The Dawn Collective

It was always going to be a small rush getting to the show, but I wasn’t expecting it to take as long as it did. There was some sporting event (and to be consistent with my interest in sport, I have no idea what game it was) taking place not far away, which extended our trip by more than 25 minutes including the time it took me to find a stupid car park. I did eventually find a car park, and it was indeed stupid because I was in such a hurry at this point. I rushed inside, and with the aid of my girlfriend and house mate (who are both drummers), we souped up the drum kit, making it TDC friendly in a very timely fashion.

I looked out into the audience and noticed that there was a very good-sized crowd floating around, which was great to see given that it only coming up to 8:30. Showtime was getting nearer but there was a small issue with the drum fold back not working, and something with a guitar channel, but Sheila the mixer soon sorted it out, allowing us to start our set on time.

Tonight was the second night we ran our new adjusted set. It started with a bang as Greg opened the night with the uplifting intro of Blessed Beauty filling the stage (and hopefully the audience) with a wave of energy that was quadrupled when the rest of us came in. It felt really cool and helped me forget about the rushing earlier in the night, allowing me focus on playing a great show. The set continued in the same way it started, Andrew kept us intrigued with his ‘faith in humankind’ story, before gracefully going into Shadow Friend. I never tire of listening to Simeon’s outro of All Those Pigs & Enemies, and the darkness that is created by Stacey’s bass playing in The Art of Longevity is very driving. The whole set felt strong and tight (which is how it should be) all the way to our final song A Russian Trilogy. We had a great reaction from the crowd, which is always very rewarding.

Once I had packed away my things, I listened to Bird Automatic, they were very tight and controlled and had many great tunes. I got thinking about my car, and thought it would be a good idea to move it, so after Bird Automatic’s set, I headed out and discovered a parking fine. Damn. There was still nowhere to park, so I put on my hazards, loaded my gear and went home both happy for playing a good set, and unhappy due to my fine and missing Plastic Palace Alice.