There may still be a next year, who knows?

The title of this blog is a line from my favourite song by Augie March – The Offer. It is from the Sunset Studies album. If you have been reading the interviews by various members of the band recently you would see that there seems to be some question mark about the future of the band as we know it…… but then again, maybe they just like messing with our heads!!!!!! Whatever happens in the future, if the first gig of this tour is anything to go by fans new and old are in for a treat.

The support was Ned Collette and Wirewalker (billed as Firewalker at the gig ha ha) which consisted of Joe Talia on drums and Ben Bourke on bass. The audience hung back for most of Ned’s set though there were a few people up the front who were grooving away. Ned mentioned that they have just completed work on their new album and the highlight of their set for me was a new song – All The Signs.

Ned Collette

Joe Talia

Ben Bourke

Just before 10.30pm I almost had a coronary when I saw the set list for Augie March. I can never resist looking at the songs which will be played and was ecstatic to see The Offer up there. When I voted for this song to be played on this tour I thought that it was wishful thinking on my part but voted for it anyway.

I put the set list up last night so will just add some random things I jotted down during the show and my overall impressions of the gig.

I was concerned initially as the sound during the first 2 or 3 songs didn’t sound that great from the front however by the end of the night it had improved a lot. That is always one of the trade-offs though for wanting to see a band up close – sound or proximity.

As always the Arnold Horns added so much to the songs. They have a gift in being able to add such depth to many of the songs without overwhelming them. I must confess to spending a lot of the gig watching Matt Habben and Adam Hutterer, trying to work out which one was going to knock themselves out with the extremely low lying rafter.

Arnold Horns - Matt, (the low lying rafter) Adam and Ken

The best songs of the gig for me were Dogsday, The Keepa, The Vineyard, Clockwork and of course The Offer. I was a little disappointed that many of the older songs such as The Mothball and Tasman Awakens didn’t get a better reaction from the crowd at the start of the songs and I wondered if many of them did not know these songs.

Dave

Of course One Crowded Hour received a huge roar of appreciation from the audience and other songs which had people dancing and singing were The Keepa and Pennywhistle.

Adam doing his gangsta impersonation

The crowd actually seemed a bit quiet and I am hoping that some of the later gigs will have a bit more energy. In their defence the band also seemed to be affected by illness with both Ed and Glenn being unwell and energy levels onstage seemed low.

Ed lost in his music

Interestingly whilst their energy seemed low the mood of all of the band members seemed really upbeat. There was none of the tension onstage that was quite obvious during some of the gigs during their last tour and this really makes for a completely different gig. I definitely prefer lower energy and minimal tension versus high energy coupled with extreme tension onstage. The second Sydney show of the last tour being an obvious (to me) example of what I call ‘angry playing’.

Glenn and Adam

There was a lot of banter (it is lovely to see Dave once again being allowed to talk!) and even more enjoyable was to see all of the laughter on stage. I nicknamed the left side of the stage the naughty corner as for much of the gig Ed as well as Ken, Adam and Matt from The Arnold Horns were laughing together. Everyone laughed at Dave’s “No talking Arnold Horns” when the beginning of Farmers Son was delayed for a few seconds by their not being quite ready.

Dave during his chat with Glenn about footy

I wasn’t sure how Glenn’s voice would go given he had a cold/flu with many of the longer and higher notes however in songs such as Clockwork and The Mothball his voice really held it’s own. There was some breaking by the end of the night but if anything it added to the songs. I was definitely curious to hear how his voice would sound with the older songs and really was impressed.

Glenn and Adam

Dave made a beautiful comment about some people in the audience
‘twittering’ and the irony is that it was lost on them as they were so involved with whatever they were doing on their phones during the gig.

Ed’s backing vocals on Men Who Follow sounded fabulous. As I mentioned during a number of the blogs about the last tour it has been great to see more use made of his voice.

There was a lot of applause at the end of The Offer and it really did sound great live. It was one of the more energetic performances by the band for the night which I feel translated into more audience participation.

Adam

There were some of the usual incorrect keys and missed words by Glenn and once or twice I thought the rolling of the eyes might escalate into a more overt sign of frustration with himself but thankfully it didn’t. It is almost as if you can see the rest of the band holding their breath as they watch to see his reaction to the missed words/chords etc and then the sigh of relief when he is fine.

always nice to see - Glenn laughing

Being the first gig of the tour I am sure the band is still fine tuning things however I do feel the signs are there for this to be a tour filled with many unforgettable moments. Hearing these older songs really is a gift I didn’t think I would receive that’s for sure.

I had about 4 hours sleep last night and definitely wished I could ignore my alarm when I got out of bed for work this morning but it was worth it to see and hear such fantastic songs from the past.

Phew, now to pack my bag for Adelaide tomorrow.

Many thanks to the people who have offered to pass on information about the gigs that I won’t be able to get to for this tour.