Day 3: Meeanjin (Brisbane)
Nau mai
Inanahi, i whakatangi mātou ki Meeanjin, Ahitereiria
The sky was a deep tuauri (indigo) as we emerged from our airport-adjacent Holiday Inn Express at 5.15am. We were headed toward a 7am flight, chasing the trend that has us flying incrementally earlier every day this tour.
I kai ahau i hanawiti me huawhenua mō taku parakuihi.
My, breakfast, a vegetable sandwich.
We slept on the flight and awoke as the wheels kissed the tarmac at Brisbane Airport. It was a beautiful, clear morning, the subtropical Queensland climate possessing a cool but humid air that felt refreshing as we emerged from the terminal.
Our rental vehicle turned out to be a disappointment. We in The Beths all enjoy a Toyota as much as the next person but the Toyota Kulger we rented had a miserable cargo bay and we couldn’t get a larger vehicle. We ended up sending Liz and Jon in an uber and filling the back seat up with gear. Things got better at the hotel where miraculously we were awarded an early check-in enabling us to catch a few hours of sleep before load-in.
Squished into the Kluger.
The traditional name for Brisbane is Meeanjin – the place of the blue water lilies, or, the place shaped like a spike. The owners and custodians of Meeanjin are the Turrbal People, a tribe that was nearly wiped out by British settlers in the massacres of the mid 1800s.
We headed to our venue, The Triffd, which was in Newstead, at the north end of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. It was there that we met one of the true heroes of the tour. His name was Rio, and he was The Triffd’s lighting technician, a fit, wiry man with only a couple of teeth remaining in the top of his mouth - evidence of an enthusiastic attitude to life. Rio greeted us with a handshake and a grin and asked us about our lighting colour preferences. Then we showed him our inflatable backdrop and his face lit up. “I’d better go put on my harness” he said, running off. For the next thirty minutes we watched as Rio climbed and hung from the two storey truss high above the stage, fastening the cables and making tiny adjustments until he was completely satisfied with the way it was hanging.
There were three bands on the bill last night. Hans Pucket on their final show of this tour played a fierce thirty-minute opening set. Platonic Sex, a Meeanjin band, followed up with a diverse set of songs coloured by coarse, thick, guitar sounds and the powerful and emotive vocal of Bridget Brandolini which commanded the attention of everyone present.
We spent a while hanging out with Hans Pucket after the show. While we continue on to South Australia, they head back to Aotearoa where they will prepare for their album release next month. They presented us with a beautiful parting gift, a Lego representation of The Beths. This artwork will grace the shelves of our studio until the end of time.
Liz showing off a gift from a fan.
Inanahi I forgot to add my kupu o te rā. So the kupu o te rā for inanahi is inanahi, which means yesterday.
The kupu o te rā for tēnei rā is ngenge. It means tired.
After waking up at 5am I ngenge mātou
We were tired.
Ka kite āno
Kia pai tōu rā!