Picture this: tinnies of Tennent’s and pots of tea. It’s October, it’s wet, but inside a small cafe in Perth unfolds a night of poetry, stories, spoken word and music. Welcome to Blend In, Stand Out everybody.
Perth is a place of booming culture and creativity right now. A place which is quickly becoming an important creative hub in Scotland. A university that offers the best in music courses, breeding all sorts of musicians, lyricists, artists and poets on to our streets and a place we are now finding space to make noise as creatives. Perth is quickly becoming a place where you can go to be the most creative person you can be. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this first hand on Friday evening.
Blend In, Stand Out was bursting with creative talent. The performers were all different, unique and each brought their own creative ingredients to the melting pot. We had classic Scottish, we had texting exes, we had feminist, we had aliens, we had people showing up unannounced to view your house, we had Gordon Ramsay giving you a bad lunch, we had acoustic sets, we had awhin’.
On the evening Seamus Austin Leavey opened with an acoustic set, a perfect way to begin. Blend Coffee Lounge was warm, wholesome and to put it quite simply, a magical venue for this kind of evening. There was spoken word and poetry from Gemma Johnstone, Shaun Brown, India Rose, Cameron Roxburgh, Nnena, Minches, Macapella, Max Scratchmann, Chris Mallis, AR Crow, Patrick Mitchell, Farhad Shahrokhi and MC of the night Rana Marathon. The evening was closed with a perfect finish from MOG’s band, Simmons is old.
What a night, one of Perth’s many hidden gems, giving Perth’s finest talent a platform and place to express themselves. Lots of words, swearing, laughter, fun, poetry and an abundance of creativity right in the heart of Perth.
Blend In, Stand Out was started on December 1st 2017 by Rana Marathon. The concept came about due to Rana performing at poetry nights in Glasgow and Edinburgh, realising that Perth was lacking an evening like this. Blend In, Stand Out has grown so much at the hands of Rana and local poets that it is now drawing in performers from all over Scotland. It has also become a regular night, promoting performers near and far to come and express themselves.
Rana Marathon, organiser, said: “The event has grown organically and it’s been beautiful to watch. I’ve grown as an organiser and a host learning better ways to run things from each event. However I can’t take all the credit as I’ve had lots of support especially from Craig Lithgow along with every single performer that’s graced the BISO ‘stage’ and the crowd, some of which have been coming from the very beginning. Not to mention the owners & staff at Blend who are also part of the audience and some of the staff even now come and perform. I better not forget my maw who is my biggest support on and off the scene as well! I feel very proud of what we have achieved with Blend In, Stand Out and look forward to the one year anniversary party which is gonna be massive!”
The next Blend In, Stand Out will be on 9th November and if you would like to be involved head over to the Facebook Page to register your interested. Blend In, Stand out prides itself on being open to all and giving everyone a chance to be heard.
