Day 2: Dunedin, pt 2
Welcome
Yesterday we played our first show of the tour at The Captain Cook Hotel, supported by Christchurch band Mousey.
We all had quite a sluggish morning but eventually managed to depart from the motel and made our way to Precinct where we enjoyed a superb brunch. I ordered the sourdough crumpets with red compote, cinnamon toast crunch, liquid cheesecake, and syrup.
In the early afternoon we drove to Dunedin airport to pick up our tour manager Anthony Metcalf and our sound engineer Bob Frisbee, and then headed to the venue for soundcheck. We snuck in a quick cricket game before dinner and while it was a fairly tough and unpredictable wicket there were great performances from some of our star players.
The show was sold out and brought in a very excited and energetic crowd. Mousey got the night off to a great start with a rousing and dynamic set.
It was a privilege to perform to a New Zealand audience again and we tried to show our gratitude by providing the citizens of Dunedin with some valuable information about a cause that we in The Beths are extremely passionate about at the moment. The Bird Of The Year election is fast approaching and there is only one correct candidate to vote for. The Tawaki is one of New Zealand's four endemic species of of penguin. They only stand 65cm tall but have one of the longest penguin pre-moult migrations recorded to date, swimming between 3500 - 6800km on their journeys.Sadly due to settler-introduced predators such as stoats the Tawaki population has been in decline since the 1950s and they are now the third rarest species of penguin in the world with only an estimated 2500-3000 breeding pairs left.There has never been a penguin put in a position of power and it's time for that to change. Vote Tawaki for Minister of Birds 2019.
📸 Thomas Mattern.
Beth of the day goes to Anthony Metcalf. He did some furious problem solving throughout the evening including sourcing an extra monitor speaker for the show, sourcing duct tape when the venue didn't have any, and posting the wifi password in the group chat.It's great to have you with us on this tour Anthony, I can't wait to see what you achieve in the coming weeks.