it isn't a venue. This orchestral rehearsal space has the best acoustics of any venue in Manchester, bar none! Unfortunately, it is just not set up for the general public. The heavy security to the main entrance to the BBC building on Oxford road had a real problem even letting the staff into the venue, but as it came closer to the start of the event, most of them went, leaving nice security guards who seems just happy that there shift wasn't as boring as usual. The security conditions of FutureEverything putting on a gig here was that each person had to be personally shown to their seats (or if not in person, at least in small groups). Working as a skivvy meant that was my job. Ear plugs were given to every single member of the audience and they were all warned, Several times, and christ did they need em!
Arriving two hours early for my shift, found me sitting in in Kro2 next door (apparently the FutureEverything Hub). The bloke we were sat with, I gathered, had just landed in Manchester from Berlin; trouble with the volcanic ash. It soon occurred to me that this was Mika Vainio, the supporting artist for the nights performance. I attempted to gather some kind of conversation with this fella, but he was quiet, shy, (typical musician,) and having none of it.
He played a devastating set, going from complete silence to white noise, the volume of which would make you gran cry, and back again, accompanied by bleeps, hums and synthesised tinnitus. The shear dynamic range of his performance made ear plugs mandatory.
A rushed, fifteen minute interval (which isn't a lot for a 340 people) was all that stood between one form of pain and another. Ryoji Ikeda,was a lot more palatable (as far as sonic art ever is) and gave a lot more structure to the constant, lung rattling sub bass and white noise, glitch accents. The front lit projections looked a little bit like that black and while thing that appears at the top corner of your telly when ITV are about to go to adverts, only massive, cool, and proper messed up!
An incredible, brain rearranging experience... I can quite honestly say that I don't want to hear anything like that again for a while, but I'm incredibly glad that I went, and would highly recommend it to anyone!
At Kro2 after, Ryoji Ikeda sat on his own at the back with a glass of brandy. I let him know my thoughts, and I was surprised at how genuinely lovely he seemed, and genuinely happy that I had let him know.