Svenson-Haart: Simon and Garfunkle!!! + Movida

Something coooool happened on Wednesday- something really f'cking cool.

I scored free tickets to Simon and Garfunkle! (via Christian mcbride woooo)

Considering this was my 'money was no object tour' (until i bought tickets to europe, when the price of S+G tix did become an issue) it was one of the most exciting things that's happened to me in ages. I was in disbelief all the way there, thinking that something was going to wrong.

ie, Our tickets would be...
a. filed under the wrong name
b. non existant- the request never got through to the right person
c. misplaced- who knows where they went
d. any other possible explanation why comp tickets don't make it to the ticket collection desk.

So i made nick get ready super quick so we could get there early. And holy guacamole, it was the simplest ticket collection of my life- in fact my relief was such that i think i gave a big "woo!" to the collection desk.

Straighten up those tickets LPs, this is an important moment... when i say woo i really fucking mean WOOOOO !!!!

Anyways, so the good thing was, we were there early enough to have a pre show drink... the bad thing was- that we were there early enough to have quite a few pre- show drinks! (a problem in retrospect, at least!)

So here we both are soaking up the atmosphere in the beer / cigarette garden (which Nick today described as 'the exercise yard.. due to having the vibe of a prison!!

So four beers later, we grab two beers each and take our seats.. they are flipping awesome seats, and we are sitting next to one of my teenage idols, Wally Meanie. I always thought he was a bit of an arsehole, but at one point he laughed at something i said, which has made me reconsider my viewpoint.

Check out the crowd.... positively packed! ..

Here is the back of Wally Meanie's head...

Here is Nick and i (mainly i) getting super duper excited about ticking this concert off our list of "Must Sees before we die".

Then they appear, playing "Old Friends" and it takes me flipping ages to get the settings right on my camera. argh!

Our FREE seats..

But, ze beers took over and we drank A LOT of Heineken on tap. I don't think i realised how much until i woke up this morning, the advantage of an S+G gig is that the crowd is old, and the queues to the bar are a DELIGHT. Compounded with an early start, we drank... a lot.

hmm im a lil pissed popzzz...

Im with ya jullzzz....

Truly in form, i loved Simon and Garfunkle. Their performance is flawless, their vocals still so amazingly incredible. I did have a few observations about the gig (not necessarily complaints, as our tickets were free, who cares!)

1. They used a very 'bombastic' backing band who kept wigging out into these long drawn out instrumentals. Clearly a talented bunch, but all i wanted was the bare beautiful minimalism them two together with a guitar - ala the opener. Basically my feeling is that less is more for S + G.

2. An old guy behind us, and his wife, tapped us both on the shoulder to say if we wanted to chat, we better "take it outside" .. WHAT THE!? (at a concert, definitely out of his earshot.. clearly us Gen young-er types are disrespectful) .. this annoyed me so much, i almost wanted to take it up with him afterwards ... blame the booze, glad i didnt!

3. Solos. Clearly a contractual obligation.. the entire mid section was dedicated to their solo performance stuff. This also happens to be when Nick and i were having a conversation- quietly.

4. Clapping. Audience used poor judgement in terms of which songs to clap in, and also the timing.. all clapping dwindled out pretty fast, which is cringey. Should have learnt after the first attempt.

5. House Lights. Why on earth did they turn on the house lights two songs before the end of the show? Surely first rule in Concert Vibe killing 101.

Last song, Cecilia, with house lights on... and bad clapping. Boozey Camerawork..

not to end on the criticisms, they are great.... still probably my number 1 band to listen to at all times. If i could only listen to one band for the rest of my life, i would still never tire of them.

(lol at the zooms!)

We woke up wanting to die this morning- along with the news that Michael Jackson just died!! omg crazy morning.

Nick threw up in a bin at Melb Central station on his way to work- narrowly missing having done it on the packed train! Work was hell as i was in a boozey haze I have no idea what happened, but i blame Rod Laver for having grotty pipes on their beer. urgh!!

Tomorrow is LPs birthday so we went to MOVIDA for dinner tonight. Both very hungover, and now Im totally knackered. It was good. I had to book months ago to get a 6pm booking. It is tiny!

Drinking Kross beer from Chile.. was delicious. We are anchovies w/ tomato sorbet, chorizo and egg pastries, slow roast beef cheek, air dried wagyu, smoked macarel w/ pinenut sorbet (+ i got a hair in there! What is my luck with hair in food these days, its crazy?) & Chargrilled Spatchcock.

Having a VERY grey day.. even my skin was grey today.. Im tired, i hate drinking.