Almanac Music: Andrew Fithall’s ‘My Gigs of 2022’

2022 was the year I got back into live music. For the obvious reason, none of us had much opportunity to go out and see bands so when things started to free up, I took the chance to re-enter the live audience environment. It was fun.

 

I was going to call this article ‘My best gigs of 2022′ but realised that there actually weren’t that many that I could exclude a few and narrow it down to the best. Therefore, in chronological order (or thereabouts) ‘My gigs of 2022’.

 

A review of the diary reveals January was a non-event. A booking to see Gregor and Sweet Whirl in a co-headline at the Melbourne Recital Centre didn’t happen – I think they cancelled the event. Then a night at The Macedon Railway Hotel to see three-piece Even was aborted by us for personal reasons.

 

February brought the Riverboats Festival in Echuca. This three-day event is on a beautiful location by the Murray with occasional shade provided by the magnificent redgums. With Warragul friends Juicer and Nicole, we set up camp in the nearby campground and walked the riverside track to the venue. There was one late cancellation – regular MC Brian Nankervis was ruled out and replaced by Henry Wagons. He did an okay job – didn’t try and replicate Brian’s frisbee throwing into the crowd. Highlights were many: Vika and Linda; Baker Boy and Sarah Blasko were part of a very good line-up. Because of the recent flooding, the 2023 version has had to be relocated to an alternative Echuca site. One of the reasons we have decided to not attend. I’m off to OK Motels in Charlton instead.

 

With no Golden Plains festival scheduled for 2022, my next music trip was north – to Bluesfest in Byron Bay. Having suffered a very very late 2021 cancellation, Bluesfest were keen to get a paying audience on site. With limited access to overseas acts, they went very mainstream Australian. This was my first ever trip to Bluesfest and I made some rookie errors. Going to the full five days was probably one of them. Three or four days would have been enough. And I reckon the gatekeepers could learn a lot from other festivals. Entry was slow and laboured as they conducted thorough but largely ineffectual searches of cars and vans (we were in a campervan) and caravans for illegal BYO grog. Fortunately we were camping on-site so only had to endure the ordeal once. Stories of multiple-hour queues between Byron Bay and the festival site – particularly on the Friday (Day 2) – were common.

 

To attract the cashed-up crowds the organisers went for old but popular acts such as Crowded House, Paul Kelly and Hoodoo Gurus. A confession – I had never seen Midnight Oil live. And they were brilliant. I did laugh when Peter Garrett was on one of his ‘between-song rants’ and a bloke nearby said aloud ‘we don’t need the politics.’ Mate – do you even know this band? Other acts I really enjoyed were War and Treaty, All Our Exes Live in Texas, The Church (with new member Ash Naylor) and The Teskey Brothers. I was blown away by the performance of Spinifex Gum – an all-women’s Indigenous choir. See them if you get the chance.

 

A special shout out here to the Almanac’s own ‘Smokie’ Dawson who put himself forward to audition for a spot on the RockWiz Live panel. Having correctly answered a Rolling Stones question – he was then invited to dance and sing along to ‘Start Me Up.’ I have the video evidence. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get him onto the main part of the live show…very hard done by I reckon.

 

And at Bluesfest, like Albo, we caught Covid-19.

 

Helen and I then spent about six weeks travelling in the van further north to Queensland and then inland. I wrote about our music highlight of Music in the Mulga HERE.

 

Back in Melbourne, my next live gig was in June at the St Kilda Bowlo to see the Johnnys. Having lost significant founding member Spencer P Jones (who died in 2018), the band continue as a three piece. Pre-show I took the opportunity to have a chat to guitarist Paul ‘Slim’ Doherty – a bloke I had gone to school with forty-odd years earlier. While an enjoyable gig in a great venue, I think I was expecting more of a country rock sound than what was delivered.

 

Late July and we were back up to Echuca for the Winter Blues Festival. Unlike the one-site Riverboats, at this festival bands perform at multiple local venues. And with a couple of exceptions, all the gigs are free. We did have to pay racecourse entry fee to see Sweet Felicia and a couple of other acts perform between races. The remainder of Friday, Saturday and Sunday was spent planning and amending a schedule as we wandered between venues, enjoying the food and drink and especially the music. Once again I reckon there could have been a bit more adventure in the bookings, but that might be just me. There was some amusement to be had as band Collard Greens and Gravy had to compete for attention with a closely-fought AFL game which was showing on screens plainly in the sightlines of the band-watching audience.

 

The Caravan Music Club has been going for many years – starting out in the Oakleigh Bowling Club before moving to the Oakleigh RSL and then to the Bentleigh Club. Its current location is at Archies Creek, in South Gippsland; not a long way from Wonthaggi. While the primary venue is the pub – either in the lounge or outdoors in the beer garden – depending on audience bookings, an alternative venue is the hall just metres up the road. That’s where we were in late August to see Charm of Finches. Having not been able to secure camping accommodation in the van, I had booked Helen and me into one of the on-site hotel rooms. You know the ones – there is a bed only, and a walk up the hall to the shared bathroom. It was perfect. Charm of Finches is a sister duo singing folkish songs. Archies Creek was the perfect venue to see and hear them. And the next morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Kilcunda General Store. More recently we have been back to both Archies Creek and to the General Store for breakfast and I am pretty sure will be doing it all again soon.

 

I didn’t get to Out on The Weekend in 2022 – an Americana festival at Seaworks in Williamstown. Given that it is the only music festival from which I can walk home, I really have no excuse. I promise I will be there in 2023.

 

Earlier in the year on our way south from the Queensland trip, we had dropped in and had coffee with an old school and uni friend Simon Grigg at Patchewollock. As one of the co-organisers, Simon said we should come back later in the year for the Patchewollock Music Festival. And we did. Along with friends Fiona and Peter, we drove up the flood-affected highways, detouring away from those that were closed, and made the five hour trip to ‘Patchie’. $50 for a weekend ticket which includes in-town camping is great value. On a single stage outside but adjoining the pub, the set up is simple and the music is country. Highlights were Velvet Bloom, Nicole Matthews and the Parle Brothers and headliners Mick Thomas and the Roving Commission.

 

Friday 25 November we headed to Hanging Rock for Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Having endured so much rain, the organisers didn’t risk allowing private cars on site so all ticket holders were bussed from either Woodend or Kyneton. I regret not spending more on the tickets – we were a long way from the stage, but on a clear evening it was a beautiful site to enjoy a wonderful performance. Support was Courtney Barnett (one of my favourites) who somehow had Philadelphia-based Kurt Vile on-site to come on and sing one of the duets the pair had recorded together some years earlier.

 

Nick Cave was in fine form and very engaging. And Warren Ellis was Warren Ellis – what more could you want?

 

A couple of weeks earlier I had received an email which had attached my two tickets to the three-day Queenscliff Music Festival. But I hadn’t bought two tickets to the Queenscliff Music Festival. But I had. One year earlier. When the festival was cancelled. And I opted to roll the tickets over to the following year. And then forgot about them. Idiot. Given the festival clashed with both Nick Cave and with something else on the Saturday, I put them on the re-sale market where they proceeded to not sell. So we went to one day of the three-day festival. It was worth it to see Vika and Linda again. I made the walk to the other end of town to see Jess Ribeiro in an intimate solo show. We finished off with Sweet Talk who I had missed when they played at some friends’ backyard gig because it had clashed with Patchewollock.

 

To my music festival highlight of 2022. Meredith – I missed you. I just love this music festival and it was so good to be back after a couple of years’ hiatus. Driving on-site it was quickly apparent we were not the only ones happy to be back. While numbers were allegedly down with fewer tickets being released, our normally easily accessible ‘way-up-the-back’ camp site was already being infiltrated. But we got in okay, set up in what was now a well-practised ritual and with esky loaded (did I mention it is BYO) headed for the supernatural amphitheatre. Lots of highlights. Yothu Yindi blew off the non-existent roof with ‘Treaty’. Courtney Barnett was particularly brilliant. At one stage a younger (they are almost all younger) bloke asked me if I knew about the band Private Function. I said – wait until you hear ‘Albury Wodonga’. When he did, he came back and gave me a high five. So many good bands (many of which I knew nothing about prior to the release of the line-up). A wonderful vibe. An amazing environment. I love Meredith. Did I already say that?

 

So ends my 2022 live music adventure. I did have tickets to the Milk Records 10th birthday show just prior to Christmas but another covid bout (Helen – not me) meant I stayed home. This time the re-sale market worked perfectly.

 

2023 live music has already started well. You can read about it this time next year.

 

 

 

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