October 30
After having a lovely dinner at Ruth and Danny's place we headed over to Northcote for the gig. Mary and a couple of her friends met us there. I had a brief chat with Kris at the merch desk before Georgia Fair began to play. Their alt-country set was very good and I liked a lot of their songs. One I recognized was "Picture Frames," which was used for a Big M milk ad.
The Basics played a rocking and tight set of primarily old material. They started off with "Yeah, Yeah" and then did pretty much the entire first half of the Stand Out/Fit In album. Michael Hubbard, their original guitarist, joined them for some songs from their first album Get Back (including the rarely played "Sound Off") as well as some covers, including The Kinks "All Day and All of the Night," and the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin". The only recent stuff played was "With This Ship" and a brand new song called "So Hard For You." The banter was amusing throughout the night, especially since Tim was on cold medication. Wally's voice was really strong and he sounded and played great.
October 31
Tash came down from Ballarat to attend this show. We had dinner at the venue, where Mary joined us before heading into the bandroom. The stage was all decked out in cobwebs and spiders since this was a Halloween show. Georgia Fair once again played support and did a good job.
The Basics came out onto the stage in costume, with Wally dressed as priest, Kris as a monk, and Tim with some black lines drawn onto his face (perhaps he didn't get the costume memo?). They started off the night with our favorite song from Keep Your Friends Close "The No. 1 Cause of Death Amongst Youth Today." This show was a bit of a contrast to last night because it was very loose and a bit all over the shop since Kris appeared to have had a lot to drink. The hour and a half set was a mix of Basics songs and covers, with Dave Bramble joining them on keyboards throughout the night. From The Basics catalogue the highlights were "Lookin' Over My Shoulder," "Like A Brother," "U R The 1," and "Feels Like Love." Covers included The Cramps "Garbageman," Neil Young's "Old Man," The Police's "Roxanne," and New Kids on the Block's "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."
The banter throughout the night was quite funny but there were some dark undertones to what was being said and you could sense a bit of tension between the band members. The encore was an epic medley of Henry Nilsson's "Lime in the Coconut" interlaced with "All Day and All of the Night," "Gimme Some Lovin'," and "Lovin' Man." Sadly this will be the last time we see The Basics live for a while as Wally is about to embark on promoting a new Gotye album. Hopefully they will pop out of hibernation to play a show here and there over the next year, otherwise I guess we will be seeking out each band member's solo projects.
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