Mountaineering
July 1st, 2008 by SimeonNote to self: next time you’re heading to Katoomba, take a beanie.
Last Friday we headed up into the Blue Mountains for our first gig in Katoomba. We’d been invited to play with some local bands (Stop Hard and Olivine) at the Carrington Baroque Bar and Nightclub - a rather long winded name, but a rather nice room. It felt a bit like The Heritage in Bulli - chandeliers, lounges, polished floors, red curtains - just the sort of place we like.
We’d left the city early in the afternoon to beat the traffic, so ended up having quite a bit of time to kill. And of course, when in Katoomba there’s one activity you have to do - see The Three Sisters. We dutifully drove down to Echo Point, and wandered over to the lookout just as the sun set. Quite lovely, but the cold was starting to get to us, so we didn’t stay long. After a brief detour for a bit of local wine tasting, it was back to the Carrington for sound check.
Well not quite - the other bands were still setting up, so we decided to grab an early dinner. There’s nothing much better on a cold day than a bowl of soup, and the roast butternut pumpkin soup on offer hit the spot perfectly. Naturally there was some rather deep pre-gig dinner conversation happening (which Batman movie really was the best?), but once we’d settled that it was back to the venue and on with the show.
Playing in a new venue can be a little worrying. On one hand you’ve got a new crowd, which is normally a good thing. On the other, you have no idea what the sound will be like. Thankfully the crowd were lovely, and there weren’t any problems with the sound either, which made for a very enjoyable gig.
Once we’d left the stage the DJ took over, so we packed up and weaved our way through the dancers back out into the cold. Heaters on full, we drove down the mountain to a soundtrack of Sarah Blasko, and a view of distant city lights - not a bad way to end the day at all.
Tags: Carrington, Katoomba