This cannot be construed as flaneur-ing as it required booking of tickets

[rydra_wong]

But I believe it qualifies for psychogeographical bragging, at least.

This is where I spent part of yesterday:

http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/bascule-chamber-concert/ (Google image search "bascule chamber" for more pretty pictures)

You can all be jealous of me now.

This will probably be the only time in my life I listen to a John Cage aria with a 1000-tonne weight suspended over my head.

Comments

[spiralsheep]

That's a definitively urban location and I'm sure experimental music indicates an "urge to explore". /flaneurs profile

I love experimental music (listening) and urban spelunking (moving) but I don't think I would have been at all comfortable combining the two and keeping still long enough for that gig, so I'm not envious but I applaud you for doing it and you definitely deserve bragging rights. I hope there's a leaflet/poster you can frame, maybe with your tickets, and hang in the loo (or wherever your equivalent trophy room is...).

[rydra_wong]

You can apparently visit the bascule chambers during the Engineering Tours of the bridge ...

[kaberett]

oooooooh.

[rydra_wong]

The white-painted part you can see in the photo is the counter-weight itself; we were seated about where the photo is taken from, with the performers variously on the steps and in the galleries above.

There was a good warning note on the tickets that the concert times might have to be changed if a ship requested a bridge opening (but they have to give 24 hours notice for that, so by yesterday we knew the concerts would be on schedule).

I was conscious throughout that I was sitting in what is essentially a Bond movie trap, though. Also that I was both underground and underwater.

As I am somewhat claustrophobic, this made some demands, but I was glad to have done it; it was a good experience.

[ceb]

Whoa!

That is all.

[rydra_wong]

It was very whoa-worthy.

[minxy]

Cool!!!!!!!!!!! What was it like to be aware that you were under the river?

[rydra_wong]

... interesting, I will say.

As mentioned above, I am somewhat claustrophobic, therefore being underground and underwater and aware that I was sitting in a chamber which was designed for the express purpose of having a giant weight (which I could see above me -- the MC helpfully pointed out which bit was the moveable one) descend into it was ... interesting.

But at a manageable level, worth tolerating for the whole excellent and memorable experience. I was glad I did it (though imagine that this would be a very YMMV thing).

You could hear all the river and traffic noises resonating through the brickwork, which was part of the intended effect of the concert (and some of the commissioned pieces used modified recordings of it and/or the recorded sound of the bridge raising).

[nou]

Wow!

(I performed in a similar-ish thing when I was about 15 or so, which is long enough ago that I can't recall many details, but it was a newly commissioned piece for brass and percussion, composed specifically for performance in an industrial space somewhere in South Wales — not nearly as cool as Tower Bridge [though I do remember it was freezing cold].)

[rydra_wong]

Yes, it wasn't freezing but was very definitely a different environment from the sunny day happening outside.

Later in the day, we found ourselves enjoying the sun on Ernie's beach, so the contrast couldn't have been much more dramatic.

[spiralsheep]

This seemed as if it might interest you:

http://missing-post-office.com/missing-post-office-uk/