sunday april ten

i went to see the church play at the sydney opera house concert hall last night: a psychedelic symphony accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra. it was one of the best shows i have ever seen, a one-off and i'm really glad i got to go, despite being 11 kinds of tired. it was seated and we were on the left hand side of stage in a great spot.

the conductor, george ellis, had the night of his life; having first met his hero, the church's steve kilbey, as a kid in balmain. he scored the entire three-hour show and spent four years rehearsing for it. the energy and passion with which he merged the music of this massive orchestra with one of australia's most iconic rock bands had the hairs on the arms standing up on more than a few occasions; i've seldom seen a man so in the moment and his face was pure joy.

after interval everyone came back with a costume change, with the orchestra were tricked out in rainbow colours. we had a lot of fun checking out how well everyone had nailed it, or not, and speculating on what the brief was. there was a male violinist who was wearing a red satin onesy who looked like a gay wizard. we all thought his outfit should have been vetoed as it was a bit distracting.



i went with my girl bernie, dr P and chris. here's me and B after the show. B's wearing a striking red wool dress from dangerfield, with a navy trim and blue buttons down the left side. this pic doesn't do it justice. her coat has got a terrific B+W sixties print and was $80 from a website called easybuy = bargain. B is always beautifully turned out. i wore my blue polka-dot dress again with a red cardy, black tights and my flat maroon campers boots cause my calves were killing me.

one of the highlights of the gig for me was their cover of a 1969 australian psychedelic song by the dave miller set, who i'd never heard of. the song was called mr guy fawkes which i found on you tube this morning. the video is pretty good, too. it goes quiet two-thirds of the way through then comes back bigger... stay with it.

i've been burning the candle at both ends and holding a match to the middle so i'm having the day off work today to take it quietly. hope you have a good monday.