I keep going to gigs in Brisbane and wondering about the atmosphere. Maybe it’s just old age and rose-tinted spectacles but I keep thinking that when I was going to gigs when I was younger, we used to have a lot more fun than punters seem to now. There keeps being a strange energy level and people have an arm-folded, “well, impress us then” attitude, even if they’ve paid $40 or more to see the band. Maybe it’s also that I grew up away from the normal touring circuit (near Exeter in Devon) and so it was a real event anytime anyone played anywhere near and we made the most of it, whereas living in a big city you’re just spoilt for choice.
If there’s one guaranteed way to find a gig with a band being really being appreciated, it’s to go to see an established British band at one of the smaller venues in Brisbane; these gigs always bring out the ex-pat crowd for a night out and an evening of reliving their youth, always accompanied by some heavy drinking, even if they stopped following the band years ago. Tonight it’s the turn of The Charlatans and it’s a whole lot of fun. I think I’ve got a copy of Tellin’ Stories somewhere and was never much of a fan but it’s amazing how many songs I know tonight. They play some new songs of their latest album and even those songs sound good but it’s the Greatest Hits package that makes up the bulk of their set that really impresses. The crowd really lap it up and it’s really refreshing to see. There’s no sign of any gig fatigue, just a few hundred people having a really good night out. It leaves me wishing that I was coming to see the Manic Street Preachers a few days later, just to experience a similar type of atmosphere, but I’m already double-booked with Powderfinger’s last ever show and Vegas Kings’s last ever show, which ends up being my last time at The Troubadour before it sadly closes.
There’s no photo pit so I claim my space at the front for the first three and then watch from further back but can’t resist taking a few more shots during the rest of the show (there was no three songs rule); Tim Burgess has a real magnetism about him and even 20 years after the band first came on the scene he still looks in great shape and makes a for a great photographic subject.
Leave a Reply