Day 1: Sydney
Welcome
This is just a quick tour before we get back home to New Zealand so it will be a very short “BBC length” season of Breakfast and Travel Updates.
Yesterday found us arriving in Sydney, New South Wales, after a fourteen hour flight from Los Angeles.
Our day started 40,000 feet above the Coral Sea in a United Airlines Boeing 787-900. We were twelve hours into our overnight crossing of the Pacific and woke up to the breakfast trolleys beginning their run down the aisles. The options advertised were a ‘veggie cream cheese everything bagel’, or oatmeal. I went with the former which actually turned out to be an ‘everything baguette’, which in practice was actually more of a sesame ciabatta. The bread was lavishly dressed with Swiss Cheese, cream cheese, carrots, scallions, and red pepper. Accompanying this magnificent centerpiece was a tray of pineapple and grapes, a tub of strawberry Chobani classic yoghurt, and a stale croissant with butter and jam.
Our 787 making it’s final approach into Sydney.
Our descent into Sydney was a gentle one and after a 7/10 landing we picked up our baggage and made it through customs completely unscathed. The afternoon was spent resting at our hotel and trying to make the most of the onsite facilities - in this case the baggage storage room, swimming pool, and the chromecast.
The Sydney show was at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville - a large and lavishly carpeted room that used to house an iceream factory. It was exciting to have sound engineer Bob Frisbee along on tour again, fresh off a flight from Auckland. His beautiful New Zealand accent guided us through soundcheck and for those fleeting moments it felt like we were back home again.
Behind the scenes footage: Tristan attaching The Beths’ bassdrum head to the rental kit.
Liz and Jon conferring during soundcheck. Tristan makes a monitor request.
It was great to play in Sydney again after repeatedly postponing these Australian shows for almost two years. We were supported by Melbourne band Hachiku and they played a beautiful set of dreamy guitar pop with lush backing vocals. The post-show pack down was very straightforward with no van or bus to load up and we made the most of it, heading straight back to the hotel for a large amount of sleep.
Hachiku opening up the night.