The World According To Me

So at about 4pm on Sunday after much fussing around with hair and last minute shopping (What am I going to wear? I don't have ANYTHING!) Pom and Kymmy jump in the car and head for the Hume. I force-fed the latest David Gray album to Pom for most of the trip to Melbourne, we read lyrics from the inside cover to learn the new songs and placed bets on which track he would open with (we both lost).

After a few wrong turns with me acting as chief navigator "Left here. LEFT HERE" and "Do you have a Citylink day-pass?" "A what?" "Ummm………nevermind, just keep driving" we finally arrived at our destination. An hour and a half early. I'd never been to Rod Laver Arena before (I know, I know, I'm a complete bumpkin) so we walked around, ate potato wedges that were saturated in oil, smoked cigarettes in the 'designated areas' and drank over-priced, weak coffee. I toyed with the idea of parting with $20 for a program but decided against it in the end. We collected our tickets and I was horrified to find the warning "Side View - May Be Impeded View" printed on them. This, of course, provoked a quiet tantrum from me ("If we can't see David Gray, I will CRY", I hissed between clenched teeth). When we actually got into the stadium and were directed to our seats, I was happy that we had a clear view of the stage. I think that the fact that I was semi-prepared for the prospect of not being able to see the show properly balanced out any disappointment I may have had that we were sitting so far back. So we waited, and waited, interspersed with a lot of "Eeeeeeeee! We're here! We're seeing David Gray! I'm so excited!" from me, repeatedly. That must have been annoying.

So the support act came on, a soloist who I had actually heard of before, Lior. He was wonderful, a real sort of rootsy sound. It was very cute when he dedicate his penultimate track to his wife because it was her birthday and she was in the audience. Awwwwww. He is starting a national tour soon and is coming to Shepparton (WTF?) so we will be going along then, methinks.

Anyway, David Gray finally came on stage and I got goosebumps when his opening track ("Alibi", from the new album). It's all a bit of a blur from there, to be honest. There was dancing (to "Babylon" and "Please Forgive Me") and face-splitting grinning and singing along (to everything) and little tears when he played "Shine" (although I was slightly distracted by the Irish bird sitting behind us because she kept blabbering on about something. Silly cow).

My fears of the venue not being entirely appropriate were somewhat allayed in that the acoustics were perfect and I don't think there was too much lost by playing in such a cavernous venue. Having said that, I've not anything to compare it to. One day I think I'd like to see him play in a smaller venue, just to see the difference.

I was thrilled with the whole thing, but I think if David Gray had of gotten up on stage and forgotten the lyrics to his songs I still would have been thrilled. I'm a huge fan, and have been for quite a while. Listening to certain songs of his evokes crystal clear memories which I love to revisit.

Will continue at a later stage with the story of the Poochie, poor little poppet she is….