March 2008

Tauranga National Jazz Festival

Before we started I caught up with our friends from Shaken Not Stirred who were in top form, getting wild, with vibes legend Jack Claridge sitting in. There wasn't much time to see anything else. Mike Nisbett was playing some classy Dixie but - other than that - the only band I heard were Gahu, playing before us on the Roots Stage and making a great sound, a fascinating cross-pollenation of Pacific, African and South American(?) rythmns, and then finishing with a couple of belted-out soul tunes. Good stuff!

Beano was back on the drums and we had a fun time, and - after many delays - had some pre-release copies of In The Well for sale. It was received enthusiastically - particularly by people who have been waiting for it since last year's Dylan Show at the Tauranga Arts Festival - which was very reassuring. We're very proud of the new album and can't wait for the release proper (expected in about a month).

The crowd downtown was huge. They seemed to be everywhere - in the bars, dancing in the street, hanging from the balconies... It was a real boost to see so many people, and our mate John Michaelz showed up out of the blue so we dragged him onstage for an impromptu run at Jimmy Reed's Big Boss Man and he stayed on and helped out with Superheroes

In case you were there, here are a couple of pictures of the street - see if you can find yourself! For those interested in such details I'll stick the day's setlist below the pics.

FIRST SET

TOO MANY WORDS (Jacombs)

GOOD GRIEF (Lake / Baysting)

ANY ROAD UP (Jacombs)

TO BE OR WHAT (Jacombs)

QUEEN JANE APPROXIMATELY (Dylan)

BABY'S GETTING BIGGER (Jacombs / Michaelz)

THINGS HAVE CHANGED (Dylan)

STRANGE ANGELS (Jacombs)

ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS (Dylan)

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (Dylan)

SECOND SET

DON'T TEMPT ME (Jacombs)

IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY (Dylan)

30 DAYS (Jacombs)

PLASTIC JESUS (Unknown)

FREIGHT TRAIN (Terry)

BIG BOSS MAN (Dixon / Smith)

SUPERHEROES (Jacombs)

RAINY NIGHT IN TAUPO (Jacombs)

DON’T GET AROUND MUCH ANY MORE (Russell / Ellington)

NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME (Robey / Harvey)

There are a couple more pics of the gig in the "Various Pics 2008" section of the Picture Gallery, but that's all for now folks. Sorry I couldn't tell you more about the other bands - it was all a bit of a rush this year. Drop us a line if you were there and have any thoughts on the festival (or anything else).

All the best

Coromandel Blues & Roots Music Festival 2008

And let me start by saying that we had an absolute blast!
With so many bands, everyone had only a short set. We played on the second stage after the Luckie Loos (who were very good - young and enthusiastic with chunky guitar sounds) and, to my slight surprise, we actually had quite a big crowd. I say "surprise" because Midge Marsden had started ten minutes earlier on the Main Stage so I assumed everyone would be watching him, particularly with his great new album. Anyway, it was all good. Our regular drummer, Beano, was playing at the National Jazz Festival in Tauranga with his other band Brilleaux so we had longtime friend and occasional (for us) drummer Paul Higgins pounding the skins. We played a short "greatest hits" sort of set and it went very well.

The atmosphere really was good and got even better as the day went on, the drinks flowed and more musos finished their gigs. Pluto played a killer set, then band skulled a bottle of tequila, and started a big game of soccer. Groups of the musicians gathered at regular intervals in the backstage area where we could see the main stage to check out acts.

Best of all (not wanting to knock Buddy and Keb and Wilco and all the others great bands) for me was Australian Xavier Rudd, who was apparently at WOMAD last year.
There was a forty five minute break on the Main Stage before Xavier played, which was unusual, given that other bands had a tight fifteen minute turnaround, but when you saw his stage set-up it was easy to understand the delay. Playing in front of a big Aborigine flag, Xavier Rudd had possibly the most complex instrumental array I think I’ve ever seen.
Accompanied only be a Canadian drummer, he played a guitar (several in fact), lap-style - much like the late lamented Jeff Healey albeit an acoustic guitar - and coaxed sounds out that ranged from the most aggressive Ben Harper slide to the lilting Paul Simon rhythms of Graceland. He sang and played a harmonica with a neck holder. In front of him were two didgeridoos and around him was a vast array of percussion: chimes, timbales and God knows what else. He also played bass pedals with one foot and was creating loops of various instruments on the spot (presumably with the other foot).
It was an incredible performance, truly awe-inspiring – if you ever hear that name, crawl across cut glass to hear him play.

OK. That's all for now. It was a brilliant day and a brilliant festival - the sun shone and the music ranged from the rootsy extremes of Xavier and pure blues to Little Bushmen's psychedelic freak-outs and a host of very cool rock bands. We can only hope that this is the first of many such Coromandel festivals! I've put some more pictures in the 2008 section of the Picture Gallery.

All the best

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