Last Australia tour diary

[wondergirl9847]

Sydney, Australia 03/09/2004

March 9th, 2004
Sydney, Australia
Sydney Entertainment Centre

After 22 hours of traveling, I’ve finally made it home, I was expecting to come home to a cold, rainy San Francisco, but thankfully, it’s lovely here. It’s warm and sunny, so I’ve set up camp on my patio with a cup of tea, and I’m going back and forth between my computer and the newspaper. It feels good to be home, that’s for sure.

Sydney was amazing. It’s the most beautiful city. Even the best pictures I’ve seen don’t do it justice. On the whole, Australia is just an awesome place. I realize that no matter where you live in the world, it’s a pretty big trip to take, but I highly recommend it. I can’t say enough about it, but this has been a phenomenal trip.

Our five days in Sydney were fantastic, with the exception of pouring rain the last two days, we had a great time there. A bunch of our crew climbed the Harbour Bridge, others went to the zoo, the aquarium, the horse races, deep sea fishing, botanical gardens, the list goes on. There was a lot to do there, and I pretty much just shopped. What can I say, they have excellent shopping in Sydney. Grade A Prime Shopping. They also have bats. Bats bigger than the ones in Brisbane. But I’ve already given my two cents about the bats, so I’ll save you the trouble of listening to me rant about it.

Personally the second show in Sydney was the most memorable for me, but only because I got in a bit of trouble. The trouble only lasted about the length of one song before it was cleared up...but it was the longest song of my life. To make a long story very short, there was a misunderstanding as to what song was supposed to come after Peacekeeper, and in front of 10,000 people Ms. Stevie Nicks pointed to me and blamed me for a this little screw up, she also called me by my full name, which as we all know from having mothers, that this ALWAYS means you’re in trouble. After Say You Will, when Stevie went stage right to get her Rhiannon top, Karen cleared up the misunderstanding and was sent to give me Stevie’s apology, which was sweet. I met Stevie in the quick change tent after Rhiannon to give her a hard time about it, and as soon as she saw me she just covered her face and smiled, gave me a hug and apologized, it was really funny. After the show the crew definitely gave me a hard time about it. The next show during Second Hand News she came over to my side of the stage, looked down at me, smiled and gave her tambourine a little shake in my direction, she’s very funny.

Brett will kill me for telling you this...but it’s too funny to let go. Brett leaves the stage and goes back to his dressing room after Gypsy, since he doesn’t play on Big Love or Landslide, the two songs that follow Gypsy. The first show in Sydney, he apparently had a momentary lapse of reason and headed back to his dressing room after Rhiannon instead. The problem here is that Come is right after Rhiannnon, and Brett plays on Come...a lot. Halfway to the dressing room Brett heard the beginning of Come and realized that he was supposed to be on stage, and thankfully made it back just in time.

During the last show John asked his bass tech if he had a dollar, as he wanted to give Mick a dollar when he introduced him. In perfect Mick fashion, he accepted the dollar, stuck it to his forehead and left it there for the entire duration of Don’t Stop, before handing it someone in the audience.

Before I sign off I just realized that the “big wardrobe surprise” Karen was telling me about for the last show in Sydney didn’t seem to happen, either that or I was so out of it that I didn’t notice, but I really don’t remember anything new. I’ll have to investigate that further when he head back to work in a few weeks.

I am indescribably happy that we decided to tour Australia, it was most definitely a month of my life that I will never forget. Thanks to everyone for coming out to the shows and making our experience there such a good one. But it’s back to The States for Fleetwood Mac...see you guys there.

CB