Locals and Students Unite At Kickin' It Country

As a student in St Andrews, one tends to wonder where on Earth all the ‘‘real adults’ are. Not the postgrads, but the homeowning, tax-paying, family-supporting members of society. As it turns out, they’re all at the Vic on a Saturday night.

‘Kickin’ It Country’ was marketed as “the UK’s largest country experience,” yet my immediate impression upon arrival was of an event woefully underattended and underadvertised. The bar was deserted, the music loud, and the promised country decor nowhere to be found — but we held out hope. 

As the hours passed, the venue slowly began to fill up, at which point the mood picked up massively. I watched a woman dance on a table, multiple people heckling the sole country music performer, and an impressive balancing act involving a tray of Baby Guinnesses. Despite being the only act in the event's “great instalment of country music,” which effectively meant performing for four hours uninterrupted, the musician was impressively upbeat. She offered a good mix of both the classics and newer, trendier songs and possessed an almost inhuman level of energy the entire night. 

Although the ambience was far from my cup of tea — in my notes, I described ordering my first ever White Claw as “the most exciting thing that’s happened all night” — the organisers clearly knew their audience. Regarding the people around me, especially the 50th birthday party we were unintentionally gatecrashing, it looked like a great time.

Taking a cursory tour of the venue later on, I found myself by the cowboy boot-decorating station, an addition which I thought was cute and creative, but undeniably expensive. For £10 a ticket, the venue was disappointingly similar to the Vic on a non-ticketed, free to enter evening — with many fewer students — and I found myself wondering what you’re actually paying for when going to this event. In spite of my financial reservations, and the atmosphere described by my plus-one as being “like a massive hen do,” the vast majority of attendees did seem to be having the time of their lives. 

In my interview for The Saint’s Events section, I was asked how critical I was willing to be of an event, and my response was to acknowledge that I am simply not the target audience for some functions. ‘Kickin’ It Country’ was undeniably one such case. Although it had its issues, namely in the value-for-money department, it appeared to be a genuinely enjoyable evening for a lot of people, who I can imagine are fed up with their nights out being overrun by undergraduates.