Mary Gauthier & Steve Young Concert

A bleary blogger here to report on last night's show at the Northcote Social Club...

It was a very long night in terms of hours spent watching live music, though not by any means boring. As is my wont, I arrived early to snaffle a good position up the front. As the show was a sell out, this was a wise move as the venue filled up pretty fast. Because of this I had to stand most of the night, but stoic that I am, I and the rest of us up the front endured it with good cheer. Actually, I'm pleased that I am not such an old crock that I can't tolerate standing for several hours straight.

The show began at 9.00pm with the Australian support act, husband & wife duo The Yearlings. The Yearlings are a good act and their music is pleasant to listen to. They are a sort of Australian Gillian Welch/David Rawlings act, though they lack that couple's charisma.

Steve Young came on at 10.00pm and played for about an hour and a half. His set was great. He didn't appear to have a set list, but sang songs requested from the audience most of the time. I was delighted he sang Seven Bridges Road - one of my all time favorite songs, as well as other great standard Steve Young compositions/ renditions like Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Utah Phillips' Rock, Salt and Nails.

He said, during the show, that he has more fans in Melbourne than anywhere else in the world. Whether his appearance was responsible for the sell-out, I'm sure the parts of the audience who were there to see him, would have been blown away by Mary Gauthier's part of the show as well.

Mary Gauthier was the obvious highlight of the night. She is simply sensational live. It was a pity that she was on so late - her act started at 11.30pm - as she only played for about an hour. I would have liked to have seen more of her and less of the rest.

Naturally, I took photos and wrote notes for a review for the Nu Country site. When I have deciphered my notes - they were written in the dark - I'll write the review and post the link.

I've ordered a nifty penlight to help with keeping notes in the dark. It's a pen with a built-in LED light which provides illumination when writing in subdued lighting. Just the thing for concerts!