The Fourth Plinth is the name given to the empty plinth in the north-west corner of Trafalgar Square in London. It was originally designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841 to display an equestrian statue. There were not enough funds available at the time to create a statue and so nothing happened, time marched on and the plinth became the "fourth plinth" or the "empty plinth". Since 1998 the plinth has been host to temporary works of art. The current project is Anthony Gormley's "One & other", which will see 2,400 people stand on the plinth over 100 days - that's one per hour, not 2,400 people at the same time for 100 days.
I'd heard that music featured fairly regularly as a plinther activity so thought I'd have a look today. At eleven o'clock Claire was lifted onto the plinth by a yellow cherry picker to replace Janine, who'd been promoting "Save the Children" with her bike. Claire, supporting the Family Holiday Association, was on a plinth holiday. An early burst of "I do like to be beside the seaside" was sadly a little too brief to be considered a live music experience. Claire threw holiday items down to the crowd. After narrowly avoiding being hit by a stick of rock, I went for a coffee whilst Claire wrote some postcards home. When I returned she was calling out bingo numbers. I think one of her "family and friend" entourage won. A couple of Croatian football fans did shout something out at one stage, but I guess Claire didn't know the Croatian for "house". The bingo was followed by the holiday disco. Claire threw herself into this with great gusto (it's probably the bext way to throw oneself when standing in one's swimsuit on a plinth several metres above one of the most famous and busy squares in the world). YMCA was more noticable for its dancing than its intermitent singing (by both plinther and watchers), but "Blame it on the Boogie" had singing and dancing.
A person singing along to a song in a nightclub is not performing a song and I wouldn't consider that a live music experience. A person doing the same, whilst standing on a plinth in Trafalgar Square and encouraging tourists on open-top buses to join in, is performing and, as far as I'm concerned, is creating a live music experience. Discuss.
Thank you Claire!
Family Holiday Association, which works to get disadvantaged families breaks away from home, is at
fhaonline.org.uk/
When my nine-year old son Oliver woke up this morning, and I told him that Michael Jackson had died, he gasped and said, "Who's going to be the next King of Pop?!" I can't remember who he suggested now - I'll ask him later.
