Day 7: Melbourne
Welcome
Yesterday we played the first of two headline shows in Melbourne.
I awoke and saw two pieces of art hanging on the wall of my bedroom that I hadn’t spotted the evening before. Ridged textures clawed from the canvas frames as if tortured spirits had been embedded in the drywall of our Airbnb. Leaving this sight behind I headed outside for a jog and soon found the Merri Creek Trail, a nicely maintained cycle path that follows the sweeps and bends of this tributary to the Yarra River. I returned thirty minutes later and stood sweating in the lounge as everyone began to assemble, ready to begin the workday.
The sun was high in the sky when we left the house together to head out for a business brunch with our record label, who were in this case represented by a lovely man called Chris Maund, codename: Maundy. We ended up at a spot called Piccante Café and found a table out back in their quiet courtyard, a brick lane that was empty except for a handsome golden retriever who made many begging efforts at our table both for food and pats. When the waiter came around, I ordered myself a roast veggie salad that proclaimed to include seasonal veggies, mixed leaves, goats cheese with a preserved lemon, and house dressing.
A large part of the remaining afternoon was spent in traffic. Jon and Liz took the KIA Carnival and headed to the venue with our equipment while Tristan and I headed across town in the van to pick up our rented backline. We dodged trams and battled through the carnage of the pre-rush-hour rush-hour, at one point even getting blocked by a police car as a motorcade of BMWs carrying diplomats and VIPs crawled past on their way back from a hard day of negotiating at the ASEAN – Australia Special Summit 2024.
Things were in full swing when we arrived at the Corner Hotel in the dense, inner-city suburb of Richmond. The stage was already crowded with audio equipment, and we peeled the protective cases from the amps and drums before carrying them up the stairs and adding them to a rich salad of cables and mic stands.
A brand-new PA system helped our soundcheck along nicely and added another layer of sparkle to what was already a great sounding venue. The layout was wide and asymmetrical with a low ceiling and several columns that obscured the view slightly but improved the character of the room and provided some load bearing capability. As promised in the venue’s name there were corners to be explored and I explored all of them, finding some with stairs, some with doors, and some with cupboards that provided storage for things like cables and microphones.
By 8:30pm these corners were occupied with bodies; those that didn’t fancy the crowded centre of the room had settled in its far reaches and found agreeable vantage points. Juice Webster began her set, joined once again by her band of Melbournians who provided skilful and delicate accompaniment to her songs. Forty minutes later they left the stage, soaking up a warm applause while they packed up their instruments and coiled cables. It was an eager audience that we faced twenty minutes later when we walked out to play the first of many songs. Up on stage the lighting was dim and there were many moments throughout the set when I couldn’t see the frets and I accidentally delivered a wrong note. Thankfully there were three other extremely fine musicians who kept things sounding polished and that turned out to be enough.
