The title is taken from one of my all time favourite Augie March songs – Owens Lament from what is one of my all time favourite albums ever.
The blurb from the ads for their shows says the following – Just when you think you have them pinned Augie March announce their next step AUGIE MARCH – ON THE QUIET will showcase the band in an intimate set up playing some very fine, very small venues, for a very fine, very small run of shows. Playing as a full band, but with a large dose of acoustic instruments. Sometimes no amplification at all, sometimes full blast electric amplification. But at all times, intimate, harmonious and close; treating each show as a lounge room romp playing a mix of all sorts of new and old material. …. last night they gave all of this and so much more.
I got slightly lost driving to Belgrave so it took me about an hour and a half to find Ruby’s Lounge but I got there eventually at 7.30pm and was lucky enough to be able to hear the last couple of songs during sound check. It took me a few seconds to place the first song I was hearing…. oh my god it was One Crowded Hour but it was unrecogniseable (which I think is a good thing though I do love that this song has brought them a wider audience). They also played City of Rescue and I was sure I saw an Arnold Horn hanging around (the one that is Zach’s dad).
I confess that I was feeling decidedly antsy as I saw people start to line up…..oh no, I wasn’t first in line and wasn’t even in line at all as I was waiting for one of my Augie March forum friends to arrive as she had bought the tickets in her name.
By the time the doors opened at 8.10pm there were about 40 people lined up outside which I thought was fabulous to see (though by this stage I was almost hyperventilating due to not being in line)……breathe Mel breathe!!!!
When Dulani arrived and we were going in the two guys at the door asked me what I had been writing while I waited outside and I explained that I am a crazy Augie fan/blogger and they gave a sigh of relief as they thought I may have been from the sanitation board and about to close them down as I had been sitting outside scribbling notes as I listened to the sound check!!!! Mind you would someone intent on shutting them down have had a huge grin on their face as they listened to the sound check??
Emily Ulman played from 9.15. I admit I have never heard of her but wow what a voice. The music was kind of folky I guess, beautiful and mellow and lovely to listen to. I was a bit frustrated on her behalf as quite a few people continued to have loud conversations while she was singing. especially in such a small venue such as Rubys Lounge it must be awful for the person on stage to be able to hear and see the audience chatting amongst themselves. She performed a stunning cover of a Leonard Cohen song – tomorrow we’ll be fine. She played for about 45 minutes.
The stage looked great, of course the stage at Rubys is miniscule and there were lamps scattered around and some old fashioned kitchen chairs, the ones made of metal with vinyl seats. I especially loved that they were extremely worn, rips in the vinyl etc. I can imagine them having been in someones house and borrowed for these gigs. I checked out the stage and thought it looked like there was only one microphone stand for an Arnold Horn and spent the rest of the time trying to figure out where Ed and Adam would be as Kiernan was at the front of the stage and there was one microphone to the side of Glenn and one slightly behind and to the right of Kiernan. Thankfully small things like this can keep me amused for ages. Dave’s drum has the On The Quiet tour logo on it.
stage at Ruby's Lounge
stage set up
I took some photos of the stage and a close up of Daves drum with the new logo however I cleverly somehow deleted all of the photos in my camera….I must have done it last night when I was trying to remember how to work my camera. Thankfully I also had my phone and took some photos with that as well so I have those at least.
I positioned myself just to the right of Glenn and sat down while waiting for them. Most of the people in the front of the room were sitting down….I figured they were having a rest before the show started (but they stayed sitting when the band came on stage!!!!!).
10.30pm Augie March came out and Glenn introduced Glenorchy Bunyip. He was singing into a copper pipe which kind of gave the tinny effect radio announcers in the 1940’s had. Adam was playing a slide guitar I think they call it. He was seated behind Kiernan and Ed was at the front of the stage to the left of Glenn. Wow no hiding during these shows I guess for him.
I wanted to stand up and dance but no one at all was standing up and I would have blocked everyones view if I had stood up so I gritted my teeth and practised my sit-boogie moves.
Lupus was a slower version I think, the keyboards were a focal point and the only way I came up with to describe Glenn’s vocals was that they were more plaintive than usual. Adam on the slide guitar (or whatever it is) was amazing.
Third was One Crowded Hour and again it was this amazing slow, laid back groove. The melody and phrasing sounded totally different to me. Matthew Habben the saxophonist from the Arnold Horns joined them for this song. I love that they totally changed what is arguably their most popular song. I looked around during this song and the entire audience was silent and focused on the stage. That has to be a good thing.
Here Comes The Night was a dream to listen to. The sound was great from where I was. I love it when I can hear each instrument as well as the vocals from everyone clearly without one overpowering the others. Adam was playing what looked like a guitar made out of metal. Very shiny.
Dave thanked Amanda from the Ukeladies for lending him her ukulele for Sunstroke House. The vocals were a highlight for me during this song from Glenn, Dave and Ed. I wrote down that it is rare that we get a chance to hear them so clearly. I described this version of Sunstroke House in my notes as uncluttered.
Farmers Son sounded similar to the original. I do agree with Glenn in that I wonder what prompted the record company to choose this as the next single. It will be interesting to see how it sells.
The band seemed to be checking in with each other quite a lot during the songs. I guess with the new arrangements they needed to keep track of changes and rely much more on each other than they would need to at a gig where they know the songs and arrangements by heart. I feel this was a positive thing as in all honesty, this was in some ways the most cohesive I have seen them on stage for a long time ie. there was more non-verbal interaction amongst them all rather than each person being isolated yet together if that makes sense.
Little Wonder – this is such a pretty song and I mean that in the most positive sense of the word. My notes taken during this song were brief – Kiernan owned this song. His playing was beautiful.
Playing the songs they chose in such stripped back versions there was a risk that they would simply highlight any inadequacies in Glenn’s voice. Instead we were treated to Glenn sounding really fine, no cracking, holding the notes and …..not sure how to explain this clearly, at times it was like he was almost holding back, at times his singing was understated yet all the more powerful. I can’t figure out how to better describe what I mean precisely by this. (I really should have paid more attention to my music teacher in school).
The intro to Pennywhistle got a loud cheer from the audience. Glenn seemed to be a bit frustrated by the end of this song, not sure if he was having problems with the mix or himself.
Stranger Strange has always been a song I love and the version they played was beautiful. I wrote down that it was a naked arrangement. I really liked the minimalist approach they took with some of their songs. It brought the focus back to the lyrics and the music. Again Glenn appeared to be frustrated with the sound. This arrangement was another mellow groove, I didn’t think it was possible to improve on an already beautiful song but they did.
There is No such Place sounded like the original rather than the new fangled whiz bang version they have been playing in recent months. Blissful.
Cold Acre – I struggle to love this song however I do like it and it is always a crowd favourite.
Glenn had to stop and restart Baron of Sentiment and he had a laugh about that which was nice to see. The saxaphone on this song was great.
Glenn then mentioned that Adam was playing the fake Brothers in Arms piece of shit guitar and this of course immediately lead to the others playing Romeo and Juliet and Dave singing while Glenn just shook his head. It was amazing just how many in the audience knew the words, me included. These are the moments that make a gig priceless.
The Slant is another song really suited to these smaller venues. It is such a hauntingly beautiful song
Glenn then asked us to think of the next few songs as the encore as it would have looked silly for the band to step off the stage to loiter amongst the audience for a few minutes before coming back onstage.
Glenn introduced Heartbeat and Sails by saying that he hates this song and Dave loves it. There was a false start and then at the end of it Glenn was laughing as he said that he played the wrong chords for the entire song and he was a little concerned that no one seemed to notice (or care).
Their cover of The Kinks song Days sounded fabulous.
And they finished off with the beautiful slow version of Train - was it played at one of the Melbourne shows at Ormond Hall?
They finished just before midnight.
What a night, what a show. This gave the band an opportunity to show off what they do best, sing and play music without any whiz bang lighting or stage set ups.
I snagged Glenn’s setlist and it had Blackbird written in pen but it wasn’t played.
Glenn
Dave and Adam
Dulani and I
Posted by melbells 
Posted by melbells 
Posted by melbells 
