Monterey Bay Aquarium

On our drive back to the Bay Area we stopped in Monterey so that I could visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was last there when I was in primary school, so it was exciting to go back and see the present day exhibitions. Our first stop was for the feeding of the sea otters, which happens three times a day and always attracts a big crowd. The sea otters were very playful with each other and fun to watch.

The mission of the aquarium is to educate people and inspire conservation of the ocean. There are hands on areas such as the touch pools as well as a variety of exhibitions that showcase the local ecosystems of the Monterey Bay and California coast.

My favorite exhibition was Jellies with all the different varieties of jellyfish. They looked so beautiful behind the safety of the glass as they gently floated through the water.

Viva Baja was also an interesting exhibition and featured the garden eel - which sticks out of the sand and looks like sea grass. It also has Pacific seahorses and some beautiful coral.

Hearst Castle

If you are traveling around the California central coast one stop you have to make is at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hurst worked with architect Julia Morgan to build this amazing hilltop estate from 1919 to 1947. Its style is Mediterranean Revival and the estate is filled with art and antiques that Hearst collected throughout the years.

The drive up the hill to Hearst Castle is an amazing sight in itself. It's hard to imagine how they put in the road, let alone brought up all the materials to build the estate. The views of the coast are fantastic, and there is a lot to see on the grounds.

There are two different pools on the grounds. The Neptune Pool is located outside, and is currently empty as it is undergoing repairs. This gives you a unique opportunity to see its white marble floor.

The other pool is the indoor Roman Pool, which was built using more than a million Murano glass tiles. It is beautiful and over the top in its design.

In order to see inside the buildings you need to book into tours, which are $25 each and last around an hour. Our first tour was the Grand Rooms Tour, which takes you through the main downstairs rooms of Casa Grande, including the Assembly Room, Refectory, Billiard Room and Theater. The rooms are quite dark and gothic with the wood ceilings, old church pews and tapestries hanging from the walls.

The second tour we did was the Upstairs Suites Tour, which allowed you to see the living and working quarters of Casa Grande, as well as bedrooms for guests and Mr. Hearst himself. This tour takes you up the winding staircases to the top levels of the house and the tour guide provides you with interesting stories about what it was like to actually be a guest of Hearst. It was quite fascinating and definitely the better of the two tours we went on.

When we returned back down to the Visitor Center we went to the Hearst Castle Theater to watch the 40 minute movie Hearst Castle - Building The Dream about the Hearst family and the building of the estate. The film is a mixture of reenactments with actors and some original film footage that paints Hearst in a very favorable light (aka no mention of the mistress who lived across the hall from him at Hearst Castle). If you plan to visit do give yourself most of the day to explore the grounds and take in the different tours.

California Central Coast

There are many small towns that dot the coast of California as you drive along Highway 1. While we were in the central coast we stopped at a few of them during this trip. We based ourselves in Cambria at the Fogcatcher Inn, which is located just across the street from Moonstone Beach. There you can stroll along the 1.5 mile boardwalk that gives you great views of Moonstone Beach and the ocean, as well as some encounters with ground squirrels that may pop up along the boardwalk.

The coastal town of Cayucos is where my cousin had her wedding. Its downtown area is quite cute and you can get some fresh cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company. Their original brown butter sea salt cookie is one of the best I have ever tasted. You can hit the beach or walk out along the pier for a great view of the town and any surfers trying to catch a wave.

Further south along Highway 1 is Morro Bay, where you can get up close to Morro Rock via Coleman Park. The rock dominates the coast line so it was nice to be able to walk around part of its base for a different perspective.

Finally, if you head north to San Simeon you can visit not only Hearst Castle, but also the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. We were able to see hundreds of elephant seals lying on the beach as it is currently molting season. It was such an amazing sight and one of the highlights of the trip.

Mercedes and Damon's Wedding

One of the main reasons for my trip to the States was for my cousin Mercedes' wedding to Damon. We drove down to Cayucos on the California central coast yesterday and caught up with family members ahead of today's big day. The wedding took place at the Swallow Creek Ranch in Cayucos, with the ceremony up on a hill overlooking the coast. Thankfully we had a shuttle to get us to the site - otherwise I would have been trekking uphill on a dirt road in heels!

My niece and nephew were the flower girl and ring bearer, so it was great to see them head down the aisle ahead of Mercedes and my uncle Tom. The ceremony itself was lovely, with some personalised vows thrown in by the bride and groom. After the ceremony wind swept pictures were taken up on the hill before everyone headed down to the barn for the reception. We had a cocktail hour outside where you could choose between the bride and groom's signature drinks before heading inside to grab our table assignments from a card catalogue.

The barn was a beautiful rustic setting, with a buffet for dinner and dessert table filled with cookies and mini cupcakes. Speeches were made by both families as well as the maid of honor and best man before we all hit the dance floor. My nephew broke out some spectacular dance moves which I'm sure will make the video. We got our obligatory cousins photo (which has expanded with the new babies in the family) and I hit the photo booth with my brother and nephew before heading off the ranch for our hotel. It was another fun family wedding and great to be able to catch up with everyone in one place.

Eurovision 2016

It's the middle of May so that means it is once again time for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held this year in Stockholm, Sweden. After watching the Semi Finals on delay Friday and Saturday night I was up early in the morning to catch the Grand Final live- well, at least most of the performances before I had to leave for the airport.

Before boarding my plane to the States, this year's winner was announced - Jamala from Ukraine performing the politically charged "1944," a song about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin (and with obvious parallels to Russia's treatment of Crimea in the present day).


Once again that little nation of battlers, Australia, was able to send an entry to Eurovision, with Dami Im absolutely slaying her performance of the power ballad "Sound Of Silence." We came in second place (and would have won if the voting system hadn't changed this year).


Since by Eurovision rules I am not allowed to vote for my adopted country, my top three this year were as follows:

12 points: Douwe Bob (The Netherlands) with "Slow Down," a nice little alt-country song.


10 points: Laura Tesoro (Belgium) with "What's The Pressure," a great r&b groove track to dance around to (and it sounds a bit like Kimbra's "Miracle").


8 points: Amir (France) with "J'ai Cherche," a nice song with a very catchy chorus.


Note: normally I would upload the live performances from the Grand Final, but the Eurovision TV You Tube channel is blocking the videos in some countries, so I have gone with the original videos.

The hosts Mans Zelmerlow (last year's winner) and Petra Mede did a fantastic job, and in a very meta moment during the Grand Final interval they discussed the required elements for the perfect Eurovision performance and sang their created song "Love, Love, Peace, Peace."

The Basics Present The Songroom

The Basics have begun a new venture on Wednesdays in May at the Northcote Social Club with The Songroom. Each week features Kris and Tim playing along with two other artists in the round with special guest MC Jess McGuire.

4 May

It was a small and intimate gathering of punters for the very first Songroom event. Kris and Tim started things off with The Basics classic "Home Again." This evening's special guests were Kiwi singer/songwriter Skyscraper Stan (Skyscraper Stan and the Commission Flats) and Felicity Cripps (Hoy, Slow Galo). Each artist played a couple of their own songs, with Jess McGuire interviewing them in between tracks. Stan's love of Americana and Delta Blues suddenly became a running joke about "Delta Goodrem Blues" throughout the night. We also learned that Felicity is the songwriter in the Heath/Cripps household, but Tim contributes music (and does the dishes). There were numerous lesser known cover songs played from a range of artists, including Johnny Cash, The Triffids, The Everly Brothers, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell. The final song for the night was Crowded House's "It's Only Natural." It was a good first attempt at a format that I'm sure they will iron out over the coming weeks.

11 May

I think tonight's gig had at least twice as many audience members as last week. The Northcote Social Club provided bean bags for people to sit on and the "in the round" was lit by a series of large and small desk lamps. Kris and Tim began the evening with a cover of John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" as a way to ease some tensions between the two of them from the previous week. The special guests tonight were William Crighton and Angie Hart (Frente!). The show went much smoother as there was a set list and it seemed like everyone's parts in each song had been arranged ahead of time. Jess McGuire's interview questions between songs were quite insightful, covering such topics as Cold Chisel's "Khe Sanh," the writing process, and what it was like for Angie to have fame at such an early age with Frente!. William and Angie each played a couple of their own songs as well as some covers, with highlights being Angie's duet with Tim on "Little Bridges" (a song she co-wrote with Mark Seymour), Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold On Me," Frente!'s "Ordinary Angels," William's song "Priest" and The Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian." They finished the evening with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks.

There are two more weeks of the The Songroom remaining so if you are in Melbourne be sure to check it out.

Sarah Blasko- Eternal Return Tour

Sarah Blasko's latest album Eternal Return is a bit of a departure from her previous albums with its more electronic feel and songs about love. Onagh and I were looking forward to seeing her bring these tracks to life at tonight's show at The Forum. We arrived as the second act Jack Colwell and his band were on the stage. While obviously talented, his performance was a bit over the top at times, and included a dramatic cover of Divinyls' "I Touch Myself."

Sarah Blasko and her band were all dressed in black as they took to the stage and started the evening with "I Am Ready." The first half of the set was songs from her new album, with highlights being "Better With You," "I'd Be Lost," "Say What You Want" and "Maybe This Time." Sarah was in a good mood and she danced around the stage throughout the night (attributing this to the fact she was wearing tap shoes). It was nice to hear some older songs, including "Always Worth It" from her first album The Overture And The Underscore, "All I Want," "We Won't Run" and "No Turning Back" from As Day Follows Night, and I Awake's "Cast The Net" and "Here," which was played in an acoustic style at the front of the stage and had the venue listening silently.  

For an encore Sarah honored the recent passing of Prince with a cover of Martika's "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (written by Martika and Prince) while bathed in purple light. She then played "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the fabulous "Luxurious" before finishing the night with "I Awake." It was another fantastic show by Sarah, and great to see her so happy in her life.

Here's the video for "I Wanna Be Your Man"

Where To Invade Next

I am a long time fan of Michael Moore, so was excited to get the chance to see his latest film Where To Invade Next when it opened here in theaters. In this film Moore "invades" different countries not to claim them for America, but to bring back their great ideas. This included things such as paid annual leave from Italy, healthy school meals from France, high performing schools from Finland, free university education from Slovenia, the rehabilitation of prisoners as in Norway, decriminalisation of drugs from Portugal, women's rights as in Tunisia, educating children about the horrors of the past as in Germany, and the prosecution of bankers that caused the GFC as done in Iceland.

As Moore learns about these great ideas it is pointed out that many of them first originated in America. While the United States has lost its way over time, affordable healthcare and the legalisation of gay marriage have happened in the last few years. In addition, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders is bringing many of these ideas to the fore as part of his political revolution to take back the country from the establishment.

For me, many of these ideas are not as far fetched living in Australia. We have universal healthcare and I have four weeks of paid annual leave each year with my job (plus three months long service leave after 10 years). Women have paid maternity leave, and many of my colleagues usually take a year off work to care for their baby. While higher education may not be free, the Commonwealth's loan program means you don't have to pay fees up front and only begin paying back the loan as a percentage of your income when you start earning over $54,000. There are some ideas from the film that would be useful though, particularly confronting the country's treatment of its first peoples and the continuing racism that is a result of White Australia policy in the past.

MICF- Celia Pacquola and Velvet

I've been to a lot of shows over the course of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the past two evenings have been my final ones for this year. On Monday night I went to see Celia Pacquola in The Looking Glass at the Comedy Theatre. Celia is a veteran of MICF and has branched out into acting with the comedy Utopia and drama The Beautiful Lie on the ABC. However, she joked that if someone as messed up as her can have that kind of success, imagine what a person with their life together could do. Celia's show mainly covered her being a single woman, love for beer, visits to a cat cafe, and a hilarious hate read of a passage from Miranda Kerr's book "Treasure Yourself." The ending was a very funny throwback to a story from the start of the show.

Tonight I headed down to the Malthouse Theatre for the disco cabaret show Velvet. The room was pumping from the start with DJ Joe Accaria playing music to get people in the mood. The show is set in a Studio 54-esque nightclub as a young conservatively dressed man (Brendan Maclean) wanders in and is intrigued by who he encounters. The cast is a hugely talented group that includes an acrobat, aerialist, hula boy, muscle man, two female backup singers and the legendary Marcia Hines.

Each member of the cast had their own moment to shine, with hula boy Craig Reid a real stand out. Marcia Hines nailed her vocals, but my favorite moment was Brendan Maclean's touching stripped back version of "Stayin' Alive" on ukulele. By the end of the show Maclean's character has transformed and is dancing around in a sequin jumpsuit with large feather collar. Velvet is a fantastic and entertaining show that will literally have you grooving even after it is finished - it's the only show I've ever been to where the audience stuck around to dance.

Andy Warhol - Ai Weiwei

It has taken a while but I finally managed to check out the Andy Warhol - Ai Weiwei exhibition this afternoon at the NGV. Covering both of their careers, the exhibition features over 300 works from these two contemporary artists in a wide variety of media including paintings, sculptures, photography and film.

While Warhol defined the twentieth century Pop Art movement in New York City, Weiwei builds on this legacy in the twenty-first century as he brings together the traditional with the modern. Both artists have similar themes running through their careers, including self-portraiture, the chronicling of daily life, their own artistic studios, flowers, and a love of cats. Weiwei's work is more political though, and as a social activist in China he continues to battle for human rights and freedom of expression.

Below are some of my favorite pieces from the exhibition, and how each artist has dealt with similar topics and themes in their work.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei tackling similar topics

Ai Weiwei

MICF- Sara Pascoe and Laura Davis

For tonight's MICF shows Onagh and I started at the Melbourne Town Hall to see Sara Pascoe in Animal. In this show Sara explores the theme of empathy and its limitations as she weaves through stories about hearing God over the loudspeaker of a grocery store, her love of mice, Tony Blair's bladder and a very different type of glass ceiling. Always intelligent, these stories tie together for a very funny conclusion.

Next we headed to ACMI to see Laura Davis in Marco. Polo. As we entered the room Laura was in a modest swimsuit sitting on top of a ladder blindfolded while a slightly deflated flamingo pool raft was on the floor in the corner. During the show Laura invited the crowd to join her in the pool, and being blindfolded she was reliant on that call back of "Polo" as she posed questions and interacted with the audience. She covered a range of topics from the handles of maple syrup bottles to questioning whether a potential rapist is more of a feminist than her because he assumed she could get his car to start. It was a thought provoking and unique show.

MICF- Tom Ballard, Gen Fricker and Andrew McClelland

It was a comedy packed Sunday as I started my afternoon at the Trades Hall for Tom Ballard's Boundless Plains To Share. In this show (he is also doing another one at MICF) Tom weaved through the stories of four different refugees seeking to come to Australia while utilising a slide show to focus on the history of Australia's immigration policy (which was just as horrifying in past as it is in the present). It was a high energy show as Tom raced through this history lesson, which also included some pre-planned questions for audience members to read out at certain points. I got chosen to read out the following question towards the end: "Why would you want them here when all they do is leech off our economy?" This was particularly funny considering my American accent. As this was also an Auslan interpreted show we got learn some very interesting sign language for certain things. Tom may not have had a final solution to this issue, but the show definitely left you thinking.

Next I headed to the Greek Centre for Gen Fricker's show Yeah? Yeah! Gen spent her 50 minutes discussing assorted stories from her life, such as her Maori heritage, battle with cystic acne and an experience with an incompetent dentist. The funniest story though was around her neighbor's horrible jam band, which she proceeded to discuss both on social media and at her job as a Triple J presenter, and how they ended up finding out about her real thoughts on their abilities. She finished her show by playing her version of a love song.

The final show of the evening was Andrew McClelland in We Really Must Do This Again Sometime at The Forum. Andrew was a tour de force as he sang, danced and joked his way through a very entertaining hour of comedy. Dressed in his usual dandy style, he talked about his issues with magicians, his girlfriend's obsession with The Sims, and how he used World War II dictators to motivate him while exercising. The show ended with an audience sing along that is an earworm that will get stuck in your head for the rest of the night.

MICF- Arj Barker

I crossed the Yarra River for tonight's Melbourne International Comedy Festival show at the Palais Theatre featuring fellow Marinite Arj Barker in Organic. We were treated to a surprise opening stand-up set by Australian comedian Joel Ozborn, who told jokes about playing for the 'troops,' tattoos, and the misappropriation of the Southern Cross by bogans.

Arj is in his 10th year at MICF with yet another brand new show. Since he spends so much time here a lot of the material related to Australia, including our ever evolving roster of PMs, Brisvegas, and the extensive list of Australian phrases with the word 'shit' in them. Ever the man child, Arj is now living with his girlfriend, which he joked has completed him by bringing out an angry side he didn't know existed. Part of this might be due to his girlfriend making them eat organic and gluten free. The show had some big laughs throughout, especially the bits around Uber and spoilers. Arj tied it all together at the end with the song "Organic," which was my favorite part of the show as it was a throw back to classic Arj.

MICF- Charlie Pickering, Mel Buttle and Alex Edelman

To celebrate Belinda's birthday we decided to once again hit the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for an evening of shows. First up was Charlie Pickering with How To Tame A Wild Squirrel at The Comedy Theatre. As host of The Weekly with Charlie Pickering (sort of an Australian version of The Daily Show) and previous host of The Project, Charlie is known for his sharp and hard hitting observations on politics and current events. This was a looser evening of comedy, with Charlie stating he wanted it to be more of a conversation. At times these audience interactions seemed to derail the show they went on for too long with no real comedic pay off. His bits around Tony Abbott, racism, how the internet has changed the way we live, and instructions on how to tame a wild squirrel to be a pet were more successful.

We then headed to the Melbourne Town Hall to see Mel Buttle in Up To Pussy's Bow. In this year's show Mel has had enough and goes after people who are annoying or rude, including ladies of leisure with small dogs, body corporates, girls playing at a public swimming pool and an annoying American tourist in Hawaii. Mel also included stories about her family, and had a very funny bit about her dad who likes to scavenge around for dumped treasures. In addition, Mel's love for selling things on Gumtree resulted in some unique items on offer for the audience.

Our final show of the night was American comedian Alex Edelman with Everything Handed To You. Raised Orthodox Jew in Boston his show dealt with identity and family. He used a meeting with his twin brother (a bodybuilding, frequent flyer mile runner) and precocious 13 year old brother at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to tell them he's moving to the UK as a jumping off point for different anecdotes throughout the set. The show was very funny and well written, and had me laughing out loud throughout - definitely my highlight of MICF so far.

MICF- Joel Creasey and Luisa Omielan

For Saturday night at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Belinda and I attended two very entertaining shows. We started off at Max Watt's to see Joel Creasey in The Crown Prince. The show began with a bit of a video highlights package before Joel hit the stage. His shows are like sitting around gossiping with your best friend, and he did not disappoint with some hilarious stories about his celebrity feuds with Russell Crowe and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, acting as Kendra's Aussie best friend for her reality show, and what really happens behind the scenes at award show red carpets and telethons. Joel even turned the pain of getting dumped by his long term boyfriend overseas into an expertly woven series of events about the highs and lows he experienced both professionally and personally during that period of his life. Joel's show was fast paced and very funny.

Next we headed over to the Victoria Hotel for UK comedian Luisa Omielan's show Am I Right Ladies?! As we entered the room Luisa was already up on stage singing and dancing around as she had her sound person running through a playlist of songs. Once the show started it was a solid 70 minutes of female empowerment as Luisa tackled issues around body image (even stripping down to her bra and underwear at one point), sex and mental health in a very powerful and honest way. The show was fantastic and ended with a hilarious recreation of a scene out of the movie Dirty Dancing with some help from the audience.

MICF- Hannah Gadsby and Nick Cody

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival officially began yesterday and will run until 17 April. I've already booked into a number of shows and tonight were my first two at ACMI down in the Beyond Room. First up was Hannah Gadsby with Dogmatic. Unlike previous shows Hannah promised no woe this year. Loosely inspired by Taylor Swift's 1989 world tour Hannah has changed things up by telling short stories about different events in her life such as renting a cottage from a gay couple in North Carolina who were gun-toting 9/11 deniers, her family's use of boxes of discarded plastic corn cob bags during her childhood, and a dog sitting excursion in New York that went horribly wrong. Just like TayTay's tour we were treated to videos of Hannah and her pet (a dog named Douglas) while she did a few costume changes. The show is very well done as Hannah gradually reveals the truth about her "underdog" muse and the hypocrisy of her "feminist" stance with an epic speech at the end. It's definitely a show not to miss (unless you are a big Taylor Swift fan).

Next was Melbourne comedian Nick Cody and his show Come Get Some. Nick delivered more of a traditional stand up set revolving around a few themes such as his lack of a driver's license at the age of 28, his girlfriend's magical ability to stop him before even he realises he's about to swear at someone, traveling the globe and the unreliability of frequent TripAdvisor reviewers. His material was more blokey in topic matter but did have a couple good threads running throughout the set that tied together well at the end.

French Film Festival 2016

Over the past week I have been attending movies that are part of this year's Alliance Francaise French Film Festival. I bought myself a five film pass and have checked out the following films:

La Belle Saison is set in 1970s France as Delphine (Izia Higelin) moves from her family's farm in the country to live in Paris. While there she becomes involved with a group of women in the feminist movement and falls for Carole (Cecile De France). When Delphine's father becomes ill and she has to move back to the farm, it tests her relationship with Carole as well as her family.

The Anarchists is a crime drama set in Paris at the close of the 19th century. Jean (Tahir Rahim) is a low level cop who is asked to go undercover and infiltrate an anarchist group. He befriends members through his job in a nail factory and slowly gains their trust. As time goes on he gets more involved in the group's crimes and falls in love with the ringleader's girlfriend Judith (Adele Exarchopoulos). One is left to wonder where his real loyalties lie at the end of the day.

Chic! is a modern day romantic comedy focused on iconic fashion designer Alicia Ricosi (Fanny Ardant) who threatens to give it all away after her most recent break-up. In order to get her to complete her collection, her assistant Helene (Marina Hands) tries to set her up with a younger man, but instead Alicia ends up falling for the landscape gardener Julien (Eric Elmosnino) that Helene has just fired from working at her home. Helene has to try to convince Julien to come to Paris to be Alicia's muse in order to save not only her job but the fashion house.

All About Them is a complicated romantic comedy revolving around Melodie (Anais Demoustier) who is having an affair with her friend Charlotte (Sophie Verbeeck) and is surprised one day when Charlotte's boyfriend Micha (Felix Moati) answers the door as he is back in town. Soon Micha also admits his feelings for Melodie and each couple is sneaking around behind the other's back trying to avoid detection. At times highly comical this film does reach the plot point you think it will, but in the end who will end up together?

Lolo is the latest film written and directed by Julie Delphy. She plays the neurotic Violette, a sophisticated Parisian who falls for country bumpkin Jean-Rene while on holiday with friends. This unlikely couple starts to see each other as Jean-Rene takes an IT job in Paris. Everything is going smoothly until her 19-year-old son Lolo (Vincent Lacoste) once again secretly starts to play havoc with his mother's love life. Will Violette finally realise the root cause of all her failed relationships? This fast-paced and very funny film was probably my favorite of all the ones I saw.

The Charlatans- Australian Tour 2016

It's been over 20 years since I last saw The Charlatans play live in the early 1990s in San Francisco. They were one of my favorite bands during high school, so I was excited to finally get the chance to see them again on their Australian tour in support of their latest album, the wonderful Modern Nature. The opening band for their show at 170 Russell tonight was six piece The Harlots, who put on an energetic set.

The crowd had really built up by the time The Charlatans hit the stage. I managed to position myself front and center on the barricade and had the perfect view for the whole show. The band started the evening with "Talking In Tones" and then played a couple of old favorites with "Weirdo" (and its instantly recognisable organ opening) and "North Country Boy." Tim Burgess has really not aged that much and was interacting with the crowd throughout the night. He even multitasked by taking pictures and tweeting them throughout the show. I made it into his crowd shots.
 

Just when pic.twitter.com/is6NI2YHvT

— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) March 13, 2016

The tracks from Modern Nature fit right in with the rest of their back catalogue, with highlights being "So Oh," "Let The Good Times Be Never Ending," "Emilie," "In The Tall Grass" and "Come Home Baby." The older songs though got a huge reaction from the crowd, with the floor becoming a mosh pit at times as they played "Tellin' Stories," "Can't Get Out Of Bed," "One To Another," and "The Only One I Know." The encore featured two tracks from their debut album Some Friendly with "Then" and my absolute favorite song of theirs "Sproston Green" to finish the night. This concert was almost like reliving my youth and I had such a great time (despite the crush of the crowd at times).

Here's the video for "So Oh"