A Tune for Tuesday No.9 / A Day Out at Vintage 2011

At the weekend I had a very rare day out. On my own. No kids. I took myself off to Vintage 2011 at the Southbank Centre. As any regular readers of this blog might know I love a bit of nostalgia, so this was right up my street so to speak.

The 'festival' as it is labeled, celebrated all things vintage; music, fashion, film, art, design and cultural lineages, from the 1920s to the 1980s. The 21 acre Southbank site was transformed into a Vintage wonderland. On entry you freely roamed the vast building's six levels to take in the era that took your fancy; from the 1940's Torch Club with its tea dances to the Studio 54 disco out on the vast balcony. I've illustrated this post with some of the snaps I took whilst there.

I got there quite early and wasn't meeting up with anyone until later in the evening and after a couple of hours of wandering from era to era, I felt the need to rest my weary feet. I headed up to the sixth floor to the Classic Album Living Room. Throughout the day various classic albums from each decade were played. They were played using the best state-of-the-art British audio equipment. Comfy armchairs were provided, the bar was near by and the huge windows framed a fantastic view of the Thames, Big Ben and all. The idea of this communal listening experience was to listen to the album from beginning to end. Phones were turned to silent and talking forbidden. In the modern world of downloading music the art of album listening is dying. I went along to the album that was chosen to represent the 70's for that day. It was Led Zeppelin: IV. 

It was so enjoyable. It felt right and respectful to sit and listen to an album in that way and was rather nice to sit silently in a room listening along with like-minded people. It's a favourite album of mine; the songs take me back to listening to it as a child with my dad. I knew it was special back then and love it as much if not more now. So, with this all still fresh in me, I am taking my favourite song from that album as my Tune for Tuesday this week. Enjoy.