andylemontree

More clarification then... As I said before, the music programme does make money overall and is in pretty good health financially. The other areas of our work don't, and aren't designed to, hence the subsidy (including that contributed from the music programme). However, that side of our remit clearly hasn't been managed properly and has led to our current predicament. It's also very important to note that any extra assistance from the City Council over and above our annual funding (the quoted 140000) will be in the form of a loan and will have to be paid back. I'm not sure how it works legally but the Lemon Tree remains a non-profit charity. It doesn't mean we can't make money (and we'll have to in order to pay back that loan) just that it has to be re-invested back into the organisation to further our work. And you think you're annoyed about it...

I'd just like to clarify one or two things. The Lemon Tree has changed status from one non-profit arrangement to another and remains a registered charity. The reason The Lemon Tree is publicly funded is to support worthwhile activities that cannot be expected to pay for themselves - drama classes, special needs theatre, free music performances, kids workshops and theatre and certain specialist areas of music such as jazz and world music etc. Overall, the music programme makes money and cross-subsidises the less commercial aspects of our remit from both the City Council and the Scottish Arts Council. While employer confidentiality prevents me from going into this in more detial, the current situation is all the more frustrating as the music programme is currently achieving record attendance and box office figures. Initial steps to rectify things have now thankfully been taken and we are now very optimistic that we will be back on an even keel within the next few months. In the meantime, there should be no appreciable effect on the quality and quantity of the music programme.

In defence of the programming, I have to say that in previous years Aberdeen has perhaps been the poor relation but this year got a much stronger proportion of the good stuff. We also have to be realistic about the size of Aberdeen and the likely audience compared to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Even though we didn't have the full programme, numbers were stretched and I feel part of that was because there was too much going on as it was. I agree the pricing and marketing do need looking at but there is a more fundamental issue of whether there are simply enough interested people in the city to make it work.

I'm not entirely impartial but being as objective as I can, the overall programme was of a really high standard and mostly stuff that just wouldn't otherwise happen in Aberdeen. Audience numbers were a bit disappointing overall as there were maybe too many shows competing for the leftfield pound and the event probably fell a bit short of critical mass in terms of festive buzz. Wire, Pink Grease PanSonic, Liars, Yat Kha, Amp Fiddler, Nectarine No 9, Gwen McRae and Andre Williams were all outstanding and Moog, Prince Paul and Dr Alimantado were good fun too. Any feedback on how we can make it work better in Aberdeen is more than welcome.

It's very likely he'll be supporting Speedway again on 25th May.

I saw Jesse at SXSW and he was superb. Played just as a duo with piano and it still worked very well. Extremely Springsteenesque, but with a bit more edge; a great performer too.

I saw Modey Lemon at SXSW at the weekend and they were amazing. Incredibly intense.

We've just confirmed The Zutons and Dead 60s for Mon 22nd March. Doors 9pm, Tickets 6/4 concessions and onsale now. Box office is 01224 642230.

No, I don't think we could afford him now. And where were yiz all when he played in March last year then, eh? Fantastic gig but only 100 or so there, sadly.