Peterboroug Gig - 5/2/05

On Saturday night we played a big gig at the Peterborough Rodeo in South Australia’s mid-north (250 odd Kms from Adelaide). We got the show several weeks ago through an associate of a band member who had been booked to do it but found himself double booked. Was a good pick up. The previous year a solitary country singer had been the performer.

We all drove up separately, meeting up at the Railway Hotel mid arvo. We then went and argued our way in past the Ute people (a subtribe of rodeo folk) into the site. Put all our stuff on the truck under canopy they had set up. Then found out they wished to realign the truck so that we would play ‘down’ the grassed slope which bordered the arena, rather than face an (empty) arena. We then waited while the trucker was first located in a town about 50 miles away and then eventually moved his truck. Thus we only set up once the Rodeo proper was underway (from 6 pm). I gotta say, the full array of equipment on the van looked pretty imposing and professional. There was no doubt a full on rock band was going to be playing later.

We then got to enjoy the rodeo. I won’t say too much about that here except a few points and impressions. Nearly all the men and a lot of the women and children wore either a ‘cowboy’ hat or a cap (which I called a ‘tractor cap’ without anyone raising an eyebrow). Competitors and spectators came mainly from northern and mid northern South Australia, or the Northern Territory. There were maybe 2000 people present. They liked Slim Dusty, there was a Slim recording playing from about 4 pm to 11 pm. It was the same recording! It was a real country show, where everyone maintained a more formal civility towards each other than their city cousins would, no overly excited crowd actions, a deep sense of appreciation and respect. I loved the rodeo, have an immense respect for the skills and courage of entrants and organisers.

We kicked off at 11 pm. Had three sets lined up, were to finish at 2 am. Straight into it with These Boots are Made for Walking, Am I Pretty Enough, Midnight Special and Ring of Fire. We had them, and were playing well. Although we hadn’t had opportunity for more of a sound check than to make sure mikes were working (including drum mikes which we usually don’t use) I think we sounded pretty good.

It was a full outdoor show which was pretty new to us, people stretched about before us for a couple hundred meters on the grass concourse. Maybe 1200 to 1500 people stayed through the set. A lot of people, the further back from us you looked, the more evaluative they were. The closer you got to us, the more likely they were to be participating (moving, dancing, singing). There was always someone up dancing in the dance area immediately beneath us.

The first set fell apart about 45 min in when my amp stopped producing sound. Over several songs I tried to fix it, faking the guitar but singing. I eventually changed one of my leads and it was okay. Set ended. Nancy was distressed to have learnt she had locked keys in car in wide open view. Spare key in hotel room, hotel key in car. This lead to delay of 20 min in set break (as I was with a guy trying to break into car and lost track of time). Loss of momentum.

Second set, starts disastrously with House of the Rising Sun, Keyboard out of sync, drums couldn’t get it. Guitar string breaks for me. Other problems with lack of coordination between the band (strung out along truck). Once again, I was on the wing which I think breaks up our rhythm section. Audience loyally stuck through it. I think we were still playing to 600 people at 1 am. We finished this set at about 1.40 am, nearly straight into abreviated final set. Started with biggest song of the evening, ‘High Voltage’. Nutbush, Bitch, Come as You Are, Roadhouse Blues, Twist and Shout and River Deep were the other biggies.

We were given a one song warning at 2.15, and finished with Little Aeroplane. There were still maybe 200-300 people there, and maybe 40 or 50 were doing the aeroplane around the place. Pretty cool.

Special thanks here to Jo and the girls who came up from Adelaide to party on with us at the Rodeo. Hope it was worth it! It's always great to know that someone has made the effort to see us specifically. Makes us feel appreciated. You wouldn't do all this if it was only for the money...

Not our best show, don’t even know if the organisers were happy or not to learn that we didn’t play much country. Will get feedback in the next week. The audience loved us. I think we were the first full on act a fair few of the cowboys had seen. They enjoyed. Was good to give them something in return for who and what they are. I think we would have looked like a good band that wasn’t having the best gig. Nothing to be ashamed of. Afterall, for every shit piece we did we did four to which they sang and danced. And that’s what a rodeo band should be like, eh? Next few gigs are back in the city. Will fill keep you posted …