gig

Six weeks ago my colleague Sasha tells me the Kate Miller-Heidke is playing Adelaide when we’re in town for our national project officers meeting. We use a clip of Kate singing Caught in the crowd as part of an MM professional learning workshops. In the spirit of adventure I buy a ticket.

Until I saw the clip I’d not heard of Kate Miller-Heidke. The song tears me up, and I can be a dead callous bastard. Sometimes. I’ve suggested to our manager that we ask Kate to be our (celebrity) patron. All we have to do is ask. Anyway, turns out that my Queensland colleague Olivia is a good friend of Kate’s.

 

I quit my hotel room on the eighth floor, traverse Adelaide in a taxi for a pub called The Gov in Hindmarsh. I’m not into music, pubs or live performance, but I’ve parted with $50. I intend to have my adventure.

I’m with four work colleagues half my age and less. Michael asks when I last went to a gig. I fathom the depths of memory—Tangerine Dream, 1974. He’s speechless. The other three were not born then.

The venue is dark, no seats. I stand for three hours, left leg numb, lower back aching. The Beards, four dudes with long lush beards, support the main act, their repertoire entirely about beards. They’re fun.

Kate Miller-Heidke trained for opera, chose pop, writes autobiographical songs. I hear about five per cent of the lyrics. The drums punch my vital organs, though I’m ten-deep from the stage. Guitar solos and the Kate’s soprano make my ears bleed. My colleagues lap it up. Good on ‘em.

I count off twenty songs, hoping each will be the last. The compulsory encore completes my misery.

Sasha and Alex hang in the foyer settle for autographs. Sasha snaps Alex cheek to cheek with Kate. Olivia and Michael opt for the beer garden to meet Kate and the band. I cross the road to check the timetable for Adelaide’s only tram which semi-circles the city from The Gov’s door to Glenelg.

My night’s adventure is riding that tram, listening to Sasha and Alex complaining about the bitter cold. We alight at one in the morning and go straight to our rooms.

Rock on.