Buff's Bar - 18 Dec '05

On Sunday afternoon The Negotiators played a return gig at Buff’s Bar in Port Adelaide. In case you’ve looked but can’t find, it’s in the fantastic old wreck of a building on the main corner just before you get to the Port Markets. Apparently there’s restrictions on what the publican can put up for publicity (ie nothing). It’s also just up the road from Cash Converters (plenty of ugly signage there), but more on that later.

We were booked to play from 3 – 7 pm. It’s been a while since we played a daylight gig. We usually reherse on a Sunday arvo (when we reherse), in my mind at least there was some of the relaxed informality of our show that goes with weekly practice (which we have been known to do in the ‘off season’). Which was good because, for me at least, quite a few things went wrong and it would sometimes be quite a battle to remain focused on the show. Being in the less-self-conscious mode that goes with practice certainly helped. More of those things-that-went-wrong later as well.

A good thing about playing Sunday arvo in summer time is that it doesn’t get dark while we play so we don’t need to set up the light show. The front of stage looks barely defined without all the lighting cables. Conversely, one of the sad things about daylight gigs is that there’s no light show (nothing like coloured lights to make you know you’re a rock star). Still, less time to set up and take down, less gear to cart back and forth.

Nancy and I got there around 2 pm. We were half an hour late, which isn’t as bad as the group of ‘fans’ who’d walked from Hendon the night before, thinking we were playing then. The publican was pretty impressed, said they stayed all night. Apparently they’d seen us play here last time and liked us. Quite an honour.

Terry had already brought in most of the gear from his van (as had sox and steve). We were all set up and ready to do a sound check with about 10 minutes to go. There were around a dozen people there already (I didn’t know any, I think Sox knew at least one). With five minutes to go, we’re out the front getting some fresh air, greeting some fresh arrivals we knew. What does Terry do? Wonders off to have a look in the pawn shop (no more free advertising), comes out without having bought anything, and we’re playing a couple minutes later! Almost surreal. And very Terry.

From my point of view, the gig was interesting. I broke my record of breaking strings, busting 2 B strings and a D on my guitar, and a D on Steve’s. I think I busted one at the end of the first set, two in the third (beginning and near the end, on stage change while Nancy first sang solo and then the band started ‘I’ll make you happy’). I broke the last in the final set. Normally busting one string can rattle a guitarist, let alone breaking four! I was moderately impressed with the way I changed the one on stage and joined the song in the first chorus during the third set. Perhaps the unprofessionalism revealed by the breaks was countered with the way we dealt with it. Perhaps I need a new guitar (I’ve never had a new guitar before).

The other thing of note for me was that it took a while for my ear to sort out my guitar from the general mix where I stood. We have a fair bit of room in this venue, and when I stood stage left (near my amp) I could hardly hear myself to start with. My ear started zoning in after I’d played while standing near the drums at stage centre several times. I sorted out my sound better as the gig progressed, even though I think Steve was turning up behind me (at least, I was hearing him as ‘louder’ as the show progressed). I know I consciously had to resist the temptation to turn up. I could hear Terry pretty clear all along, Sox and Nancy also.

Nancy put in a ripper gig, despite the fact it was an afternoon she gave a great performance. She nailed a few songs we’ve not quite nailed before. That was satisfying. Our interaction on stage was coming along nicely too, I think that some in the audience would have enjoyed the looks on stage. Hard to describe, but a communicative exchange of expressions in a song can add to the song for observant viewers. A friend of ours brought along a video camera and filmed a couple songs. Not planned, but it will be interesting if he caught some of the interaction.

The audience was an interesting cross section. We had around a dozen friends and family rock up. They range from one year old to somewhere in the seventies. There were around a dozen ‘classic’ port types – working class men and women of varied age, gender and shape. Had three members of an outlaw motorcycle club there for most of the show (lots of tats there), several ‘old digger’ types, and a handful of passerby that stayed. At least six times I saw someone on their way home from the market poke their heads in, surprised to see a band and, I suspect, that there was a pub in the building. I caught several people dancing outside out of the corner of my eye.

And we had an honoured guest, Santa, pass through. We welcomed him at the christmas pageant, and now he turned up for a few songs at a gig of ours. We must be doing something right!

At most, we had around forty there. At the end, around fifteen. Not bad for the trade I suspect.

We now have a few weeks off to enjoy the festive season. We play Buff’s again on the night of 13 January, a Friday, starting around 7 pm. On 11 Feb we play the Glynde (start around 9). On February 25 we expect to be playing Buff’s again (this gig to be confirmed). We then have bookings for 1 and 29 April, venue to be announced. Those, anyway, are the gigs I know of so far for 2006. Please note, however, that this is rock’n’roll and thus subject to change.

If I don’t post on this blog in meantime, I wish all my regular readers a safe and fun festive season! I hope to see you at The Negotiators next gig!