Found this in my son’s grade three writing book and wondered where it came from.
Enjoy!
The Deck The Shed With Bits Of Wattle lyrics by Bucko & Champs is copyrighted. Look at Greg Champion’s Website to purchase.
Adelaide Band with a great following. When its all about beards it really relies on the blues, the voices and the banter on stage to make the performance outstanding plus a substantial level of alcohol among the bearded listeners! All of this came together at Bluesfest 2013! I’ll be keeping my beard as my son does not have two mums!
Really a great performance. Live was better than You tube. Some to enjoy though.
Can not believe the talent this young Hawaii export demonstrates with a ukulele. He did a solo Bohemian Rhapsody that left everyone screaming for more. You must see him, before arthritis slows him down – and the way his plays its only going to be a couple of years! His CD is beautiful but nothing like his live performance for the energy and dynamics he delivered. One of the greats!
Surprise performance and said to be the last (most likely) by lead singer Abby Dobson. Leonardo’s Bride are an Australian folk-pop band that formed in 1992 disbanding in 2001. This was a ‘get together’ blast for them all apparently. Really were enjoyable and glad to have heard them.
Didn’t see enough of this great duo. Enormous characters who clearly have their banter down to a fine art including quick one liner’s by Fitz to Cara’s relationship comments. If you get the chance in a nice environment (comfortable pub seats) not standing in humid sun, to see these guys don’t miss the opportunity. Great voices, super musicianship and rocking blues.
I struggled with this band. My kids told me they were those who inspired Panic! At the Disco. The musicianship is great and they certainly gave an enthusiastic and enjoyable performance with tremendous depth in both lyrics and motivation. Maybe it was the consistency of timbre in the singing of Adam Duritz that just skipped me by, maybe I was just tired and noised out by then. They do have a great track history but didn’t seem to me to expose a lot of it in the time they had. In any event enjoy!
Really wish they had done this!
Make every effort to catch up with this group if you ever get the opportunity. You will not be disappointed with the craftsmanship of these individuals and ‘shorty’ in particular. Just an enjoyable experience and could have listened to a lot more.
We started with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – a truly enjoyable performance from a well crafted vocal delight and professional guitar and backing.
Enjoy!
Part way through Bluesfest 2013 and apart from a wet day today I think the organiser must be fairly happy. For those who haven’t been to the Bluesfest it looks like this.
The site is large and takes a good 10 minutes to get between venues (minus people going the other way). The venues have reasonable stages and some (MOJO and CROSSROADS) have large high definition screens. That is essential because once the tsunami of a crowd rolls in to the big acts its a wall of standing people, hats and waving arms. While you can sit in designated areas don’t expect to see once the big acts at night start.
Whats’ Good!
The music when it is on is of very high caliber and some international acts grace all the stages. Santana, Glen Hansard and the Frames, Robert Plant and Paul Simon are clearly great talents. There are dozens of lesser known performers and all seemed to rise to the occasion and gave ‘best of’ performances.
The food is not bad. There is a wide variety but don’t expect to sit quietly in a pub restaurant atmosphere. It’s all queue and wait then find some dry ground or a seat in one of the large eating tents. Most of the food on offer is pseudo international and I suspect many Byron Bay people are doing a roaring trade. Paella, strange pizzas, all sorts of middle east and Asian flavors on display and with the high turnover you can be reasonably confident of freshness and safety, though some of the handler’s hygiene practices could do with some monitoring especially in the killer humidity. Prices vary widely but all in all you will not go hungry if you have some money. (You can get free water fills so lots of points there.)
The people are friendly (at least until the alcohol levels get a bit high) and you can strike up a conversation with most. Lots of veteran Bluesfest lovers who delight in telling you how you should have been there last year! The age spread is enormous from kids and teens though to aging Iggy Pop watchers and I suspect a lot of gray nomads if the camping grounds are any example.
They have made available a neat internet app that works very well (even when the internet is overloaded) and gives you a great way of seeing what is on and what you have no hope of seeing because of the distance and crowds. However if you plan, are not overly ambitious in your expectations you should see just about all of the people you want.
What’s Not So Good.
Well, it is a festival not a concert. It is a lifestyle event and attended by thousands of people all wanting to have a good time in their own way (but occasionally at other’s comfort).
The Santana concert was a nightmare of chaos (oh, the music was awesome). The rain came down and hundreds of rather inebriated, drenched people just barged into the seating area falling over chairs in the pitch black tent floor and really annoying those who had sat patiently all day in the one space to see their favourite. There was no security to be seen and no controls apart from some don’t smoke and move the seats back messages from a lone voice on stage, that only the people inside could hear. At night in a pitch black tent floor with floodlights in your eyes it is a recipe for some serious injury. Not having any lighting down on the floor area between acts was both foolish and from a Workplace Health and Safety aspect a true nightmare for their insurers. A couple of people fell quite heavily over hidden chairs and bags and believe it or not some children were still sitting on floor rugs as these bull-dozing thonged feet tramped through. There are designated walking areas but these rapidly become clogged with standing viewers making it impossible to get in or out without walking over, on or into some poor seated fan. It is sadly comical and distressing when you see a drunken dreadlocked sole smashing their way over chairs and people to go from front to back.
It is reasonable to say that once the rain starts you need to be where you want to be and stay there. It gets muddy quickly and everyone crams into the available space. There needs to be more covered areas for the numbers attending. Umbrellas are banned (though they – like the copious amounts of what smelled like weed – seemed to appear at night without much difficulty.)
Driving is easy and getting in at the beginning of the day and getting out during the day seems to go smoothly but coming late in the day means a long walk and leaving at the end can add another hour to your trip. I am sure this can be improved but it is a BIG festival so be patient in all things. There are shuttle buses and they seem to get through easily not clear if taxis get a good run. Buses are around $4 each way. All in all cars are a workable option but it’s a bit of pot luck where you get parked and how easy it is to get out. Oh yeah watch out for the pedestrians they are everywhere at night, they are drunk and they cross the roads like startled kangaroos at any opportunity. Take care – another workplace nightmare for the insurers I suspect.
More to come and I will start on the performers a little more in later posts.