Australian Tour Diary

Part 4

7th March
We have to leave early from our hotel although our plane does not leave until 12.30. After all the security checks we pause for a cup of coffee and a lady recognises me. I only mention this because it so seldom happens that I still feel a little uncomfortable. She is from Stratford on Avon and has been to lots of concerts.
We arrive in Melbourne and Richard picks up a Toyota people carrier which will transport us later to Port Fairy. At the cosmopolitan hotel Nanna and Sylvie Danny Thompson’s wife have already arrived but have gone out for a stroll. I have a rest and meet Nanna just before sound check. She is a little jet lagged but says she will make it to the show tonight.
Our sound man is already for me and has my in ears working. It is the turn of the Midiverb to go wrong tonight but after some tapping shouting and removal of earth hum from un balanced leads we are ready. Gibb Todd is once again my noble support act and he has brought pictures of his lovely house in Queensland for me to ogle at. This is one of the best gigs on the tour and I have played here several times before including the last time out with Steeleye Span. I am delighted with the show and afterwards I meet old friend and former promoter for me in Australia, Ian Oshlack and his new partner Mary. Star of the show tonight is Ian’s lovely mum Pearl. She is looking wonderful in spite of overcoming serious illness. On my earlier visits she was like a big sister to all of us rather than a clucking mother figure and at eighty years old is still beautiful. It was warm greetings and a delight to see her again. Afterward s Bob Hart and his wife Iris take us to an eatery and we enjoy nibbles and bites in jolly company until very late.
*During the seventies Bob (who used to write for the English version of the Sun), came to N Ireland with me and did an article on the “troubles” seen through the eyes of a performer. We were all arrested by the British Army for going to near an observation post but Bob wangled our release by promising the soldiers copies of the Sun’s page three calendar girls!
8th march
There are two days off before my next show and we all decide that it would be best to enjoy them down at Port Fairy. It is a leisurely journey and we stop at Colac and Camperdown on the way down. I buy a cheap shearers jacket, or should that be a sheep shearer’s jacket? (Made in China) because nights can be cool down south. Port fairy is beautiful and straight away I bump into Dr Jamie McHugh the festival organiser. We are both pleased to meet up and enjoy a chat before collecting I.D. wrist bands and heading (with guide) to our beach side dwelling. a lovely old wooden house with fantastic sea views. Nanna and Richard set off to buy provisions and I catch up with some of this writing. Later Danny Thompson calls me. He is on his way here with Eric Bibb and we arrange to get in touch on arrival.
Later we eat at little restaurant and learn that my other Ozzie promoter Rob Hall is staying there and we will probably meet up the next day

Eric Bib, Ralph and Danny Thompson

9th March
This morning Nanna goes swimming or rather gets beaten up in the waves.
I decline a swim believing in Billy Connolly’s maxim that there are things in the water that might bite me.
Later we wander around the little town and eat lunch, shop and hire bikes. I am already sweating on repertoire for the three shows and thinking of playing always clouds my days off. Here though I am more relaxed. It is hard not to be. Tonight I am planning to see the hilarious and very talented Vin Garbut. After a dark drink or two masquerading as Guinness we call in on Vinnie’s show. He is fantastic and I am soon laughing out loud. We eat some festival food and wander round. My Chinese sheep cheap shearer’s jacket is very warm but my friends are getting cheesed of with hearing about how warm it is. This encourages me to harp on about my bargain. As usual the night ends a little bit un co-ordinately but we all arrive home and I sit up to play and rehearse for about an hour before bed. I wake to the relentless crashing of waves in a soon to be turquoise sea. There is the smell of bacon frying. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it. I wonder what disaster awaits in retribution for this fine start to the day?
The day continued to get better. Nanna swam; I sauntered on the beach Richard went on site to check all was well with P.A. I tried to plan my day leading up to performance and true to form my tension began about six hours before show time. I have a one hour show and it is difficult to condense the set but I write out four different running orders and decide to wait until show time before finalising. It was hot and I buy a hat to go with the other five hats I have bought from all over the world which I never wear. I walk about in my hat and I quite like it but I am sure I will leave it somewhere before I get back to England.
I have a short rest back at the house and then we depart for the gig. Richard and I are walking across the site to the wrong venue when we meet Jamie McHugh who is the coolest man on site in spite of carrying total responsibility. He points us in the right direction and we go back stage to prepare. Previously I had enquired about guitar strings and he introduced me to the Maton guitar man. Afterwards the young guy asked who I was and Jamie told him I had been the writer of Streets of London. The young man had never heard of the song.
Does this mean I am free to establish a new reputation as a song writer at last? Strangely this is an odd feeling. This is the second time I have met someone within the folk community who has not heard of the song.
It’s always a hassle working back stage at festivals. Everything is a compromise. You have to be totally ready to go to work as there is no privacy, not tables to set up your guitar , tuning is difficult because there is noise, your hands go clammy and the guitar feels alien in the open air. Finally I am introduced by someone called Kate and I am on stage. The tent is full and there are wings on both sides equally packed. I begin with
Walk into the morning and
Up. These go well, but it is the more straight ahead songs like Clare
and of course the hit that go best. I have
Weather the Storm called out and the hour races by. I almost feel I haven’t done enough but I will be playing again tomorrow so I will get the whole repertoire of my Oz tour across then. I close with Round the wild Cape Horn.
I change and sign a few autographs before buying a festival curry and amble off into the beer tent with the others. No one hassles me and we return to the stage to watch Eric Bibb and Danny Thompson knockin’ 'em dead at the close of the evening’s shows. We promise to meet after we have played today. Home around midnight and I practice till about 1am.

11th March
Today I am onstage at 12.30 so I am up early and wondering how the old larynx will hold up. Much throat clearing and nervous coughing this morning. Last night I prepared a song list without streets in it. I have one more show to do so if needed I can put it in there. We arrive on site and park the car and walk to our performance area through all the audiences meandering about. On arrival at our destination we find it is where we have just parked the car. We have taken the scenic route. No matter. We have obliging and competent engineers who soon get my rig up and running. Once on stage (sitting) I felt I did one of my best festival shows ever. Apparently it was filmed so perhaps I will get to see it sometime. I met Danny later with Eric Bibb. Eric looks so young and he was very gracious with his comments on my version of his composition Saucer and Cup.
We had a picture taken and arranged to catch up after their show. Richard and I head back and go for a long bike ride to the Lighthouse and beyond. Short rest and tea and then off to get some food.
We eat and catch a little of several acts and it feels strange not to experience the nervous rush before performance. Inside the beer tent it is definitely party time. There is a fantastic atmosphere and it’s only 9pm. There is a scratch band on stage and everyone is singing in Karaoke fashion. A competition is running and the winner is a female security guard who wins with I Saw Her Standing There.
We have arranged to see Rob and Ann Hall who usually promote me in Melbourne. They are staying in rooms behind the first restaurant we ate at the night we arrived. It is called Fads and seated at the enormous breakfast table in the back room are Rob and Ann along with Dan Crary and his guitar partner Don Ross. Wine is flowing and the conversation good although inevitably it spins round to the holy grail of guitar pick ups. It seems it was in 1986 when Dan and Byron Berline graced the stage of the Half Moon Putney with their wonderful playing. Dan gave me a couple of CDs to listen to and it would appear that he has no intention of quitting touring yet and he is 67 years old. I will have stopped before then. The evening moves to a natural close. The duo has to be on the road at 8.30 and retire at midnight. Our host from the café is called Norbert. He has to go to bed too and although I am slightly over refreshed I too think it time to retire and we all leave at about 1am.

12th March
It’s my last gig at the festival this am and I have a hangover. Great planning on my part. It’s not that I forgot I was on stage at 11 am it’s just that I was so relieved that it all had gone so well that I dived into this luscious red wine as if it were ale. Nevertheless we depart on time and arrive with 40 minutes to spare. The lovely Eleanor McEvoy is on stage singing beautifully and charming her audience with her light touch and gentle humour. Later she reminds me that we toured together with Phil Coulter in Ireland some years ago. We have another picture taken later. I get on stage and with head throbbing begin the concert. It is another full house and the audience is lovely. I decide to play some guitar piece and get in a total mess but manage to make it sound as if I meant most of the mistakes. I only repeat a couple of tunes and finish with the hit and they all sing along and stand at the end. It has been a wonderful festival. These events are enjoyed as much by the musicians as the audience. We really do have a community of folkies and it is a warm and friendly one, mostly devoid of ego where music is its own reward and our privilege to share it with everyone. I am still nervous of these events because in a sense you still have to get through to people who have not necessarily come to see you but I seem to have got through on this occasion and have had a wonderful time. Closing the festival with the final act is the incredibly talented Lunahssa. We sit side of stage and are entranced with the beauty of their playing and the wit of their front man. My old mate Alan O’Leary has worked with them in England and they all speak fondly of him and send best wishes for his recovery after his op. As I write this we are packing for the trip to Perth tomorrow and a farewell party this evening.
The party was terrific and some of the guests sang. I offered In the dreamtime. And everyone chatted and joked like we had known each other for years as only Aussies do.

13th March
We all went home late and got up early for the four hour drive back to Melbourne and the three and a half hour flight to Perth.. Nanna flew on to Sydney where she will wait for us to collect her for the Blue Mountains festival.
We are met at Perth airport by Richard Collins who I have known since he was 19 and I was about 23. He has lost a lot of weight but not an ounce of humour and we are soon chuckling and laughing at reminiscences we always visit when we meet. In particular his adventures with Christy Moore in Halifax in the late 60’s and the great Crumlin Festival Disaster (a book is planned about this)There is more laughter at the hotel and we arrange to meet for a tour of the city tomorrow. Richard J and I eat late and a very long day ends in the Feinian bar of the Sheraton hotel.

14th March
I am up early (for Perth that is) as we are two hours further on from Melbourne I leave the hotel and grab a breakfast and buy a pair of jeans before returning to the hotel.
Nanna calls me from Sydney with terrible news.
Carl her sister Astrid’s husband has died.
They are in Norway, I am in Perth, Nanna is in Sydney and we all need each other.