When gig touting social network, Songkick launched last month, music blog, The Quietus, suggested it would be perfect for, 'people who look[s] at a set of live listings and see[s] a chance to gather shit quality footage of your favourite band on a mobile phone'. With today's launch of GigJunkie, it looks as though said dullards will have a further outlet for the wanky videos of Coldplay gigs that they have captured on their iPhones.
Like Songkick, GigJunkie offers extensive listings of gigs, from both the past and the future, as well as the opportunity to receive tour updates from your favourite bands, and share videos, photographs and reviews once you have signed up to a profile.
Last year, I attended eighteen gigs, covering everything from park-filling epics (Radiohead, Victoria Park), to small instore launches (Laura Marling, Rough Trade West), so in theory, a service that can deliver extensive gig listings to my inbox would be right up my street. On the contrary, it is not.
Call me a music snob (and I am sure you will), but part of the pleasure of going to a gig is the feeling of exclusivity; the smug feeling that you know about the best venues in your city, and manage to seek out tickets to see the best bands. Of course, watching Radiohead amongst thousands of people couldn't be described as exclusive, but it did feel good to snaffle one of the covetable tickets after hearing about them through good old word of mouth. Somehow, having a database alert you and a million other of such gigs, spoils that.
As for the ability to upload photos and videos, well, that is as bad as hitting the merch stand pre-gig, and wearing the band's t-shirt throughout, and to work the next day, like a 'look, I'm cool really!' badge of honour.
The most popular gig on GigJunkie right now is U2 at Wembley Stadium. Enough said.