9pm – mandarin club, sydney – midnight special! (now with naked on the vague onstage at 11pm)

we all surfaced late and chilled out. we took to the streets at the absolute worst time traffic wise and by the time we made the city i was mad as hell and the band were getting nauseous with my erratic driving – we loaded the gear into the mandarin club, with the fine help of the pure evil trio who were lending their equipment for the night and i spent the next 20 minutes looking for somewhere to park only to have a parking meter swallow my money for nothing in return! at least things could only get better!

the band ran through soundcheck quickly as chief soundman tobey had to dash off to another venue to play a show. we headed off for food and relaxation before getting back to the club at about 10 or 10.30 just as more people were coming through the door.

the mandarin club room on level 4 is pretty spacious and i’m not sure how many people were there but naked on the vague had done some table rearranging earlier to help push interested spectators closer to the stage and as they played their short 20 minute set there were a few people up close and i think everyone else paying attention pretty much.

naked on the vague is matthew from vincent over the sink playing bass and lucy on keyboards and most of the vocal duties. while i prefer the quirkier tunes of vincent this band was pretty great too – it’s kinda fucked up new wave – almost no-wave. i want to see more of this band.

we had a shortish break in which time more people came in and the merch stall got busy. limited express (has gone?) took the stage at around 1am in the end and there were many people here ready for special show time! and they certainly got a show!

the sound was a little ropey in places due to the small pa (no fault of tobey’s) but that didn’t detract from the power and energy of an up close and personal experience – in which jj decided once again it would be a good idea to get on my shoulders during one song. the crowd seemed into it and when the set finished there were shouts for more but the dj’s took over after a brief silence.

i went to man the merch stall but as i sat down the dj’s stopped and it looked like an encore was coming – we got a bassless mophin’ fellet, crowned off with a full band free style riding. i desperately wanted them to come back for more but the band felt the energy was spent so sydney – you missed out on the limited express (has gone?) version of bad brains ‘i against i’.

when i told my friend this he promised to drive to newcastle on sunday to see it! people partied on some more to the dj’s and most everyone picked up some merchandise on their way out during the night. unfortunately for us and our tired bodies this meant we had to stay til the 3am finish knowing we had to get up at 8am to get to the airport for limited express (has gone?) to fly to brisbane in the morning. not to worry though – everyone was pumped and happy and excited.

load out, drive home and once again i went straight to sleep as the band refuelled and koji watched ping pong club!