Growing up, there are several bands who I can distinctly remember singing along to in the back of my parent’s car. One of these bands was Supertramp. So let me be quite blunt here: Roger Hodgson, formerly of said band, was the reason I returned to Byron Bay for the 2010 Bluesfest… and while he frustratingly clashed with Crowded House, it was easily (and thankfully) the highlight of my festival. But as Roger ended the night, let’s take a step back to the beginning…
I began my day breaking the ear drums with the band appropriately called The Break – featuring Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey of Midnight Oil and bassist Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes. Opening the main stage today in style, I couldn’t help by find it strange they were given such a paltry spot – and only one at that! They brought us some surf inspired, instrumental rock and roll mayhem that was indeed a fantastic way to start the day – albeit a shock to the system! Already a tight outfit, their debut album Church of the Open Sky will be released later this month – can’t wait to hear how it translates!
Playing at the same time was Boston’s Patty Larkin (above). The songstress and her guitar brought us some beautiful tracks, which were polished by her beautiful, powerful voice. She was a “hoot” on stage, too, speaking in North American drawl (think Fargo). In fact she spoke on Fargo, how it raised the status of the America/Canada border states – but then along came Sarah Palin, knocking them right back down. And she’s not even from Wisconsin! A truly lovely performance from a delightful talent. We’ll be posting an interview with her later in the week so keep your eyes peeled for that!
Jon Cleary brought us the Jazz and Blues standards a bit later in the day, while Josh White Jr brought us Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”. It didn’t matter where you walked in the middle of the day – you were always going to hear something familiar and something special. Meanwhile, the Apra stage was, as usual, overflowing, with Sydney’s The Snowdroppers (1920’s slang for cocaine addicts) blowing everyone away with a rocking 1920’s inspired sound. As the day went on we were brought Rodriguez, looked very much his age (almost 70 now), but still put on a great show for his MANY fans – and Taj Mahal, born the same year as Rodriguez, brought us a killer Blues set as well. What more would you expect from the Blues Hall of Fame inductee?
Following Taj on the Crossroads stage were 10cc (pictured above), who still sounded great after all these years! They’ve always been a band who have been touch-and-go with their music, however. Some great, some not so great, and this remained the same on stage – but it really didn’t matter what they were playing, because the energy from the band and from the crowd were too electrifying to worry about the specifics. We were dancing from start to finish. “Feel the Benefit” was of particular mention, and of course “Dreadlock Holiday” was the best received – and so much fun to sing along to. “Rubber Bullets” ended the set, and I proceed to wait patiently for Roger Hodgson to finish out my night.
Adorning the stage with plants and a beautiful grand piano, Roger Hodgson (pictured in header and below) walked onto the stage and immediately filled it with life. Accompanied by the talented Erin McDonald from Canada (usually playing multiple instruments, plus backing vocals), Roger didn’t need much to bring the classic Supertramp sound to life on stage. His voice pitch perfect, the second Roger opened his 90 minute set with “Take The Long Way Home”, you could feel the ‘holding back tears’ energy in the room. I swear it wasn’t just me!
“Give A Little Bit” followed, and I had a ‘I forgot they did that!’ moment. “Breakfast in America”, “The Logical Song” “Lord is it Mine” and “Dreamer” weren’t far behind. While he was only playing the tracks he wrote (so no “Bloody Well Right” unfortunately!) you can see just how integral he was in taking Supertramp to the top. “Fools Overture” ended the main set, and “School” and “It’s Raining Again” felt right at home in the encore.
Like it or not, with over 60 million album sales, and a river flowing full of hits, Supertramp are one of the most important bands ever to walk the face of the planet! Just look at that list – and that’s barely even the tip of the iceberg. Unfamiliar? Google half of those tracks and I guarantee you’ll know them. So to have the opportunity to hear these songs live (the first time they’ve been played live here in 30 some years… at least by Roger…), in a tent overflowing with fans, singing along to every word, beautifully epitomises the magic of Byron and Bluesfest…
Simply put: this is an evening I’ll never, ever forget.
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While Roger played on one stage, Crowded House played on another… Angie Douglas was there:
Some years ago, we all shed a tear on the steps of the Opera House in response to the farewell concert of Crowded House. The thought of not hearing those incredible songs and those so cute New Zulland accents was too much to bear for some. Particularly my dad, who also hails from the land of the long white cloud.
Those fans did have to wait a while before they heard NZ’s favourite sons again, the lucky ones (myself included) getting the chance to see them at Live Earth in 2007. But the best was yet to come, and they proved they still had the heat at this year’s Bluesfest. With Neil’s fresh purple shirt and salt and pepper moustache, and the new drummer the only changes to the band, they were bopping and joking around like they had never stopped.
We heard some of the new promising tracks and the wonderful old classics. One of the standouts was an improvised ditty about said moustache and whether he should keep it or not (I’m gonna keep it so you can all bugger off!) All of the time the dedicated and appreciative fans were enveloped in a positive and spellbinding atmosphere that stirred memories of the Live Earth show. The incredibly emotional and hypnotic effect Crowded House’s music had on the whole crowd under the stars at Bluesfest.
A few laughs, a couple of sneaky tears and a many failed attempts to try and call my dad “CAN YOU HEAR IT?! DAD!?! HELLO? DA- ahh dang” (Damn your lack of phone signal Bluesfest!) it was all over. I only hope its not such a long wait between such beautiful performances. Thanks Crowded House!
