Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Troy Cassar Daley at Northcote Social Club

Shane Howard at Northcote Social Club
Last night at the Northcote Social Club turned out to be a splendid night’s entertainment and Troy Cassar Daley, I discovered, is a great live artist.

Opening the show was none other than Shane Howard, the legendary singer songwriter of Goanna fame; Goanna was a very popular band in the 1980s.

Shane naturally played a couple of songs from his Goanna days, Razors Edge and Solid Rock. It was good to hear those songs again, as I haven’t heard them in ages. It’s amazing how you still remember the lyrics even after 25 years or so. Those songs were hits for Goanna back in the old days.

This was the first ever time I had seen Shane Howard perform, and even if he is a lot older these days, his sound has hardly changed. He has a pleasant singing voice and can play guitar with the best. A better than average opening act, he is pretty much a star in his own right.

Troy Cassar Daley is undoubtedly a star. It was amazing that he was doing a show at the small and intimate Northcote Social Club. Despite it being Monday night, and cold to boot, there was a reasonable crowd present, but not oppressively crushing. A great many of them were fans. Troy has won several Australian Country Music Awards. Judging by his performance last night, I’m not in the least surprised.

He had a small backing band, comprising a bass player, a drummer and a keyboardist. Together, they made great music. It was country rock more than anything. Troy has a fantastically good voice – he could sing the telephone book, as someone observed – it is attractive and note perfect. He can sing anything from rockers to ballads. The bass player and keyboardist both provided harmonies.

So, recalling my comment in the post below, I was indeed impressed with the showmanship and stage performance of Troy Cassar Daley. And the added treat of having Shane Howard as the opening act was an unforeseen bonus to an excellent night out.

3 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

Sounds like a treat indeed - and congrats on getting the ticket to see Ryan.
Glad the cats got the rat - eeeeuwww! I'd be a wreck if I knew there was rat about ...

Jan said...

Rats! Hmm.
My cats had a baby mouse today which I nearly beheaded as I shut the door on it, but as for rats...
Good to read you again and shall be back.

Anne S said...

Jan, I stood on a mouse once and broke the poor thing's back. I didn't notice it until too late.

Oh, the trials of cat ownership...

Will had a bird the other day - feathers everywhere. B rescued it and put it out in the garden. I don't know if it survived.