Brisbane Concert

[DoubtfulMiracle]

I'm baaaack! Seems trite to say it was a terrific show, but you know it was A few of the more interesting points:

- After Stand Back, Stevie does her now-standard disclaimer that 'this is not a greatest hits show'. She then goes on to remind us that she's a sequencing guru, always has been, so she's been able to mix her new songs and the old ones we all know and love seamlessly into the set. She mentions something along the lines of putting all the songs into a 'sequencing machine', and makes a cute little whirring/spinning noise to mimic the machine doing its thing.

- During Dave's set, a couple of kookaburras decided to set up shop in the rafters over the stage. At least one of them is still up there during Dreams, since it drops a nice little gift onto the stage not far in front of Stevie's microphone. The kookaburras continue to be a constant source of concern (refer 'Soldier's Angel' below).

- Stevie leads into Moonlight by saying that this song will get the longest intro because this city is important to it. She tells the seeing-Twilight-in-Melbourne-story, followed by the writing-Moonlight-in-my-Brisbane-hotel story. She acknowledges in regard to Twilight that 'when you hate em, you hate em, but when you love em, you love em'. When she talks about writing the song in Brisbane, she says something along the lines of 'in a hotel, which I can't remember the name of, because... I can't remember anything anymore.'

- You can tell Soldier's Angel is so very important to Stevie - she tells us about her first visit to Walter Reed with earnest. She perhaps might've mentioned that it was an Army hospital, but I think people have got the gist by the time she finishes. Well, all except the two ignorant gits a couple of rows back from me, who think we've paid to listen to them chat. But nevermind them - it is a very powerful song, and I would take the live version over the album version any day. Unfortunately, the aforementioned kookaburra chooses this rather inopportune time to make a donation of its own.

- Stevie launches into her Annabel Lee intro without much intro - she pretty much just starts muttering about an old friend she was hanging out with in the 17th century, and you can see why some people still thinks she consumes drugs. But I love that a 63-year-old woman can still sometimes sound like a giddy 16-year-old. And I think the song goes over well with the audience, even though you can tell most of them haven't heard it before.

- Nice, giggly intro to FWIW focused on filming the video clip. Stevie struggles with the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion, but makes clear that it was very hot while they were shooting. There is a bit of snuggling with Dave at the end of the song - nothing too serious, but it prompts my mother to comment that, 'I bet that relationship's a bit more than platonic'.

- Stevie tells the story of Landslide, and talks about the importance of songwriting. On that note, she dedicates Landslide not just to one person, but 'to all of you, and to this city' because otherwise Stevie 'would just be sitting at home'. She seems genuinely grateful, and it's a bit cool to think part of the seed for all this was planted two years ago in our home town. And I know it sometimes feels like Landslide's had the life squeezed out of it, but I'll be damned if I didn't well up again. Just beautiful.

- Now comes what I can only describe as my strangest concert experience ever. I'm calling it The Great Security Brouhaha of 2011. Ghosts Are Gone is pure awesome, and the so far rather subdued crowd really wants to rock. Dave is doing his best to get people up standing, but the *instant* someone stands up, security rushes to tell them to sit down. Now, this is not people rushing the stage or being obnoxious louts, just people having a bit of a boogie out of their seats. Well, it turns out we no longer have fun in Brisbane, and we certainly don't dance at concerts. The song ends, and Stevie says, 'Well, *now* we know why you're all sitting down. I wish someone had have told us at the beginning, because we're up here going, 'Do they hate us?' She has a bit of a chat about the 'situation', and the crowd naturally stands up to cheer. Stevie does not seem impressed, and mentions that she wishes the promoter had've told them in advance. I suspect her and Andrew McManus might be slightly less good friends tomorrow morning. Stevie says that although she has a rebellious spirit herself, we should probably do as the staff tell us so as to not get in trouble. She singles out a 'sweet little blonde girl' near the front who has been trying her hardest to get to the stage, but suggests that she should stay in her seat otherwise she'll get in trouble, and then Stevie will get in trouble, 'and two sweet little blonde girls will both be in trouble'. Stevie says its okay for us to sit, but we need to 'chair dance'; she gives us a little demonstration. Now my apologies if this was a Ledgie, but a guy a couple of rows back is clearly very displeased with the situation (and rightly so) - he shouts out to Stevie that 'we have paid good money to dance to you', but Stevie says, a little bit seriously, that 'it won't do any good'. So on we go.

- The band introductions were just hilarious. Waddy was giving Stevie the hurry up (he could obviously feel the 10pm curfew looming), so she tried to cut down her stories a bit. Then it just fell to pieces. Firstly, she introduces Jimmy as 'Jimmy Page'. The girls crack up, and Stevie asks, 'What? What did I say?' They fill her in, she has a laugh and tries to argue that if you're going to be called the wrong name, Jimmy Page is at least a pretty awesome guy. She later gets to Carlos, and says how he's everyone's confidant in the band, and that he's like their 'Psychiatrist... Or physiologist. No, psychologist.' The band's cracking up by this point, Stevie realises her mistake and clarifies through laughter that Carlos is not their physiologist, though maybe he'd be good at that too.

- Edge of Seventeen starts and you can see the people with their itchy Edge Walk shoes on. A few start advancing to the stage, so I say 'That's it, I'm going in.' I sneak in from my second row position to just off centre, leaning right on the stage thanks to the nice man to my right who makes a bit of extra room for me. It feels like a *lot* of us have got up there, which is awesome. Waddy and the girls give us all a big thumbs up, as if to say 'Well done for giving those security guys the bird'. I notice the sound is absolutely *terrible* that far forward, but it doesn't matter - I get my handshake, as does my 50-something year old mother, who is now behaving like a teenage groupie.

- Everyone's a little bit giddy - "Oh my god, I touched her" and other such things. A few people get a bit obnoxious during Stevie's intro to Love Is, but gosh, she does such a beautiful job. There are tears around me, and when Lori comes back our for the final bow, she has a few too.

- After another small battle with security staff, we decide to wait with the small crowd to see Stevie drive off in her supercool limo. We get some nice waves from Carlos and Lori in the interim, before Stevie comes out around 10.40pm - window down, waving, wearing sunglasses (*cue Corey Hart*) and a big smile.

So, I can see that there are more than few points there Security wankers aside, it was a really great night, and I can only hope Stevie means it when she says they will be back again.

I'll make a few points about Dave in the morning when I've had some rest. All good points though