Surry Hills Festival
April 23rd, 2009 by SimeonLast Saturday morning many of you were no doubt enjoying a sleep in, or perhaps grabbing some breakfast out somwhere. We were trying to work out the logistics of getting five people and their instruments into Surry Hills without having to worry about finding a car park at the other end.
Of course our first thought was to jump on a train, but once you start counting the number of drums, pedal boxes, guitars etc etc that needed to be carried, and compare that to the number of arms available to do so, the maths doesn’t look good.
However Rob and I are always up for a challenge, and we had some willing friends assisting, so we set off - cello on my back, pedal box in one hand, chair in the other (yes, I take my own chair to gigs - too many times I’ve turned up somewhere and asked for a chair, and am offered a bar stool miles too high for me to use). Rob’s drum were stacked up on a trolley which made things quite a bit easier, but having carried that up and down a few sets of unavoidable stairs does make me feel for those people in wheelchairs and parents with strollers.
Having arrived at Central our merry band of travellers joined the long stream of people heading into the festival. Didn’t take long for us to find the Green Stage (it was conveniently covered in green flags), and we were able to offload our gear and go for a bit of a wander around.
A few traditional lemonade and hat purchases later, we were back and setting up. One of our regular mixers Henry was on duty out the front, which made us very relaxed as he’s quite familiar with our songs, and from all reports he did an excellent job. We only had a thirty minute set, which seemed to fly by. Thankfully the gathering storm clouds held off (I’m sure the audience were even more thankful - we at least were undercover). Our cover of Space Oddity made a rare appearance, and was well received, though I think it may have been a little loud judging by the young kids who walked past the front of stage with their hands over their ears. Sorry kids.
Tags: Festival, Surry Hills