Strax at the Victoria

Great night last night at Strax – a newish AV night run by the lovely and talented VJ Chromatouch at a lovely old pub, the Victoria.

Last time I visited the Victoria was some time ago – when Anne-Marie Pope and Ant Ramm put on a night in the function room there – called Plaything. The place is now under new management – same guys who run the Island Bar where I played an acoustic night recently. Its a great little pub in John Bright Street – next to the Alexandra Theatre – and as their own website very rightly says, its a “theatre pub dating back to the end of the c19th, with loads of character”.

Theyve complemented the beautifully cosy original decor with some brand new works of art and managed to make the two work really well together.

A good venue then for Strax which is a mash up of so many things. Leon (VJ Chromatouch) has an absolutely vast collection of music and moving images and is becoming very good at mixing them all up with the aid of vast quantities of technology and various guests (last night Dem and Liam Blendstate). Also, tho I was too late to catch it having attended my meditation class earlier, Paul Kent was on the custom built tagtool – a very cunning device for live performance drawing and animation.

All in all a great night – its free in and its weekly on Thursdays, well worth checking out.

Apologies for the poor photo – taken on my rapidly aging phone after the public had left, but it gives you an idea.
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