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Friday, May 31, 2013

My weekend at the Broadbeach Blues Festival (or the BBBBBBBB)



Last weekend I got to carry on a tradition that is only three years old. Its what my sisters, cousin and I call the Bird Broads BroadBeach Blues Boogie & Booze Bash.  Its our chance to go away together without any partners or children, take a few extra days off from work and let ourselves blow off some steam. The four of us love blues music (well almost any kind of live music) and we could easily spend three days in a haze of oysters, bubbly and bopping on a balcony (I think I squeezed all the alliterations out of that paragraph).





related much?

We stayed at the Phoenician which overlooked the two main stages at either end of the main street.  The balcony had this view ...

So when we didn't feel like fighting the crowd down there (this was the last gig, Vanessa Amorosi - who was sooo good!), we danced up here ...


Some of the great acts we caught were:

Shaun Kirk the one-man-band
photo opp of course

Kevin Borich...
 and his floppy fingered base player

Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows (aka Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons)...
(this was taken through a tiny holy in the side fence - he was very popular)

 And of course the very hot Jon Stevens....
(my sister and I spent a long time gazing up at this)

Then there was a what I think was the highlight of the weekend - a duo that we just caught the end of at the bar in Jupiters and then made sure we caught them the next day in the mall.  They were called George and Noriko. 


They are Japanese, not a couple (they are both married to Aussies) and play the blues like you've never seen or heard before. George sings and plays harmonica and guitar (including playing steel slide guitar with a beer bottle) and Noriko (who is nine months pregnant) plays the Japanese Shamisen and drums.  I didn't realise they had appeared on Australia's Got Talent last year, right to the finals. Brian McFadden described Noriko's instrument as "a banjo with a paint scraper".

The way they performed in the nightclub and in a shopping mall (!), they're sure to have great success.  Noriko, dressed in a 'maternity' kimono, jumped all over the stage, gave the drums what-for and kept up with George's banter so well you could tell they had been working together for years.  George was lots of fun and got the audience involved.  But instead of me rabbiting on about it, here's a short bit of what they did at Broadbeach (or for better quality video, look them up on YouTube):





1 comment:

  1. Wow to George and Noriko - how great are they!? And I think getting an apartment overlooking a music festival is sheer genius. No portaloos for you!

    ReplyDelete

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