MFBB in Brisbane

[DoubtfulMiracle]

The concert last night was held on the Brisbane Riverstage, an outdoor venue tucked in behind our city botanic gardens right on the river. A generally very nice setting.

Now, some people are saying we sat through torrential rain. I'm not sure if that might be overstating it, though only a little bit, so let's call it steady, soaking rain.

After leaving my mother under shelter to pick-up some umbrellas (it wasn't raining when we left the house), I ventured through the rain because I didn't want to miss MFBB. Unfortunately I think I missed one or two songs while waiting to purchase a poncho (more on the utility of ponchos in a minute).

From what I did see though, they were great. Rick Vito is a wonderful guitarist, and it's always a joy to watch Mick given that he always looks like he's having a great time. In fact, they all looked like they were having a blast, which is always so nice to see. Despite the short set, Rick even managed to interact with the small crowd a little bit, which was cool. In between songs, a fruit bat flew over the front part of the crowd. Rick goes "Hey, look at that bat." And then in his best Count Dracula voice: "I feel right at home."

I won't lie -- I enjoyed the PG-era FM songs best. Rattlesnake Shake is one of my favourities, and Black Magic Woman (I loved Rick's explanation that the song "Went to no. 1 all over the world. Just not for Fleetwood Mac.") was great too. Even Shake Your Moneymaker, which is not one of my favourites, was excellent live, with Rick encouraging some crowd participation, first from the ladies then from the guys.

All in all, it was great to see them do even a small set of songs. Of course my only complaint is that I would have loved to have seen them do more (Albatross would've been awesome), so I'm pretty envious of those folks down in Sydney and Melbourne who had the chance to go to the MFBB-only shows in the smaller club venues.

Just briefly, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs were both wonderful as well. Both still have great voices, and their bands are outstanding. And their classics -- What A Fool Believes, Minute by Minute, Lowdown and Lido Shuffle in particular -- went off a treat with the rain-sodden crowd. Throughout Michael McDonald, I found that the rain that had pooled in my poncho-covered lap would ocassionally empty itself into my shoes. Clapping also proved dangerous for the person sitting next to you, who thankfully probably didn't notice the wetness from your hands splashing across their face amongst all the rain dripping off their hood and down their nose. We had almost dried out by the end of Boz, only to be soaked again while waiting -- wait for it -- to collect our umbrellas from the cloak room. So all in all a bit of fun.

The best part though was that Mick -- and I'm sure I made out Rick and Mark Johnstone too, but Mick's just... distinctive -- hung around above the stage, watching all of Michael McDonald's and most of Boz Scaggs's set. The only successful photo I took of MFBB (I managed to accidentally turn the stability function off after this one and couldn't work out how to turn it back on) is at least useful for illustrative purposes -- up the top, where you can see some people, is the balcony where the guys were hanging out. It was just cool to see them enjoying the others' music.

I'm off to do the right thing this week and get the Blue Again DVD -- I'm hoping it will satisfy the craving for a bit more blues.

[OldTimer]

Thank you for sharing that! It's a shame about the rain, but your take on it cracked me up. I can only imagine the 'sprinkler' effect of rain-soaked hands clapping.

We had almost dried out by the end of Boz, only to be soaked again while waiting -- wait for it -- to collect our umbrellas from the cloak room.

Nice to hear the show was good despite the rain, and a bat?!?! Cool about the guys hanging around to watch Michael's and Boz's shows. And your pic was very good!

I hope you enjoy the DVD, I sure do.

Thanks again! I'll bet it's sunny and warm in Brisbane again by now?

[jaycee]

I'm amazed at how few people were in the front rows of the show! Even if it was raining, how would ticket-holders predict the weather? Unless they decided to forgo their purchase because it was raining...
No, I think I have to admit it was because few were interested. Still, I find that absolutely bewildering...

[DoubtfulMiracle]

Originally Posted by OldTimer

I'll bet it's sunny and warm in Brisbane again by now?

Haha. Thankfully not -- another overcast day here in 'sunny' Brisbane, which somehow makes last night a bit easier to take. I was starting to wonder if Mick was bringing the weather with him, given that we had decent rainfall around the December FM concerts too. But I've decided it's probably just due to us being in our traditional wet season

Originally Posted by jaycee

I'm amazed at how few people were in the front rows of the show! Even if it was raining, how would ticket-holders predict the weather? Unless they decided to forgo their purchase because it was raining...
No, I think I have to admit it was because few were interested. Still, I find that absolutely bewildering...

The rows did fill up as the MFBB set progressed, and they were completely full throughout the other two acts. Well, full except for two couples in front of us who arrived late, did a few rounds of musical chairs, and then allowed us to quietly rejoice when they didn't return for Boz. I think empty seats for MFBB was partly to do with some people not really being interested, but also definitely the weather -- many people probably saw it as an extra hour that they could stay under shelter without missing the two 'main' acts.

In saying that, the people that were there to see MFBB seemed generally very appreciative, and all of the guys got a great big round of applause. I think they got an excellent reception actually, and as I mentioned with Rick leading the crowd through Shake Your Moneymaker, there was great interest and participation from the audience.

A 'quality over quantity audience' you see

[OldTimer]

Here's another review of the Brisbane rain-fest, not nearly as entertaining as DoubtfulMiracle's.....
(and BTW if you or jaycee are reading this, what are "punters"?)

http://www.yourgigs.com.au/reviews/?review_id=181110

***

Before Mick Fleetwood and his Blues Band took to the stage, the fine punters at Brisbane's Riverstage - those that had bothered to show up on time - were thoroughly soaked from a summer downpour and clutching feverishly to their $5 ponchos, which did little. Could the mood better be set for a little summer blues?

Fleetwood, naturally of Fleetwood Mac fame, cut a swarthy figure behind his black and gold-plated drum kit and you saw just how gigantesque he was as he leapt to his feet and saluted the crowd between songs. His blues band was fronted by the dapper Rick Vito, who impressed with some elegant slide playing, an epic vintage guitar collection and some nods to Peter Green on 'Black Magic Woman' and 'Love that Burns'. The band funked it up with 'Shake your Moneymaker' and the chemistry between the jolly Santa-like Fleetwood and the refined style of Vito was fun to watch.

***

[DoubtfulMiracle]

Originally Posted by OldTimer

Here's another review of the Brisbane rain-fest, not nearly as entertaining as DoubtfulMiracle's.....
(and BTW if you or jaycee are reading this, what are "punters"?)

Well thank you, kind Sir!

Re: "punters"... I'm always disturbed by how difficult I find it to articulate the meaning of a word. The punters here are simply the audience members, as you could probably glean from the context. Agreeing that punter is an odd sort of word, and one that I would more commonly use to mean 'a gambler', I turned to trusty Wikipedia for a more satisfying explanation. Here's what the oracle says about it:

"The word punter may refer to a British, Australian and Hiberno (Irish) English colloquial term for a paying guest or customer, especially
a) a patron of a public house (pub, hotel, tavern)
b) a patron of a brothel
c) a customer of a prostitute
d) a gambler, particularly an amateur betting on horse racing or a player in the game of Baccarat
e) a beginner skier or snowboarder, especially one with particularly bad style
f) a speculator in the stock market."

I actually think some of those examples might be getting just a touch specific; aside from d), a) is really the only one I would hear commonly. Could be the circles I run in -- or don't run in as the case may be