All Good Things Must End
Keep bangin’ on ’til you finish and then….
To end this series and mark the end of the solo tour I’ve gone with a couple of tracks that are pretty well solo (okay, that’s Barclay harmonising on Keep Talking to Me). And while The Party’s Over is a pretty rough underdone version of one of my favourite Willy Nelson tunes it takes its place here as the very last song I played on the final night of the MCT run of five shows. But also, it was the tune Mark Garnett and I played over and over on the stereo in the bar the night the Tavern closed for the first Covid lockdown. It was a night of uncertainty and sadness for a business just finding its feet. It’s such a spartan and idiosyncratic tune but like a lot of really great country songs it is highly emotional and sentimental giving it a certain transportable power.
As I write, it’s one week on from the end of the tour and, as with all good tours I am filled with a bunch of conflicting emotions - perhaps a little more extreme this time around. Elation, sadness, triumph, regret and relief, all vie for attention as I look back on the past six weeks. From fronting up to the Lyric in Perth full of apprehension to walking off stage at the Junk Bar in Brisbane - exhausted from a two hour drive down from Gympie and two shows, of two sets each (forty four songs in all). It’s been a momentous undertaking.
It’s been over twenty years since I have been out on the road in a solo capacity so it has really registered with me that this is a totally different beast. The turnout has been wonderful and this support is something I never take for granted. There seems to be a real appetite to hear the songs in a stripped back format, but I think the other crucial element of it is that I have had the opportunity to revisit so much of the back catalogue. The decision to not have support acts for the majority of the shows has given me great practical scope for this although I’d have to say I really crave the camaraderie of having other players involved.
The regional shows were all good on this run - perhaps they were best - in that I am never sure what to expect outside the confines of the city and so I am totally grateful when people come along knowing the songs. Beechworth, Bendigo, Gympie, Tintenbar, New Norfolk, Deloraine - not to mention Dangar Island. All shows where I played to crowds surprisingly knowledgable of my back catalogue and totally appreciative of my attempts to take deep dives into songs written the best part of forty years ago. The shows at The Merri Creek Tavern ended up being really extreme in this regard as I became quickly aware the same core of people were attending each Sunday hoping to hear something they hadn’t heard played live before. A Song For the Seven Seas, Morton’s Back in Town, Four Corners of the Earth, Can I Sleep On Your Floor, Keep Talking to Me - so good to play these songs after all this time.
For a supposedly solo tour I ended up playing with a really great spread of different players. There was a huge amount of expectation surrounding the appearance of Dave Steel at the MCT and from the opening chords of Laughing Boy I think the sixty people in the room felt pretty lucky to be there. I know Dave was blown away by the reception to those long dormant tunes from the first two WPA albums. The crowd singing on this night was particularly amazing and something Dave found totally moving. The rest of the accompanying players on the subsequent MCT nights all took the repertoire to where they had originally contributed and this made for some fantastic performances potentially reigniting many associations. Reviving an old Broken Hearts tune with Barb Waters gave me food for thought. Playing with a new lineup of Shackleton3 made me realise just how much I miss that band - those songs and that easy format. I’m wrapt we have some more shows coming up and am hard at work learning some new songs. Hearing Anna and Olivia singing together is a pure joy.
On the second last night in Gympie Darren Hanlon jumped up and played with me for an entire set on guitar and vocals not missing a beat even though we hadn’t graced a stage together in twenty years. People in the crowd couldn’t believe we hadn’t rehearsed. I was kind of shocked myself. It’s incredible what muscle memory can accomplish.
People keep asking me how I have enjoyed the solo touring experience. Well, the shows themselves have been pretty much all great. The weirdest part of the whole escapade was probably driving to them on my own. Not so much the long drives between towns (Tintenbar to Gympie was four and a half hours, Melbourne to Beechworth three hours) which were difficult in their own way but the drives - sometimes quite short - to the actual shows themselves. The times normally when the excitement in the band vehicle is right up, the sense of expectation and optimism. That nervous energy is something it is hard to replicate when you are on your own. Once you are at the venue then it’s the familiar business of getting the show organised and invariably you are around others who also have a job to do. The sound needs to be checked and re-checked. Old songs need to be run through, set lists need to be written, ticket lists need printing and merch needs to be set up. I need somewhere to put my stage paraphernalia (capos, towel, drinks, clock etc). There is stuff to do. But in the car on the way from the hotel there is just an eerie silence. Unnerving
And so this Friday, the Roving Commission (and the Poison Spitting Gin Queens) play Swan Hill and I have to say I am really looking forward to the whole thing - reconvening with the band, rehearsing, playing the familiar songs. Playing the electric guitar, hearing Jenando and Wally take the solos, singing with Brooke, singing with everyone. It’s all about the songs and the different ways we might choose to present them on any given occasion. And as we head up the Calder highway, I’m sitting in the back seat.
Here’s the last couple of live at MCT tracks for a while - and a flyer for one last solo show with Mr Wagons, no less.
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Keep Talking to Me (with Michael Barclay) - live at the MCT
The Party’s Over - solo live at the MCT
