If you watched the TV show on Rolf Harris’ portrait of the Queen you would have noted that due to insomnia Harris spent a considerable amount of time working on the portrait of Her Royal Highness in the wee hours of the morning. Whilst the idea of completing this review crossed my mind this morning as I too lay awake, the prospect of writing something that could well be incoherent babble as opposed to my normal lucid prose dissuaded me from doing so; instead I planned my review of Augie March’s set at the ANU Bar.
Turning up at the Bar at 9:00pm it was a surprise to see a line extending from the entrance around the side of the bar. People were going to miss out this evening. It had been a good long while since I’d been to a sell out show, although the Hilltop Hoods did pack out the bar a couple of weeks previously.
The crowd for this evening’s show was eclectic, reflecting Augie March’s fan base. It ranged from PhD students to public servants to undergrad students. All were there to see something a little bit special. As the guys from the Chaser once displayed on their news bar “Augie March only Australian band music snob likes;” the band has a reputation for appealing to those with more high brow musical tastes and drew a crowd that reflected that in Canberra.
Stepping up to the plate as the support act were Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males. They’re reputation as a good support act was upheld again this evening. They played a reasonable set, although at times it felt a little slow and some of the mid song noodling really detracted from the actual performance, as it didn’t really match the tune. Dan Kelly introduced Drunk on Election Night as the song Howard commissioned for his tenth anniversary celebrations, which caused a giggle amongst the left leaning Canberra crowd.
When Kelly and his Alpha Males left the stage it meant it was time for Augie March to hit the stage.
On SBS’s Insight a couple of weeks ago the program considered the issue of happiness, and how that feeling of well-being makes us better people. One of the guests was a violinist from a symphony orchestra, she talked about being happiest when playing music and there were times when she felt that the musicians and the crowd were all so in the moment that time became a construct outside what they were experiencing. As I stood in the crowd watching Augie March I lost track of time and space, before I knew it the show was over.
The set started slowly, a few technical glitches led up to One Crowded Hour, and it was unfortunate that these occurred at various interval throughout the set. On the flip side of that band dealt with the delays in a self deprecating yet professional manner, putting it all down to opening night.
The difficulty in writing reviews is that you have to quantify another’s art and often when you do experience something that verges on the perfect you become so entranced in that art that quantifying what you saw becomes impossible.
And this is the case with Augie March. As mentioned earlier however, it was a serene performance and one where it would have been nice to have a loved one to share it with. If you have the opportunity to see Augie March on their up coming tour grasp it with two hands, you will not be disappointed.
