Slam Bam Thank You Ma’am 2: Crappy Valentine’s Day Edition @ The Riverside

Event: Slam Bam Thank You Ma’am 2: Crappy Valentine’s Day Edition
Description: Poetry Slam
Location: The Riverside
Address: 1 Mowbray St, Neepsend, Sheffield, Yorkshire, S3 8EN

Original Flyer

It sounds a simple enough concept.  Take ten poets and 50+ guests, cram them into a tiny function room above a pub (the Riverside).  Give each poet two minutes to do their thing, and then score them, with the top five going into a final for the change of another 2 minutes to wow us.

Well, the simple ideas are always the best, and wow us they did!  The theme of the evening was love (or lack thereof).  From Gav Roberts' (of The Bridge Inn's open mic night fame) emasculating tale of having his mobile phone charger thrown to him from a bedroom window to Jevie's (I hope I've spelled you name correctly!) wonderfully soaring rhythmic piece about dancing and its important and relevance in human nature.  In between times we had love over a surgical procedure, laments over rubbish Valentine's gifts (only the rabbit was any good - and then the batteries died), an uncomfortable break-up over the telephone (it's not me - it's you) and polygamous homosexual intercourse.

The winner's trophy

The wonderful thing about any poetry slam though, of course, are that the writer/performers are ordinary human beings with normal jobs, sitting amongst the audience (I myself was sat between two of the finalists).  This give great opportunities for meeting like-minded people.  It is also, or course, fantastic to hear poetry read out by the poet, as they'd intended - to hear the inflections, rhythm and intonation, and indeed, some of my favourite were not simply well-written, sharp and funny, but well performed as well.

The eventual winner in the final was Jevie, with a powerful and violently charged piece, with Gav's dual offering including circling dead goldfish bagging him second, and first-timer Emily bagging third with a humourous riposte to my former go-to club, Corporation (and the buggers who want to take her there).

This led onto Steph Pike, performance poet, political activist and winner of the first Slam Bam Thank You Ma’am, returning for a headline slot.  Amongst her pieces was a really quite witty and rude piece about our banks, the bankers who working in them and the banking that they do which I felt was delivered impeccable, however her piece "I Want to Fuck David Cameron" left me somewhat cold.  Nonetheless, she was a great finale to a brilliant evening, and something I'd certainly like to go to again.

Please Contact Sarah Thomasin if you would like to perform at the next event.