A couch at The Phoenix. We didn't actually spot this one, people must have been sitting on it.
I wonder how many of this blog’s overseas friends are aware that Australia’s capital city is a small inland hamlet that goes by the name of Canberra? It doesn’t get a lot of press, but this purpose-built political hotbed played host to our little band just this Thursday past – it was indeed the very first stop on our now well-under-way Unfortunate Rose tour.
We’re unsure if President Obama reads The Wildes’ blog but, assuming he does, I thought I’d dedicate the first snippet of this tour diary to acquainting him with the long and short of a Canberra visit. After all, it’s likely that he’ll end up passing through at the very least.
Firstly, the president will be relieved to know that, should he choose EuropCar (as we did) then (as long as he is upgraded from a mid-size to to a standard vehicle – again, quite likely) he’ll be able to plug his iPhone in directly to the usb port in the commodore’s centre console (that is, provided he remembers to bring his usb cable). This is a handy feature – he’ll be able to charge his phone AND automatically have his tunes played, in alphabetical order based on artist’s first name, through the excellent stereo system. Hopefully the president will not have accidentally filled his iPhone with tunes from his ex-girlfriend’s computer, and the short trip into town will not kick off with Alanis Morrisette’s angsty anthem You Oughta Know… This may or may not have happened to us/me.
The trip from the airport to the city is, Mr President, delightfully short. Canberra’s version of “heavy traffic” is something similar to the self-checkout queue at Coles Express in Chadstone at say, midnight. I guess you won’t get that analogy being from America and all but hopefully our local readers will.
The short trip is useful when you have flown up in the early evening and still need to do a soundcheck. Our drummer, Mat, actually caught a separate plane and had to get a bus in to town. The fare was officially $9, but the driver graciously accepted the $7.25 that mat had on him at the time. This, sir, will be handy to know if Europcar is all booked up and you haven’t had a chance to exchange many US dollars at Travelex.
Once in town, Mr Obama, you’ll no doubt be directed to Parliament House. We drove over it accidentally on our way to The Phoenix, and I must admit I felt inspired. If I knew all the words to our own national anthem I’d have certainly started singing it, but as I’m an awkward Gen-Y hipster from Melbourne that grew up watching Oprah instead of Question Time, I burst into your anthem instead. True, I don’t know all the words to it either, but it sure is a stirring piece of music.
It’s unlikely that a US president would play a show or make a speech at The Phoenix, but should you get some downtime I recommend heading there for a pint. It has a distinctly British Pub feel – the staff are friendly and the punters that came out for our show were friendly too. There’s couches and tables and people kind of mooch around rolling rollies (of course they can’t smoke them inside) and (I imagine) hatching great plans, writing notes in notebooks and coming up with great ideas. We played with a good lad named Pete Ackhurst and a lass by the name of Hannah Gillespie.
We were delighted to see people singing along at the show, including the lovely Jen (who didn’t say hi) and made some new friends after the set too. Mitch and Tess spring to mind – the latter having recently gotten an invitation to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston (I think it’s Boston). Unfortunately she needs $20,000 to get there – perhaps, Mr President, an overhaul of the tertiary education system is in order? I also had a good chat to an Iraq war vet that had come down to the show – he had some reasonably fascinating things to say. I suspect though that that war has a little more to do with the previous administration…
I’ve no doubt sir, that when you come to Canberra you’ll make even more new friends than us – though I doubt you’ll be put up in any finer style than we were at Shaun’s cousins’ house. Never have I had a finer cup of tea, nor slept with a larger immitation butterfly hanging above my bed.
Our stay in Canberra was short, but we did squeeze in a TV interview on Southern Cross Ten (no doubt they’ll try and snare you too Mr President) and a pre-record on Star Country Radio (hosted by the above-mentioned Pete).
All in all it’s a pretty town – something like a cross between bristol in the UK (I know you’re a Skins fan sir) and errr…maybe Hobart (though I haven’t been there since I was 17). Before the show I had a chance to wonder the streets, and at no stage did I think I’d get shot.
There’s a review of our Canberra show on FasterLouder here, and there’s some mention of “women swooning”. If they swooned over us, Mr President, just think how how they’d swoon over you!
Stay tuned for further tour updates including Bulli, Cronulla and our visit to one of the world’s great pubs – The Grand Junction in Maitland…
The Wildes play The Excelsior in Sydney (Surry Hills) on Thursday, March 31st, 2011. For more dates visit www.thewildesonline.com/shows
Point taken that I didn’t say hi!
Sorry, terrible person! Lol.
I was just giving you a reason to come back and play in Canberra again!
It was an awesome gig though.
Love xx