Hollywood's Lewis booked to rock

By Ian Youngs
Music reporter, BBC News

Hollywood actress and singer Juliette Lewis has transformed a Lancashire library into a writhing rock venue in one of the year's unlikeliest gigs.

It was all part of a campaign to get more young people through library doors and overhaul the image of dusty, out-of-date institutions.

Juliette Lewis said she liked the idea of "making noise in quiet places"

Whirling around the stage in sequinned shoulder pads, sparkling gloves and glittering vest, her hair fried with sweat, Juliette Lewis is the ultimate rock chick.

The frenzied performance owes something to her talent as an Oscar-nominated actress and would not be out of place in the planet's greatest rock dives.

But this is not a rock dive. This is Morecambe Library, a sedate and civilised kind of place.

Well, at least it was until 36-year-old Lewis decided to make an appearance.

For the show a stage was set up between the Talking Book and DVD sections.

A mixing desk was erected in front of Large Fiction A-Z, with a space cleared in the middle of the large room to make way for 200 rock fans.

With bookshelves remaining around the edges, some fans watched while leaning on Railways & Canals or Sociology & Politics.

Just the idea of having a rock 'n' roll show in a library is very funny Juliette Lewis

However, most of the crowd stood in an area usually reserved for quiet reading.

By the end of the night the windows had steamed up and the normally quiet hexagonal 1960s building had been shaken like it had never been shaken before.

Get It Loud In Libraries is the initiative that invited Lewis to shatter the peace.

The campaign, run by Lancashire County Council, has put on gigs in libraries for four years and the Juliette Lewis show is the most popular so far.

'Jumpers for goalposts'

"I've been thinking about this show for weeks actually," Lewis says. "Just the idea of having a rock 'n' roll show in a library is very funny.

"It's doing what you're not supposed to do, making noise in quiet places. I love it."

The concert formed part of the Get It Loud In Libraries initiative

"It's very jumpers for goalposts, as you can see," says Stewart Parsons, the Get It Loud In Libraries manager.

"You are budging huge shelves of large print out of the way to accommodate speakers, monitors and Marshall amps."

Acts like Adele, Noah and the Whale and Florence and the Machine have already played in libraries in the county, with Mercury Prize nominees British Sea Power following Lewis to Morecambe next month.

"You're giving young people what they want most in the place they visit least," Mr Parsons explains.

"It still raises eyebrows because perceptions about libraries are so deeply entrenched.

"But it's a more natural venue in lots of ways than just some dirthole venue, which might be soulless and not have a great deal to do with culture."

Morecambe librarian Wendy Pollard describes the show as "wonderful" and was not tempted to tell anyone to "shhhh".

It's been superb. There was actually one guy at the back looking at the books Librarian Wendy Pollard

"No, libraries are changing and it's nice to see such a mix of people in the library," she says.

"For us it's a departure, but it's been superb. There was actually one guy at the back looking at the books."

The first objective of Get It Loud In Libraries is to get a new generation over the threshold and change their attitudes to libraries. But will the young fans really return?

'Building blocks'

"Evaluation is sometimes a tricky thing," Parsons says. "What we do find is that word of mouth feedback about what the library represents in the community is 100% positive.

"The success of it might only materialise in three, five, 10 years time. I think you're just laying the building blocks, really."

One fan - Collette Lee, 26, from Morecambe - says the gigs are a good idea. Alas, they will not persuade her to come back and take out a book.

British Sea Power will play Morecambe next month as part of the scheme

"I haven't been to a library since I was at school," she says. "Only if they had a live band on I'd come."

The event was well received by fans who were glad to see a star on their doorstep.

"It's good that something happens in Morecambe, instead of having to go to somewhere like Manchester or Liverpool," says 23-year-old James Frizzle.

"If it gets a couple of people interested in books then they've achieved something."

Joe Robinson, 22, also from Morecambe, says he thought the idea of a gig in a library sounded stupid at first.

"I must admit I thought, that's not going to work," he says. "But it worked brilliantly."

"It worked well in a small venue," adds friend Chris Green. "And it blew some cobwebs out."

Juliette Lewis' latest album, Terra Incognita, is out in the UK on 1 September.