My, My, My, It's a Beautiful World =)

So last night we - Matt, Shiny, Raj, Matt's parentals (for whom we'd bought tickets as a Christmas pressie) and Myself, trundled off to Belfast's Waterfront Hall to see Dave Matthews perform an acoustic set accompanied by his buddy, Tim Reynolds on geetar.


(Dave Matthews)

Fan-tastic. I don't know what else to say...besides "Dave - having the duck and the lamb, is probably never the best idea!" Anyhoo, I'm sure Matt's blog will be full of the joys of Dave in the next day or too so you can prolly read more over there.

On Sunday night Matt & I went to see Colin Hay (a la 'Men At Work') play in the Black Box in Belfast, as part of the Belfast - Nashville Music Festival. This was the one I was waiting not so patiently to see. Now, don't get me wrong...I was looking forward to seeing Dave too...but there's just something special about a much more intimate gig in a small venue, listening to someone who you never thought you would ever get to hear live. For me anyway.

There is just something about his voice; Smooth, yet it has weathered enough over the years to give it this finely ground texture. Like when you finally get your cookie dough mixed to perfection.

We were a little early for the gig, and when we arrived in the venue he was still sound checking, so we propped up a wall at the end of the bar until the event organiser eventually asked us if we'd like to go on ahead and buy tickets so's we could take a seat. I tried desperately not to reveal me inner squee as Colin walked past and said hi. *hangs head in shame* I'm such a girl.

Before the main event there were two local performers...Sarah Lyle (along with her stepdad who looked remarkable like Guy Siner, who played Lieutenant Gruber - the remarkably camp one in 80's tv show 'Allo Allo') and Tim Cobain. Tim had a superb voice and was giving away free ep's...which somehow we missed, bah!


(Tim Cobain)

When Colin took to the stage, I guess I just expected it to be like any other singers performance - a little bit of chat...some music...a bit more rambling and then more music again; but instead it was like watching a singing Billy Connelly! He went into all the ups and downs of his life and career in a brutally honest, totally relaxed, and hilarious stand up style of comfortable conversation with the crowd.


(Colin Hay)

He was superb, and had everyone joining in and cracking up at his "Are you lookin at me pal?"stories in broad Scottish and perfectly mimicked Aussie diction.

He hung around for a while after chatting to everyone and was saying about how he met this young guy 'Zach' in a bar...and how instrumental that meeting was in restarting his solo career at a point when he'd started to accept his time was up. It's funny...he said it himself, and he was right...Scrubs was the main reason half the audience knew who he was. Although I knew him from Men at Work, it was hearing his solo stuff in the episodes My Philosophy and My Overkill that really caught my attention. And Matt had never even made the connection until one evening Raj's dad, Nigel, mentioned how different the solo sound was from the old Men at Work days.

Anyways...the craic was fantastic, the beer was...um...well...whiskey actually...and I got to hear "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" live. =)


(Colin & Myself)

Well...it had to be done. My inner squee got the better of me, what can I say.