Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 09:22:30 +1100
From: Peter Horbury
To: thebigroom@lovetown.net
Subject: [The Big Room]Yarraville Gig
The Yarraville gig was well worth the trip. The first thing I noticed was that they were recycling old "Escapist" posters to advertise the gig! For those that don't know (& let's be honest until 9:55pm on Sat, I didn't) the Commercial Hotel's performance room/bar is set up like a lounge room. It's even got old lamps & shutters on the windows & stuff. A smallish gig, but most people got seats (advisable, I stood up and after almost 2 hours, I was getting a little tired).
The trio works well, it's effectively all acoustic except for some strange guitar that Graham Lee plays on one or two songs. Stephen was very relaxed and chatty. Mostly stuff from 'SB' with notable exceptions of 'She set fire..', our anthem (Big room), 'When love comes back' and I think 2 others [one of which I didn't recognize). Unfortunately I forgot a pen so I don't have a real set list but I made some notes in the car on the way home. Show started not much longer after 10pm possibly 10:15-ish and finished at around 12:25 with a short break in the middle.
Songs I specifically remember include "Straight to your arms", "Poor baby", "Because it's spring" - which he identified for 'Valentines Day' ..[eh that's today I think] as a 'song for when you've been in a couple for a long time', "Don't talk to me about love" , "The night is singing" and "Nobody could ever...". He indicated that he'd spent a week at Apollo Bay - "Which cost me $800 of my cash reserves" around New Years and it rained all week, because his girlfriend - "I call her my girlfriend 'cause when I'd been at school I'd never been able to get one" wanted to go. Noted he'd been born in Yarraville and lived in a street with his mum, Grandma and 7 aunties. "I am the product of a matriachial family" he noted.
The official brochure, which I got on leaving: '3 Saturdays armed with special guests and a body of work that other performers can only dream of. The Spiritual Bum is back. $10'. They finished with a blues song I didn't recognize. They were selling his books and CDs at the gig interestingly. There's always one 'celeb' @ a SC gig and this time it was Brian Nankervis. At the end I left to return home to my "flat in Camberwell" which SC had advised us "his Mum lives in one". Good gig, I'd go again but I'm booked up doing other stuff unfortunately.