Given the lateness of the hour we weren’t up at sparrow fart on Saturday morning, but a return to Wavelength revealed that the second part of yesterday’s rumour was going to happen. I’d been informed that The Falcons would, more than likely, be playing The Dalrymple on Saturday night.
The uncertainty depended on various factors connected to the Friday night show (basically, if the gig at The Dalrymple was advertised too early, Friday night’s attendance might be down) but since it was on, we were going.
The stage in a beer barn was more or less home territory for Joe and company, and there was a dance floor right in front of the stage, so there were no repeats of certain issues from Friday night, and while the Saturday night set wasn’t quite as earth-shattering as the previous night’s, two nights of prime rock were a truly memorable experience.
Up tempo R&B also featured on my last night as a resident of Townsville. The removalists had carted off my goods and chattels and I was left with a bare bones residence when I headed off to catch Dr Feelgood. While it was a long time after their mid-seventies heyday and Wilko Johnson was long gone, a night of Lee Brilleaux-fronted full-ahead raunch was a good way to conclude that particular slice of my life.
Looking back over a bit more than a quarter of a century after about the same length of time I’m surprised how many acts I managed to catch, given the relative dearth of tours to that neck of the woods.
There were several more that I could have caught along the way. Paul Kelly at the Sugar Shaker and The Sunnyboys at the Seaview are two that spring to mind on the pubs and clubs scene, and I guess I really should have gone out of my way to see Leo Kottke, but there you go....