‘Til there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

The title of this blog is taken from the song Bolte and Dunstan Talk Youth from the Augie March album Moo You Bloody Choir.

I chose today in particular to complete this blog and pretty much to wind up my reports of the Watch Me Disappear Tour as I am in Brisbane which is where I saw the last show. Lots of happy memories for me here as it was the catalyst for this whole blogging insane fan thing.

This blog is about the post-show hijinks after the Brisbane show on November 28 2008 at The Tivoli.

After the show Sam and I hung out near the stage in the hope of catching up with Ed again to say hi and bye. Well Sam actually went and sat down on a couch but joined us later when the security people tried to kick her out.

Ed came by and I actually think he didn’t have that usual look of intense fear that crosses his face when he sees the insane people who hang around waiting to talk with him after a show…… or maybe he has just got better as masking it?!

He was very chatty (no surprises there) and introduced us to Stacey who is the band’s publicist. Stacey was slightly….. joyful…… as she was pleased to be in Brisbane and I must say, it scared me when she said ‘Mel, I’ve heard about you!!!!’ Damn maybe the band really did try to get a restraining order out against me.

I think she just liked it that my name was Mel and she loves Flight of the Conchords who have a crazy fan called Mel. Weirdly she thought there were some similarities but for the life of me I didn’t know what they could be. I mean the other Mel is some crazy chick who follows her favourite band all over the place to their shows …… nothing in common at all.

I kindly offered my services as a psychologist to the band and Ed and Stacey (and Matt when he came by to say hi) all thought this would be very handy. Of course this was a totally selfless act on my part and nothing at all to do with me wanting to see the band more or anything. Various people suggested different band members I could start with and it was interesting to hear the names put forward. However as the GoGo’s would say….. our lips are sealed!!!!!!

We were also introduced to David Collins (forevermore referred to by all as DC) who is another very cool person (my account will be in the mail DC!! ha ha). He is the newest addition to the Augie March management team.

Stacey suggested that I should write a blog about the band and their shows and that it could be some kind of official site and of course I thought she was not only insane but joking so I said yeah of course, I’d love to do that. I then didn’t think anything more about it until she emailed me a few weeks later asking if I had thought any more about her idea and if I would be interested and here I am!!!!!

As usual there were some great conversations, we all bonded and found out each other’s star signs (pity I promptly forgot what we all were) and I am pretty sure that sex was mentioned!!!!! Damn me my total lack of memory recall.

Augie March Setlist November 28 2008 Brisbane

Dan Kelly came on around 8.30pm. He had had a haircut since I had last seen him in Melbourne. The Ukeladies were shoeless and wearing hawaiian print dresses. They finished at 9.15. Oh and the Ukeladie didn’t use an apple for the last song they played this time. Maybe it didn’t get through quarantine at the airport?

Once again notes I made during the show will be in italics.

9.50pm Augie March came on stage
1. Lupus I loved the sound – the drums, bass, guitars, vocals and backing vocals all sound so clear to me.
Glenn was unhappy with the sound during this song – unbelievable
2. Penny Whistle with the Arnold Horns (Zac!! – he is the newest and youngest member of the horns). The AH sounded really clear during this song – wonderful
3. Cold Acre
4. One Crowded Hour Glenn introduced it by saying “Heres one I did in this very outfit on Rockwiz a couple of nights ago.” Huge roar from the crowd when they played the intro to this song.
5. Becoming Bryn
6. Farmers Son (just with the trumpet player from the Arnold Horns)
7. City of Rescue (I noticed that Matt High- Manager was here during this song…. so it was him I saw at the airport)
8. Thin Captain Crackers
9. There Is No Such Place – Glenn mentioned that half of their guitars and some other equipment didn’t turn up today
10. Mugged By The Mob – with the Arnold Horns blissful This was one of the stand out songs of the night for me.
11. Devil in Me with the Arnold Horns. Adam talked!!!!! Glenn mentioned that they were trying a few different things this tour including having Dan Kelly on stage and the Arnold Horns for some shows and having a young Arnold Horn there as well.
12. Glenorchy Bunyip
13. Watch Me Disappear

midnight
Encore
14. Here Comes The Night
The setlist had The Slant but instead they played Here Comes the Night!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!! Glenn mentioned using a capo as he can’t sing that high any more. (taken from my post on the Augie march forum after the gig) – It was a simple pared back version – Glenn on acoustic, Adam and Kiernan. One of those pin drop moments. You could hear the audible gasp of delight from some of the audience (myself included) when they played the intro.
15.Drowning Dream
16. Vernoona Glenn said that he wrote this for his niece in Tasmania as it was the name she used to call herself and that it is one of his favourite songs.
17. Brundisium with the Arnold Horns. Glenn said this is a very Melbourne song.
Definitely the best song of the night.
18. Train with the Arnold Horns.
19. Owen’s Lament. Ed’s backing vocals were very clear. Dave was having a lot of fun drumming during this song. Glenn had problems whistling. Kiernan had such an intense look of concentration on his face while playing the piano accordion. It seems like he gets totally engrossed in his music when on stage.

Taken from my post on the AM forum after this show-
Ed’s backing vocals and bass during Owens were just beautiful, there was a lovely soothing quality in his vocals which I not been able to pick up in previous shows this tour so to hear it tonight was a gift. I don’t know if it was the tone or what, they sounded clear and crisp. The whole band seemed to be very much in tune with each other for this song tonight, taking their cues from each other and watching each other intently.

Earlier in the show Dan Kelly had played the first chord of Train and the crowd went wild and sang Traiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Glenn laughed and said to Dan – “that is a very dangerous chord to play my friend.”

More from what I wrote on the Augie March forum after the show….

I got Kiernan’s set list. Adam’s was within reach however I decided I didn’t want it after a person wrote on it – please play Victoria’s Box

I think the Brisbane audience was the best that I have seen, lots of audience singing along, not too many phone conversations during the songs, a number of times the audience was silent eg. HCTN!!!!!!! Awesome.

It was a beautiful venue for a bigger show and my feeling is that the band ended this tour with arguably one of the best shows of the tour.

Tonight there seemed to be more camaraderie between the guys, more interactive rather than each playing in his own pod. DK continues to be an asset on stage, making a concerted effort to catch Glenn’s eye when Glenn is starting to get frustrated with himself. I saw DK give Glenn a cheeky grin and Glenn could do nothing but smile in return so it was a great tension defuser.

The lighting was very muted for this show. Ed was in silhouette a lot of the time and the whiteness of Dave’s shirt coupled with the spotlight just near his head made him appear almost god-like – I bet he loved that.

Glenn’s voice once again was sounding fantastic, really crisp and clean endings to a lot of the notes and a lot of power in his singing.

Kiernan's setlist

Adam

I came to warn you

The title is from Believe Me from the album Sunset Studies. I chose this as I went to the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne today which had a lot of sobering information about the damage we continue to do to our country and people. Dan Sultan played tonight and was fantastic. The last day of the festival is Sunday 21 February so if you get a chance go to Federation Square in Melbourne to check it out.

I realised today that I need to finish writing about the last show that I went to as the new gigs are almost here…..woohoo!!!!! This was the Brisbane show on 28 November 2008. I flew in that afternoon from Melbourne and as I was racing to the departure lounge I saw Matt High (Augie March’s Manager) but by the time I figured out who it was he was long gone.

I met up with Sam at the hotel we were staying at and was shocked to see her as she had grazes on her face and arms and stitches in her mouth. She had come off her scooter that morning, had gone to hospital to get patched up and had then jumped on the plane to come to the gig. Wow us Augie March fans are a tough bunch.

Augie March played at The Tivoli in Brisbane which was a beautiful venue. The women’s bathroom has this beautiful couch that goes the length of one wall …..such luxury. I was tempted to stay in there all night as it was so comfy.

I was very disorganised for this trip and in my hasty packing I packed a pair of insanely high heels (which I never wear) and had a pair of thongs I wore on the plane and that was it…..no other shoes. I went to The Tivoli in the afternoon and asked them if they would let me in with thongs and they said they wouldn’t so I had to race down to the shops to find a pair of shoes. I eventually went into a little store that smelled incredibly musty and mildewy and bought a cheap pair of slip ons.

Sam and I got to The Tivoli and were surprised to see a line already forming for the gig. I was eavesdropping on the conversation of two guys in front of us in line (hi Jonathon and Adam! ha ha) and the four of us started talking and Sam and I got to tell them about the shows we had seen during this tour. I always love getting to talk with other fans when standing in line before a show.

We went to the front of the stage and staked our spots when we the doors opened and surprisingly a lot of the crowd came up the front as well. I think Dan Kelly had a lot of fans in the audience that night.

Next blog will be about the show itself.

But if we’re gonna bury the hurt ….

I love these two lines in the song The Devil in Me from the album Watch Me Disappear
But if we’re gonna bury the hurt
Take your pick and your shovel and lean to the task sister, lean.
It would be nice to have a magic shovel that you could use to bury hurt and sadness……. Carmel, you are a part of my chosen family and will never be forgotten.

so today I will be talking a little about the post-Melbourne show by Augie March on the 16th November at Ormond Hall. And thankfully this is the final time I have to apologise for not remembering what actually happened and having to rely on the memories of friends.

The stand out songs for me from the night before were Brundisium and Drowning Dream. Sometimes if you stand right in front of the speakers during Brundisium you can feel the bass/base (?) line vibrating inside you ….. um not that I do that (much) ….. but it is incredible.

When Glenn is having a good night (ie. more relaxed and at ease with himself and the world) it seems to flow on to the rest of the band and they spend less time in their own head spaces and more time interacting with each other. It is hard to explain but sometimes it is almost as if no one does more than glance at anyone else on stage so it is always nice to see them smiling and joking and talking with each other as they did at this show.

It was a bittersweet feeling after this show as it was the last Augie March gig that Jami and Kristin would see with Kristin actually flying back to the USA the next day. I am so pleased that they got to finish their Augie tour down under with such a good show. I think they saw a good mix of shows with the Hobart, Adelaide and two Melbourne shows.

Ed came and talked with us again …. poor man, I wonder if he was voted most likely to have strange fans follow him around on tour when he was in high school? (In my notes I wrote that as usual Ed was very chatty ….. ha ha now that is a slight understatement.) I think these after-show conversations with him have been one of the highlights for me. Of course my favourite topics were the drunken Sam ones in Adelaide (bondage, prostitutes and spit) however the ones about salinity and the environment were also fascinating.

I think Kristin actually blushed when he gave her a hug goodbye and thanked her for coming over.

When Jb, Jami, Kristin and I were waiting for a taxi Kiernan turned up also waiting for a taxi and we had a bit of a chat with him. It more than likely involved us gushing about him or something. We generously let him have the first taxi since he was on his own and we didn’t want him to come to any harm!! Yeah we are nice fans…..crazy but nice.

Just adding Jb’s comment from one of the previous blogs here….
that beer was marvelous. and Augie definitely made up for a lackluster first night. that encore was sensational. have you forgotten about queuing up for a taxi with the Box-man?? he graciously let us get a taxi first, but we even more graciously insisted that he get in the cab first. I think he appreciated my screams of “Grandpa is the fungus”.

Ok photo time…and again thanks to Jami for the use of her pics.

Bec, Bones and Sam

Kristin, Sam, Jb, Claire and moi after the show

Augie March Setlist 16 November 2008, Melbourne

Once again this is the minimal extra information version of events so add any extra memories you have about the actual songs here please.

The band came on at 9.20pm.
Comments I wrote on the night will be in italics

1. Lupus We can hear the vocals!! Yep the sound from the front of the stage was much better than the previous night
2. Penny Whistle with the Arnold Horns
3. Cold Acre
4. One Crowded Hour
5. Becoming Bryn
6. Farmers Son - just the trumpet player from the Arnold Horns
7. City Of Rescue
8. Thin Captain Crackers
9. There Is No Such Place
10. The Slant Glenn changed the last line of the song to ‘Dan’s ass’
11. Devil In Me with the Arnold Horns
Glenn said this wasn’t a song about love but that it was a song about everyone having a dark side, except no one knows until they find the bodies

Glenn said “I will let the hat do the talking” (meaning Dave who was wearing a very stylish cap) …. which was unusual as usually Glenn is telling Dave to stop talking.
12.Glenorchy Bunyip
13. Watch Me Disappear

Encore
Dave came out and kept his back to the audience initially and when he turned around he was wearing a gorilla mask and did a wild drum solo (someone said it was a parody/homage to some tv ad for something, some time…. I can’t remember …… ask someone you know who watches tv and they may be able to tell you…. or maybe I got that wrong and it was something entirely different……..)

and then it morphed into
14. Drowning Dream
15. Vernoona
16. Brundisium with the Arnold Horns
17. Train with the Arnold Horns

Someone in the audience yelled out for Throw Your Arms Around Me so they did the first line of that song. When the audience yelled for more when Glenn stopped singing that song his reply was ‘Suffer! Be thankful you didn’t go to war which is what I wrote the next song about’ which I thought was a lovely segue into the final song
18. Owens Lament

The audience was better tonight than the night before though part of that may have been because of the much improved sound quality. There was also a lot of banter from and between the band and shock horror….. lots of smiling and laughing!!!! And…. not one mention of the earpieces!!!!!

Adam's setlist

Glenn

Kiernan

Dave

Ed

Glenn

Adam (foreground) and Glenn

Thanks and kudos again to Jami for the photos of the band

Lately the smoke from the burning bushes, Has the eye and the mouth tasting ashes,

Title today from Dogsday from the latest album Watch Me Disappear. (Claire, stay safe) Like may others I feel incredibly helpless at the moment and wish I could do more to help the thousands of people affected by the bushfires.

There wasn’t any post-show goss after the show on the 15th as we didn’t see any of the band ….sorry everyone, it’s straight into the second Melbourne show now.

I have to thank Kristin for providing the details once again to flesh out my very vague memories of the second Melbourne show on 16.11.09 at Ormond Hall….. damn you pain killers for reducing my already fairly poor memory!

A few of us planned to get frocked up for the second show so the afternoon at my place consisted of Jami, Kristin and I sharing make up tips and asking ‘does my ass look big in this?’ …… ok well possibly it was only me asking that and my actual question was ….’is this dress too low cut?’ Once again my style guru Kristin said it was fine … you think I would have learned my lesson after Adelaide (read the blog titled “Tonight you let me see you’ for the full disaster). Note to self – black bra + red low cut dress = hooker.

Jami caught up with Bec and Jude that afternoon so Kristin and I went and had dinner at The Belgian Beer Cafe next door to Ormond Hall (I had soup for the millionth meal in a row since I still couldn’t chew…. though I did try to suck some bread until it turned to mush ….. trust me, it’s not nearly as satisfying as the real thing).

This was Kristin’s last night in Australia (what a way to end her trip though hey?) so there was a bit of sadness mixed in with the excitement about the upcoming Augie March show.

When we walked in to the restaurant part it was pretty much deserted and we looked around and caught the eye of one of the waiters who seemed surprised that we wanted a table. “You want a table?” “To eat?” “Oh ….. ok.”

Jb came and joined us and then Claire and Kristian came by as well so we all killed time yakking before the show. We then went to line up outside and for once weren’t the first in line!

Thankfully Jami was at the head of the queue so we inched our way to the front and joined her. One of the bouncers was kind enough to take photos of us and we look so glamorous

Claire, me, Jami, Jb, Kristin

Claire, me, Jb and Kristin

We met up with the others inside and as usual staked out our various positions around the stage. I had every intention of standing further back this time so that I could hear the music better but the temptation to be right up the front was too great.

Kristin stocked up on Augie souvenirs for herself and for another Augie March fan who lives in the USA (did you send them to her K?) and her and Jb also attempted to drink all of Melbourne’s beer supply on their own.

Kristian got the Ukeladies to take his cd’s backstage and Dan Kelly signed them for him so there was much excitement all around.

Ok the next blog will be about the show (at least I remembered to take my note book and wrote down the songs this time even if I didn’t write any before stuff).

oh sweet..destination Mel

How do they know where I live???

It's showtime!!!!!!

(thanks again to Jami for the photos)

Augie March Setlist 15 November 2008, Melbourne

hmmm this is taken off the actual set list but I know it isn’t quite in the order that was played on the night plus it doesn’t have The Slant which was definitely played….how could we forget? Did they play The Keepa?

1. Lupus
2. One Crowded Hour
3. Penny whistle (with the Arnold Horns)
4. Thin Captain Crackers (with the Arnold Horns)
5. Farmers Son (with the Arnold Horns)
6. Becoming Bryn (Baron of sentiment was crossed out on setlist)
7. The Keepa
8. Mugged by the mob (with the Arnold Horns)
9. There is no such place
10.Glenorchy Bunyip
11.Watch me disappear
12.Devil in me (with the Arnold Horns)
13.City of rescue

Encore
14.Dogsday
15.Drowning dream
16.Brundisium (no need to thank me everyone, I am sure it was only my having written it on the setlist from Adelaide the night before that reminded them that we needed to hear it)
17.Train (with the Arnold Horns)
18. Owens lament

As mentioned in the pre-show blog I didn’t take my note book and can’t really remember too much of the night so I am using my very hazy memories, the photos and posts from others on the forum to build a bit of a picture….once again, feel free to add additional comments to help flesh it out.

I wrote this on the yahoo group the next day
Getting ready for the second show tonight I realise I have crossed
over from passionate fan to certifiably insane when making sure I have
enough panadeine forte to get through the night is more important than
lipstick!!

As usual I was in front of the stage and that was pretty much the worst place to be for this gig. The sound was terrible at the front, I couldn’t make out the words and the instruments were muffled.

Glenn had a problem with the chords to The Slant (hmmmm where was that played during the show?) and as he walked off stage at the end of the song (which makes me think it was the last song before the encore maybe??) he kicked Dave’s drum. He mentioned that playing in Melbourne is always stressful and boy did it show. Every missed word or chord seemed to signal the end of the world for Glenn.

Once again apologies for not having more to add about this gig.

Thanks Jb for getting Adam’s setlist and giving it to me….. you are a good man Charlie Brown!!

It was wonderful to catch up with so many of the Augie fans, many of whom I had last seen at the album launch at The Forum.

Thanks to Jami for the photos

Adam Donovan

Dave Williams

Glenn Richards

The multi-intrumentaled(ha ha) Kiernan Box during Penny Whistle

And why do we always dream of disaster

The line in the title is from The Baron of Sentiment ….admittedly not one of my favourite songs but that particular line highlights how our thoughts can actually impact upon how things play out.

The next few blogs will be about the Augie March Melbourne show at Ormond Hall on the 15th November 2008.

During what was a fairly ordinary show by the band Glenn commented that playing in Melbourne is always stressful and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy with whatever could go wrong going wrong.

I actually have to rely on the memories of others as I didn’t take a notebook with me!!!!! In my defence I was actually in horrific pain from having a couple of teeth extracted. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t smile and with each step I took when walking it was like someone was putting a chisel through my skull ….. but apart from that I was fine!!

I spent a lot of the night sitting on the floor and probably single handedly boosted the drug companies profits for 2008 in one night.

Wow I am trying to think about what we did beforehand but my mind has blanked out….ah well, this will be a short blog with lots of photos!!!

I got to meet a few more Augie march forum-ites including Fee and Claire (although Claire and I had actually had a conversation while waiting in line for one of the Melbourne Christmas shows in 2007 as she had been going to her first Augie gig and I was all excited for her) and catch up with some others that I hadn’t seen for a while.

speaking of which…. thanks to Jami who took these pictures from the night.

Claire

sam-the-librarian

Mel, Kristian, Fee and Kristin

Me, Kristian and Fee

I love that we are all doing something with our hands near our faces in this photo

Tonight you let me see you-Adelaide 13.11.08 after the show

Tonight you let me see you – this is a line from Sunset Studies, the title song. I feel that we all walked away from that show knowing a little more about each other!!!!

As I mentioned in a previous blog the audience cleared out fairly quickly after Augie March ended. Kristin, Jami, Sam, and I loitered around and then Kristin and I decided to do some shameless flirting with the pub staff in order to get the two tour posters that were in the ticket booth under lock and key. After much eyelash batting and giggling (yes I am ashamed to admit that we giggled but damnit ….what is the saying…. desperate times call for desperate measures!!!!) we each walked away holding our much prized possessions.

Sam and Jami had enjoyed a drink or two over the course of the evening and were quite…. merry. We sat ourselves down at some tables and chairs to the side of the stage, near the stage door and were watching Sam as she engaged total strangers in conversation….. I confess to continually being in awe of her ability to talk with everyone.

Ed (Ammendola…. the bass player) came out and glanced over and seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second before coming over to say hi. Thankfully (because the world would be a sadder place if he hadn’t got to experience the ensuing conversations) he pulled up a chair and joined us.

What followed was a roller-coaster of hilarity and a lot of very strange discussions. It has to be said that most of them were generated by Sam however Jami also had her time in the spotlight whilst Kristin and I were content to simply laugh…and laugh…. and laugh.

Sam made mention of a book about prostitutes and tried to engage Ed in a conversation about prostitutes…in her defence, she didn’t only try to talk with Ed about them, she also mentioned them to Matt (High – the band’s manager and the taxi driver who took us back to the hotel).

We also heard a very complex story about her childhood memories of spitting and somehow bondage was also discussed. Jami was forced to keep us amused by saying things in her southern accent and Ed lightened the conversation by telling us tales of horror and serial killers in Adelaide. Ed was being extremely amenable (or maybe it was because he was worried that if he didn’t do as we said we would introduce even stranger topics of discussion) and let Jami record him saying ‘Renaissance’ as it would be the closest Jami (and us) would ever get to hearing Augie play that song.

Matt High (manager) was walking past and (somewhat desperately ha ha) Ed called him over and introduced him to us. He knew all of us from the yahoo group and it was fabulous to meet him in person and thank him for the patience with which he answers all of our questions). As mentioned he too was invited to discuss the merits of prostitution …. hmmmmm he said he had to rush off and excused himself … strange … very strange.

Sam has given me permission to put up a fantastic photo of her and Ed (um I apologise Ed….. please don’t kill me for putting this up)….it was taken by Jami after the Adelaide show.

Sam and Ed

Sam, me and Jami

Sam, Kristin and I

And yes I am wearing boxer shorts (ok possibly they are actually the bottoms of my incredibly grown up pj’s with sea creatures on them) as no thanks to Kristin who was acting as my stylist for the Adelaide trip I had a Britney moment at the airport in my dress/top and had to hurriedly find something to wear under them to the gig.

One of my favourite memories from the after show hijinks was of Sam leaning closer and closer to Ed (in direct proportion to the number of red wines she had) and of him being perched on the very edge of his chair …. ah fear is a lovely thing to see in a man.

We met up again with a more subdued Sam at the airport just a few hours later, all the worse for wear but her suffering just a teeny bit more. May I say that I have never seen anyone vomit in such a lady-like (and discrete) way with hundreds of people around her at an airport lounge ….see, we need all of those plastic bags for something!!!!

New Augie March On The Quiet tour

sorry…..I know I need to add the after-Adelaide goss but oh my goodness…….. Augie March have announced their new tour dates!!!!! I am already going to their Sydney shows and am thinking of changing my flight back home so that I can also go to their Newcastle gig.

Even better, the dates are all just before I go away so I don’t miss any…… which reminds me, I need to let them know they are banned (would that make them a banned band?)from playing any gigs while I am overseas!!