Gaelic Club, Sydney
Australia, April 17. 2003

Last Update: 03. oktober 2003

Its Thursday Night in Sydney, it's pouring rain, but it does not dampen the spirits of the few who have found out about tonites once in a lifetime (hope not) as the girl at the door of the Gaelic Club calls it, only Sydney Gig, as the band is scheduled to play at the Byron Bay Blues Festival.
The set list was awesome to look at, after the show, and was even more amazing to experience Live down here in Oz, where we have been unLOVEd since most of us bought our first albums.
The stage was simple, with projections and lightshow effects (maybe reminiscent of the Whiskey in the 60's), Arthur came on stage after the band, to huge applause, wearing a white striped shirt, jeans, boots ,cowboy hat and dark glasses.
He spoke about this being his first ever trip " down under", and hoped we would enjoy the show, Shiiiiit, just seeing them, onstage was far out enough for most of the audience of about 400+ ( nice and intimate in the not too large surroundings of the club, as against the open air stage set far away from the crowds at Byron Bay)
Arthur strapped on his white fender & the band tore into " My Little Red Book" and we knew we were going to enjoy this show, Arthurs vocals were amazing, and to hear these sounds from the throat of the man himself rather than your sound system speakers was truly freaking paradise. On finishing the 1st number the faithful lifted the roof of the venue with applause. These guys are really tight, and obviously have been playing this material for some time . They then followed with a succession of treats from the 1st album and Da Capo, and at the first few chords of every song , the crowd cheered and clapped in recognition of all these familiar friends , we knew so well.
Arthur's Harmonica on Signed DC sent chills thru the collective spines of the audience as the man guided the harp section into previously uncharted waters, and thank god they did'nt just cover the recorded versions,,,,,,,that's what LIVE is all about , nuances, variations, changes of much loved songs, even though one particular friend of ours said "they arent the same as the record", to which we all told him to PO home and turn on his stereo and "live and let live" , anyway" he sees everything like this".

The band then treated us to a selection of songs , if not most of "Forever Changes".
Alone Again Or just blew all away,as did every number from then on,
After a sad note from Arthur on the passing of Bryan Maclean, he sang Old Man, which uncannily sounded like Bryan.....totally on.
After an explanation of what lay Between Clark and Hillsdale, (The Whiskey)the boys took the song apart....wow!
The audience went collectively nuts as The Red Telephone hit the ears of all and "Locking them up today" was chanted by the entire room along with " Freedom", and all cheered and laughed as "All Gods Chilluns Gots To Have Dey Freedoms" was spoken
at the conclusion .
The band took a moment after You set the Scene, and we noted no one missed the brass or strings so familiar on these tracks, as the guitarists more than compensated for their exclusion. Still, wuold have been nice to hear the swedish players in Oz, but...you cant have everything as they say, even though tonite we all think we have it all.
Familiar strains of the opening of "August" next, and we are given a present of a much extended version with the new guitarist more than showing us his chops.

Various numbers follow, " its all good" as Wayne tells me, and everyone sings along with Everybody gotta live " with sneaky bits of Instant Kharma added for good measure.
A new song, then an amazingly furious 7 & 7 is, had to be the ultimate pre punk bash of all time (shows how far ahead they really were ), even ending with the little bluesy riff at the end where Arthur thanked us all for coming and left the stage.
After much noise the band came back and finished with Singing Cowboy and in the mid section of the song to strains of the Revelation Hook, intro'd the band individually, and announced they would be back again, to which the crowd responded with exhuberance, segued back into Singing Cowboy beautifully , finished and said farewell.
Altogether an amazing gig for which most have waited 30 odd years to experiebce, and many of the audience too, who have not even reached 30 years of age yet.
Thank you Arthur and Love for finally coming to Oz

"You picked us up when were down" and now we cant wait for Moreagain

Signed DP