I spent the majority of the night on Snore Patrol, making sure Mannie didn’t purr loudly and wake anyone. He was like a jet engine warming up. Every time I heard him start to hit full throttle I leaned around the tent door and whacked him on his feet, making him whuff in his sleep and stop snoring immediately. Despite what Paul said at our concert, there was no stick involved! Seriously though, I think this may have happened six or seven times throughout the night. Bridget told me she didn’t sleep at all, poor thing. This is because unfortunately there were a few other purring persons close to our campsite and we could hear everything!
Come morning (yes, 8am, poor me) we awoke and immediately made coffee. That’s what I love about this band – we get our priorities straight. None of this instant tripe, either – the ground beans were proudly supplied by Cel at Abrisca’s coffee in Wooloongabba (gotta love that product placement! Sunas is also sponsored by the letters S, B & P and the number 52). Soon we were joined by the lovely Helen Rowe, Chuck & Chris from Stockade, and John from the Pirate Brides and had ourselves a morning party. The main topic of conversation was Mannie’s beautiful mandolin, which was made by Davy Stuart. People just can’t believe we bought him one for his birthday. It was passed around between them all (I think they’re secretly addicted now). What a great group of people!
The rest of the day passed from watching the incredible acts at the concert tent to mooching at our campsite which was roughly 20 metres away, so we never actually missed a performance as we heard everything. Aah yes :) Highlights for me were Women in Docs (as always, God Roz knows how to rock that guitar!), Helen, the Barleyshakes & Little Creatures. Pretty soon it was our turn to perform, and to everyone who hung out watching the evening concert, thank you for making our gig so memorable! I can’t ever remember having so much fun on stage. The positive feedback was also very much appreciated. Paul mentioned the Mannie snore story while we were onstage and the next day complete strangers were passing us and asking if we slept ok. There’s nothing like letting your hair down after a great gig, so we hit the *delicious* mulled wine and settled in to enjoy the rest of the night. Note: Never let Mannie attempt to build a fire. His idea of getting a fire going is to heap big chunks of wood together, douse the lot in petrol and throw a match on (reminiscent from his Belfast days, perhaps?). Mannie was so proud for about 5 minutes until the entire thing died and went to the big incinerator in the sky. We had John from the Pirate Brides, Alan from the Poms from Oz, Mannie, Paul & Dave all trying to revive the fire with different techniques, but to no avail. So we moved chairs and sat around an already glowing fire with Martin Pearson and drank the evening away listening to the *fantastic* singing session going on. Martin and I shared Hallelujah stories, which proved amusing (my story is the one where I copped attitude from a very knowledgeable 6 year old girl who insisted the song was specifically written for the movie Shrek; his is more authentic as Rufus Wainwright contributed to quite a few of the ‘darker’ verses), and then I crashed again.
Sunday morning came far too early, so the others got up early and buggered off to buy organic food and walk by the creek. I got up to a completely empty campsite and dirty dishes. Morning! Mannie didn’t snore quite as much the night before, which was rather nice, but he also didn’t sleep much, so that explained why. We packed up the majority of our campsite and wandered over to relax and enjoy Cloudstreet’s gig. I’ve seen them many times, but they truly are great performers. Laughed up a kidney listening to the *mental* Hydrangeas (next time I forget the words I’m just going to say ‘penis’ and see where it takes me), and then had a wonderful relaxing afternoon sharing our picnic blanket and having laughs with Little Creatures and Cloudstreet while listening to the beautiful guitar playing of Ewan Mackenzie.
The Neurum Creek festival was fantastic. Big thanks to Angela Kitzelman for the opportunity to play and to everyone who helped make Neurum a brilliant experience. Now if only I could stop Mannie snoring . . .
Listening to Him-Bo by Capercaillie
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